Thu July 3, 2008
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The Beer Culture of Belgium and French Flanders
by Michael Jackson |
The
respect reserved for wine in most countries is
in Belgium also accorded to beer. No country
can match Belgium in the gastronomic interest
of its beers. No country has so many
distinct styles of beer (though several have more
breweries). No country has beers that are so
complex in character as the finest in Belgium.
No country has so many individualistic brews, nor
does any country have such a sophisticated beer cuisine
(extending far beyond the dishes
that are commonly associated with beer).
The
spontaneously fermenting "wild" lambic beers
of the Senne valley represent a tradition unique to Belgium. So do
the tart, acidic, "sour" beers of Flanders. In the production of
top fermenting brews and wheat beers, Belgium is one of the world leaders.
No country has as many "methode champenoise" beers, in which a second or
even third fermentation is induced in the bottle either by a dosage of
yeast or a blending of young and mature brews. No other country has
so persisted with the use of fruits, herbs and spices in beer. Germany
and Belgium are the only two countries to have kept
alive on any scale the practice of brewing in monasteries;
only Belgium and The Netherlands
have Trappist beers.
Warm
countries grow fruits (especially grapes) to
make into wine. Cool places cultivate grain (most often barley) to turn into beer. Their lands of origin are what divide wine and beer. .. These wine and beer frontiers (Moravia, Franconia, Bohemia, on the Rhine, in the Ardennes, Picardie and Artois) are some of the most interesting brewing regions in the world. One
of them (Belgium) is spectacular.
What makes the
beers of Belgium and Northern France Unique
Close to the region where the Champagne grapes grow,
the land is also golden with barley; France begins to sound Flemish, and blends into Belgium; the wine nations yield to the beer lands.
With fine wine so close, and ruled by the Burgundians not so many centuries distant, the Belgians seem instinctively to feel the nuances of both drinks. Not only the respect, but also the
ceremony, that other nations reserve for wine, the Belgians also accord, with a special flourish, to beer. They enjoy wine, but make none; beer is their national drink.
Nothing unites this land like its love of beer. Such a unifying toast is much needed. Belgium is a small country, but it has more than one culture. Its most difficult division is between its own mini-states of Wallonia, in the south, and Flanders, in the north. They may be small but each is as much a nation as England, Scotland or Quebec.
Culturally, Flanders stretches from Northern France to The Netherlands, and the Flemish language is much the same as Dutch. Wallonia prefers French. Within these two mini-states are provinces with histories that cross national borders. There is a Belgian province called Luxembourg, next to the sovereign state of the same name. Belgium has a province of Brabant, and so does The Netherlands. Limburg is the name of provinces in both Belgium and The Netherlands and a city in Germany. Two Belgian towns, Eupen and Malmedy (and the surrounding cantons) speak German.
Belgium (the size of Maryland) has three languages, ten million people, and 35,000 places in which beer is served. That is twice the density even of pubs in Britain.
Nothing unites this land like its love of beer. Such a unifying toast is much needed. Belgium is a small country, but it has more than one culture. Its most difficult division is between its own mini-states of Wallonia, in the south, and Flanders, in the north. They may be small but each is as much a nation as England, Scotland or Quebec.
Culturally, Flanders stretches from Northern France to The Netherlands, and the Flemish language is much the same as Dutch. Wallonia prefers French. Within these two mini-states are provinces with histories that cross national borders. There is a Belgian province called Luxembourg, next to the sovereign state of the same name. Belgium has a province of Brabant, and so does The Netherlands. Limburg is the name of provinces in both Belgium and The Netherlands and a city in Germany. Two Belgian towns, Eupen and Malmedy (and the surrounding cantons) speak German.
Belgium (the size of Maryland) has three languages, ten million people, and 35,000 places in which beer is served. That is twice the density even of pubs in Britain.
From Michael Jackson's The Great Beers of Belgium A Complete Guide and Celebration of a Unique Culture - published and distributed by Vanberg & DeWulf
