Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Belgian Beer

Author: Beer Adams

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Belgian Beer

Belgium is a small country but there is nothing small about their production of beers and ales. In fact, since the Middle Ages Belgium has had a reputation for producing quality beers, and they have influenced beer and ale production in many other countries, including the United States.

By conservative estimates, there are over four-hundred-fifty different types of beer brewed in Belgium. If you take a Belgium beer tour vacation, you can visit brewery after brewery and sample just about every kind of beer. Beer that is brewed in Belgium includes white beers or blanche beers. These are also called wheat beers and sometimes have a bit of a taste of citrus.

Lambic beer is a regional beer that can be found in and around Brussels. This draft beer is described by the Brussels’ tourism accounts as being a “non-malted wheat beer, fermented by wild, airborne yeasts.” The Belgians have also taken this Lambic beer and combined two versions together to make Gueuze, which is said to have a sparkle much like champagne.

Still other Lambic beers are Faro and Kriek--Faro is more or less a light Lambic beer, while Kriek is a Lambic beer that is fermented further with the addition of raspberries and cherries. Belgium is also famous for brown beers, red beers, and golden beers. Brown beers have a unique blend of caramel-like sweetness mixed with a sour taste that comes from many months of aging. Red beers come from red barley--they too combine sweet and sour tastes in a unique blend that is sometimes described as fruity.

Golden Beers are somewhat like a pilsner lager, but they are obtained from pale hops and malts and ale yeasts. The original pilsner beer came from Bohemia, which is located in the Czech Republic. It is highly carbonated and has a thick white head. The taste is somewhat tangy with a bit of bitterness. A pilsner usually has five-percent alcohol content.

The oldest beer brewers in Belgium are actually the Trappist monks, who use methods and recipes that have been passed down through the centuries to make distinctly Trappist beers. There are six different Trappest monasteries that currently support themselves by brewing beer. These include Orval, Achel, Chimay, Westyleteren, Rochefort and Westmalle. The beers they make usually bear the name of the monastery.

There also Abbey beers which are produced in Belgium. In most cases, the beers are not produced in monasteries but there may be a business relationship where an abbey contracts a commercial brewery to produce a certain beer. Abbey beers include Duvel, Leffe, Kwak, Affligem, Corsendonk, Grimbergen and Karmeliet.

Currently, Belgium has around one-hundred-twenty-five different breweries producing close to five hundred beers. They are sold in both small cafes that may have only a few brands to much larger bars that might have a thousand or more kinds. The Belgians are masters when it comes to beer brewing and having an appreciation for quality pilsners, beers, ales and lagers. You can find just about any flavoring too, from strawberry or raspberry to chocolate. If you can arrange it, give yourself a real treat and try some of these Belgian brews.

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www.EuropesBestBeer.com

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Beer and Ale Expert

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The Gourmet Belgian Chocolates

Author: Julie Spear

When you think of gourmet food, you'd think of edibles that is expensive, heavenly delicious, and of very high quality. Gourmet Belgian chocolates are considered to be the best kind of chocolate in the world. It is so delicious that people from all over the world flock to Belgium just to experience the taste of the original Belgian chocolate because nobody in the world has successfully duplicated these sweet little things.

Belgian chocolates are the toast of the chocolate world. It is the gourmet of all chocolates that exist and nothing beats it for being in the number one list of all chocoholics. Even diabetics crave for it! The good thing is that there are now sugar-free Belgian chocolates that are now available in the market.

The special factor that makes Belgian chocolate standout among its contemporaries is the great respect for the chocolate manufacturing techniques that have been perfected by Europeans for centuries as well as the excellent quality of the ingredients used for making the chocolates.

In the age of mass production, everything seems to be just the standard to deliver the products to as many people as possible which sometimes have sacrificed a bit of quality of the products. Good thing that Belgian chocolatiers did not give in to the pressure of the global market and still stick with the old tradition of small production but with topnotch quality tastes of their chocolates.

The country of Belgium is populated with chocolate shops and manufacturers that up to now are still making chocolates by hand and/or with the original equipment from the olden days. The chocolate in Belgium is like wine to France. Like the French wineries, chocolatiers in Belgium provide chocolate tasting programs for the visitors to sample the gourmet chocolates.

Although Belgian chocolates has been around for a long time, the new way of making chocolates that is very popular nowadays only started in the early years of the 20th century. This new way of making chocolate is the placement of a filling inside a chocolate nugget. Fillings can range from fruits, creams, hazelnut, coffee, or other forms of chocolate. This kind of chocolate is called pralines, which refers to the chocolate covering.

Another factor that makes gourmet Belgian chocolates special is the technique of storing the chocolate nuggets before filling it up. The course of making the chocolates is quite interesting as the grounded cocoa beans are combined with the mixture of cocoa butter and sugar. It is then eventually spread out by tempering or gradual heat addition. A lot of chocolate houses in Belgium obtain their chocolate in forms of solid. These solid forms of chocolates are then heated again for it to be formed or structures into the desired shape and taste. Since the chocolates are not chilled, Belgian chocolates have the luck of preserving the cocoa essence much more than the other inferior chocolates.

A lot of Belgium's old family owned chocolate houses have their own line of gourmet Belgian chocolates. They have been around for a long time and can be trusted of the high quality chocolates they manufacture. Through the years and generations of family owners, they have perfected the way of making the perfect gourmet Belgian chocolates.

These delicious sweets may come with a price but once you have tasted its palatable flavors you will realize that it is worth all your money. You can actually taste a part of heaven. And that is what makes gourmet Belgian chocolates tick.

About the Author:

Read about who invented chocolate and chocolate pictures at the Chocolate Facts website.

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