TASTING BELGIAN BEERS

When our friends from Southern France, Claudie and Pierre, came to visit us they wanted to try out as many different Belgian beer sorts as possible without of course dancing on the table or falling under ! We managed to have them tasted 10 different sorts of beer in 4 days !

Beer in Belgium, dates back to the age of the first crusades, long before Belgium became an independent country. Under Catholic church permission, local French and Flemish abbeys brewed and distributed beer as a fund raising method. The relatively low-alcohol beer of that time was preferred as a sanitary option to available drinking water. What are now traditional, artesinal brewing methods evolved, under abbey supervision, during the next seven centuries. The Trappist monasteries that now brew beer in Belgium were occupied in the late 18th century primarily by monks.  The first recorded sale of beer (a brown beer) was on 1 June 1861. (more to read about the history of Belgian beer is here)



These once were as strong as a good wine. Of course the Belgian drinks as much wine as the Frenchs, but they have to import it. To my knowledge, no wine is produced here.



These once besides the one on the top left are so called "table" beers (bières de table)  and are drunk during meals. They usually don't contain more alcohol than 4 to 5 % while the others can contain up to 12 % or more.






and if you want to get really dizzy here is a list of all Belgian beers (apparently 2442 !)