As continental beers go, there are none finer than those from Belgium and Germany. Like whisky from Scotland or wine from France, these European neighbours produce beers with great character, diversity and longevity.
This series of features has already visited the country’s fruit and wheat beers, so here we’re going to look at other classic continental styles that fall outs
ide those categories – beers that the industry has created the catch-all phrase ‘speciality beers’ to encompass.
This is because they are beers that defy categorisation along conventional flavour lines – clean and fresh lager or hoppy bitter ales.
Therein lies the beauty of both beer in general and continental speciality beers in particular. You can safely list many of the individual beers, or ranges from a particular brewery, safe in the knowledge that they deliver a versatility that will complement dishes as diverse
a
s moules frites, cassoulet, steaks, fish, any number of pasta sauces, light and heavy puddings and the cheese board. First, though, let’s deal with some definitions.
Only beers produced by the seven designated Trappist monastery breweries (Chimay, Orval, De Rochefort, Westmalle, Westvleteren and De Ac
helse Kluis in Belgium and the Dutch De Koningshoeven) are legally allowed to use the term Trappist on the label. Brewing is controlled by the monks of the order. These are not to be confused with abbey beers, whose origins lie in the ecclesiastical world but are now brewed under contract by commercial brewers using the old name. Leffe, is the best known of these.
As far as styles go, lambic beer is made through a process of spontaneous fermentation through yeast occurring naturally in the atmosphere, rather than pitching a yeast that has been cultured.
The sour beer style gueuze is a blend of young and old lambics, and faro is a sweetened lambic style. Saison is a term applied to seasonal summer beers, mainly from the southern part of Belgium.
Germany is best known for its lagers, but among the speciality styles is altbier, a copper-coloured, smoky, ale.
The term bock is increasingly used outside Germany, but is thought to be a derivation of the German town of Einbeck where the style – a strong, sweet, full-bodied lager – was reputedly first brewed.
Dopplebocks are stronger, while Eisbock has a higher alcohol level because the beer is frozen and the resultant ice crystals removed to create a more concentrated brew.
Dunkel simply means dark, while hell is pale. The prefix hefe means yeast, and denotes a secondary fermentation in the bottle – what would be called bottle-conditioned in the UK.
Kölsch is a style particular to Cologne – clean and fresh like a lager, though technically brewed like an ale.
This should be enough to get you started, but what do they taste like?