Steve Koenemann

Belgians Got Style!

I recently interviewed Jeff Baker, the wine and beer manager for one of my favorite Vermont beer stores, The Beverage Warehouse , and when I asked him about his favorite beer he was very quick to let me know that there where really just two classes of beer; “Belgians and non-Belgians and the Belgians are the best”. I have to admit that, while I thoroughly enjoy many types and styles of beer, the Belgians (those actually produced in Belgium) and Belgian-styles (those produced elsewhere) are among my favorites as well. Ask any serious craft beer drinker and you will likely get the same assessment from many of them. In actuality, the term “Belgian beer” is quite a mouthful, as there are many different types and styles of beer made in Belgium as well as other places.  Most people, when they refer to “Belgian beer”, are most often referring their favorite “brand” of Belgian or Belgian-style beer, rather than all of them collectively. My job today is to sort through all of what it means to be a “Belgian beer”; starting with their history, then a short discussion of the types/styles of Belgian and Belgian-style beers along with some of my own favorite examples.

History of Belgian Beer

Beer, being an ancient beverage, was first brewed in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago. Beer made its way into Europe about 5000 BC along two broad routes; Eastern Europe and along the Mediterranean. The Gauls, one of the early ancestors of the modern Belgium natives, were responsible for both the widespread brewing of beer in this area as well as the invention of wooden barrels and their first use for beer storage. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the churches gained rule of the land and the first monastic breweries appeared around the 7^th century. In the 14^th century, under heavy influence from the Germans, hops began to be added to beer brewed in this region. It was also around this time when the it was widely believed that beer was safer to drink than water; the brewing process eliminating some of the more common water-borne diseases of the time. Brewing continued its growth in popularity up until the religious wars of the 16^th century and French Revolution. These two events were nearly responsible for wiping out the brewing industry in the region, when many of the abbeys and monasteries were destroyed. The rebuilding and reconstruction period which took place after the French Revolution was responsible for expanding the brewing industry away from the monasteries. The growth of the industry and the number of Belgian breweries continued to increase until its peak of over 3,200 in 1900. The devastation and lack of brewing ingredients during the First World War caused a steep drop in the number of these breweries; reaching about 2,000 by 1920. The economic crisis of the 1930s and then the Second World War caused the continued rapid decline in brewery numbers to only about 755 by 1946. Since then, mostly industry consolidation has been responsible for reducing the number of Belgian breweries to about 100-125 today; these being made up of a relatively small number of very large (some internationally owned) breweries and many smaller regional breweries which collectively produce approximately 600 different Belgian beers. Nearly half of the the beer produced in Belgium today, roughly 9 million hectoliters (about 238 million US gallons or 7.56 million US barrels, if you prefer), is exported across Europe, to the UK and to the US.

The Styles of Belgian Beers

Apparently the beer “experts” cannot agree how many “official” styles of Belgian beers that there are. The AHA, BJCP and nearly every Web site I could find (even those from Belgium) about the subject listed something different; sometimes varying widely from site to site. For the purposes of this article I will describe 10 broad styles of Belgian beers. These 10 will cover the vast majority of the beers produced in the region.

