Imported beers: Germany and Belgium
For this occasion, we are taking you on a journey through Germany and Belgium, two great countries with a strong relationship with beer. Here you will discover great names from the brewing world. The goal of Beer Republic is to bring the culture and passion for beer to all of you who are starting out on this journey, and to support and make quality imported beer accessible to all connoisseurs of this world.
We hope you enjoy this trip.
German beers
As we have mentioned before, Germany is famous for its beer production and consumption. With a strong cultural and historical component, German breweries have become some of the best-known, most recognized, and sought-after brands in the world.
Below, we tell you about some of the most famous ones.
Hofbräu München
Hofbräu München, better known by its acronym HB, is one of the oldest breweries in Germany. Founded in 1589 by the Bavarian Duke William V, Hofbräu München quickly gained popularity among the people of Munich and ended up becoming the official beer of the royal court.
Currently, HB continues to operate and produce a wide variety of beers. It is one of the main breweries that fuels the very famous Oktoberfest held in Munich and has become one of the main attractions during this beer celebration.
Weihenstephaner
Weihenstephaner is another renowned German brewery. Its history dates back to the year 1040, making it the oldest continuously operating brewery in the world. It is located in Freising, a city very close to Munich. Weihenstephaner is known for its popular Hefeweissbier, a wheat beer brewed using traditional Bavarian methods.
Franziskaner
Founded in 1363 in Munich, its name comes from the Franciscan friars who ran the monastery where the factory was located. Currently, the Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu brewery is in charge of its operation and produces various beers.
Krombacher
Krombacher is a brewery based in the German town of Krombach, located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, from which it obviously takes its name. The brewery was founded in 1803 and has since produced a wide variety of beers, such as its Pilsner and its Radler.
Erdinger
Erdinger is another popular German brewery, founded in 1886. It is located in the town of Erding, near Munich, and produces a wide variety of beers, such as the Erdinger Weissbier wheat beer.
German beer has a long history, and these five breweries have earned the reputation of being some of the best in the country, having established themselves as some of the most iconic beer producers in the world. Whether it's a traditional Bavarian dunkel or a modern craft beer, German beer will undoubtedly satisfy the tastes of connoisseurs around the globe.
Belgian beers
Belgium also has a long brewing history that makes it a famous country and a benchmark for its beers. With a rich and varied beer culture that dates back centuries, Belgian beers have earned worldwide fame and are today considered some of the best beers in the world, as well as the most sought-after and appreciated.
Gulden Draak
Gulden Draak is a Belgian dark ale brewed since 1986 using traditional noble hops, classic ingredients, and exclusive yeast varieties. Under the Van Steenberge brewery label, the beer takes its name from the Golden Dragon sculpture found on a bell tower in Ghent.
Legend tells the journey and history of the Golden Dragon from its beginning, on the bow of a Viking ship, to its current location, Ghent.
Since its creation, this beer has become one of the most popular Belgian dark ales.
Piraat
Piraat is another popular Belgian beer, also brewed by the Van Steenberge factory since 1980. This beer is a strong Pale Ale, inspired by the famous Dutch corsair and pirate, Piet Heyn, and it soon became one of this brewery's great successes.
Since then, and like the Gulden Draak, the Piraat beer has become another of the most popular and iconic Belgian beers.
Lupulus
The Lupulus brewery was born in 2004, in an old 19th-century farmhouse that is part of the heritage of the Ardennes. Its main objective was to brew beer and supply the tavern they had next to their premises.
The brewers at Lupulus wanted to offer a traditional beer with a unique, modern counterpoint; thus, the beer that shares the brewery's name, Lupulus, was born.
Although the historical record is incomplete, legend has it that wolves once inhabited the Ardennes region and that their packs came from Slovenia, where it is said that the best hops in the world are grown...
Lindemans
Lindemans is a lambic brewery, founded by the Lindemans family in 1822.
This brewery is very well-known and famous for its lambic beers, a style of beer that we haven't covered in depth yet, but we will soon. They are fruity beers, brewed with a mixture of malts, wheat, hops, and fruit, and left to ferment spontaneously. This style of beer is characterized by having a distinctively acidic profile, which makes them unique.
Duchesse de Bourgogne
The Duchesse de Bourgogne is a red ale originating in Flanders, brewed by Brouwerij Verhaeghe since 1892, a brewery that excels in its "Flemish red" style beers.
Duchesse de Bourgogne is the brewery's most famous and iconic beer, and it is characterized by the fact that it undergoes re-fermentation in oak barrels for 18 months, followed by a blend with another beer aged for 8 months.
Although the origin of the name is dubious, the theory is that it might be a tribute to Mary of Burgundy, who rests in the city of Bruges.
