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Belgium’s Funky New Wave

Joe Stange, managing editor of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® and co-author of Good Beer Guide Belgium, explores how that country’s wilder-side beers have continued to evolve.

Joe Stange Jul 7, 2020 - 8 min read

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Photo: Joe Stange

In Belgium, for the most part, that thing called “saison” has not followed the same wild path taken by American craft brewers, who have driven it down some increasingly acidic and horsey roads.

After the style almost went extinct about 30 years ago, more Belgian breweries than ever are producing saisons—but usually they are nearer to the dry, bitter-ish, clean-but-rustic examples of breweries such as Dupont and Blaugies.

On the other hand, even beyond Lambicland, Belgian brewers know a thing or two about funky yeast and mixed fermentation, and—like their friends in America and elsewhere abroad—they have been exploring that realm in the past couple of decades with their characteristic levels of both panache and balance.

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