Welcome in Belgium, The Beer Wonderland

Find your favorite beer in the Lower Town, Brussels

It’s afternoon, you are walking along the streets of the Brussels city center and suddenly you desire a beer but you’re not in the mood of sitting in a pub or in a café: “De Bier Temple” (The Beer Temple) is the right place for you. The Bier Temple in Brussels is one of the most well stocked beer shop of the entire city. Here you can find an incredibly wide selection of beers for a very cheap price (approximately from 2.50 until 7 EUR). The picture above shows one of the shelves in the shop, the variety of beers in this place is just astonishing! As you can see in the picture The Bier Temple not only sells beers but every type of object related to it: thematic aprons, gift boxes with different quality of beers, t-shirts, souvenirs and many other things. Here you can take a beer and walk along the alleys of the Lower Town tasting its special flavor. The Beer Temple is located in Grasmarkt 56b, at a two minute walk from the Grand Place and the Eglise Saint Nicolas (Saint Nicholas Church)

Let's learn a bit of beer history

Statistics reveal that the Belgian citizen drinks on average about 100 litres (200 pints) of beer a year and the nation’s breweries produce more then 400 different varieties. Imagine to be in front of this shelf packed of different beers and in every direction around you there are as many other shelves. You wish for a beer but you can’t decide.

Well, let’s start with a bit of beer history: Monks use to brew beers since the Middle Ages, when this fresh drink was only a private product. Nowadays there are still 5 Trappist monasteries that control the production of a special high quality beer. The Trappist beers are for strong taste, indeed they are pretty intense flavored beers with an alcohol percentage ranging from the 6.2 to the 11. One of the Belgian favorite Trappist beer is the Chimay, a tasteful beer bottled in three different strengths brewed in Hainaut.

Amber or Blonde? That is the question!

Let’s dig into the typology issue! In Belgium if you go for a light feeling it’s very popular to have a blanche beer (white beer). One of the favorite white beers is the Hoegaarden, a sour, crisp, light drink with a low percentage of alcohol (around the 5%). If you want to try a blonde beer but still rounded and intense you should ask for a Chouffe, an unfiltered blond beer, pleasantly fruity, spiced with coriander (8% alcohol). For a tasteful amber ale with an high alcohol percentage you can try all the Chimay varieties, the Kwak and my favorite: De Varboden Fruit (The forbidden fruit), just a sip and you will be in heaven!