The history of Belgian beers

What are the best Belgian beers?

On the waves of the beer revolution that came to us from America, distinctly bitter and sour-tasting beers captured the hearts of many beer lovers. They proved a welcome change in a beer landscape where pilsner was dominant. For a while it seemed that sour ales and IPAs (India pale ales) would even surpass the time-honored classics from traditional European beer countries, such as Belgium. But look: in 2024, of all days, Belgian beer stands tall, and on the table of countless beer lovers.

Classic beers

Traditionally, four European countries are considered the classic beer cultures: England, Germany, the Czech Republic and Belgium. Not surprisingly, all of these countries are located in the north of Europe: in fact, across Europe runs the "beer line. South of this line, where it is warmer, the grape grows and there people make (and drink) mostly wine. Above that line, where the grape is less comfortable in its skin, grain grows rampantly: here people make (and drink) mainly beer. It is fun to remember that beer, the oldest man-made alcoholic beverage, comes from the area east of the Mediterranean Sea and flourished thousands of years ago in the Middle East and Egypt - after which it found its way north. Wine took the place of beer around the Mediterranean after humans discovered how to make it in grape-rich areas - several thousand years after humans brewed the first beer.

The Czech Republic is considered a beer country because of the "invention" of pilsner beer: in 1842, the town of Pilsen (Plžn) developed the type of beer that to this day is the world's most widely drunk beer classic. Both Germany and England maintain their traditions to this day: strongly regionally bound specialties such as weizen or rauchbier (Germany) and real ale (England) have never "disappeared" as a result of the rise of pilsner. Belgium completes the quartet of "classic beer cultures" with unforgettable beer styles such as double, triple and barley wine (adbijbier), beer of spontaneous fermentation (lambic, gueuze, kriek), white beer, saison and mixed fermentation (Flemish Red/Brown).

Belgian beer

Let us not forget that numerous improvements to the brewing process have been discovered and implemented since the mid-nineteenth century - for example, we have only really known what yeast is, and what it does, since the 1860s. Consequently, many classic beer styles, if we take the beer of today, have changed beyond recognition from one or two centuries ago. In addition, many famous Belgian beers are often much younger than you tend to think.

Just about every monastery or abbey brewed beer in the Middle Ages - mainly for their own consumption, and the surplus was sold to further support the livelihood of the monastic inhabitants and to maintain the buildings. The Napoleonic Revolution put a brutal end to that: around the year 1800, all monasteries were closed and expropriated, and brewing came to a halt. It sometimes took a century before people picked up the stirring stick again, often starting over with new recipes and greatly improved brewing equipment. Some monasteries stopped opening altogether: however, later beers were developed, named after an abbey or monastery, with the brewery then paying royalties to that monastery's order or legal successor. Those beers themselves are not necessarily based on ancient recipes - and if they are, they will taste decidedly different from centuries ago, when technology was simply less advanced. But left or right: in terms of the diversity and variety of colors, aromas and flavors of beer, Belgium undoubtedly takes the historical crown.

Belgian beer classics at Uiltje

In 2021, Rodenbach brewery celebrated its bicentennial. A wonderful example of a brewery and beer that is regarded worldwide as a total Belgian beer classic, and thus only so 'young' after all. The 'Rodenbach Classic' has received numerous awards worldwide and was hailed by the greatest beer writer of all time (Michael Jackson, the Beerhunter) as the "most refreshing beer in the world.

Much has been said and written about the beer style saison, with the traditional story of a beer that originated on farms and homesteads being increasingly questioned. Let's leave the genesis for a moment: beyond all doubt stands the saison of Brasserie Dupont. It is generally regarded as the standard by which any saison may be judged. But tradition is never set in stone, and always subject to change: thus the interpretation of saison according to KEREL is in our eyes a modern classic.

A textbook example of a modern classic is, in our opinion, the St. Bernardus Abbot 12. The brewery (once started as a cheese factory) was asked to brew the beer of the Trappists of St. Sixtus in Westvleteren in 1946 and was given the recipe, yeast and even the brewmaster. Since 1992, the monastery itself again offers its beer with the seal "authentic trappist product," and St. Bernardus continues to brew under its own name. The Abbot 12, a lump of a barleywine, is considered one of the best of its kind and will only celebrate its ^75th anniversary in 2021.