Hi there,
It's been a while since my last post here. Apparently winter is at it's end, spring is coming, and I've been suffering a nasty flew, as I seem to be having the last 10 years around this period of the year :( But I think (hope) I'm over it, and feeling better again. So the last few weeks my head wasn't really "beer-minded" to be honest, hence the lack of posts here. Now, feeling better again, it's time to get back on track :)
Two weeks ago, we had our first "open" beer tasting at Bier Central. Anyone interested could join the tasting at a very reasonable price of €12,5 per person. The tasting was lead by Hans Bombeke, president of the ABC (Antwerps Bier College). Hans is a real beer expert and has been giving workshops about beer for many years. He is also a full-time teacher in beer-science, and though he doesn't admit it: he knows about everything "beer", especially Belgian beers.
We started around 8:30 pm and took around 2 hours. During those 2 hours the approx. 25 participants got tons of information about beer/tasting beer, and eventually tasted 6 beers covering a wide range of Belgian beer-styles.
The tasting started of with a hefty intro, giving us everything needed to enjoy a good tasting. During that intro we first got a ton of information about "beer" itself. It's ingredients, it's elements and everything needed to taste beer the right way. During this intro we got to drink a "De Koninck", or "bolleke" as it called here in Antwerp.
A bolleke has never been one of my favorites, but with all the information we got and the positive atmosphere, I have to admit that for the first time I actually liked it (and I was actually feeling sick that day).
As it was the first tasting, we got served a wide variety of beer-styles. Future tastings will focus on specific beer-categories, in which we will taste different beers from a specific beer-style. Now, we got to taste 6 beers all from different categories.
After the De Koninck we got a "3 Fonteinen Oude Gueuze". Allthough I liked this one very much, I noticed that several people didn't share that same feeling, which surprised me a bit. In hindsight this is of course a bit normal. Gueuze is a special and very typical Belgian beer-style, not known to the masses. You would probably have the same when you would do a cheese-tasting and started off with a bleu Rocquefort (while having never tasted different kinds of cheese). It's too much of the good, too soon. One's taste has to grow towards more complex tastes before being able to appreciate all the aromas.
The third beer was yet again a very typical Belgian style beer: a Rodenbach, an Old Flemish Red style beer. Rodenbach is a sweet-sour dark beer, with it's roots in the West-Flanders.
The fourth beer was another typical Belgian style which is most famous around the world: a trappist beer. For the occasion we got to taste a La Trappe Quadruple, a very strong, rather sweet amber-dark trappist, which was liked by many of the participants.
The next beer was yet again of a complete different style called a "Saison". The Saison Dupont was a very nice surprise for me, as I never tasted a saison before. Bitter-sweet and very easy drinking. I can imagine that this kind of beer is super during the summer.
Our sixth and last beer was a XX Bitter. As the name already reveals, this is a very hoppy and bitter-tasting beer. I was a bit reluctant to taste this, as very bitter is not my thing. But much to my surprise I actually liked it a lot, and is certainly a beer I will drink again!
This first beer-tasting sure proved to be a success and I'm looking forward to the next tasting on March, 3rd, where we will delve further in a specific category to explore more beers. Again, this coming tasting is open to anybody interested. Just mail me, or info@biercentral.be to reserve your place. Hope I will meet you there!
Greetingz,
Koen.
Showing posts with label beer categories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beer categories. Show all posts
Friday, February 18, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Bier Central beer reviews ... we have a plan!
Hi there everyone!
First of all, I wish everyone a very happy new year!! May you all get what you wish for, and a little more (of the good things)!!
I hope everybody enjoyed the new years'eve parties, we sure did!
Remember one of my earlier posts, in which I pointed out my new years resolution for 2011? In that post I said I wanted to taste (and describe) every beer we offer in Bier Central. All those beers are described in the "Bier Central Bier Encyclopedie".
The "Bier Encyclopedie" is our 86-page beer-menu that every visitor to our pub uses to make his choice of drink. Customers can also buy our "Bier Encyclopedie" for a very reasonable price, if they want to have a thorough look at it at home.
