Beer

Belgium is known in every corner for its wide variety of beers compared to other countries. The roots of beer brewing goes back to the Middle Ages. Belgium has no rules in brewing beer so they use other ingredients, including herbs and fruits, besides water, hops and malt. Partly due to the success of commercial fruit beers, Belgian beer often has a reputation for being sweet. However, truly sweet are only the sweetened fruit beers and some very heavy beers. The sweet-bitter combination is more common. A few Flemish beers are slightly sour to sour. In Wallonia, some very bitter beers are brewed.

The great diversity of beers in Belgium is accompanied by a rich local beer culture, something most Belgians are very proud of. For instance, Belgium has numerous cafés where a large number of beers are poured or tapped. Each beer must be served at its "ideal" temperature with the right height of head for optimum flavour. Each beer is served in its own specific glass, a rule that is rarely deviated from.

Today, Belgian beers are sold in brown or sometimes dark green coloured glass bottles. The bottles are sealed with a cork, a metal crown cap or sometimes both. Some beers are fermented in the bottle. That means that a second fermentation takes place in the bottle. The big beer brands can be bought everywhere, but the smaller brands mainly in liquor centres.

These are some of the most popular beers in Belgium: