330ml is the European standard measure and I’ve got to like it now I can’t do the whole session thing. The days of loads of volume are gone for me.
Belgian beers cover a multitude of styles. Blonde (as in Duvel) are probably what we think of but they do Bruin versions as well which are more like ales and Dubbel and Tripel which are often brown as well. Trappist beers can be all 3 styles.
Then there’s Saison which is a sort of sour version of Blonde but not sour as in lemons, more not sweet. Wheat beers I think we know all about, but Belgian ones are usually white and have some sort of subtle orange peel background going on. Fruit beers are a class of themselves and the Lambic Kirk (cherry) are actually very good and not some sort of girly summer job.
The clue is often in the glass they’re served in – there really is a reason for the shapes. Blondes are served in “tulip” glasses as they are meant to have a deep head and the tulip shape holds the head in. “Chalice” glasses are for beers where the aroma is part of the experience and lots of the dubbels and Trappists are served in them too. Wheat and fruit beers are usually in straight up and down glasses.
All sounds terribly geeky but there are so many Belgian beers it’s a misnomer to think they are all the same. They are very different and the Belgians do take it seriously, but in that tongue in cheek way they have. They all love their local breweries and they all try to be a bit different, a culture we are getting used to but we have to call it “Craft”.
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