Belgium is a land with an enormous rich “drinking and eating culture”. The most typical Belgian things are eating and drinking products, such as the world famous Belgian beer and Belgian chocolate, next to the very famous Belgian waffles and Jenever. Although the typical Belgian kitchen isn’t that famous in the world, experts say that the Belgian kitchen can easily stand the comparison with the famous French kitchen.

Belgian beer :

The Belgians are passionate about their beers and have been for centuries. As a result, the choice and variety of beers available is amazing . More than 300 Belgian beers can be bought all across the country and if you also count the beers bottled in very small quantities there are about 1000 Belgian beers. One interesting point is that because so many Belgian beers are bottle conditioned you don't see a lot of taps. It is not uncommon to find a pub with 500 beers but only 5 taps.

• Orval : The single beer they produce is probably the driest of the Trappist ales. They began brewing prior to the French Revolution, but that conflictwas among the destructive events of the monastery’s history.
• Chimay : The most commercial of the Trappist brewing entities, this monastery has a history of taking beer production very seriously.
• Westmalle : The originator of the widely imitated triple style. Beer production became commercial in 1920.
• Westvleteren : The smallest producer of the brewing abbeys. Their beer is very expensive cause if you want it you have to go there - they don't ship!
• Rochefort : this monestary began brewing in 1595 - that's quite a heritage! Their 3 beers are ale dark and fairly sweet ales.
  For more information go to : http://www.beerparadise.ltd.uk/trappist.htm

ABBEY ALES

Although no longer brewed in abbeys, these Ales retain all the full flavour of the traditional monastic recipes. A lot of the beers which call themselves abbey beers are actually commercial breweries, which brew a beer from an ancient monastery recipe. Often they are also copies of the trappist beers.
Doubles and triples, such as appear in Westmalle's line, are very popular.
It should be mentioned that Abbey Ales can be thought of in two categories: the ones legitimately associated with a monastic order and the ones that aren’t. Affligem, as stated above, is brewed under the licence of a real monastery. Others, like St. Feuillien is named after adefunct abbey, thus it is an abbey ale by name and not by association. Some examples of famous abbey ales are Leffe, Maredsous, Grimbergen and Affligem. For more information go to : http://www.beerparadise.ltd.uk/abbey.htm

PILSNERS

Belgium produces vast amounts of Pilsner style lagerswhich are extremely commercial and represent good value for money. The two leading brands are Jupiler and the now famous Stella Artois. These 2 beers are nowadays brewed by the Belgian brewery Interbrew, which is the second biggest in the world.
The name Stella Artois originates from the brewery Artois, which brewed in the beginning of the 20th century a special Christmas-beer, which was so good that it was called “Stella” (latin for “star”). Today Stella Artois is known as “the beer of the land of beer”. Typical about the proud ness of Belgians for their own beer is the following joke. What is Heineken? Well, when the workmen of Interbrew clean the barrels of Stella Artois, the waste water that drains away, is Heineken.

More information about these 2 pilsners can be found at:http://www.interbrew.com/index2b.html
Other brands are Maes and Cristal Alken.

STRONG GOLDEN ALES

These ales are characterised by their strength. Probably the best known is Duvel, which should be served chilled and is one of the world's most distinctive and individual beers. Other brands are Delirium Tremens and the Bush beer, which is one of strongest beers with an alcohol rate of 12%. The Delirium Tremens is besides the fabulous taste famous because the bottles are white and covered with a pink elephant. If you drink too much of Delirium Tremens you can get very ill: Delirium Tremens is also the name of a disease for people who are addicted to alcohol. For more information go to : http://www.beerparadise.ltd.uk/belgstg.htm

