The best Belgian beers

Julio Cerezo - Beer Sommelier
Director of Sabeer Beer Academy

We often hear enthusiasts refer to the best Belgian beers, always in a laudatory way and often to point them out among their favourites.

Of course, we have no objection to this, but it is important to be a little more precise because, of all the traditional European brewing schools, Belgian beer is probably the most varied in terms of origin, styles and ingredients, and it is therefore difficult to classify the best Belgian beers within a homogeneous group

To make a quick overview of the Belgian beer scene, it is worth bearing in mind one aspect that significantly conditions the profile of its beers, and that is that in this country one can find very different breweries, in terms of size, business strategy and owners, such as:

• The large companies, which have achieved an enormous production volume covering classic Belgian styles but above all other international mass-market styles such as golden lagers.
• Family-owned companies, generally medium-sized, highly specialised, and clinging to the local tradition of each region. They have played an important role in preserving such unique styles as spontaneously fermented beers and Lambic.

• Monasteries and their beer-brewing monks, whose tradition goes back to the Middle Ages and who have made brewing one of their sources of income.
• The small craft brewers  who, as in every other region of the world, have emerged over the last few decades, multiplying the country's already enormous variety of styles.

With such a diversified business fabric and a deep-rooted beer culture among its citizens, it seems logical that the diversity of styles is the characteristic feature of Belgian beers. An almost unmanageable variety, but which, by way of a quick summary, can be grouped into the following families:

Belgian Ale:  Of varying colour, intensity and alcoholic strength, their common denominator is the aromatic complexity provided by the top fermenting yeasts, offering fruity and spicy notes. Many of them are classified as dubbel, tripel and quadrupel depending on the greater or lesser amount of malts used in their production; the origin of others is linked to the work in the fields, such as the Saison beers.

Sour beers:  Brewed with wild yeasts that produce a much longer fermentation time. They are also more mature, ageing for months or even years in large wooden casks. Some, such as Greuze, are the result of blending young beers with older ones, others have fruit added to balance the dominant acidity or sugars, such as the Faro beers.

Lager:  bottom fermentation may not be the most traditional in the country but Belgian brewers leave no space unexplored and are also major producers of lager beers that are consumed locally and exported all over the world.

Given this enormous diversity of styles and brewers, it seems bold to point out the best Belgian beers without committing the injustice of forgetting some of them because of the difficulty of knowing them all, or without falling into the subjectivity of our personal tastes. The best thing to do is to approach them to enjoy them and draw our own conclusions. The task is as long as it is appetising, and to begin with, here are some examples of what you can find in our supermarkets.

Leffe Blonde (6,6% ABV): Golden abbey beer with aromas of ripe fruit and spicy notes of cloves. Moderate bitterness on the palate, balanced by the sweetness of its malts.

Grimbergen Double Ambrée (6,5%): Also of monastic origin, it is dark copper in colour and its aromatic complexity includes notes of toasted cereal and caramel. It has a good balance on the palate and a medium body.

Gordon Finest Chrome (10,5%): A strong lager with a high alcohol content. The aroma and flavour are dominated by cereal notes with fruity hints and an intense liqueur sensation.

Cheers!