Belgian Beer Paradise

8th Trappist Beer coming from Austria!

Rumors are confirmed: an 8th Trappist Beer is coming. Following the website Trappist-beers.com the beer should come from a Monastery in Austria, only 2 hours from the German large city Munchen/Munich.

Let’s hope the family of the Trappist beers will be expanded and we can taste next year a new Trappist Beer.

For your information:A Trappist beer is a beer brewed by or under control of Trappist monks. The sales of Trappist Beers help the monks to be self-supporting and extra’s go to the renovation of the Monasteries or social organisations.

Tags: 8th trappist beer, belgian beer, trappist, trappist beer
Category Belgian Beer, Trappist beer |

Buy Westvleteren Trappist at supermarket?

One of the 7 official trappist beers is even in Belgium very hard to find or buy.  Uptill now, every time you want to buy a Westvleteren Trappist, you have to give a phonecall to the monks in the abbey. After one month, you can drive to the monastery itself and get there one beer-chest of 24 bottles (that’s the maximum).

But maybe this scenario will change in future. The monks of Westvleteren are tempting to sell their luxury trappist in the local Belgian supermarket ‘Colruyt’.  They are thinking to put ‘luxe and present boxes’ of their holy liquid on the supermarketshelves in 2011.

Why they are doing this? Not just to make more money, but because the monastery in which they are living, needs a strong refurbishment.

Westvleteren Trappist Beer

Westvleteren had been many times elected as ‘best beer in the world’.  It is/was the last official trappist beer which was not commercialised. Uptill decades ago, trappist beers in Belgium were only sold for

covering basic life maintenance of the monks.

And there is also good news for non-Belgian residents. Last week, the Monastery of Westvleteren announced to export another 70 000 boxes to other countries including US, France or Italy. You can read the whole article on the Trappist Beers Website.

Tags: beers from belgium, belgian beer, strong beer, trappist, westvleteren
Category > 11%, Belgian Beer, Belgian Beer Glas, Trappist beer |

Rodenbach [roodenbagg] – Rodenbach Grand Cru is the most refreshing beer in the world, Michael Jackson said

Belgian Redhead

Red beers are quite popular in Belgium. Most of them, you will find around Brussels, or in the province of West Flanders (West-Vlaanderen). The red colour comes from the dark malts used in their production.

Red beers are mostly blends of young and old brews. (like Geuze, although the taste of a red beer is not such sour).

Rodenbach Beer may be called the most famous beer of the Belgium seaside (if we forget West-Vleteren for a little moment). If you go to the seaside, you should drink a glass of Rodenbach, in combination with a delicious portion shrimps out of the Northsea. Fantastic combination! (my secret: go to Ostend, they serve in many places delicious and fresh shrimps!)

2 types of Rodenbach

If you have ever drunk a Rodenbach, probably it were a ‘Classic’ one [Roodenbagg klassyk]. This classic is a blend of mature and new brews. If you like the Classic version, go one step along, and try the Rodenbach Grand Cru. It’s made pure from the aged beer and has a much more complex flavour.  It’s really worth trying. By the way, beerpope Michael Jackson called the ‘Rodenbach Grand cru’ “The most refreshing beer in the world”.

More about the history of Rodenbach?

In 1821, the four Rodenbach brothers (Pedro, Alexander, Constantijn and Fernand) invested in a small brewery in Roeselare, in the West Flanders province of Belgium. After 15 years, Pedro and his wife, Regina Wauters,  bought the brewery from the others and Regina ran the business while Pedro served in the Belgian military. Their son Edward later took over the brewery (1864) and, it was during his directorship that the brewery saw great growth. And again a son took over the brewery: Eugene (Edwards son) became the owner in 1878. He travelled to England where he learned how to ripen beer in oak barrels and then mix old and young beers. It was this that became the method of producing beer that Rodenbach became famous for. Only in 1998 the brewery was sold to Palm Brewery, which belongs to one of the bigger brewer families in Belgium.

Rodenbach has a very typical red beer taste, very ‘different’ and unique: you like it, or hate it.

More info about Rodenbach Beer:

Brewery: Palm Brewery

Price of a bottle in the Belgian Supermarket: 50 Eurocents per bottle (small)

Volume of Alcohol:  5,2 %

Taste: fruity, unique, medium-sour, character

Score: 7,8/10

Location Brewery Rodenbach

Tags: amber, rodenbach
Category Belgian Beer, character, fruity beer, i have to drink one more beer, middle sweet beer, Palm brewery, Red Beer, Rodenbach, unique |

‘Blauw’ Bockor Beer [blow bier] – the lovely ’80 relived – independent beerreview

Be prepared for a pilsener beer that will grew in popularity, read my lips!

[slideshow]

That doesn’t know that ‘Blauw beer’ (in Flemish, ‘blauw’ means blue)  is a new Pilsener beer. The beer was officially at the market in 1938. It was the follower of the ‘Gent Pils’, which was also brewed by Remi and his son Omer Vander Ghinste.