By now, we're already 4 days in the new year, and it's time to get started. But tasting 300+ beers is not an easy task :) ... Where do I start and how do I continue to bring it to a good ending? Honestly I was a bit confused and overwhelmed. Should I taste beers per category, or should I taste several types of beers of each style per tasting-session? How much beers should I taste per session? Where, and when should I taste them? It all seems very easy, but I promised myself to do it thorough, and as objective as possible.
This morning I had a quick chat with one of our beer-experts, Hans Bombeke, president of the "Antwerps BierCollege" (Antwerp Beer College). Hans gives us (the Bier Central staff) regular updates/workshops about beer and everything that comes with it. Presenting him the question in what order I should taste beers, he advised me to keep it simple, and just start tasting from page 1 to 86, in that order, so that you, the reader, can easily follow each tasting, using the "Bier Encyclopedie" (if you have it of course :).
Luckily our "Bier Encyclopedie" is already categorized, and is not an alfabethical list of all our beers.
A short recap of the categories, listed in the order as printed in the "Bier Encyclopedie":
So, using the list above, I should start with the beers on tap ... However, I will not :) ... As I want to start my tastings at home (as the tastings evolve, I will do them at the pub in the future), I have to start with bottled beers. So my first category will be the beers bottled in 75cl bottles.
As I've already learned the hard way, you should limit the number of different beers per tasting, and thus I can not taste one category in one tasting (20 beers is just too much :). So I will take one page per tasting max (each page has a maximum of 6 beers, some have less). One tasting per week, 50 weeks in the coming year ... that is about 300 beers ... It's gonna be tight, but we sure will try :).
Ok, we have a plan ... what's the next step? The first tasting!
Let's have a look at the first category: large bottles.
We have 20 different beers listed in that category. Wherever possible I will taste from a small bottle, rather than a big bottle, it's simply no use to drink 75cl of each beer to taste it. Taking the first page of that category, we see the following beers:
These will be the first beers in my "Bier Central beer reviews"!
Stay tuned to read the first tastings in the coming days!
Greetingz,
Koen.
First of all, I wish everyone a very happy new year!! May you all get what you wish for, and a little more (of the good things)!!
I hope everybody enjoyed the new years'eve parties, we sure did!
Remember one of my earlier posts, in which I pointed out my new years resolution for 2011? In that post I said I wanted to taste (and describe) every beer we offer in Bier Central. All those beers are described in the "Bier Central Bier Encyclopedie".
The "Bier Encyclopedie" is our 86-page beer-menu that every visitor to our pub uses to make his choice of drink. Customers can also buy our "Bier Encyclopedie" for a very reasonable price, if they want to have a thorough look at it at home.
By now, we're already 4 days in the new year, and it's time to get started. But tasting 300+ beers is not an easy task :) ... Where do I start and how do I continue to bring it to a good ending? Honestly I was a bit confused and overwhelmed. Should I taste beers per category, or should I taste several types of beers of each style per tasting-session? How much beers should I taste per session? Where, and when should I taste them? It all seems very easy, but I promised myself to do it thorough, and as objective as possible.
This morning I had a quick chat with one of our beer-experts, Hans Bombeke, president of the "Antwerps BierCollege" (Antwerp Beer College). Hans gives us (the Bier Central staff) regular updates/workshops about beer and everything that comes with it. Presenting him the question in what order I should taste beers, he advised me to keep it simple, and just start tasting from page 1 to 86, in that order, so that you, the reader, can easily follow each tasting, using the "Bier Encyclopedie" (if you have it of course :).
Luckily our "Bier Encyclopedie" is already categorized, and is not an alfabethical list of all our beers.
