Beer Culture

Beyond Trappist: lambic, gueuze, witbier, the café, the glassware ritual and UNESCO-listed Belgian beer culture.

Part of Belgium

21 moments in this segment.

1. 1132-01-01 — Orval Abbey. The romantic ruined-and-living Trappist abbey whose single beer is a grail.
2. 1133-01-01 — Belgian Abbey Beers. The abbey-brewing tradition that gave the world dubbels, tripels and the glassware ritual.
3. 1800-01-01 — Faro. The sweetened, easy-drinking old cousin of lambic — Brussels café-beer history in a glass.
4. 1821-01-01 — Rodenbach — Flemish Red. The oak-aged sour red-brown ale of Roeselare — a category of its own.
5. 1838-01-01 — Westvleteren 12. The Trappist beer of Sint-Sixtus, sold only at the abbey gate — routinely voted the best on Earth.
6. 1844-01-01 — Saison Dupont. The benchmark farmhouse saison of Hainaut — the Walloon harvest-beer style that conquered craft brewing.
7. 1852-01-01 — Achel. The smallest and most remote of the Belgian Trappist breweries, on the Dutch border.
8. 1862-01-01 — Chimay. The Trappist brewery of Scourmont Abbey — its red, blue and white caps known worldwide.
9. 1899-01-01 — Rochefort. The Trappist ales of Saint-Remy Abbey — rich, dark and revered by beer hunters.
10. 1900-01-01 — Gueuze. Blended, bottle-refermented lambic — the "Brussels Champagne", sour and complex.
11. 1900-01-01 — The Belgian Café (Bruin Café). The brown café — wood, beer mats and unhurried conversation, the social heart of a town.
12. 1900-01-01 — Lambic & Spontaneous Fermentation. The wild-yeast beer of the Zenne valley — Belgium’s most unusual brewing tradition.
13. 1900-01-01 — Cantillon Brewery. The living lambic museum-brewery of Brussels — spontaneous fermentation kept alive.
14. 1900-01-01 — Kriek (Cherry Beer). Lambic steeped with sour cherries — the fruit beer that charms newcomers.
15. 1923-01-01 — The Strong Golden Ale. Bottle-conditioned strong blonde ales — deceptively drinkable, dangerously strong.
16. 1932-01-01 — Orval Abbey. The Trappist abbey whose distinctive dry-hopped ale and fairytale legend define Belgian monastic brewing.
17. 1934-01-01 — Westmalle Tripel. The abbey that arguably defined the "Tripel" style — golden, strong, foundational.
18. 1940-01-01 — Westvleteren 12. Brewed by Trappist monks at Sint-Sixtus — repeatedly voted the best beer in the world.
19. 1950-01-01 — A Glass for Every Beer. The Belgian ritual: each beer in its own branded, shaped glass. Form follows beer.
20. 1966-01-01 — Witbier (Hoegaarden). The cloudy wheat beer with coriander and orange peel, revived by Pierre Celis at Hoegaarden.
21. 1980-01-01 — Pauwel Kwak & the Glass. The amber ale served in its iconic coachman’s stirrup glass and wooden holder.