Beer in Belgium


Beer in Belgium includes abbey beers, lambics, Flemish red ales, sour brown ales, strong ales and Wheat beers. In 2018, there were 304 breweries in Belgium, including international companies, such as AB InBev, and traditional breweries, such as Trappist monasteries. On average, Belgians drink 68 litres of beer each year, down from around 200 each year in 1900. Most beers are bought or served in bottles, rather than cans, and almost every beer has its own branded, sometimes uniquely shaped, glass. In 2016, UNESCO inscribed Belgian beer culture on their list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

History

In Belgium, beer was already produced in the Roman era, as evidenced by the excavation of a brewery and malthouse from the 3rd and 4th centuries AD at Ronchinne. During the Early and High Middle Ages, beer was produced with gruit, a mix of herbs and spices that was first mentioned in 974 when the bishop of Liège was granted the right to sell it at Fosses-la-Ville. From the 14th century onwards, gruit was replaced by hops, after the example of imported beers from northern Germany and Holland. After that, several Belgian towns developed their own types of beer for export to other regions, most notably the white beer of Leuven and Hoegaarden, the caves of Lier and the uitzet of Ghent.
Monasteries played only a small role in beer production and mostly brewed for their own consumption and that of their guests. Monastic brewing would only receive some renown from the late 19th century onwards, when the Trappists of Chimay produced a brown beer that was commercially available.
In 1885, a change in legislation made brewing of German-style bottom-fermenting beers viable in Belgium, and it was only from then that large industrial-scale brewing in Belgium took off. During the 20th century the number of breweries in Belgium declined from 3223 breweries in 1900 to only 106 breweries in 1993. Yet, a number of traditional beer styles, such as white beer, lambic and Flemish old brown were preserved, while new local, top-fermented styles developed, such as spéciale belge, abbey beer and Belgian strong ale. In 1988, the country's two biggest breweries, Artois and Piedboeuf, formally merged to become Interbrew, then the world's 18th biggest brewer, which was to merge with AmBev in 2004 to become today's AB InBev, the biggest beer producing company in the world.

Methods

In Belgium, four types of fermentation methods are used for the brewing of beer, which is unique in the world. However, for good understanding of labels of Belgian beer and reference works about Belgian beer often use different terms for the fermentation methods based on archaic or traditional jargon:
  1. Spontaneous fermentation with beers that are unique in Europe: "lambic" and the derived faro, gueuze and kriek beers
  2. Warm fermentation is referred to as top or high fermentation for Trappist beers, white beers, ale, most other special beers
  3. Mixed fermentation for "old-brown" type beers
  4. Cool fermentation is referred to as low fermentation for lager or pilsner, or bottom fermentation

    Belgian beer types

Belgian beers have a range of colours, brewing methods, and alcohol levels.

Trappist beers

Beers brewed in Trappist monasteries are termed Trappist beers. For a beer to qualify for Trappist certification, the brewery must be in a monastery, the monks must play a role in its production and the policies and the profits from the sale must be used to support the monastery or social programs outside. Only ten monasteries currently meet these qualifications, five of which are in Belgium, two in the Netherlands, one in Austria, one in Italy and one in the United Kingdom. Trappist beer is a controlled term of origin: it tells where the beers come from, it is not the name of a beer style. Beyond their being mostly warm fermented, Trappist beers have very little in common stylistically.
The current Belgian Trappist producers are:
  • Chimay sells Red Label, White Label and Blue Label, Chimay dorée Gold cap.
  • Orval sells a "unique" dry-hopped 6.2% amber beer.
  • Rochefort sells three dark beers, "6". "8" and "10" and one blonde beer "Triple Extra"
  • Westmalle sells Dubbel and Tripel,
  • Westvleteren sells Green Cap or "Blonde",, Blue Cap or "8", and Yellow Cap or "12".
In addition to the above, a lower-strength beer is sometimes brewed for consumption by the brothers or sold on site.

