Where to start?

Chances are you’re not entirely new to this: I can’t imagine too many of you sat there still surrounded by ‘Happy 18^th Birthday’ cards ready for your first sweet sip of beer (ahaha, as if!!) but every journey needs a beginning.

My love affair first started in the docks of Bristol at a bar with far too high prices for first-year students. It doesn’t exist there anymore but the Belgo mussel bar/beer heaven will be probably familiar to those lucky enough to live in cities to house one (or even two!).

Therefore I’d say Belgium is a great place to start. Its history of brewing matches, (or dare I even say exceeds?) Britain: they’ve been brewing speciality beers since the Middle Ages. The problem with Belgian beer is that once you’ve decided to focus on this one modest country, you find out you’re at square one again. Getting into Belgian beer is like getting into Scotch whisky; where the hell do you start? Fortunately, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and even more ways to brew a beer. Like Scotland and its whisky, Belgium is brimming with hundreds of amazing brews. It’d be harder to find bad beer than the other way round.

There are many different varieties, some more accessible than others, but as this is starting point we’ll try and have some sort of order. Quite a few breweries, mainly ‘Abbey beers’ and the Trappist (more on these later) will have a 3-tiered approach with Blonde, Dubbel/Brown and Tripel.

The Blonde you could say is their entry level; golden in colour, looking a bit like a lager but after a sniff and a sip you’ll realise not so. They’re very fragrant and heady and the alcohol content (usually 6-7%) is already showing its face. A good example, you say? Kasteel Blonde.

Dubbels (or Brunes or Bruins) are identified by, you guessed it, their darker colour and they’re maltier and have a bigger after taste. They’re usually a bit stronger too (7%+) and are one to try for Guinness lovers. Brugse Zot is a nice example.

Tripels (or insert every possible other spelling here) are the bad boys of the gang. Packing 8 – 10% in strength they’re not one to start a pub crawl with. Behind their seemingly gratuitous strength lies serious flavour and smoothness and will usually justify the extra price. Now, I’m a bit rubbish at drinking lots and usually cheat on pub crawls so I can speak sentences after midnight but I can’t recommend these enough. Me and my wife discovered during her pregnancy that usually alcohol = flavour (don’t bother trying alcohol free wine!). Maredsous Tripel has pretty much got everything going for it in this category.

So there you have it. Now you know everything you need to know about Belgian beer. Try a blonde, dubbel and tripel from every brewery and decide on your faves. Finito.

Except of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg…