Belgium, in Western Europe, has long been associated with beer making. Records show that “two thousand years ago in Belgium,” her women were brewing beer from their cereal harvest, specifically barley. The liquid was then left to ferment inside ceramic pots until the “Gauls came up with the idea of …wooden barrels….” According to G. Grout, author of “Histoire de la Belgique et de son Peuple,” the Gauls or Celts arrived in ancient Belgium around 6th century B.C.
Fall of the Roman Empire, Belgian Trappists and Abbey Breweries
With the arrival of Julius Caesar’s Roman legions, the Gauls discovered Christianity. Abbeys were built for the monks. “After the fall of the Roman Empire…the monks took an interest in beer, and breweries were set up in every abbey.”
According to Martin Lodahl, author of “Belgian Trappists and Abbey Beers,” the Trappist monks, who in 1664 ruled out meat eating, favoured beer for its nutritive values, especially during the Lenten fasts.
Beer was also the prescribed beverage, especially during “those periods of cholera epidemics” and spread of other water-borne diseases.
The Arnoldus Group of Belgian Brewers
Today, the Arnoldus Group of 115 Belgian beer brewers, named after Saint Arnold, the patron saint of beer brewers, produce some 19,564,655hl or 7.4 billion glasses (25cl each glass) of beer annually.
Though it is the biggest supplier of the inebriating beverage, the organisation has taken seriously its social responsibilities. Members uphold the Arnoldus Covenant, which promotes “sensible beer drinking; prevention of alcohol abuse; a code on the marketing techniques…” especially for the sake of young consumers.
The Arnoldus campaign called Bob, in cooperation with the Institut Belge pour la Sécurité Routière, wherein someone in a group stays sober, and drives everybody home safely, has become the “symbol of the fight against drunk driving.”
The Covenant has since then been adopted by the Belgian Wine and Spirits Confederation, the Federation of Wholesalers, and the hotel and catering industry.
Beer-Making in Belgium
Tradition and technology complement each other in brewing some of the best beers in the world. The main ingredients are barley, yeast, water and hops. According to age-old traditions followed by Belgian Beer Paradise brewers, the process starts with milling and brewing the grains; filtering the mash and boiling the liquid with hops; more filtering and cooling, then fermentation begins.
The length and temperature of fermentation may differ, according to various recipes, and to the type of beer the Master Brewer wants to create.
The lagering process or “low fermenting,” between 6 and 10°C, with the yeast sinking to the bottom of the vat, results to the lager and pils variety.
Another type of fermentation, called “spontaneous, use only wild yeasts and natural bacteria,” and the end product, “Lambic, Geueze and fruit beers like Kriek, Framboise.”
With the end of the fermentation process, the beer is left to mature, for weeks or years. More filtering follows, except for Geueze and Trappist beers, which continue to “ferment within the bottle.” The filtered liquid is destined for bottling or “tapped in barrels.”
Serving Beer the Arnoldus Group way
- Chill cask beer at +-3°C, and gourmet beer at +-6 to 8°C.
- To pour beer:
- Cask beer: Open the tap but do not let the first jet of froth go into the glass. Fill the glass in one go, tipping it to one side then upright as it catches the liquid. The froth should flow over the sides. Skim it off with a knife held at an angle. Rinse or wipe dry glass exterior.
- Thirst-quenching beer: Tip the glass slightly to one side, then raise it gradually to an upright position, and pour the beer in one go. The froth should flow over the sides. Skim the surface bubbles (carbonic gas) off the froth with a clean knife. Rinse or wipe dry glass exterior.
- Gourmet beer: This type of beer is served slowly, to create a creamy froth. Leave some of the beer in the bottle, so the glass could be topped up afterwards.
- For beers that undergo second fermentation in the bottle, the yeast deposit should be left in the bottom of the bottle. The bottle is then presented at the moment of serving the glass of beer.
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