When you think of Belgium, what comes to mind first? Smurfs? A smooth-paced saxophone? Waffles? And for a veteran drinker, it must be "Belgian beer". Belgium has a total land area of more than 30,000 square kilometers, but it has more than 200 breweries and more than 2,400 brands, which is known as the "kaleidoscope of the beer industry". Let's talk about it today
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="55" > the history of Beer in Belgium</h1>
Historically, Belgium has never been a great power, and has even been ruled by many nearby powers, but what has not changed is the local love of beer. In the eighth to ninth centuries, Belgian monasteries began to brew beer, and even before the Western Era, Belgium began to drink beer. But the beer at that time was many different from what we think now. At that time, the raw materials of beer were not only barley, wheat, loose wheat and other grains could be used for brewing; in addition, hops were not added at that time, but some herbs and spices were added to add bitterness, and these traditions also influenced belgian beer today.
Therefore, in Addition to the easy-to-eat Pilsen beer in Belgium, there are also beers fermented with wild yeast, brewed in the top fermentation method, or brewed using local ingredients such as fruits and spices, and there are also quite a few brewed in the traditional brewing method.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="57" > Belgian Ayr</h1>
The vast majority of Beer in Belgium is Ayr Beer. But unlike Germany, Belgian beer can add raw materials other than malt, yeast, hops, in addition to the use of barley commonly used in beer as the main raw material, the addition of spices and fruits, so that Belgian beer shows a rich and diverse characteristics, hop,tangerine peel, etc. are popular spices added to Belgian beer, especially hop, this spice can highlight the aromatic smell of beer, hops in the beer fermentation process at different times, will also produce different results. So there are different variations from yeast and grain to spice addition, making Belgian beer the most complex beer in the world.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="59" > Belgian wheat</h1>
Wheat white beer is divided into two major schools: German wheat and Belgian wheat. In Germany, due to the constraints of the Beer Purity Law, malt, hops, yeast, water and other things cannot be added to beer, and the raw material restrictions are relatively strict, and the taste of wheat is very prominent in flavor. Compared to German wheat, Belgian wheat beer has fewer restrictions on raw materials, and brewers are happy to add spices to the beer to flavor it, making the beer fuller and easier to eat. Spices such as tangerine peel, coriander, and vanilla are the most popular.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="61" > monastery beer</h1>
When it comes to Belgium's representative beer, the first impression may be the monastery beer, the real monastery beer needs to be certified, and there are only 11 certified in the world! Certified monasteries are called Trappist beers, and these monasteries belong to the strict Rules of the International Trappist Association (ITA), and the beer they produce is ITA certified before it can be hung with the Austrian Trappist Product, ATP logo, which means that it is a real Trappist beer.
In addition, only 6 of the 11 ATP certified monastery beers are in Belgium, and the others are in the Netherlands, the United States, Italy and Austria. As for the other abbey-like beers, they are actually called Abbey or Abbey-Style beers.
Some Abbey beers are certified by the Belgian Beer Guild and given to Erkend Belgisch Abdijbierr (Certified Belgian Abbey Beer, Certified Belgian Abbey Beer). This type of Abbey is associated with non-strict Cistercian monasteries, which may be commissioned by the monastery to brew, or use the name of the monastery, etc., and require the payment of a royalty to the monastery. Abbey-Style beers are usually non-ATP and not Erkend Belgisch Abdijbierr, which is brewed in a monastery style in a distillery, but is not actually related to the monastery.
On the monastery beer, you often see Dubble or Tripple, what does it mean? Among the monastery beers, the lowest alcohol concentration and the lightest flavor is Single, which is relatively more concentrated and more sugary than Single, and Similarly Tripple is high. But singles are rare in the market, and most of them are Dubble or Triple. Dubble's wines are usually darker amber in colour with hints of malt, dried fruit and spices. Tripple is lighter in color, with more Belgian yeast fruit and a crisp tail.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="64" > Belgian sour beer</h1>
There is a special kind of Belgian beer called Lambic, also known as natural sour beer. This beer is completely different from the beer imagined, ordinary beer can be divided into brewed with ale yeast or lager yeast, but Lambic uses yeast from nature! Generally beer is most afraid of contact with bacteria in the air after the wort is boiled and infected, but Lambic is the opposite, directly into the open cooling tank to let the wine and the air yeast contact fermentation. In order not to let the wine break in the open space, a large number of hops are added to it, but because as long as the antiseptic function of the hops is not flavor, most of them are hops that have been aged for a while. After cooling, Lambic is usually moved to wooden barrels to continue fermentation, which will modify the sour taste of Lambic to be more rounded. Different ingredients can also be added to the barrel, such as fruit tart cherries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, apples, strawberries... Complex fruit sweetness is secondarily fermented with yeast and makes the taste sweeter.
Through the above description, we must have a certain understanding of Belgian beer, and I will recommend you a few authentic and unique Belgian beers.
1、 West Fretterin 12 (W12)
The Rolls-Royce of beer. Long occupying the throne of the world's beer rankings, Westvleteren produced the least amount of Abbey beer, and began brewing three beers in 1838, labeled 6, 8 and 12 respectively, of which Westvleteren 12 was the most popular. But it rarely sells W12 online.
2. Fu Jia Bai
The brewing model of Belgian wheat white beer is the cheapest Belgian wheat beer on the market at present, with medium to high quality.
3. Chimei
Chimay, the most famous monastery beer on the market in China, has its blue hats that are the favorite of major beer lovers. It is the most commercially available of the six monasteries in Belgium. Zhimei red is equivalent to double material, blue is equivalent to four materials, white is equivalent to three materials, and gold is equivalent to single material.
4. Roosevelt
Roosevelt is also a very well-known monastery beer in the country, and its home production of Roosevelt No. 6, Roosevelt No. 8 and Roosevelt No. 10 are very popular among domestic beer lovers, of which Roosevelt No. 10 is famous for its "heavy taste."
5. Douwei
Duvel is a 100% natural beer. No additives or preservatives are added. The taste is different and the entrance is known. 8.5% alcohol content, golden color, delicate foam, silky pure taste, rich aroma.
6. Lindemann series
Belgium is more widely known as fruit beer, and usually girls will prefer this series. One of the most distinctive is Lindemann Cherry Beer, which is added to the Lambic collection with the entire sour cherry.
Belgian beers are diverse and flavorful,
Share your favorite Belgian beer~
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