Brewing and tradition Beer is a part of everyday life in Belgium. Until the 1960s, children eating lunch at school could choose from tea, coffee, or beer (the so-called "table beer", blond or sour-brown, which is very low in alcohol). In the 1980s at university restaurants, drink choices were still water and table beer; soft drinks were introduced in the mid-1970s. Most weeks there is a
beer festival somewhere in the country, attracting thousands of visitors. Some festivals have an international reputation, whereas others simply celebrate a local village beer. Besides omnipresent beer, cafés, breweries, and brewing fanatics, there are also several beer museums to be found across the country. Each showcases a different aspect of Belgian beer culture, and each one takes its own unique approach. While some focus on
hops and others on transport or history, all of the beer museums in Belgium share one thing in common—they are run by true beer-lovers committed to their passion for Belgian beer. Beer culture is a prominent part of Belgium's history and its folklore. Belgians' love for beer has left a mark in their history books and has created legends that live on today. One legend says that
St. Gambrinus, the 'saint of beer', who is said to have introduced hops, is buried in Brussels only meters away from the Brewers House on the
Grand Place.
St. Gambrinus or Arnold of Soissons The legend of St. Gambrinus seems to go back to
John I, Duke of Brabant (c. 1252–1294),
John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (1371–1419) and was written down from the oral tradition by Bavarian
historiographer Johannes Aventinus. John I's dukedom, the
Duchy of Brabant, was a wealthy beer-producing area. The brewers' guild in Brussels made the Duke an honorary member and hung his portrait in their meeting hall. In his 1874
monograph on Gambrinus,
Victor Coremans reported that references to Brabant and Flanders in the Gambrinus legends seemed recent, but a similarity between the likeness of John I on his tomb and the faces in some illustrations was remarkable. Moreover, the Saint's name seems to have a hypothetical connection: John I was sometimes known as
Jan Primus, and
Gambrinus might be a
corruption of the duke's name. The real patron saint of hop-pickers and brewers is
Arnold Bishop of Soisson (ca 1040–1087), the founder of the
Abbey of St. Peter in Oudenburg. In Oudenburg, the friars brewed beer, a vital product in medieval life. Arnold allegedly encouraged the local peasants to drink beer, instead of water, due to its 'gift of health'. During one outbreak of illness, which caused many deaths among the population, Arnold advised the local people to avoid consuming water in favour of beer, which saved many lives.
History These legends demonstrate that brewing in this part of the world goes back a very long time; traces have been found before the pre-Roman era in locations connected to the Celts. The history of beer in the nation of the
Belgae is well documented from the Gallo-Roman era (3rd-4th century AD) when brewing was very much a women's craft. Traces of domestic brewing activity have been found in the remains of Roman villas in Ronchinne, Anthée, and Mette. In the
Middle Ages,
Gruut or
Gruit was a fundamental part of the brewing process. This is reflected in family names like Gruuthuse, of the
Gruuthusemuseum in
Bruges. In abbeys, the quality of beer was improved by adding hops. Hops were gradually used more often as brewers discovered they prevented the beer from souring. The German abbess
Hildegard von Bingen provided a detailed description of the workings of hops in the 12th century. Others took different brewing paths. In the
Pajottenland region, beers were brewed using wild yeasts and a spontaneous fermentation process, a process particular to the valley of the
Zenne, which resulted in
Lambic type beers. As in the rest of Europe, beer was seen as a healthy alternative to water. It is estimated daily beer consumption in medieval Europe reached as much as 1.5L per capita. During the reign of
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor—and later under Napoleon—most abbeys and nunneries were abolished, and the brewing cauldrons disappeared. Now one can only find authentic brewing monks within the
Trappist orders, of which six are found in Belgium. In contrast to abbey beers,
Trappist beers are only brewed within the walls of the abbey. ==See also==