The Belgian beers you can taste tonight are very different in style and with the choice of this series we try to offer an overview of the very rich Belgian beer tradition. In the following paragraphs, you'll find a short description of the production and the taste of each. As it is important to try the beers in the right order, you are advised to drink them in the order of description, even if you want to omit one or more of them.
1. Stella Artois
Stella Artois is Interbrew's global lager brand. Originally, this is a beer from Leuven. This classic European lager is a bottom fermented blond pils with an alcohol content of 5.2% vol. Only the very best barley and the finest hops are selected for this beer. Stella Artois is full-bodied but none the less exceptionally thirst quenching, and should be served cold at 3° C. It has an intermediate bitterness and a fruity bouquet which also displays hints of truffle, arising from traces of dimethyl sulphide which is a typical component of lager beers and which can be readily discovered in a glass of Stella. In spite of its lightness, Stella is definitely not a simple beer and it is a good choice to accompany a wide variety of dishes.
2. Hoegaarden Grand Cru
Hoegaarden is a small village near Leuven. Four different beers are made here among which Hoegaarden white is the most popular. It is an authentic Belgian wheat beer, top fermented and then refermented in the bottle. Hoegaarden White has a distinctive hazy yellow color, and an alcohol content of 5% vol. This is a sweet/sour beer with a little bitterness - slightly spicy, with a strong touch of coriander and a hint of orange. Decidedly interesting and very refreshing, Hoegaarden White should be served cold at 3° C.
Hoegaarden Grand Cru is the noblest beer in the Hoegaarden brewery, with a surprising bouquet and a peachy color and palate. The taste combines sweetness with a hop bitterness. This speciality beer has an alcohol content of 8.7% vol, and should be served at 10° C.
3. Orval
The most singular of the Trappist brewing abbeys*, in both its architecture and its beer. The name derives from Vallée d'Or ("Golden Valley"). Legend has it that Countess Matilda of Tuscany (c1046-1115) lost a gold ring in the lake. When it was brought to the surface by a trout, she thanked God by endowing a monastery. The monastery, originally Benedictine, later Cistercian, was certainly brewing before the French Revolution. It was sacked at that time, then rebuilt between 1929 and 1936. It is on the French frontier, at Villers-devant-Orval in the Belgian province of Luxembourg, not far from Florenville. The finest craftsmen of the period worked on this particularly abbey, which was seen to crown the centenary of the modern kingdom of Belgium. The present Abbey, officially called Notre Dame d'Orval, stands alongside the ruins of the old. Bread and cheese are made for sale, as well as a startlingly dry, hoppy, ale of approximately 6.2 abv, with an dark orange color. This world-classic brew gains some of its astonishing complexity from a secondary fermentation with multiple strains of yeast, including "semi-wild" Brettanomyces which imparts a "hop-sack" or "horse-blanket" character. Devotees like to bottle-age this beer for between six months and three years. It is a powerful aperitif. There is a shop at the abbey, and a bar-restaurant nearby (A 'Ange Gardien, 3 Rue d'Orval, tel 061-311886).
4. Rodenbach grand cru
Among the red beers Rodenbach is universally considered the quintessential example, and one of the most exquisite beers in the world. Visitors to the brewery in Roeselare can see the profit from this acclaim in the more than 300 oak casks (the brewery has four coopers to maintain the tuns working with numbered staves, hoops, reeds and beeswax) all more than 20 feet high that stand in huge silent rows performing their magic, transforming what one imagines would be a sturdy ale into the uniquely flavored, ruby beer that is Rodenbach. Michael Jackson, the famous so called 'beer hunter', says that the brewery should be declared a national treasure and given landmark status. The Rodenbach family occupies an eminent, even exalted, place in the history of medicine, statesmanship, literature, and brewing in Belgium.
Rodenbach is brewed from four malts, one pale from summer barley, two and six row varieties of winter barley malt, finally there is a reddish crystal type malt sometimes described as Vienna. Hops are mainly Brewers Gold with some Kent Goldings. Five different strains of yeast are used in the brewing.A remarkable fully fermented beer with a sharp bouquet is the result. Rodenbach Grand Cru is matured naturally in the silent, endless, cool cellars, full of oak casks.
