A standard Belgian beer discussion would focus on the most common styles like double, triples & saisons. I of course decided to take a different approach… Maybe this is because I (not so) secretly aspire to be just as eccentric and enigmatic as the Belgian brewers! I also wanted to demonstrate that Belgian brewers (one of the oldest & most varied brewing cultures in the world) continue to innovate and push the boundaries as much as ever. I think their innovation and ideas are great to compare & contrast to some of the innovation that has come along via the American craft breweries.
Belgium’s Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hide Split Personality
“Beer is to Belgium as wine is to France” someone once said.
At one point or another almost every European power has held some sway over Belgium. Belgium has a very split culture due to this. The northern part of the country is Flemish speaking whereas the southern is French speaking. The Dutch were the last power to fully occupy Belgium prior to WWI and brought an influx of new spices to their brewing culture. French breweries in the past were also known for their use of spices & fruits in beer. These influences and split personalities led to lots of experimentation including using herbs, spices, hops, and other stranger substances such as mustard seed, coffee and chocolate along with wild fermentation & crazy yeast strains. By 1907 Belgium had over 3,400 breweries, brewers and home brewers.
Hop Substitutions
While a lot of breweries (particularly in US) continue to experiment with very hop forward beers, Belgian brewers instead like to look at alternative bittering agents….
Alvinne Melchior – Belgian Style Barley Wine with mustards seeds
Barleywine is a very old style dating back to the Greeks, it has more recently been associated with English breweries. If you taste a traditional barleywines such as J.W. Lees it is light brown in color and sweet, incomparably juicy, with fruity acidity combining with hop bitterness to balance. The center explodes in a riot of fruit and malt flavors.
Now if you taste the Melchior it is not quite like this! For one thing the yeast is much more noticeable than it would be in an English barleywine. The mustard works well to dry out the palate and accentuate the earthy / fruit & slightly funky yeast flavors. One characteristic of Belgian beers is the strong yeast characters of most styles: saisons, Belgian whites, dubbles, triples. This is one of my favorite features of Belgian brewing, it leads to very dry beers with lots of character.
Alvinne was established in 2004 it is a tiny brewery in Ingelmunster, Belgium. They are very experimental in nature. Marc De Keukeleire picked a yeast culture from nature (Auvergne, France) and selected, isolated and cultivated it to obtain a desired yeast culture. He named it Morpheus Yeast. It is a culture of 2 beer yeast (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae) and lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus). Alvinne also produces several sour beers, some barrel aged as well.
Belgian Interpretations of a Stout
Belgians are definitely not famous for their stouts, there isn’t exactly a Belgian Guinness. Stouts are dark beers made using roasted malt/barley and are traditionally around 7 – 8%. They are more associated with the UK & Scandinavia. They originated in 1720s in and around London. The term Stout was used as early as 1677. They had strong flavors and took longer to spoil than other beers. The alcohol content continued to increase with age and stouts were significantly cheaper than other beers at the time
Belgium’s brewing culture, during the medieval times, developed under the supervision of Trappist monasteries. Trappist beers are some of the most famous beers coming out of Belgium, however there is no style such as Trappist! Two styles that are oftern associated with Trappist monasteries are the Dubbel (6 – 8% brown ale) & the Triple (~9% pale ale).
Kris from De Dolle brewers joked that if he brewed something that was dark and didn’t know what to call it – he would call it a Stout!
Compare & Contrast
This beer was specifically created for export to B. United International Inc. Unlike modern, more typical stouts, this beer has high alcohol, tart flavors, and a big, dry body. It has a dark, almost black chocolate color. The nose is musky, slightly sweet and spicy. Flavors of chocolate, coffee and some hazelnut notes on the palate intermingle with notes of licorice. As usual for Belgian beers the high level of carbonation makes the beer very lively on the tongue. It finishes with a dry explosion of black espresso flavors.
The brewery’s first building dates from 1835. Kris, the brewer of De Dolle, is an artist, and that’s apparent as soon as you enter this rustic brewery. The walls are painted in the same style that graces the labels of the De Dolle beers. This should be no surprise, since the brewer, Kris, designed both! The De Dolle brewery uses a unique and rustic set up, that includes an enormous copper coolship.
Lots of yeast and dark fruit in the nose: raisins, plums and dates. There is also some spiciness, common to dark Belgian beers. A bit of smokiness and roasted malt, but the dark fruits dominate. The finish is strong and has spiciness and a touch of bitter chocolate as well. Strong yeast characteristics influence and dominate compared the malt and low levels of sugar.
Johan Brandt, with a passion for great beer, started this tiny artisanal brewery towards the end of 1995. In the beginning he brewed only once a week with a capacity of 120 liters (1 barrel).
Innovation on a Classic Style
Lambic is a historic style and that is only brewed in the Pajottenland region of Belgium (southwest area of Brussels). It is said Lambic can only be brewed there because of the local wild bacteria and yeast in the air. It even has a yeast strain named after it: Brettanomyces Bruxellensis (Brettanomyces is the term for a type of wild yeast strain). In these wild beers, yeast and acetobacter will turn sugar into alcohol, acid, and a huge variety of flavor chemicals.
Lambic is generally brewed between October & May as the summer months are too warm and can create beers with too much acidity. The inoculation and fermentation time is very long and increases the risk of spoilage. This requires the use of large amounts of hops as a preservative (Hops have strong antimicrobial properties). However to avoid making the beer extremely bitter old hops air dried hops are used. Consequently lambics often have a strong cheese-like “old hop” aroma in contrast to the resiny, herbal, earthy hop bitterness found in other styles.
Another important feature of lambics is that it is usually a blend of at least two different beers; many “producers” are in fact blenders who buy beers from other brewers, and blend two or more together to create the desired result. Since each batch is different the beer has to be blended with multiple batches to create a consistent product. Many lambics are created from a mixture of aged sour beer and young sweeter beers.
There are only a few traditional lambic blenders left in Belgium & they buy the wort/lambic base from the surrounding few lambic breweries.
Hanssens takes lambic blending a step further and blends batches from different breweries in their area. They bring to this endeavor a variety of barrels, some up to a hundred years old, a passion and a love for the tradition of Gueuze and Lambics. Hanssens will also add whole fruits to some of their beers in order to make even more flavorful blends.
Hanssens Bartholomeus, former major of Dworp, started to brew and blend lambics in 1871 in the previous Sint-Antonius brewery. Documents have proven that he continued to brew until 1896, in buildings located in the Vroenenbosstraat, Dworp. These premises are still used today.
Check out our previous Alvinne article here.