Belgian White Beer

White beer usually contains coriander, orange peel and hops, has a second fermentation in the bottle and generally has a fresh taste.

(E.g. Hoegaarden.)

Vlaams bruin or Flemish sour brown ale

Flemish old brown comes from the Oudenaarde area East Flanders (brands like Liefmans and Roman) and from Roeselare in West Flanders (Rodenbach). The East-Flemish beers, like Lambic, also used as a base for fruit beers.

Saison

Beers from Wallonia and the French border area with an alcohol content of about 5 percent, brewed in the winter to quench the thirst in summer.

Lambiek

Lambic is a local beer from the Zennedal, which includes also Brussels, and especially from the Pajottenland, southwest of Brussels. The beer is produced by spontaneous fermentation with wild yeast from the air. This beer is brewed with malted barley, malted wheat and very old hops and it is fermented in oak barrels.

The name "lambic" is either a corruption of the name of the town Lembeek or the parable of the caldron with the alembic of gin distillers.

Abbey Beer

Abbey beer is a beer of high fermentation brewed by the priests of an abbey or named after an abbey.

Usually, there are two types, a relatively sweet dark brown (the 'double') and a generally sharper and heavier blond (the 'triple'). In general they have a second fermentation after bottling, this is called "secondary fermentation in the bottle ". Often they use old convent recipes.

Some Abbey beers are brewed in a brewery in the grounds of the abbey by the monks themselves or by third parties.

Some abbeys entrust the brewing to commercial breweries.

Even abbeys without a brewing tradition often connect their name to a beer while some beers are named after disappeared monasteries.

Under these abbey beers, we find a special type, the Trappist, which must comply with strict rules.

Trappist beers are especially appreciated by the beer experts. If you think about it the traditional ones have centuries of experience and the beers are round, balanced and really tasty!

Trappist beer

The International Trappist Association is an association of Trappist abbeys and monasteries. There are now thirteen abbeys and monasteries members of the association. They were mainly in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. But now we have now a few new Trappists, one Italian, one Austrian, and even one from the United States.

To be able to get the "Authentic Trappist Product" beers must comply with the following rules:

1. The product must be brewed by a member of the monastery or under its supervision.
2. It must be brewed within the walls of the abbey.
3. Most of the profits should be used for social purposes.

They used to be only seven beers that could use the "Authentic Trappist Product" label. The traditional 7 Trappist were the six Belgians (Achel, Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, and Westvleteren) and the 7th was La Trappe from the Netherlands. But we have had new additions to the list in the last years, Engelszell from Austria, Tre Fontane from Italy, Cardeña from Spain, Mont des Cats from France, and Spencer from the United States.

• Achel (BE) It has recently lost its label but I am going to keep it on the list because it is definitely worthy.
• Chimay (BE)
• Engelszell (AT)
• La Trappe (NL)
• Orval (BE)
• Rochefort (BE)
• Spencer (US)
• Tre Fontane (IT)
• Westmalle (BE)
• Westvleteren (BE)
• Zundert(NL)
• Mont des Cats (FR)
• Cardeña (ES)
• Tynt Meadow (EN)

After La Trappe in 1997 worked with Bavaria, the beer could no longer use the "Authentic Trappist Product" label, but since October 2005 it recovered this designation. Also unfortunately Achel has recently (January 2021) lost their Trappist label.

The most recognized beer in the rankings is the Trappist Westvleteren 12. Since in 2005, the beer was elected "best beer in the world" it is very hard to get because the beer is brewed only on a small scale.

Westvleteren Trappist beer is brewed by the monks of the Westvleteren Abbey of Saint Sixtus (West Flanders).

The beer is not sold in stores and restaurants and is officially only available at the abbey and the cafe in front of the abbey (Café In De Vrede).

Since 2006, your must book by phone before you can go to pick up the beer. You need to call the Beer Phone and provide your name and registration number of your car to get an appointment. This is really difficult as the lines are only open during one specific morning to take the orders of one type of beer to pick up two days the monks choose and the amounts of calls is hundred times bigger than the number of calls they can take.

And luckily now, we can finally book via the web page. I have not tried this yet because every time I know that I am going when I check is all taken already.

There brew four types of beer from which the lightest is only for the residents of the abbey. And three types are sold to the public:

• 6 Six (green bottle cap): blond beer of 5,8%
• 8 Eight (blue bottle cap): brown beer of 8%
• 12 Twelve (yellow bottle cap): brown beer of 10.2%

I love the 8 and the 12, they are delicious. And they have also Westvleteren ice cream for Bob.