Belgian beer has a habit of catching people out. A bottle no bigger than a soft drink can hold more alcohol than a glass of wine, and it can taste of fruitcake, fresh cherries or dry champagne rather than anything on a standard bar tap.
That is exactly why it is worth exploring. Once you know the three big families, choosing gets simple, and a bottle like Chimay Bleu at £5.15 shows just how much flavour 330ml can hold.
This guide explains what Trappist, lambic and strong ale actually mean, which Belgian breweries to look for, and what to buy first. It draws on the Belgian range stocked by The Fine Wine Company, an independent merchant at 119 High Street, Portobello, Edinburgh.
What makes Belgian beer different?
Belgian brewing is led by yeast. Instead of chasing hop bitterness, most Belgian breweries let their house yeast create the flavour, which is where the pear, banana, clove and peppery spice notes come from.
Two other habits set it apart. Many beers are bottle-conditioned, so a second fermentation happens inside the bottle and adds depth over time. And strength is normal rather than unusual, with plenty of everyday bottles sitting between 7% and 11%.
Formats vary far more than in British beer, too. Belgian bottles here run from 250ml and 330ml up to 375ml lambic bottles, 500ml cans, 750ml sharing bottles and a 1.5 litre Chimay magnum. Prices start at £1.65 and reach £36.95, so there is room to experiment cheaply before committing to a big bottle.
Trappist beers: brewed at the abbey
Trappist beers are made at monastery breweries, and only a handful of abbeys produce them anywhere in the world. Three of the most famous are Belgian, and all three are worth knowing.
Chimay is the easiest starting point. Chimay Red is a supple dubbel with plenty of dark fruit, at 7% and £3.40. Chimay White is paler and stone-fruited, at 8% and £3.95, with a firm hop dryness that stops the strength dominating. Chimay Bleu is the rich, spiced, dried fruit one at 9%, and there is also a 1.5 litre Chimay Blue Grand Reserve at £36.95 for a celebration.
Orval is the only beer brewed by the Trappist order at Orval, and it tastes like nothing else. Expect a burnished orange colour, a nose that mixes farmyard earthiness with orange peel and pepper, and a finish that dries the palate rather than lingering. At 6.2% and £3.50 it is the most food-friendly Trappist on this list.
Rochefort comes from one of the smallest Trappist breweries. Rochefort 6 is an amber beer with banana, dried fruit and toffee notes, at 7.5% and £3.50. Rochefort 8 is a dark amber at 9.2% and £4.75, with a dense, cake-like maltiness. Rochefort 10 is the quad, at 11.3% and £5.95, deep and warming with dried fruit and dark caramel.
Lambic, gueuze and kriek: the sour side of Belgium
Lambic is Belgium at its most traditional. Rather than adding cultured yeast, brewers let wild yeasts in the air start the fermentation, then age the beer in oak barrels. The result is dry, tart, and genuinely refreshing.
Gueuze is the classic blend of young and old lambic. Boon Oude Geuze is a textbook example of fully spontaneous fermentation. Boon brews lambic only across the seven cold months, from early October to April, using the old turbid mash method. It is 7% and £5.25 for a 375ml bottle.
Kriek means cherry. Boon Kriek is made with 25% fresh cherries, at 4% and £4.95. Lindemans Kriek is a traditional oude kriek: fresh cherries go into part-fermented lambic, which then spends another eight to twelve months in oak.
If sour sounds daunting, the gentler fruit lambics are the way in. Lindemans Framboise, Pecheresse and Apple sit between 2.5% and 3.5%, and between £1.95 and £2.65 for a 250ml bottle. Boon Framboise, at 5% and £6.95, is built on oak-matured lambic with fresh raspberries and a touch of cherry, and makes a good halfway house between sweet and dry.
Belgian strong ale: golden, amber and dark
This is the broadest family, and the one most people already enjoy without knowing the label.
Duvel is the benchmark strong golden ale at 8.5% and £3.80. It pours with a tall, dense head, and the aroma runs from bready malt through pear drop sweetness to a peppery hop lift, finishing dry and clean.
La Chouffe Blonde comes from a small farmhouse brewery and finishes fermenting in the bottle. It is ripe and orchard-fruity with a dry, spiced edge, at 8% and £3.90. For winter there is the spiced N'Ice Chouffe, made with thyme and curaçao, in a 75cl bottle at £16.95.
Kwak is the coppery one, with a savoury, faintly medicinal edge over rounded malt sweetness and a gently spiced finish, at 8.4% and £4.40. Kasteel Triple pushes further at 11% and £4.95, tasting of poached apricot, ripe banana and a nutty, sherried warmth.
Delirium Tremens is the well-known Belgian blond, generous and fruity on the nose with a crisp, sparkling-wine style finish, available as a 500ml can at £6.95. For something rarer, the Delirium Barrel Aged Blonde Sour is a 750ml bottle at 10.8% and £29.95.
Which Belgian beer should you buy first?
New to the style?
Start with Chimay Red or La Chouffe Blonde. Both are easy to like and under £4.
Prefer dry and complex?
Boon Oude Geuze and Orval are the drier choices here.
Want a showstopper?
Rochefort 10 or the 1.5 litre Chimay Blue Grand Reserve are made for slow sipping and sharing.
Belgian beer without the alcohol
The alcohol free options are worth knowing about. La Chouffe Alcohol Free is 0.4% at £2.60, and Cherry Chouffe Non-alcoholic is 0.4% at £2.75. Delirium Delirio is 0.3% at £2.95 in a can, Kasteelbier Rouge is 0.0% at £2.75, and Jupiler Pils Non Alcoholic is 0.0% at £1.65. They are an easy way to keep the flavour on a weeknight.
How to serve Belgian beer at home
Always use a glass - Pouring releases the aroma and lets the yeast character show, which is the whole point of Belgian beer.
Serve cool rather than ice cold - Fruit lambics are best straight from the fridge, while strong dark ales taste richer after a few minutes out of it.
Pour bottle-conditioned beers slowly - Leave the last drop of sediment in the bottle unless you enjoy the extra yeasty edge.
Buy a mixed few - One Trappist, one lambic and one strong ale tells you more in a single evening than four of the same bottle ever will.
Common questions about Belgian beer
What is Trappist beer?
It is beer brewed at a monastery. Chimay, Orval and Rochefort are the three Belgian Trappist breweries in this range.
What is lambic beer?
Lambic is spontaneously fermented beer, made with wild yeasts and aged in oak, which gives it a dry, tart character. Gueuze is a blend of young and old lambic, and kriek is lambic made with cherries.
What counts as a Belgian strong ale?
Broadly, any Belgian beer above roughly 7%, including golden ales such as Duvel, ambers such as Kwak and tripels such as Kasteel Triple.
Which Belgian beer is the strongest here?
Rochefort 10 at 11.3%, closely followed by Kasteel Triple at 11% and the Delirium Barrel Aged Blonde Sour at 10.8%.
Is Belgian beer good for gifting?
Yes. The 75cl and 1.5 litre bottles are designed for sharing, and a mixed set of three styles makes a simple, thoughtful present.
How quickly does Belgian beer arrive?
Most of these bottles carry the next business day tag if ordered by 12 noon, Monday to Friday, for UK mainland addresses. Northern Ireland and parts of the Scottish Highlands and Islands take two working days, and the free delivery threshold does not apply to craft beers and ciders.
A final thought
Belgian beer rewards curiosity more than almost any other drinks category. Three bottles, three styles and one evening are enough to work out whether you lean monastic, sour or strong, and most of them cost very little to try.
Browse the full Belgian beers collection to build a first mixed selection, and please enjoy it responsibly.