There is no denying that Rodenbach is a "demanding" drink in the same sense that single malt scotch or dry sherry, or eaux de vies can be. Among cognoscenti, Rodenbach is held in the highest esteem.
Some Experts' Opinions on Rodenbach
"One of the world's most extraordinary breweries. Its ales are fermented in row upon row of massive oak tuns for up to two years, to produce a characteristic sourness. ***** Supremely sour red-brown beers, fermented in oak for at least 18 months, One of the world's classic beers and the finest example of an old Flemish red ale."
Tim Webb
The Good Beer Guide to Belgium & Holland
"The world's most refreshing beer… Classics of the sour style ... They gain their sourness and their burgundy color in a number of ways. The sourness derives in part from the top fermenting yeast, a blend of three strains that has been in the house for 150 years, and from cultures resident in the wooden maturation tuns .... there are 300 in all filling several halls as though this were a winery or a brandy distillery."
Michael Jackson
The Great Beers of Belgium
"Grand Cru is a powerful statement in taste. Deep amber, a bit hazy. Aroma is extremely fruity. Overall character is sour and acidic but very refreshing and savory. The experience is like enjoying a fine brandy. In a class of its own, incomparable. Medium body, full flavored, not cloying. Sourness is powerful but does not linger. Definitely something to experience."
Charlie Papazian
5. Westmalle dubbel
Famous for one beer in particular, a world classic, though its makes three. The abbey of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart is in flat countryside at Westmalle, between the city of Antwerp and the Dutch border. The monastery was established in 1794, and has brewed since 1836. It is thus the oldest of Belgium's post-Napoleonic Trappist breweries. Its renown, though, derives from the introduction of golden Trappist ales to meet competition from fashionable Pilseners after World War II. Its beers include a marvellously subtle, golden "Single" (curiously called Extra), brewed at 4.0 per cent for the monks' own consumption, but sometimes also found outside the abbey; a dark-brown, fruity Dubbel (the Flemish spelling), at 6.5; and its most famous beer, its golden-to-bronze, aromatic, orangey-tasting, complex Tripel, at 9.0. These Trappist classics have popularised the notion that an "abbey-style Double" should be strong and dark and a "Triple" yet more potent but pale. The beers are available in the village at the café Trappisten, 478 Antwerpse Steenweg (open all day)
*General Note on Trappist Beers
This term is properly applied only to a brewery in a monastery of the Trappists, one of the most severe orders of monks. This order, established at La Trappe, in Normandy, is a stricter observance of the Cistercian rule (from Cîteaux, in Burgundy), itself a breakaway from the Benedictines. Among the dozen or so surviving abbey breweries in Europe, seven are Trappist, six in Belgium and one just across the Dutch border, all established in their present form by Trappists who left France after the turbulence of the Napoleonic period. The Trappists have the only monastic breweries in Belgium, all making strong ales with a re-fermentation in the bottle. Some gain a rummy character from the use of candy-sugar in the brew-kettle. They do not represent a style, but they are very much a family of beers. The three in the French-speaking part of the country are all in the forest country of the Ardennes, where hermitages burned charcoal to fuel early craft industries. It is not usually possible to visit the abbeys without prior arrangement by letter, and can be difficult even then. Most offer their beers in a nearby café or auberge/inn.
6. Liefmans kriek
The region of the Flemish city of Oudenaarde is known for its brown beers, particularly its 'oud bruins', which have a characteristic tartness. The brewery Liefmans makes two basic beers, one at 5% ABV and one at 6%, from which a variety of blended products are produced. Both worts are made entirely from pilsner and caramel malts, and each is fermented with the same yeast in swimming-pool-sized open fermenters. On day 3 yeast is skimmed and collected for reuse.