LAMBIC BEERS AND FRUIT BEERS

These complex, dry beers have an unexpected taste to the unflavoured of a good Chablis. Fruit beers are now gaining in popularity. Lambic beers have had cherries or raspberries added during a further fermentation to produce a unique flavour. These beers are very typical for the region around Brussels, more specified the region of the Zenne-valley. The thing that makes Lambics unique is the manner of their fermentation. The raw materials for Lambic beer are unremarkable—a mixture of malted and unmalted barley and wheat. The magic in the making of these beers happens when the wort, the name given to the warm starchy liquid from which all beer is fermented, is allowed to spontaneously ferment through the action of wild airborne yeasts. To assist in this process, many Lambic breweries generally locate their flat fermenters in the "attic" and have well-ventilated roofs that look incapable of keeping out the rain.A very typical kind of beer in this category is the Gueuze, which has the nickname: the champagne of the beer world. The art of making Gueuze is more about the blending process than the brewing one. A typical Gueuze will be a blend of one, two, and three year-old Lambic beers from ancient oak vessels which are a breeding ground for the colonies of bacteria strains that give Gueuze its sour character. Immediately after blending, the Gueuze is bottled and it undergoes a secondary fermentation using the active yeasts and sugars still remaining in the young Lambic..A good dry Gueuze can be cellared for twenty to thirty years, becoming more mellow and earthy through the passage of time. At least two years cellaring is well worth the effort. Unsurprisingly, traditional Gueuze is a beverage much better suited to the temperament of a wine collector than the average beer drinker. The Gueuze has become a victim of its own success. During the Interbellum the Gueuze was one of the most famous drinks in Belgium. A mayor of Brussels even gave it once to several guests of honour instead of champagne. Here the name “champagne of Brussels” originates. Due to the huge succes the breweries were obliged to commercialise the production process, so that a lot of the original qualitygot lost. Also the original character disappeared, because almost all gueuze which is sold nowadays is sweetened to attract more people. Typical brands are the Belle-Vue cherry beer and gueuze, the Cantillon Gueuze, Lindemans cherry beer, … The Cantillon and Boon gueuze are almost not sweetened, original gueuzes, where on the other hand the gueuze of Belle-Vue is a lot more commercialised, with added sugar to the beer. So if you want to taste an original gueuze you should taste one of the first two breweries. However the gueuzes from these breweries can only be found in specialized pubs and shops. Another beer in this category you should definitely taste is the Lindemans Faro, which is an old, regional Lambic Beer. It's made from malt, wheat, hops, water, yeast. Candy sugar is added before the bottling takes place. It is a clear, light red coloured faro lambic with a small, creamy head. For more information about the authentic way of brewing gueuze and lambic
go to :
http://www.breworld.com/breworld/brewers/cantillon.html
http://www.lindemans.be/

For more information go to : http://www.beerparadise.ltd.uk/lambic.htm

The use of reddish barley malts contribute to both the colour and the taste, making these some of the most unusual beers to be found anywhere.The typical brand is the Rodenbach, which has an alcohol rate of 5% and has an intense, slightly sweet and sour, fruity flavour. The aftertaste is refreshing and thirst-quenching.
For more information go to : http://www.beerparadise.ltd.uk/belgsour.htm 

The rich variety of brewery the Kluis (owned by Interbrew) which produces the Hoegaarden White

These beers are rapidly gaining in popularity. A proportion of wheat makes for a tarter, sharper, more refreshing and summery beer than pure barley can produce. The best known is the Hoegaarden White: the authentic Belgian wheat beer, top fermented and then refermented in the bottle. Hoegaarden White has a distinctive hazy yellow colour, and an alcohol content of 5%. This is a sweet/sour beer with a little bitterness. For more information go to : http://www.beerparadise.ltd.uk/belgwht.htm

Very much an elusive speciality in Belgium let alone over here. Usually these beers are produced in very small old breweries. They are classic in style and should be savoured. They come in corked champagne style bottles and are distinctly orangey in colour, fruity and yet crisp. For more information go to : http://www.beerparadise.ltd.uk/saison.htm

More beerlinks ?

http://www.dma.be/p/bier/0_3_uk.htm

Cheers !!!