Barbãr
The history of Brasserie Lefebvre dates back to 1876, when a farmhouse-brewery-malthouse complex was founded in Quenast. Shortly after, it was the son and his wife who took charge of the Brasserie. The history of this brewery is marked by events and perseverance: in 1916, the factory had to be dismantled due to the requisition of metals by the German military to manufacture weapons and ammunition for the Great War. Even so, activity did not cease; all the breweries concentrated to carry out their work in a cooperative located in Rebecq.
In 1919, they acquired another location to restart their activity, but during the period of 1940-1945, the Second World War and rationing slowed down their activity enormously, once again. In addition, there was a restriction that affected all of Belgium, under which only beers with low alcohol content (0.8% ABV) could be produced.
The Barbãr beer is a honey lager, which was born in 1996 under the leadership of the 5th generation of the Lefebvre family and marked another turning point for this Brasserie.
Straffe Hendrik
The Straffe Hendrik beer emerged in 1981, after Véronique Maes became part of the history of the De Halve Maan brewery, becoming one of the first female brewers in the country. Straffe Hendrik quickly won over its consumers and soon became the brewery's most important beer.
This beer is a strong, heavily hopped Belgian Tripel that served to pay tribute to the ancestors of the family who had run the brewery, in reference to the "Hendriks" who had been there during the first 4 generations.
Brugse Zot
Brugse Zot is a Belgian blonde ale created in 2005 with the goal of revitalizing the De Halve Maan brewery through a special beer with a unique recipe, while still respecting family traditions.
The name of this beer was a humorous tribute to the city of Bruges. History says that around the 15th century, the inhabitants of Bruges did not want to accept the regime of the new emperor Maximilian of Austria, so they rebelled. When the emperor arrived in the city in 1488 to suppress the rebellion, the citizens of Bruges took him prisoner. When he was released, he punished the town by banning all fairs and festivities. The locals refused, and in honor of the sovereign, they organized a party for him to ask him to allow the festivities again and, while they were at it, to build a new asylum in the city.
Legend has it that Maximilian replied with the famous phrase, "Close all the gates of Bruges and you will have an asylum!"
Karmeliet
Brouwerij Bosteels is the brewery that launched Tripel Karmeliet on the market in 1996. The brewery was founded in 1791 and has been in the hands of the Bosteels family for seven generations, although it is currently part of the brewing giant InBev.
The peculiarity of the Tripel Karmeliet beer is that it comes from a rediscovered recipe dating back to 1679 that belonged to the Carmelite monks who lived in the Dendermonde Abbey. It is brewed with a unique blend of wheat, oats, and barley, which gives it multiple layers with which to surprise the consumer.
Kasteel
Kasteel is a beer that belongs to Brouwerij Vanhonsebrouck. This beer was launched on the market in 1989, in response to the growing interest in abbey beers (non-Trappist), as they were more complex and had more body.
The history of the brewery, however, dates back to 1900, when Emile Van Honsebrouck, a brewer from a family tradition, founded a small farmhouse-brewery in Ingelmunster. The fame they were acquiring and the sales they were generating made it possible for the brewing family to buy the Ingelmunster castle in 1986, which has been captured as an emblem of the brand, both in the logo, on the labels of its beers, and above all in its name.
Augustijn
The Augustijn beer dates back to 1295, when it was brewed by the Augustinian monks in their monastery in Ghent.
In 1978, the Augustinian monks began the search for a new partner to brew their beer, and Jozef Van Steenberge was immersed in his experiments with top-fermented beers. He won the competition organized by the Augustinians. That was how the factory gained access to the recipe for this historic monastery beer.
The historic yeast strains give the beer a smooth and light, yet very rich, fruity, and hoppy flavor, which makes it a beer for any occasion.
Cuveé Des Trolls
Created in 1769, Brasserie Dubuisson is the oldest in Wallonia.
It maintains the same location and has never stopped its brewing activity. It has had 9 generations of brewers belonging, in a direct line, to the same family. A long history of several centuries written around the passion for beer.
It wasn't until the year 2000, when the micro-brewery "Le Brasse-Temps," founded by Brasserie Dubuisson, launched the Cuveé des Trolls beer, that a turning point in its history was marked. This unfiltered blonde ale has a cloudy appearance, and thanks to the use of dried orange peels during the boil, it has an eminently fruity aroma.
As we have been able to appreciate, Belgian beer also has a long history, full of anecdotes, perseverance, and good practices that turn some of these into very popular brands both inside and outside the country, surprising and satisfying the most exquisite palates.
In future posts, we will delve deeper into Trappist beers, as we ran out of time today.
What is your favorite German beer and your favorite Belgian beer?
If you are looking for imported beers, Beer Republic is the place to find the best ones. We offer a wide selection of imported beers.
If you are a beer lover, there is something for you at Beer Republic. You can find the perfect beer for any moment, whether to enjoy with friends or to relax after a long day. You will find your next favorite beer here!