Often known as the country of beer, Belgium offers to beer lovers an impressive variety of products. At least 700 beers can be found.
In spite of the variety of local beers, belgian people are quite sober. Indeed they drink "only" 93l per inhabitant and per year (that is 5 to 6 33cl bottles per week).
Belgium is famous because of its top fermented beers and also its spontaneous fermented beers brewed only in the area around Brussels.
Prepared with slightly roasted malt, an amber beer is recognizable thanks to its "caramel" or "amber" color. It is sweeter and contains more alcohol.
Glossary of avalaible pictograms
The fermentation is called "spontaneous" because the brewer doesn't add any yeast. Beer is stored in the open air and yeasts from the environment naturally ferment the beer. These yeasts only live in the Senne valley and Payottenland, consequently these country beers are brewed only in the area around Brussels.
Beers brewed this way, that can be identified thanks to their acid taste, are called "lambic".
Refermentation in the bottle is due to the addition of yeasts, and sometimes sugar, in the beer while bottling. Then beer is stored in a hot (68°F to 77°F) fermentation room for a few weeks before being sold.
Once begun, refermentation goes on during the conservation of the beer. Consequently taste and alcohol content evolve all along its ageing.
Because of the presence of yeast, you're likely to see a little sediment at the bottom of the bottle and beer can be a bit cloudy.
Beer brewed with an usual quantity of malt. As malt provides sugar for the fermentation, single malted beers usually have a medium or low alcohol content.
Glossary of avalaible pictogramsIngredients



Beer with a light foam. These beers should be served in a glass quite tall in order to obtain a beautiful collar, and with a head thiner than the body to help the foam to form.
Tip: serve a first part of the beer and begin to enjoy. Then serve the rest of the beer to obtain some foam again.
As the foam is light, thirsty people can drink this beer from the bottle :-)
Brewed only in the area around Brussels, Kriek is a Lambic in which sour cherries are added. Traditionally, entire cherries are added (around 200g per liter of Lambic) in oak casks in order to macerate in Lambic.
Nowadays, some breweries use cherry juice instead of entire fruits.
Moreover, traditional Kriek is a quite sour beer. Consequently, some breweries add some sugar in order to make their beer more "accessible".
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Drink alcohol sensibly and in moderation