Belgian Beer School, our selection of beers

With this chapter we finish the series on the Belgian school and its beer styles.

Belgium is not the largest producer in Europe, but it is the most special and the one that exports the most proportionally. It produces 2 billion liters of beer for a country with 11 million inhabitants. To put it in perspective, it produces ten times more per inhabitant than the world average!

But in addition, the country has exported many wildly popular styles among beer lovers. We bring you a small selection of the two main types of Belgian beers that we have in our shop: abbey beers and seasonal beers.

For starters: abbey beers

To start with this tasting of Belgian beers, logically we have to offer you with the most popular style of this school, the abbey beers. And nothing better than starting with a Castrum Belgian Blond, a light blonde, with a citrus and floral aroma and slightly spicy notes on the palate. It's perfect for an aperitif!

Then you could move on to a Tripel, with a much higher alcohol level but incredible drinkability. Here we might recommend the FDL Project Pirouette Belgian Tripel, a Belgian abbey-inspired beer that won the Bronze Medal at the 2019 Barcelona Beer Challenge.

To end this tour of Belgian monasteries (and their beers!), the ideal would be to taste a Dubbel, such as the Domus Santo Tomé Belgian Dubbel, which in addition to recovering the tradition of a bottle with clear medieval reminiscences, it retains the characteristics of this style but with a slight aroma of cherry. This more robust beer can be accompanied by something stronger to eat red meat or oily fish.

To continue: seasonal beers

Traditionally, these beers were made with the summer months in mind, when farmers needed extra hydration and freshness. Some today contain Sugar Candyr to make them more drinkable. Despite their apparent simplicity, they are quite complex due to the yeast with which they are fermented (similar to that of red wine) and high fermentation temperatures (above 32ºC).

Saison

Do you want to try this category of Belgian beer, where you can find so many differences between one and the other? Start by trying the Saison Beer from El Cantero, which from Murcia offers us a fruity, smooth and very tasty beer, ideal to drink with olives!

To give this peasant style a twist, you can continue with a Humo, a Smoked Saison from Yakka, also from Murcia (could it be that this style goes especially well with the Murcian orchard?). In this beer, the traditional recipe has been maintained but adding a subtle smoky touch.

Witbier

Then we recommend the Witbier, wheat beers with a moderately sweet aroma and high drinkability. To try this style of Belgian beer with more than 400 years, we suggest the Mussa witbier with lemon, an adaptation to the Valencian orchard of Belgian beers. And continuing with those citrus and orange flavors, you can have the Flanders Witbier, from our friends at La Sagra, who have added some coriander seeds to its fruity aroma. You will also find coriander and orange in the Rebel Soldier Blanche with Mango, which, as its name suggests, uses green mango during its fermentation to provide all its aroma.

Belgian Dark Strong Ale

And after this fruity explosion, you can finish this tasting of Belgian beers with the subcategory of Belgian Dark Strong Ale, which are dark and complex beers, with a mixture of malt, black fruits and spicy elements These are the two options proposed by the Basque brewery Bidassoa, one Belgian Strong Dark Ale more “classic” and the Nexus Oloroso Barrel Aged, a variation that has aged in Oloroso barrels for seven months and rested in the bottle for six more.

The truth is that there is no better way to get to know the beer styles than by trying them, don't you think? These are just some suggestions, but if you take a look at our store you can find many more beers. We have them classified by style, so if after all the posts, you want to try a specific one, it's very easy! A la votre!