A short recap of the categories, listed in the order as printed in the "Bier Encyclopedie":
- Beers on tap (20)
- Large bottles (26)
- Trappist beers (20)
- Abbey beers (54)
- Gueuzes and Lambics (22)
- Kriek beers (20)
- Fruit beers (18)
- Speciale Belge beers (4)
- Flemish Brown ("Oud Bruin") beers (10)
- Belgian golden ales (8)
- Belgian White beers (8)
- Biere Brut beers (Champagne beers) (3)
- Saison beers (5)
- Speciality beers (119)
- Saisonal beers (and beers hard to get) (20)
So, using the list above, I should start with the beers on tap ... However, I will not :) ... As I want to start my tastings at home (as the tastings evolve, I will do them at the pub in the future), I have to start with bottled beers. So my first category will be the beers bottled in 75cl bottles.
As I've already learned the hard way, you should limit the number of different beers per tasting, and thus I can not taste one category in one tasting (20 beers is just too much :). So I will take one page per tasting max (each page has a maximum of 6 beers, some have less). One tasting per week, 50 weeks in the coming year ... that is about 300 beers ... It's gonna be tight, but we sure will try :).
Ok, we have a plan ... what's the next step? The first tasting!
Let's have a look at the first category: large bottles.
We have 20 different beers listed in that category. Wherever possible I will taste from a small bottle, rather than a big bottle, it's simply no use to drink 75cl of each beer to taste it. Taking the first page of that category, we see the following beers:
- Chimay Bleue
- Westmalle Triple
- Dominus Triple
- Ename Triple
- Gueuze Fond Girardin
- Iris 2007 Cantillon
These will be the first beers in my "Bier Central beer reviews"!
Stay tuned to read the first tastings in the coming days!
Greetingz,
Koen.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Champagne beers, "Biere Brut" ... beers for special occasions.
Hi there,
The end of 2010 is very near ... this will probably be my last post this year. Let me first start off with wishing everybody a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Have a great ending tomorrow, and an even better beginning. May all your wishes come true!
In this post I'd like to talk a little about our champagne beers. As most of us will party tomorrow-night, it's a good idea to toast to the new year with a good alternative to champagne, a champagne-beer, also called 'brut beers'.
But what exactly is "champagne beer"?
Champagne beer, or "Biere Brut" is a rather new and very interesting style of beer, which is primarily brewed in Belgium. It's not a true Belgian style beer as for example Lambic is, but Belgium is for sure the pioneer in this style (the first one ever made in this class is the Malheur Brut, brewed by De Landtsheer, here in Belgium :).
Champagne beers typically undergo a lenghty maturation, some of them are even cave-aged in the French Champagne region and finished using the "methode champenoise" to remove yeast from the bottle.
Champagne beers are usually rather high in alcohol (11 - 12% ABV) and very sparkling (highly carbonated). Colors range from very pale (just like champagne) to darker colors. Tastes and aromas are very rich and diverse, a true feast for all your senses, beer made for special occasions!
Just like champagne, champagne beers are usually only available in big bottles (75cl) and served alike: very cold in an ice-bucket, and drunk in champagne glasses.
Here, in Bier Central, we have the following champagne beers available:
Malheur Bière Brut (Brut Reserve)
Brewed by brewery De Landtsheer, this is a exclusive and rich beer, which is 3 times re-fermented in the bottle. The yeast in the bottleneck is removed using the "degorgement"-method.
Beer guru Michael Jackson quoted it as a new "World Classic"; suitable as an aperitif, dessert or digestive: strong but silky-smooth, with a powerfull, dry aftertaste and very aromatic.
Brewery: De Landtsheer, Buggenhout
Alcohol (ABV): 11%
Category: Brut beer
Malheur Dark Brut
(text below is copied from the celebrator.com site, click here to read the full review) The Malheur Dark Brut, which was initially called Black Chocolate and Brut Noir, was first introduced in 2003. The base beer is the Malheur 12. Spices are added in small quantities to this brew, though Manu would not reveal what they were! He told me: "The key to using spices in a beer is adding just enough that they add to the flavor complexity of the brew, but not so much that anyone could guess which spices are used."
Additionally, the Dark Brut undergoes two weeks of conditioning in American oak barrels. While the wood is American in origin, the barrels are made in France. Manu commented: "We use the barrels to add a subtle wood taste to the beer. We tested for quite a while to see what length of time the beer should be aged in the barrels so that this process would impart the taste we wanted in the Dark Brut: perceptible, but not too much.” He continued, “The reason we used American oak is that it imparts its wood character to the beer much more quickly than French oak." (end copied text).