Abbey beers

The designation "abbey beers" originally applied to any monastic or monastic-style beer. After introduction of an official Trappist beer designation by the International Trappist Association in 1997, it came to mean products similar in style or presentation to monastic beers.
In other words, an Abbey beer may be:
  • produced by a non-Trappist monastery—e.g. Benedictine; or
  • produced by a commercial brewery under commercial arrangement with an extant monastery; or
  • branded with the name of a defunct abbey by a commercial brewer;
In 1999, the Union of Belgian Brewers introduced a "" logo
to indicate beers brewed under license to an existing or abandoned abbey,
as opposed to other abbey-branded beers which the trade markets using other implied religious connections, such as a local saint. The requirements for registration under the logo include the monastery having control over certain aspects of the commercial operation, and a proportion of profits going to the abbey or to its designated charities. Monastic orders other than the Trappists can be and are included in this arrangement.
The "Abbey beer" logo and quality label is no longer used for beers given the name of a fictitious abbey, a vaguely monastic branding or a saint name without mentioning a specific monastery. Some brewers may produce abbey-style beers such as dubbel or tripel, using such names but will refrain from using the term Abbey beer in their branding.
What connoisseurs now recognize as Trappist breweries began operations in 1838. Several monasteries, however, maintained "working" breweries for 500+ years before the French regime disrupted religious life. Even then, some Abbey beers such as Affligem Abbey, whose name now appears on beers made by the Heineken-owned Affligem Brewery, resumed brewing from "working" monasteries until the occupation of most of Belgium in World War I. Commercial Abbey beers first appeared during Belgium's World War I recovery.
Although Abbey beers do not conform to rigid brewing styles, most tend to include the most recognizable and distinctive Trappist styles of brune, strong pale ale or tripel, and blonde ale or blond. Modern abbey breweries range from microbreweries to international giants, but at least one beer writer warns against assuming that closeness of connection with a real monastery confirms a product's quality.
, 18 certified Abbey beers existed:
  • Achel sells Achel 5 Blonde, Achel 5 Brune, Achel 8 Blonde, Achel 8 Brune, Extra Blonde, Extra Brune.
  • Abbaye de Cambron, brewed in Silly by Brasserie de Silly.
  1. Abbaye de Bonne Espérance, previously brewed by Lefebvre Brewery, since 2015 more locally by La Binchoise.
  • Abdij Dendermonde, brewed in Merchtem by
  • Abbaye de Saint-Martin, historically referenced to 1096, is brewed near Tournai by Brasserie Brunehaut.
  • Affligem, produced for Affligem Abbey by a Heineken-owned brewery.
  • is located on the grounds of a former abbey.
  • Bornem is brewed in East Flanders by Brouwerij Van Steenberge
  • Ename is brewed in East Flanders by.
  • Floreffe is brewed to fund a school housed in a former monastery.
  • Grimbergen, made by the large Alken Maes brewery for an extant Norbertine abbey.
  • Keizersberg is brewed in East Flanders by Brouwerij Van Steenberge.
  • Leffe, the Abbey brand of Stella Artois, itself part of the multinational Inbev corporation, is brewed under licence from an extant brewery. It is thought to be the first such arrangement. Leffe has global distribution.
  • Maredsous, the Abbey brand of Duvel Moortgat, Belgium's second largest brewer, licensed from Maredsous Abbey.
  • Postel is brewed in Opwijk by.
  • Ramée is brewed in Purnode by Brasserie du Bocq.
  • St. Feuillien is a small independent brewery.
  • Steenbrugge is brewed in Brugge by.
  • Tongerlo is brewed in Boortmeerbeek by.
Other non-certified Abbey beers include:-
  • Abbaye des Rocs, made by a farmers' co-operative and named after a local ruined abbey.
  • Corsendonk, abbey beer brewed by a brewery in the name of the Corsendonk priory in Oud-Turnhout
  • Kasteelbier, monastic style beers brewed in a castle.
  • St. Bernardus brewery, based on Watou originally brewed under contract for the abbey of St Sixtus at Westvleteren, but continues on an independent basis, in parallel with production at the monastery itself. Their range is considered a close match in recipe and style to the St Sixtus beers, which can be hard to obtain outside the area.
  • Tripel Karmeliet, with a three-grain recipe, is produced by Bosteels Brewery, who also make Pauwel Kwak. Bosteels, and Tripel Karmeliet, are now part of AB InBev after a not-so-popular take-over in 2016.
  • Averbode.
  • Braxatorium Parcensis.
  • Abdij van 't Park, an Aldi house brand abbey beer, made by Brouwerij Haacht Brasserie. Named after the abbey in Heverlee, Leuven.
  • Florival, a Delhaize house brand abbey beer, made by Brouwerij Affligem. Named after the abandoned abbey of Florival, in the rural municipal of Grez-Doiceau.

    Pils or pale lager

This style makes up the bulk of beer production and consumption in Belgium. Belgian Pilsners are not particularly distinctive or renowned by connoisseurs. The top brands include Jupiler and Stella Artois, Maes pils and Cristal. Stella Artois, originating in Belgium, is distributed globally.
The Pilsnerbeer is which is popularly called "pintje" or "choppe" in Belgium, was the basis of the "fluitjesbier" distributed during the German occupation in WWII and under rationing. This "fluitjesbier" was watered down to about 0.8°.