Blauw bier is a very soft beer. Luckily the colour is not blue, but very nice. It’s a perfect pilsener just to drink before a meal, as aperitive. Or just on a sunny terrace. Blauw bier is brewed at the ‘Bockor brewery’. This Bockor brewery is a smaller brewery in Bellegem (West-Flanders). They also produce some fruit beers like Kriek Max and Guezes, but later more about this (they are not my favorites).  In the ’80, the Blauw Pilsener beer was extremely popular.

At the moment, you only can drink the Pilsener in some trendy pubs or restaurants in Belgium. But it will not take very long or a new ‘Vedett’ (real marketingbeer and ‘hero’ in Dutch) is born. A revival of the ’80?

• Brewery Bockor, Bellegem (close to Kortrijk). Originally: ‘Gent Pils’. Bockor is a combination of two words: ‘the French ‘or’ (or Gold), and the German ‘Bock’ (or pint). Together Bock-or, or a ‘golden pint’.
• Price of Blauw bier in Belgian horeca: 1,9 EUR/bottle
• Volume of Alcohol: 5,1%
• Score: 6,9/10

Brewery Bockor – location:

Tags: >5%, Blauw Beer, bottom-fermented, Brewery Bockor
Category Belgian Beer, Belgian Pilsener Beer, softy beer, story behind Belgian Beers |

Kasteelbier – Independent review of this Belgian Beer by a local

Category > 11%, > 8/10(score), >10% alcohol, >8% alcohol, Belgian Beer Glas, brown beer, dark beer, flavour, i have to drink one more beer, litorice, middle sweet beer, sweet beer, top-fermenation, top-fermentation |

No paid reviews at this Beer blog!

Ola. A brewery in Belgium just have contacted me ‘if I didn’t want to write something about their beer’.  I’m sorry, mister Brewery, but that I don’t do. Of course, I always want to drink Belgian beer for free (I’m a volunteer beer drinker, and a volunteer blog writer), but I will never write advertisements at this site. So if you’re sure of your beer, send it to me, and I will taste it (objectively). And if it’s worth -and only then- I will post something at this blog to my readers.

Category Belgian Beer, blog, general |

Leffe Radieuse – Independent review of this dark abbey beer: if you’re a newcomer in Belgian beers, taste it!

http://beersfrombelgium.wordpress.com

This evening a Leffe Radieuse had accompanied me. What a great company!

Leffe Radieuse is without doubt a very balanced beer and one of my favourites in the Leffe-gamma. Yes, you read it well: there is not only one Leffe. You have 5 kind of Leffe beers:

• Leffe blond
• Leffe Dubble
• Leffe Triple
• Leffe 9 degrees
• …and this Leffe Radieuse

Leffe Radieuse is made of water, hops, coriander, mais, and yeast. The colour is gold ‘automn’ brown. You can taste in this complex beer some fruits (citrus, banana), herbs (coriander). You should drink it at special courses, not the ordinary ones. Or just at a beautiful evening. A tip: drink it very cold, I like it the most when it’s standing in the fridge for a couple of hours, in a medium cold glass. The foam is creamy, very nice.

There’s one negative point I must give to this beer. It’s a 100% subjective one. The beer is made by the international economic top player brewery Inbev (merger from Belgium Interbrew and Brasilian beer company), who had bought the leffe beer. So I’m also tasting this aspect of standardisation/mass-product in the Leffe. Like so many good brewery’s/monastery brewery’s, Inbev have bought them, and closed them. So, the production is now in Leuven, a total different part of Belgium, for ‘industrialisation’ reasons. What a shame!

In the past, the Norbertine canons of the Abbey in Namur (Namen) were brewing this beer. The first Leffe has been made in 1142, and the water of the river ‘La Meuse/de Maas’ was been used for the delicious abbey beer.

But industrialisation closed maybe some very charming and historical past, but not the quality of the beer, which is still very good.

Category > 8/10(score), >8% alcohol, Abbey Beer, beer with herbs, Belgian Beer, foam, inbev brewery, leffe, leffe radieuse |

St. Bernardus abt 12 – our Opinion about this dark brown and strong Belgian Beer | beersfrombelgium.wordpress.com

St Bernardus Beer - brewery Sint Bernardus Watou Belgium

Sometimes a man has to be for or against. I’m not for.

St. Bernardus Abt is far from a bad beer. But for me it’s just a ‘too’  Beer. Too fruity and too complex. Too much rich aroma. It’s like someone doing too much her best.

St. Bernardus was called in the past a ‘Trappist‘, but has lost this status in 1992. The beer is not produced within the walls of a Trappist Monastery.

The colour is dark brown (you can not look through it), and it is a beer with a high fermentation (also after bottling).

St. Bernardus is not the only beer produced by the sympathic brewery St. Bernardus. (located at the ‘Trappisten’-street).