Brewery: De Landtsheer, Buggenhout
Alcohol (ABV): 12%
Category: Brut beer
DeuS, Brut des Flandres
This extraordinary and sparkling "DeuS, Brut Des Flandres", brewed with barley, is fermented and matured in Belgium, refermented in the bottle, followed by the traditional "remuage" and "degorgement" in France. Serve chilled (2-4* C) and gently into a chilled flute or chalice glass.
Brewery: Bosteels, Buggenhout
Alcohol (ABV): 11,5%
Category: Brut beer
Where-ever you have your new-year's eve party tomorrow, start your new year with something different, and try a champagne beer, I'm sure you'll love it!
As mentioned before, here at Bier Central, we have our 123party, which will be a blast for sure. I hope you will be there too, there are still tickets available! If you're not there, I wish you a very happy new year, and hope you'll be visiting this blog and/or pub on a regular basis. Cheers!
Greetingz,
Koen.
The end of 2010 is very near ... this will probably be my last post this year. Let me first start off with wishing everybody a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Have a great ending tomorrow, and an even better beginning. May all your wishes come true!
In this post I'd like to talk a little about our champagne beers. As most of us will party tomorrow-night, it's a good idea to toast to the new year with a good alternative to champagne, a champagne-beer, also called 'brut beers'.
But what exactly is "champagne beer"?
Champagne beer, or "Biere Brut" is a rather new and very interesting style of beer, which is primarily brewed in Belgium. It's not a true Belgian style beer as for example Lambic is, but Belgium is for sure the pioneer in this style (the first one ever made in this class is the Malheur Brut, brewed by De Landtsheer, here in Belgium :).
Champagne beers typically undergo a lenghty maturation, some of them are even cave-aged in the French Champagne region and finished using the "methode champenoise" to remove yeast from the bottle.
Champagne beers are usually rather high in alcohol (11 - 12% ABV) and very sparkling (highly carbonated). Colors range from very pale (just like champagne) to darker colors. Tastes and aromas are very rich and diverse, a true feast for all your senses, beer made for special occasions!
Just like champagne, champagne beers are usually only available in big bottles (75cl) and served alike: very cold in an ice-bucket, and drunk in champagne glasses.
Here, in Bier Central, we have the following champagne beers available:
Brewed by brewery De Landtsheer, this is a exclusive and rich beer, which is 3 times re-fermented in the bottle. The yeast in the bottleneck is removed using the "degorgement"-method.
Beer guru Michael Jackson quoted it as a new "World Classic"; suitable as an aperitif, dessert or digestive: strong but silky-smooth, with a powerfull, dry aftertaste and very aromatic.
Brewery: De Landtsheer, Buggenhout
Alcohol (ABV): 11%
Category: Brut beer
Malheur Dark Brut(text below is copied from the celebrator.com site, click here to read the full review) The Malheur Dark Brut, which was initially called Black Chocolate and Brut Noir, was first introduced in 2003. The base beer is the Malheur 12. Spices are added in small quantities to this brew, though Manu would not reveal what they were! He told me: "The key to using spices in a beer is adding just enough that they add to the flavor complexity of the brew, but not so much that anyone could guess which spices are used."
Additionally, the Dark Brut undergoes two weeks of conditioning in American oak barrels. While the wood is American in origin, the barrels are made in France. Manu commented: "We use the barrels to add a subtle wood taste to the beer. We tested for quite a while to see what length of time the beer should be aged in the barrels so that this process would impart the taste we wanted in the Dark Brut: perceptible, but not too much.” He continued, “The reason we used American oak is that it imparts its wood character to the beer much more quickly than French oak." (end copied text).
Brewery: De Landtsheer, Buggenhout
Alcohol (ABV): 12%
Category: Brut beer
This extraordinary and sparkling "DeuS, Brut Des Flandres", brewed with barley, is fermented and matured in Belgium, refermented in the bottle, followed by the traditional "remuage" and "degorgement" in France. Serve chilled (2-4* C) and gently into a chilled flute or chalice glass.
