Beers » Belgian Speciality Ales

Belgian Speciality Ales covers the many breweries in Belgium that produce characterful beers that don't easily fit into any other category. Some of the beers are likened to an English Pale Ale or Bitter and some are labelled with the English word Ale where others are labelled as Special. Some of these are spiced, others simply get a spicy taste from the yeasts used. Many are comparable to a strong Old Ale or dark-brown Barley Wine. Abbey ales are part of Belgium's age old tradition. At the moment there are very few working monasteries brewing there own beer within the order, instead many of these monastries have licensed large commercial breweries to produce beers bearing their abbey name. The character of these Abbey Ales can differ enormously from each other but they are usually strong in alcohol with values between 6% and 10%. Trappist ale may only come from one of the six abbeys of the trappist order that still brew beer on their premises. There are five in Belgium and one in Holland producing La Trappe. All of these ales although they may be very different and individual they still share a common theme of being top fermented, strong, bottle conditioned, complex, and fully flavoured brew. Each abbey produces three different varieties of ale increasing in their alcoholic content. These can usually improve with some years of cellaring.