Duvel is a strong Belgian white beer that has been brewed since the 1920s. It is a high-carbonated beer with a characteristic hop bitterness and a dry finish. Beer has an alcohol content of 8.5% and is known for its effervescence, its golden color and its retention capacity. Duvel is one of Belgium's most popular beers and is exported to more than 60 countries around the world.
Refine your beer tasting palette with my digital, printable beer tasting sheets to record and take notes on each new tea you try. This beer was one of the first “frozen glass” beers produced by Urbain and his team, using Cuvee Delphine as a base and distilling it on ice until it reached an astonishing 26% alcohol. In addition to the abundance of glasses offered by brewers, some Belgian cafés serve beer in the glassware of their own homes. Refine your beer tasting with my beer tasting guide, then take notes on each beer or compare an entire flight.
Keep in mind that usually, if a beer on the list comes from a particular brewery, you can be sure that the other beers produced by that particular brewery are also exceptional. This pleasant golden-blonde beer is the favorite of all lovers of heavier, slightly seasoned and refreshing beer. All Van Steenberge beers have very distinctive flavors and other excellent beers include Piraat, Augustijn, Bornem beers, Monk's Cafe, Garre Tripel and many others. Even then, some Abbey beers, such as Affligem Abbey, whose name now appears on the beers produced by the Heineken brewery, owned by Affligem, resumed brewing in monasteries that were in operation until the occupation of most of Belgium in the First World War.
Some brewers who are not Lambic brewers make fruit beers using a process similar to that of Fruit Lambic beers. However, several traditional beer styles were preserved, such as white beer, lambica and old Flemish brown beer, while new local high-fermentation styles were developed, such as spéciale belge, abbey beer, and Belgian strong beer. Since I have had the pleasure of traveling several times around Belgium, my favorite beer or beers are not something I can easily choose, but I will try to offer what I think are the best deals in Belgium. Typified by Rodenbach, the eponymous brand that created this type more than a century ago, the distinctive characteristics of this beer from a technical point of view are a specially roasted malt, fermentation through a mixture of several “common” highly fermented yeasts and a culture of lactobacilli (the same type of bacteria with which yogurt is made) and maturation in oak.
Rate each new beer you try at a brewery to find your favorite with my digital, printable Beer Flight scorecard. So, during your next visit to Belgium, be sure to try some of these fantastic beers and experience the unique flavors and brewing traditions that have made Belgian beer famous around the world. In an effort not to fill the list with too many beers from the same brewery, I will only list my two favorite beers from each brewery. Duvel is one of my top favorite beers and I've told people that this is my real “lawnmower” beer.