Brewery: Bosteels, Buggenhout
Alcohol (ABV): 11,5%
Category: Brut beer
Where-ever you have your new-year's eve party tomorrow, start your new year with something different, and try a champagne beer, I'm sure you'll love it!
As mentioned before, here at Bier Central, we have our 123party, which will be a blast for sure. I hope you will be there too, there are still tickets available! If you're not there, I wish you a very happy new year, and hope you'll be visiting this blog and/or pub on a regular basis. Cheers!
Greetingz,
Koen.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Winter and Christmas beers ... what are they?
This time of year is the time of winter and Christmas beers. It's a tradition that goes way back. But what are they exactly and why are they so special?
Winter and Christmas beers are brewed in the winter and finds it's roots when cooling installations didn't exist yet. Fermentation is much harder at higher temperatures (during summer months). As the inventories of hops and barley had to make place for the new crops of the new year, brewers used these last supplies to make unique beers.
As these beers are rich in these ingredients, they are typically stronger, with more taste and aroma than their "normal" versions. Back then, these brews were often used as a Christmas gift that the breweries gave to their employees and special customers.
Christmas beer is usually a maltbeer of high fermentation, and is amber colored. To give those beers extra taste, brewers often add spices like honey, cinnamon, cloves and/or licorice.
As they are usually higher in alcohol-percentage, they are ideal for those cold winter months.
Here in Bier Central we have the following Christmas beers:
- Leffe Christmas - 6,6% - InBev
- Gordon Xmas - 8,8% - Anthony Martin
- N'Ice Chouffe - 10,0% - Duvel Moortgat/Brasserie D'Achouffe
- WinterKoninck - 6,5% - Brouwerij De Koninck
- Val-Dieu Noel - 7,0% - Brasserie Abbaye Du Val-Dieu
- Stille Nacht - 12% - De Dolle Brouwers
- Gouden Carolus Chrismas - 10,5% - Het Anker
- Barbar Winter Bok - 8,0% - Brasserie Lefebvre
- Avec les Bons Voeux - 9,5% - Brasserie Dupont
So, whenever you pass by, be sure to ask for one of the above, as they are seasonal beers, they might not be in stock later on!
Enjoy!
Greetingz,
Koen.
Winter and Christmas beers are brewed in the winter and finds it's roots when cooling installations didn't exist yet. Fermentation is much harder at higher temperatures (during summer months). As the inventories of hops and barley had to make place for the new crops of the new year, brewers used these last supplies to make unique beers.
As these beers are rich in these ingredients, they are typically stronger, with more taste and aroma than their "normal" versions. Back then, these brews were often used as a Christmas gift that the breweries gave to their employees and special customers.
Christmas beer is usually a maltbeer of high fermentation, and is amber colored. To give those beers extra taste, brewers often add spices like honey, cinnamon, cloves and/or licorice.
As they are usually higher in alcohol-percentage, they are ideal for those cold winter months.
Here in Bier Central we have the following Christmas beers:
- Leffe Christmas - 6,6% - InBev
- Gordon Xmas - 8,8% - Anthony Martin
- N'Ice Chouffe - 10,0% - Duvel Moortgat/Brasserie D'Achouffe
- WinterKoninck - 6,5% - Brouwerij De Koninck
- Val-Dieu Noel - 7,0% - Brasserie Abbaye Du Val-Dieu
- Stille Nacht - 12% - De Dolle Brouwers
- Gouden Carolus Chrismas - 10,5% - Het Anker
- Barbar Winter Bok - 8,0% - Brasserie Lefebvre
- Avec les Bons Voeux - 9,5% - Brasserie Dupont
So, whenever you pass by, be sure to ask for one of the above, as they are seasonal beers, they might not be in stock later on!
Enjoy!
Greetingz,
Koen.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
N'Ice Chouffe, another Xmas beer, now available ...