• St. Bernardus abt 12 (=), 10%, Barley wine
• St. Bernardus blond (=), 6%, Blond ale
• St. Bernardus pater 6 (=), 6,7%, Double dark
• St. Bernardus prior 8 (=), 8%, Double dark
• St. Bernardus triple (=), 7,5%, Triple

St. Bernardus, (Independent-brewery) Trappistenweg 23, 8978 Watou,

Tel.: 003257/38.80.21, Fax:057/38.80.71

Turnover: 12500 hl/year

10,5% alcohol

Score: 6,9/10

More info: http://www.sintbernardus.be/en/beers.html

Category >10% alcohol, Belgian Beer, brown beer, dark beer, flavour, St. Bernardus, St. Bernardus brewery, sweet beer |

Listen to the ‘Kwak’ – Kwak beer from Belgium [kwak]

[slideshow]If you say ‘Kwak’ beer, then automatically everybody thinks at glass. What a shame. The Kwak beer is a very sophisticated amber brown beer, brewed in Belgium by the family brewery ‘Bosteels’ in Buggenhout.

The name Kwak comes (maybe) from the beer ‘Pauwel Kwak’, which was brewed in the 18th Century.

But other sources say that the name ‘Kwak’ comes from the sound the glass makes when you’re drinking the Kwak beer.  At a certain moment, when your glass is still half full the special shape of the glass makes a [Kwak] sound. This Kwak-moment is a real pointe for every passionate beerdrinker. There is a fysical explanation for the Kwak-sound (the air that collapses etc.), but just let remember it’s a kind of beer-magical moment!

The Kwak-beerglass is held upright in a wooden stand, and resembles a stirrup cup. The glass should origenally designed for coachman. They could bind the glass at their horse, without spilling the delicious liquid. Moreover, in times of Napoleon, the coachman was not allowed to get off his horse. By the special glass they could still enjoy a beer without breaking the law.

But be sure, with or without a horse, this Kwak beer is delicious.

Drink it by preference at 5-6 grades, in the special glass. Fantastic in combination with some ‘old Bruges’ Cheese and some syrup. It’s brewed in the place Buggenhout in a typical family brewery. Father Ivo and son Bosteels collect also ancient coachmen, in respect with their brand. They enjoy to show up with their horses in traditional riding clothes.

Sense:(some) herbs, soft, sweet

Taste: malty, licorice, thursty, I have to drink one more

8,4%

Creamy foam

[googlemaps http://maps.google.be/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=nl&geocode=&q=kwak+bier&sll=51.015236,4.202076&sspn=0.083156,0.222988&g=buggenhout&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=13&iwloc=A&cid=15434468849417195185&ll=51.01372,4.201845&output=embed&w=425&h=350]

Category >8% alcohol, amber beer, beer with herbs, Belgian Beer, Belgian Beer Glas, Brewery Bosteels, dark beer, foam, i have to drink one more beer, Kwak, middle soft beer, middle sweet beer, story behind Belgian Beers |

The first Belgian Pilsener Beer ever: Cristal Alken [kristal Alke]

The first post of this Belgian Beer Blog goes to the first real pilsener beer in Belgium: Cristal Alken

In the lovely village Alken, in the Province ‘Limburg’ (east),  there is an even more lovely brewery. The first Belgian Pilsener Beer ‘Cristal Alken’ has been brewed here in 1928 ànd still operates!

The beer tastes fresh, and a little bit more bitter than other Belgian Pilsener beers like Stella Artois or Jupiler. Very nice foam, little sparkling effect in the pint. The beer is preferrable served in a ‘tulp’ (‘tulpin’ in English): an elegant version of a Pils-glass. There could be a golden edge around the top of the glass.

Long ago, the whole village of Alken (and surroundings) was working in this brewery. Cristal Alken was thé number one Belgian Pilsener beer. Due to globalization of the beer industry, Cristal Alken was bought by Heineken Group. It still has dominance in his area ‘Limburg province’, but moved from a national to a regional focus.

The most famous customer of Cristal Alken, is the king of Belgium. Cristal Alken proudly is the only pilsener beer who deliver to the king’s palace of Belgium.

Location of the Pilsener Beer Cristal Alken:

[googlemaps http://maps.google.be/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=&daddr=Grootstraat&hl=nl&geocode=FYJSCAMdqf1QAA&mra=ls&sll=50.876841,5.30762&sspn=0.011333,0.027874&ie=UTF8&ll=50.876841,5.30762&spn=0.011333,0.027874&t=h&iwloc=ddw1&output=embed&w=425&h=350]

More info:

http://www.cristal.be – official site

http://cristalalken.blogspot.com – blog about Cristal Alken Beer

Tags: beer, beer review, beer tasting, BeersfromBelgium, belgian beer, Cristal, Cristal Alken, pilsener beer, quality beer
Category Pilsener Beer |