The basic beers then go into steel secondary tanks. The 5% beer is run into fermenters loaded by hand with cherries (or raspberries)--typically about 1 lb per gallon. The beer sits on the cherries for a year or more before being filtered, blended with about 40% of the 6% beer, pasteurized, sweetened and force carbonated for bottling. The result is one of the most complex fruit beers of Belgium.
What's Belgian Beer without Belgian Cheese?
By Don Feinberg
When I give beer tastings, I try to make the point that Belgian beer is part of Belgian gastronomy -- the liquid part for sure, but a part of a greater whole nonetheless. Americans are beginning to credit that Belgium has a tremendous number and variety of beers but few of us are aware that Belgium has more restaurants per capita than any other country in Europe and, to the undying irritation of the French, that there are more Michelin-starred restaurants per capita than in France. The fact is you have to work pretty hard to have a bad meal in Belgium.
A love of food and drink naturally finds its expression in a love and production of good cheese. Belgium produces three hundred different cheeses--one for each of its beers. Churchill said "any country with two hundred cheeses must be in good health" and DeGaulle opined that "any country with three hundred cheeses is ungovernable". Which leads to the accurate conclusion that a country with as many cheeses as France, but only 1/5 the population, is in an anarchic state of fitness.
As with beer, the role of the monasteries in the development and production of Belgian cheese has been vital. During the Middle Ages, there were fifty abbeys in the territory now called Belgium. In vying for political and economic influence, they also vied for superiority in the cheeses they produced. Sadly, only the abbey of Postel continues to produce its own cheese for sale. Other abbeys maintain their historical link with cheese by licensing their name. The abbeys of Affligem, Maredsous, and Orval are examples. Cheese is produced under the Chimay name across the road from the abbey, but production is lay owned and operated.
The idea of marrying beer and cheese is a difficult notion for many since wine has such an entrenched hold on the relationship. But the virtue of beer with cheese is fundamentally the same as wine. Cheese (with the exception of unaged varieties) is essentially a strong tasting, fatty food. An acidic drink perfectly balances its flavors and cleanses the palate of fat. Most people assume wine is acidic but few realize that beer is as well. The standard pH range for wine is 2.8-3.8 while that of beer is 3.8-4.5. However, the sour beers of Belgium such as lambic and Flemish brown ales have a pH around 3.4, more tart than many wines.
In terms of marrying beer and cheese, a good role of thumb is meet strength with strength and mildness with mildness. Sour beers go well with smellier cheese and creamier ones. Alcoholically strong beers go well with smelly cheeses, enrobing the taste of the cheese in their strength. Spiced beers usually do best with younger, less sharp cheeses.
Wednesday, September 13
Excursion: The tapestries of Charles V in Mechelen.
The exhibition "Los Honores" is a very famous international project. The nine tapestries from Spain (La Granja) were manufactured in the beginning of the 16th century in Brussels, in honour of the election of Charles of Habsburg, King of Spain since 1516, to emperor of Germany in 1519 and his coronation in Aachen on October 23rd 1520.
With its monumental surface of 450 m2, "Los Honores" is one of the most renowned collections of tapestries in the world. It is currently the property of the Spanish crown and belongs to the Patrimonio Nacional in Segovia. The series have never before been exposed out of Spain.
Charles V grew up in Mechelen, in the palace of his aunt, Margaret of Austria. That's why we also planned a guided tour through the historic centre. We'll meet at 13h45 exactly at the Mgr. Sencie institute and we will be back in Leuven around 18.15. One can find more information about Mechelen on www.mechelen.be.
Banquet.
The banquet will take place in the Faculty Club (www.fclub.kuleuven.ac.be), Groot Begijnhof 14 at 20h00 sharp.
Vegetarians : please mail : wim.dehaen@chem.kuleuven.ac.be to make sure the necessary arrangements are taken.
Lunches.
Lunches will be served between 12-14 h in Alma 2, the student restaurant located in the Van Even straat. This restaurant is indicated in purple on the map of Leuven (see under venue) and is less than 10 min walking from the conference center. Tickets for the lunches on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are available, free of charge, for our participants at the registration desk. Alma 2 also serves vegetarian meals.