Beer tour to Belgium

Start a new day with a new beer!

I offer beer tours in the cities of Belgium, as well as trips to breweries and monasteries where this unique product is brewed.

To understand Belgium, you need to get acquainted with many beers produced in this country. These drinks are strong and differ from each other in aroma. They owe their fame to Trappists, the Belgians’ tendency to experiment to Michael Jackson, but not to the one who lived in the United States.

Belgian tradition involves brewing strong beer. In most countries, this drink contains 3-5% alcohol, and in Belgium 6-9%. It is worth remembering that locals drink beer not because of the alcohol content, but because of the unique taste. It's hard to believe that it wasn't the coveted interest that brought Belgian beer fame, but Michael Jackson. But this is not about the American singer who died in 2009, but about a British journalist and writer who came to the country in the 90s and visited all the breweries. He was an expert in beer tasting and, although the tradition of brewing in Belgium dates back to the Middle Ages, it was thanks to Jackson that the fragrant drink became so popular.

Jackson wrote down his "adventures" with Belgian beer, publishing many articles and books. He also created a series of programs on the subject. Thanks to this, Belgian brewing became known in the Anglo-Saxon world - in Great Britain, Ireland, the USA and Canada. Contribution to the success brought the adoption of smaller browers larger plants. Over the past 20 years, large groups have emerged that include numerous beers. Belgian beer is a very attractive product and should be sold outside the country.

Where, however, did the phenomenon of the taste of Belgian beer, which has up to 500 different types, come from? To understand this, we need to look through the prism of the Belgian national penchant for experimentation. You can compare the Belgian tradition of brewing with the German. The Germans make a very good beer, but brew it according to the 16th-century Reinheitsgebot legal norm established by a Bavarian prince. According to its statutes, only water, barley malt, yeast and hops can be used for production. They have always been more conservative: 90% of German beer is traditional lager. Belgians have always loved experimenting. For centuries, they tried to add almost everything to beer: corn, rice, fruits and spices. The result was not always satisfactory. Today, manufacturers know what ingredients to use and in what proportions to make the drink unique.

Belgian beer traditions are also to be found in religion. Beer at monasteries monks brewed in the early Middle Ages. They perfected the technology and brewed every time the best drink. Not all of these monasteries survived to this day, some of them turned into ruins, and new ones appeared on them, which also tried to resume the preparation of beer. Tradition and recipe are preserved. Belgium has 25 varieties of monastery beer, but most of them are not made in monasteries.

The history of the famous Trappist beer is much shorter. During the French Revolution, they were forced to leave their monastery in Normandy. Trappists fled to Belgium, they wanted to use a boat to get from Antwerp to the province of Quebec in Canada to start a new life there. Fortunately for Belgium, the ship never sailed, and the bishop of Antwerp offered Trappists land 20 kilometers from the city. So Westmalle Abbey was born and Trappist beer was born. Currently, it is produced in six monasteries: three of them in the Flemish region - Westmalle, Vestvleteren and Ahel, and three more in Walloon - Shima, Orval and Rochefort. And to this day the brewing is done by monks. Trappists brew beer in small quantities according to the principle that there may not be an abbey in a brewery, but a brewery in an abbey. Their beer is very strong (on average, 6-7% alcohol) with a characteristic, very intense aroma. Naturally, beer is produced in different varieties, which differ in aroma and ignore the classic classification of beers. It's also relatively expensive.

Belgians specialize in upper fermentation, which occurs at a relatively high temperature of about 22 degrees. It is the high temperature that makes the beer acquire the aromas of spices, herbs or fruits added to it during the brewing process. They also use spontaneous fermentation, that is, uncontrolled. This old method is that yeast and other microorganisms settle on the open surface of the barrel, which after cooling begins to ferment on its own. This method of fermentation is used only in Belgium, in the vicinity of Brussels and in the valley of the Senna River, and the beer produced in this way belongs to the Belgian family of beers of the lambic type. Spontaneous fermentation gives the drink a sour taste, resembling green apples. Today, this technology uses 15 breweries. They only produce beer in winter because the warm summer temperatures are not suitable.

A slightly sour taste gives beer and so-called mixed fermentation - a technology used in southern Flanders, in the vicinity of Roselar. Here, the characteristic taste is given by lactic acid bacteria in the aging process in wooden barrels. But it does not resemble sour apples, rather sour yogurt.

Belgium is also associated with the white wheat Hoegaarden, the cherry Creek, the 8.5 percent Duvel of Moortgat’s brewery, the light lager Maes or the light Ciney. Unique names and less popular beers are Mort Subite (sudden death), Stropken (rope) or Verboden Vrucht (forbidden fruit).

Belgians can talk about beer for hours. They emphasize that they are most pleased with the changing culture of drinking this drink. 20 years ago, 90% of the market was lagers, 10% - special beers. Today, this proportion is 70% and 30% respectively. They are seeing a resurgence of small brewers, and more and more new beers are appearing on the market. People want to drink a unique beer. This is a challenge for large producers of lager beer.