More Beers in Belgium

A really great Belgium beer

Beers and battlefields - the story of my trip to Belgium! I have already done a few posts on the beers of Belgium and also a few posts on the Flanders Fields battlefield. There is just so much to talk about, that the number of posts are growing.

So back to the Beer story! After my very interesting trip to the battlefields, I returned to my hotel in Brugge. It was a long day and the sun sets pretty early, so I decided to stay in my hotel. There was quite a good reason for my decision, apart from the fact that I am 60 years old and had a long day.  I had seen that most of the beers I wanted to test (the Tappist beers that I have spoken about) were waiting for me in the fridge at the hotel. So down to the bar I went to start tasting the Trappist beers.  There were three different ones which I could taste. These were Rochefort 8, Chimay Blue, and Westmalle Dubbel. I started off with the Rochefort 8. Now these were beers that I would go back to Belgium for! The Rochefort  beers are produced with their own unique yeast strain (as a microbiologist, this interests me) and the water used in from a calcium rich water source above the monetary. This is a dark malty  beer with a high alcohol content of 9.2%. This was a great start to the real Belgian beers.

The next one on my list was the Westmalle Dubbel. This started off in the 19th century when the Westmalle brothers, who called this "liquid sandwishes", would have two glasses of beer for breakfast! The current Westmalle Dubbel was created in 1926. This was the first to be called a dubbel and is considered a heavy dark beer. Based on my very uneducated beer palate, I enjoyed the Westmalle Dubbel more than the Rochefort.

Next on the list was the little bottle with the blue label - Chimay Blue with 9% alcohol content. The Belgian beers are not light beers by any standard of imagination. This is most definitely the beer that I will go back to Belgium for. Maybe as this was the third one I had tasted, all with very high levels of alcohol in, my taste buds may have been a bit confused. The next day I found one of the Chimay Blue beers on tap and this was the first beer of the day. My taste buds were not that focused. I loved this beer! The monks  decided to brew a special beer for Christmas in 1948 and since then, everyday has been Christmas. This is a full powered beer which highlights the complexity of the Trappist style of beers.

Beer on tap

Most of the information on the beers of Belgium can be found on the website belgium.beertourism.com

In the pub were I found the Chimay Blue on tap, I also found a Bourgogne des Flandres. This was another dark beer that I really enjoyed. This is a beer which is aged in oak Barrels!

Before I left Belgium there was still time to have another Mossel Pot with yet another beer. This was a Steen Brugge. A brown ale. Yet one more excellent Belgium beer. 

All too soon, my very short stay in Belgium was coming to an end. I was on my way to Holland to attend a congress. Much to my surprise, when I arrived in my hotel, the bar had two more Trappist beers. These were Netherlands Trappist beers, so I just had to try them! The first was a La Trappe Wit. This is a lighter style of beer. When I let the beer boys in Bloem know that I had tasted a Trappist Wit, they nearly cried - so I just had to take a few home with me. There was also a La Trappist Bubbel, which was as good as the Trappist beers in Belgium. The hotel also had Affligem on tap. Beer on tap is always preferable to bottled beers, so I just had to taste a few of these! When looking up this beer, it had received a rating of 86. This is another Belgian beer. This is a dense brown ale brewed with dark malt. This follows the Trappist beer tradition, but cannot be called a Trappist beer.

Beer with a Mossel Pot - how good is that?

Beer tourism! A really great idea! Cannot wait to go to Belgium again. So many more beers to taste. I broght a few of the beers back for the brewer

Really enjoying the Belgium in Bloemfontein.

guys. They really enjoyed tasting the beers!

Trappist Wit