• Trappist & Abbey – While they are similar in style, there is a very important difference between “Trappist” and Abbey” beers.
  • A beer is a “Trappist” only if it is a manufactured by Cistercian monks. The Cistercian monasteries are divided into two great orders, of which one is historically attached to the Abbey of La Grande Trappe, in Normandy, hence the name “Trappists”. There are only 7 breweries allowed to use the “Trappist” label; 6 of those are in Belgium and 1 is in the Netherlands. Some examples of Trappist beers would be Chimay Bleue and La Trappe Isid’or.
  • Abbey beers are generally brewed under license by a commercial brewery, using the name and recipes of an abbey that has ceased brewing itself. Very few of them are actually made within the walls of a monastery, and the brewery is often far from the abbey that gives its name to the beer they produce. Some “abbey” beers are even simply named after an abbey ruin or local saint without any connection with an existing monastic order. The term “Abbey Beer” has been widely used and the Union of Belgian Breweries recently introduced the “Certified Belgian Abbey Beer” label to distinguish those that are actually affiliated with a Belgian Abbey. Examples of Abbey beers would be Grimbergen Dubbel and Leffe Blond.
• Strong Golden Ale – Strong golden ales are fruity, top-fermented beers of pale golden color with a long-lasting foam, and a very high alcoholic strength ranging from 6 to 9%. Examples of this particular style would be Duvel and Delirium Tremens.
• Sour Ale – Belgian red-brown sour ale, or ‘Flemish old brown’ is a unique style produced in the region of Roeselare, in the South-West of Flanders. The color comes from reddish barley malts used for its brewing, and from a long maturation in oak barrels. Red beers have a raw and fruity taste, sometimes not so far from Lambic and the derived fruit beers, although the manufacturing of these families of beers are completely different. They are often filtered and pasteurized, with an average ABV around 5.5%. Examples would be the Belgian Verhaeghe Duchesse De Bourgogne and the Belgian-style Nørrebro Viking Oud Bruin.
• Saison – Saisons, French for “season”, are regional specialities once typically brewed in farmhouses or small breweries in Wallonia, mainly in the province of Hainaut. Traditionally, these beers used to be brewed in the winter to be consumed during the summer. Saisons are typically golden to orange in color, fruity, yeasty, hoppy with moderate bitterness, and medium in alcoholic strength. Examples would be the Belgian-style beers Nørrebro Saison Lambic Pinot Noir and Ommegang Hennepin (a Cooperstown, NY-based, Duvel Moortgat-owned brewery).
• Lambic & Gueuze – Lambic is brewed from a grist composed of 70% barley malt and 30% unmalted wheat. Then the wort is exposed to the air which provides the wild yeasts that will start the fermentation process. Aged hop (thus less bitter) is added for preservation. Lambic is matured for at least two years in oak barrels. Young lambic is slightly sour, old Lambic has greater acidity. Gueuze is sour and sometimes harsh, usually without bitterness. The color is golden to light amber. Carbonation can be champagne-like. An example would be Boon Oude Geuze.
• Pils – A Pils is a bottom-fermentation (lager) beer, light straw to golden color and crystal clear. Hops are dominant with a slightly bitter taste and a long and delicate, almost floral flavor. The beer is always filtered and saturated. It contains an average 5% of alcohol. It is a highly thirst-quenching and digestible beer that one must drink cold. Examples would be the common Stella Artois and its superior American cousin Victory Prima Pils.
• Amber Ale – Amber Ales are somewhat similar to Pale Ales made in Great Britain. Some are labeled as Ale, others as Special to distinguish them from standard lager beers. They are top-fermenting beers with an amber color obtained by using a colored or caramelized malt. They are slightly hopped with soft aromatic hops, a yeast taste, and a spicy and soft savor. Their spicy taste is often derived from the yeasts used, but sometimes spices are actually added. The alcohol content is slightly higher than in Pils. Examples would be Dieu du Ciel Dernière Volonté and Ommegang Rare Vos.
• White Ale – White beer is usually brewed from equal quantities of pale malted barley and raw wheat, sometimes with the addition of oats. It is spiced with coriander seeds and dried Curaçao orange peels. Examples would be Alchemist Sterk Wit (2004 Gold at GABF) and Allagash White.
• Special – Under the type “Special”, unsurprisingly, we find a great diversity of beers that do not fall into a well-defined category. These beers are often the product of a brewing tradition attached to a given region, but some are on the contrary the creation of innovators. An example would be Gulden Draak.
• Fruit Beer – Fruits, juice or extracts have been added to beer for a very long time, especially with Lambic. Kriek (cherry) and Framboise (raspberry) are two traditional styles, famous in Belgium. Peach is also a common addition to this type of beer.
  Kriek is Lambic fermented with sour cherries, traditionally coming from Schaerbeek (a district of Brussels). The cherries are left in for several months, causing a refermentation of the additional sugar. Typically there is no sugar left at the end of the fermentation, thus traditional kriek has a fruit flavor without sweetness. A traditional example would be Lindemans Kriek and a non-traditional (gluten free) example would be Alchemist Celia Framboise (2009 Gold at GABF).

I can’t imagine anyone not being able to find something that they really like in all of that. Little question as to why it is relatively common to hear that someone likes “Belgian beer”. When you do hear that, of course, you can nod your head knowingly… and then scratch your head and wonder just which of the “Belgian” styles of beer they might be talking about.

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