Which beer do you think is particularly typical for Belgium?

Uwe Ebbinghaus

Editor in the Feuilleton.

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Frank Geeraers:

I would go for this saison d'épeautre first.

What I like about it: It is suitable for accompanying many dishes because it is a specifically fermented dry beer.

The Brasserie de Blaugies, where it came from, is located in Walloon Hainaut/Hainaut, not far from the Brasserie Dupont, also famous for its seasonal beer.

Blaugies is a real family brewery that regularly organizes slaughter parties in good Walloon tradition.

For this reason alone, this beer has to go well with many things, including rustic types of pâté.

How it smells alone!

From a distance you could say there's a Lambic in your nose, but then it's something else.

The Saison Dupont has long been an insider tip for American brewers.

I think this style has a lot of potential, also for Germany.

Why?

The style uses a lot of what the German beer drinker is familiar with, it throws it together in a stimulating way without being intimidating.

So the saison d'Épeautre has the bitterness and dryness of the pilsner, it's hardly sweet, that's what the Germans like.

It has a high spelled content, reminiscent of a more rustic, spicy crystal wheat, and a slight pepperiness is also noticeable.

All of this calls for a meal accompaniment.

The scent is downright intoxicating.

This style of beer really only has its name against it.

“Season” is a very general term in German, referring to everything from asparagus to wine.

But even in Belgium, the style is still little known.

Only when American craft brewers took possession of it did it return to its homeland as a kind of elite product.

Now the saison is also being discovered in the Flemish regions, because it goes very well with oily fish.

It's also good that it doesn't contain too much hops.

So you can also use it for cooking, many Belgian chefs like to add a shot of beer to the sauce.

Last but not least, it is excellent as an aperitif.

It makes you want to take the next sip and doesn't overwhelm your palate with hop bitterness.

What circles has this beer drawn internationally?

Blaugies jumped onto the international scene by making a collaboration beer with Vermont's multi-award winning Hill Farmstead Brewery.

Farmstead's brewmaster has referred to his fellow Blaugies as his mentor.

The common beer is called La Vermontoise - it was brewed once in New England, once in Belgium, with distinctive American hops.

Interestingly, however, it does not survive the rustic basic structure of the saison, which is provided by the yeast.

I think the beer goes very well with the Gruyere.

It is a very pleasant, mushroomy umami aroma that arises in the combination.

In my opinion, the aroma, which comes from the typical Belgian wild Brettanomyces yeast, requires a broader vocabulary than has been customary in Germany up to now.

The famous "horse blanket" as an association is actually imprecise - and who still knows how it smells today, who still grew up near a stable today?

"Barn" as an association makes more sense, but this wild, which can go in the direction of mushroom and umami and occasionally appears with a slight acidity, the concise terms for this spectrum are missing.