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Event
Information:
Looking to tickle your taste buds
and sample some truly wonderful
Belgian Biers, then this festival is
for you. Held annually at the
Grand-Place, you are guaranteed to
be impressed with a wide range of
distinctive beers.
At least 50 breweries, ranging from
small, medium-sized to large Belgian
breweries, participate to present
you their best selections of beers.
Belgium offers you a unique range of
biers having the most contrasting
tastes and flavours. Nowhere else in
the world you can find a larger
choice of regional, authentic and
colourful biers.
Beer
in Belgium varies from the popular
pale lager to lambic beer and
Flemish red. Belgian beer-brewing's
origins go back to the Middle Ages.
There are approximately 125
breweries in the country, ranging
from international giants to
microbreweries, which produce a wide
range of beers. In Europe, only
Germany, France and the United
Kingdom are home to more breweries.
Belgians drink 93 litres of beer a
year on average. Beer has been made
in Belgium since at least the Middle
Ages. It is believed today that beer
was brewed at some monasteries
during this period; however, no
written proof exists.[citation
needed] The Trappist monasteries
that now brew beer in Belgium were
occupied in the late 18th century
primarily by monks fleeing the
French Revolution. However, the
first Trappist brewery in Belgium (Westmalle)
did not start operation until 10
December 1836, almost 50 years after
the Revolution. That beer was
exclusively for the monks and is
described as "dark and sweet." The
first recorded sale of beer (a brown
beer) was on 1 June 1861.
The
Grand Place is the central square of
Brussels. It is surrounded by
guildhalls, the city's Town Hall,
and the Breadhouse (French: Maison
du Roi, Dutch: Broodhuis). The
square is the most important tourist
destination and most memorable
landmark in Brussels, along with the
Atomium and Manneken Pis. It
measures 68 by 110 metres (223 by
360 ft), and it is a UNESCO World
Heritage Site. The Grand Place
continued to serve as a market until
November 19, 1959, and it is still
called the Grote Markt or Great
Market in Dutch. Neighbouring
streets still reflect the area's
origins, named after the sellers of
butter, cheese, herring, coal and so
on. The Grand Place was named by
UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in
1998. One of the houses was owned by
the brewers' guild, and is now the
home of a brewers' museum.
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