12 BELGIAN TOP BEERS and their COMBINED BELGIAN CHEESES
plus SOME WINE-CHEESE-BEER COMBINATIONS

                                   Prof. Sonia Collin               Belgian Beer Guide Google maps: Belgian Breweries (yellow)                   We also participated             

Consumer Organisation "Testaankoop - Test Achats" has published a "Guide to 210 Belgian special beers", in Dutch and French. See www.testaankoop.be.

As many non-Belgians know, we are a beer country: around 140 breweries (see map above), and a per capita beer consumption of 80 Liters (yes) per year. The guide explains how beer is made, describes the 10 different beer styles, and presents the two types of tests that were made: lab tests on the one hand, tastings by a jury (no names given) on the other hand. The lab tests were performed under the direction of Prof. Sonia Collin and her team of the "Unité de brasserie et des études alimentaires- Earth and Life Insitute"of our sister University of Louvain-la-Neuve. We will not go into further details here, like we did in our Dutch article A fine encyclopedia of Beers in 20 countries worldwide is David Kenning's "Beers of the World", London, Paragon, 2005. Only Germany (46 pages) gets more attention than little Belgium (44 pages)!

Yet, the publication contains more than an analytical and gustative description of each of the 210 beers. The Testaankoop wine tasting panel (12 members), complemented by 3 team members of prof. Collin, a beer brewer and a cheese merchant, tested the combination of 12 of the top Belgian Special Beers with Belgian cheeses. Each beer was tasted along with 3 quite different types of Belgian cheeses. That was quite a job, yet the panel came to reasonably uniform conclusions. The general conclusion was similar to earlier tastings of wine+cheese: in some cases we can speak of a perfect "marriage", in other cases we only find ourselves in a situation of radical divorce...

Below, we present each of the twelve beers, accompanied by some tasting notes from Beeradvocate, together with the cheese(s) that were a perfect or very good match:

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Rodenbach Grand Cru:

"dark brown, very fruity yet fresh, well-filled"


Westmalle Tripel:

"clear, golden yellow, fruity, soft,
creamy,
with a
bitter
touch"


Oud Beersel
Oude Geuze:

"amber, pleasant bitterness with sour yet
smooth character"

Saison
Dupont:

"yellow gold, light and crisp, spicy and herbal"

 


Malheur Bière Brut:
"lemony hue grape like flavours, sweet citrus and apple; finish long/ bitter"

 

Orval:

"dark amber, tea with lemon taste, quickly replaced with bitter dry pleasant spice finish"
Chouffe Dobbel
IPA Tripel:

"pale yellow,light sweetness followed by pine and citrus, very elegant"


De Koninck Spéciale Belge:

"brownish red, sour/tart, punchy, bitter"



Duvel:

"golden, sweet fruity (apple), giving way to some yeast and malt notes, alcohol noticeable"


Hoegaar-
den White:
"hazy off-yellow,
crisp
wheat & citrus
notes.
Decent amount of carbo-
nation"

Trappiste
Rochefort 8:
"dark brown, malt and sugar dominate, with the spices and fruit in the background


Boon Kriek Mariage
Parfait:
"clear pale rose, sour
cherries blossoming,
from
overtly tart to sweet"

Greven-broeker
(Achelse Blauwe): very creamy, zesty yet also mellow

Old Brussels:
semihard zesty salty cheese

Geitenkaas met fenegriek: sweet goat cheese, nutty

Pas de Rouge:
creamy, zesty aftertaste

Witte van Rotselaar: creamy goat cheese lively taste

Greven-
broeker:
see to the
left

 

Li P'tit Rosé:

mellow, with spicy aftertaste (crust)

Keiems Bloempje kruiden: creamy, mellow, spicy

Verse
geitenkaas:
shows character, notes of flowers and tobacco

Damse Mokke:
white crust, soft and creamy

Pas de Bleu: creamy blue cheese, zesty

Geitenkaas met fenegriek: sweet goat cheese, nutty

 

Pas de Bleu: creamy blue cheese, zesty


Pas de Rouge: creamy, zesty aftertaste


Petit Gabriel
soft, creamy notes of hay, lively, intense

 

Brugge Rodenbach: mellow sweet taste, acid touch

 

As one can see, there is "one beer for many cheeses": Rodenbach Grand Cru. That beer has been one of ourfavorites ever since it was produced. Westmalle Tripel Trappist and White Hoegaarden have several good cheese mates too. The beer with the weakest combination score is Boon Kriek (cherry): the high degree of acidity plus fruitiness simply pushes most cheeses into the corner. GENERAL CONCLUSION: as is the case with the different types of wine (white, rosé, red from different grapes and blends), only some specific types of cheese do combine well with only some specific types of beer.

