Since the Middle Ages, Brussels and beer have been synonymous, dating back to the days of monks brewing beer as a source of income. It led to a wide range of beer styles, and a formidable customs of premium craftsmanship, cultivating Brussels into a worldly-renowned beer capital.

Today, genuine appreciation for beer flows beyond bars and restaurants in this European city. It’s profoundly embedded within Belgian culture as almost 1,500 types of fermented beers are produced. Not to mention, a flourishing market for craft beers was carefully fostered since the 1980s.

 

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A major category of beers to try in Brussels is lambic, which is essentially natural beer fermented through the exposure of wild yeasts and bacteria, rather than cultivated yeasts. This leads to a kind of dry and cidery taste that edges on sour and tarty aftertaste.

The best place to taste lambic is at Cantillon Brewery, or Musée Bruxellois de la Gueuze. The museum tour allows visitors to peek inside the makings of various natural beers, like: lambic, gueuze and framboise.

Gueuze is another type of natural beer – a blend of both young (1-year-old) and old (2- to 3-year-old) lambics, essentially bottled for second fermentation. Since the young lambics are not completely fermented, so gueuze contains sugars that permit second fermentation which leads to a dry, musty and carbonated taste. Hence, it’s nicknamed: Brussels Champagne.

Framboise would be a kind of lambic beer with the addition of raspberries to the brew maturation process. Replacing sour cherries generally used in kriek beer, frambroise is also a variety of fruit beer. The result is evidently sweeter than the either lambic and gueuze.

Kriek is another style of lambic Belgian beer, made with sour Morello cherries, its pits are added during the brewing process. Once the cherries are left in for a few months, they create a refermentation of the surplus sugar. In the end, most of the sugar won’t be left so kriek tastes like fruit without the added sweetness. Once cherries are removed, there should be more maturation process incurred. 3 Fonteinen is a Belgian brewery uniquely producing geuze and kriek since 1887.

Trappist beer is another type of Belgian beer originally made by monks, dating back to mid-1600s when brewing became a source of income for repairing and reconstructing monasteries.

Orval is the main brand, since it was the first Trappist beer to be sold domestically in Belgium. It encompasses a lighter hue with a heavier foam and an exceptional aroma as a result from a distinct strain of yeast: brettanomyces bruxellensis. The taste is somewhat of an earthy spice. 

Faro is sweetened lambic beer, which comes from the second and third runnings of lauter tun, when brewers may add spices and herbs. Faro contains less alcohol than other lambics. Due to its high sugar, workers used to drink faro in the fields to replenish strength. Nowadays, faro is especially refreshing after physical labor.

La Corne du Bois des Pendus is the only beer in the world served in a horn-shaped glass, the name translates to “the horn shaped forest of the hangman.” Brewed by Brasserie d’Ebly, the blonde beer comes from an Ardennes legend from 1636, of a brewer who was hung by bandits and his ghost still haunts the forest.

Omer is a traditional natural blonde and a top-fermented Belgian beer with a secondary fermentation. The recipe incorporates fine malted barley and three varieties of hops for aroma. Omer has been around for five generations, and is one of the few breweries that remains to be active in the village where it started. The bitterness is slight, while the taste borders fruity.

Westmalle is another type of Trappist beer and the first to use the word “tripel” to describe a strong pale ale. Westmalle was an abbey in 1796, but officially became a Trappist abbey in 1836 by brewing its own beer. Eventually, Westmalle became the “mother of tripels” with a golden Trappist beer containing 9.5% alcohol. The slow brewing process and second fermentation in the bottle create a complex brew that is fragrant with hints of a ripe banana.