Belgian & French Style Ales (download our pdf flyer on Belgian & French Ales)

 

Belgian beer comprises the most varied and numerous collection of beers in the world. Belgian beer-brewing origins go back to the Middle-Ages, when monasteries began producing beers.

 

In Belgium, the beer culture is somewhat divided between the "session" or lower alcohol beers and the "high fermetation" or high alcohol beers. The beers of the Belgian & French category fall into the lower alcohol realm, though some beers in this style can range as high as 6.5% abv and are not usually considered low alcohol by American standards. The high fermentation beers of Belgian such as Dubbels and Tripels fit more properly into the Belgian Strong Ale category.

 

Where German typically adhere to the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot (purity requirement) dating to 1516, Belgian brewers will use ingredients other than water, yeast, hops and malt. Candi sugar, fruit and various seasonings are common.

 

France is typically more noted for its wine than for beer but northeastern France, near the border with Belgium, produces some wonderful beers. Many of them are strongly influenced by their Belgian neighbors but France has also produced some very original beers including the popular Biere de Garde.

 

Witbiers (White Beer)

Witbiers are seasoned, Belgian style wheat beers that are often flavored with coriander and Curacao or sweet orange peel, though many variations on the seasonings exist. Like German wheat beers, Witbiers utilize about 50% of wheat malt in place of barley malt, but unlike German wheat beers that rely on yeast phenols and esters (fermentation by-products) for flavor, Belgian Witbiers are seasoned with spices.

Witbier, White beer or simply Witte is a barley/wheat, top-fermented beer brewed mainly in Belgium, although there are also examples in the Netherlands and elsewhere. It gets its name due to suspended yeast and wheat proteins which cause the beer to look hazy, or white, when cold. It is a descendant from those Medieval beers which were not brewed with hops, but instead flavored and preserved with a blend of spices and other plants referred to as gruit. The taste is therefore only slightly hoppy and is very refreshing in summer. The beers have a somewhat sour taste due to the presence of lactic acid. The suspended yeast in the beer causes some continuing fermentation in the bottle.

The Witbier style is at least four centuries old but it had nearly died out when Belgian brewer Pierre Celis revived the style by brewing his signature Witbier recipe at the Hoegaarden Brewery. Today the Witbier style has become very popular and many Belgian brewers and American micro-brewers are producing their own versions of the style.

 

Belgian Pale Ale

 

Produced by breweries with roots as far back as the mid-1700s, the most well-known examples were perfected after the Second World War with some influence from Britain, including hops and yeast strains. Belgian Pale Ales were largely a response to British Pale Ales, though the Belgian versions rely less upon hops for flavor than their British counterparts. Belgian Pale Ales often have a moderate fruity or other yeast character to them that results from the production of esters and phenols by the yeast during the fermentation process, something that is very limited in British Pale Ales.

 

Saison

 

Saisons are sometimes referred to as "farmhouse ales" which is a reference to their history. Many years before mass produced beers were available, farm workers relied on beers produced on their farms for refreshment as they labored in the fields. Saisons were typically brewed in the Winter and Spring months to take advantage of the cooler temperatures and then stored in cool cellars until they were ready for consumption.

 

Saisons cover a wide range of flavors, because there is no specific standard for the ingredients used to brew a Saison. Some are brewed with the addition of wheat malt and some make use of additional fermentables like honey or sugar. In some cases, Saisons are also dry hopped for additional flavor. In most cases, seasonings and spices are added to Saisons and those spices cover a wide range of possibilities.

 

Biere de Garde

 

The Biere de Garde ("keeping beer") evolved in much the same way as the Belgian Saison and is also referred to as a farmhouse ale. Like the Saisons, Biere de Gardes were usually brewed only during the Winter and Spring stored for consumption at a later time, hence the term "keeping beer."

 

Unlike the Saison style beers, Biere de Gardes are usually sweeter and richer in malt flavors. And while Saisons are often seasoned and spiced, Biere de Gardes are usually not spiced, so that the focus of the flavor remains on the malt character of the beer.

 

Belgian Specialty Beers

 

Belgium produces an extremely wide range of beer styles and flavors and at some point, it becomes very difficult to classify them all. So the Belgian Specialty category becomes a catch-all category in which to include all the Belgian style beers that don't fit neatly in another style. Because of this, there is no real definition to this style category.

 

Despite the variation of beers in this category it would be wrong to ignore these beers simply because they are vaguely defined, because many of the greatest beers in the world (such as Orval from Belgium) fall into this category since they do not fit into other beer style categories.