We recently did a "double combination test": one white and two red wines of high quality and three very different types of beer were combined with some of the cheeses described above. This is the result:




WINE

CHEESE

BEER(S)

 

EL COTO RIOJA BLANCO 2009
SPAR, A+ 4,45 €

 

Global description: both floral, spicy and slightly fruity on nose and palate - fresh, zesty, with refreshing citrus touch

 Drink with: creamy cheeses

Judgement of course panel on combination wine & cheese:

9+, 3 +/-
“fresh acid and dry fruitiness of the wine provide a good combination with the creamy spiciness of the cheese"

Keiems Bloempje

Produced by ‘t Dischof Keiem (Diksmuide)
mellow creamy cheese from raw cow milk + spices

Fat: 45% on dry matter, ca 23% total

Price cheese stores per 100 g : ca 2,43 €


DE KONINCK SPECIALE BELGE

5 % vol.

"brownish red, sour/tart, punchy, bitter"

Judgement of course panel on combination beer & cheese: +/-

“the tart bitterness of the beer simply dominates the cheese, yet taken separately, both are quite good ”

 

 

 

 

M. TORINO CABERNET SAUVIGNON RESERVA 2008 ARGENTINA COLRUYT AA 7,5€

Global description: Incredibly wealthy ripe wine, a reserva which can be cellared for 10 more years, yet also enjoyed right now, with very good price-quality relationship: a winner!r!

Judgement of course panel on combination wine & cheese:

10 ++, 1+

“the full round dark fruity, spicy and freshly acid wine is a perfect complement to the salty creaminess of this hard cheese"


Old Brussels (& Oud Brugge)

Producer: Belgomilk (Moorslede)
dry, zesty, salty cheese from pasteurised cow milk

Fat : 48% on dry matter, ca 30% total

Price in cheese stores per 100 g : ca 1,87€

 

9,5 % vol.
Trappist Westmalle  

"clear, golden yellow, fruity, soft and creamy, with a bitter touch"

Judgement of course panel on combination beer & cheese: ++

“The hard dry and salty but also lactic taste of the cheese is beautifully complemented by the bitter sourness of the beer"

 

 

SEIGNEUR DE FONTIMPLE VACQUEYRAS 2010
DELHAIZE AA 7,05€

GlobaL description: Very well-made Vacqueyras with the typical marriage between all sorts of small dark red fruit and spices from the underwood. Can last through 2016

 

Judgement of course panel on combination wine & cheese: 11++

"a true marriage between the dark fruity ripeness and the spicy character of the wine and the mouth filling slightly salty mellowness of the cheese"

 

Grevenbroecker
(Achelse Blauwe)

 Producer: Catharinadal – Peter Boonen (Hamont-Achel – Limburg)

very creamy, zesty yet also mellow blue cheese

Fat: 45%on dry matter, ca 32% total
Price in cheese stores per 100 g: ca 4€

Judgement of course panel on combination beer & cheese: ++ for both beers

1. Rodenbach

“the full fruity-sour taste of the beer combines very well with the round and fully creamy yet also slightly salty taste of the cheese"

2. Orval:

“In contrast to the previous combination, the salty creaminess of the cheese is very well complemented by the bitter acidity of this Trappist beer"

Rodenbach Grand Cru 6% Brouwerij Roeselare: "dark brown, very fruity yet fresh, well-filled"

6,2 % vol. Trappist abbey Orval: "dark amber, unsweetened tea with lemon taste, quickly replaced with bitter dry with pleasant spice finish"