Winter definately arrived here in Antwerp ... it's freezing cold ... not really my favorite season. Luckily we have Christmas beers to get warm :)
Another one in our range of Christmas beers is the N'Ice Chouffe, of the La Chouffe brewery of the equally named popular beer. The N'Ice Chouffe is a strong dark beer that will warm you up during the winter months. It's spiced (with thyme and curacao) and has a light hop taste. Unfiltered and refermented in the bottle.
N'Ice Chouffe is available in 75cl bottles and has 10% alc./vol. ... Ideal to share with a friend/girlfriend and get all warmed up ;)
Enjoy.
Greetingz,
Koen.
N'Ice Chouffe is available in 75cl bottles and has 10% alc./vol. ... Ideal to share with a friend/girlfriend and get all warmed up ;)
Enjoy.
Greetingz,
Koen.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Gordon Xmas, now on tap!
Gordon Xmas is a seasonal Christmas beer with an intense flavour and a lot of body. The flavour unfolds gently but steadily from the first mouthful. The stringent woody notes combine with a sweeter base without either flavour gaining the upper hand. The sweetness lingers on the palate, the stringency remains in the throat.
Alcohol: 8,8%
Colour: Dark Rubis
Fermentation: Top
Type: Scotch Ale
Enjoy!
Greetingz,
Koen.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Leffe Christmas beer, now on tap!
Christmas-time is coming and so are all the christmas-beers ...
From now on, we have the first one (Leffe Christmas) on tap.
Click on the image below for more info about this gorgeous beer ...
I'll soon inform you about all the other christmas beers we'll be serving!
Greetingz,
Koen.
From now on, we have the first one (Leffe Christmas) on tap.
Click on the image below for more info about this gorgeous beer ...
I'll soon inform you about all the other christmas beers we'll be serving!
Greetingz,
Koen.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
A little more about our beers ...
In my first post I talked a little about the concept of BierCentral, being an experience and not just a beer pub. But to be 'not just a beer pub', it does need a lot of beers in the first place.
So what beers are we talking about?
Bier Central is about Belgian beers. Belgium has a rich and long tradition when it comes to brewing beer. More so, Belgian beers are seen as the standard and reference worldwide when it comes to brewing high quality beers (see this article for example).
Having that in mind, Bier Central choose to focus just on beers brewed in Belgium. With over 750 different kinds of beer (probably even more actually) it's not easy to make a good selection of what to serve and what not (ideally we'd like to have them all of course). To make a clear overview of all the beers we serve, we categorized all our beers into categories.
Here are the categories as used in our "Bier Encyclopedie" (our beer menu):
Trappist beers
There are seven Trappist breweries in the world, 6 in Belgium, one in the Netherlands. We serve all but one (but, if you read my previous post, that may change in the future :).
Abbey beers
Abbey beer is a term associated with beer brewed by non-monastic types, frequently under such a license. These beers cannot be clled "Trappist", but usually derive their name from shrine or some other religious icon. It is typical for abbey beers to mimic the styles of Trappist beer. Doubles and triples, such as appear in Westmalle's line, are very popular.
Gueuze and Lambic beers
Lambic is one of the oldest beer styles in the world, only to be found in Belgium. Lambic requires several years to come of age.
Kriek beers
Kriek is a style of Belgian beer, made by fermenting lambic with sour Morello cherries (with the pits).
Fruit beers
Fruit beers combine the character of gueuze with fresh fruits and pit aromas, most of which are extra flavoured with syrups.
Speciale Belges (amber ales)
Speciale Belges or amber ales are mostly pleasant easy drinking beers, not particularly high in alcohol and are not at all sour.
Flemish Brown beers
A Flemish Brown - or Oud Bruin - can boast the same boldly lactic character of the lambic family but generally without the horsey character.
Belgian golden ale beers
Belgian golden ale is characterised by a very high ABV, around 9%. It resembles to the abbey style tripel, but has several significant differences. tripels are frequently cloudy where for example Duvel is quite clear. It has a cleaner taste, revealing malt and hops.
White beers
White beer is made of pale malts and unmalted wheat and lacks filtration.
Bière brut beers
Bière brut, one of the newest styles, is a top-shelf crossover beer. The few Bière brut beers, all brewed in the same city, typically undergo a lenghty maturation. Typical features are: high in alcohol, highly carbonated and sometimes spiced.
Saison beers
Saison is referred to as "country beer", designed to be medium in alcohol and refreshing and strongh enough to survive the winter when there were no fridges or cooling systems.
Specialty beers
Beers with a specific, pronounced taste or extraordinary brewing process that can't be put inside a different category.
Seasonal beers
There are a number of 'seasonal' beers that are best enjoyed and sold at the appropriate time of the year, as an ideal accompaniment to the weather mood and fare of the season.
As you can see the list of categories is already quite long. In future posts I'll go deeper into some of these categories and actually sum up some of the actual beers.
Greetingz,
Koen.
So what beers are we talking about?
Bier Central is about Belgian beers. Belgium has a rich and long tradition when it comes to brewing beer. More so, Belgian beers are seen as the standard and reference worldwide when it comes to brewing high quality beers (see this article for example).
Having that in mind, Bier Central choose to focus just on beers brewed in Belgium. With over 750 different kinds of beer (probably even more actually) it's not easy to make a good selection of what to serve and what not (ideally we'd like to have them all of course). To make a clear overview of all the beers we serve, we categorized all our beers into categories.
Here are the categories as used in our "Bier Encyclopedie" (our beer menu):
- Beers on tap
- Large bottles
- Trappist beers
- Abbey beers
- Gueuze and Lambic beers
- Kriek beers
- Fruit beers
- Special Belges or amber ales
- Flemish Browns
- Belgian golden ales
- White beers
- Bière brut
- 'Saison' beers
- Specialty beers
- Seasonal beers and beers that are hard to get
Trappist beers
There are seven Trappist breweries in the world, 6 in Belgium, one in the Netherlands. We serve all but one (but, if you read my previous post, that may change in the future :).
Abbey beers
Abbey beer is a term associated with beer brewed by non-monastic types, frequently under such a license. These beers cannot be clled "Trappist", but usually derive their name from shrine or some other religious icon. It is typical for abbey beers to mimic the styles of Trappist beer. Doubles and triples, such as appear in Westmalle's line, are very popular.
Gueuze and Lambic beers
Lambic is one of the oldest beer styles in the world, only to be found in Belgium. Lambic requires several years to come of age.
Kriek beers
Kriek is a style of Belgian beer, made by fermenting lambic with sour Morello cherries (with the pits).
Fruit beers
Fruit beers combine the character of gueuze with fresh fruits and pit aromas, most of which are extra flavoured with syrups.
Speciale Belges (amber ales)
Speciale Belges or amber ales are mostly pleasant easy drinking beers, not particularly high in alcohol and are not at all sour.
Flemish Brown beers
A Flemish Brown - or Oud Bruin - can boast the same boldly lactic character of the lambic family but generally without the horsey character.
Belgian golden ale beers
Belgian golden ale is characterised by a very high ABV, around 9%. It resembles to the abbey style tripel, but has several significant differences. tripels are frequently cloudy where for example Duvel is quite clear. It has a cleaner taste, revealing malt and hops.
White beers
White beer is made of pale malts and unmalted wheat and lacks filtration.
Bière brut beers
Bière brut, one of the newest styles, is a top-shelf crossover beer. The few Bière brut beers, all brewed in the same city, typically undergo a lenghty maturation. Typical features are: high in alcohol, highly carbonated and sometimes spiced.
Saison beers
Saison is referred to as "country beer", designed to be medium in alcohol and refreshing and strongh enough to survive the winter when there were no fridges or cooling systems.
Specialty beers
Beers with a specific, pronounced taste or extraordinary brewing process that can't be put inside a different category.
Seasonal beers
There are a number of 'seasonal' beers that are best enjoyed and sold at the appropriate time of the year, as an ideal accompaniment to the weather mood and fare of the season.
As you can see the list of categories is already quite long. In future posts I'll go deeper into some of these categories and actually sum up some of the actual beers.
Greetingz,
Koen.
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