Created by Ethan Oleson, June 18, 2014.
BeerAdvocate, The Beer Mapping Project, “Belgian Beers: Where History
Meets Globalization”(Persyn et al.), Belgian Brewers, Bierebel, gadm.org,
RateBeer, Zythos, 2013 Jaarverslag (Haacht), 2013 annual report
(AB InBev), and the homepages of each of the mapped breweries.
Belgian Breweries
In Belgium today, there are roughly
200 breweries and every year the
Belgian people drink 75 liters of beer
per capita. While this puts Belgium in
the top 20 beer consuming countries
per capita, the figures are paltry
compared to the staggering 3000+
breweries and 200+ liters consumed
per capita in 1900. Belgium is home to
many unique styles of beer including
Saison, Flanders Red Ale, Oud Bruin,
Lambic, and Abbey style ales. The
history of Belgian beer culture is
inexorably linked with the church.
Historically, Belgian abbeys sold their
high quality beer to the public in order
to sustain themselves financially.
3
2
1
Breweries
1
2
3
Trappist
Brewery
Trappist Breweries
N
1
2
3
4
5
6
5
30 mi.
4
30 km.
Westvleteren Brewery
Westmalle Brewery
Achel Brewery
Chimay Brewery
Rochefort Brewery
Orval Brewery
The popularity of these abbey beers
gave them an image of quality which
still exists today. However, more often
than not, “abbey beers” today are
mostly secular products which exploit
that image of quality. There is a subset
of Abbey beers which are called
"Trappist Beers" which are frequently
regarded as some of the best beers in
the world. To be a certified trappist
beer, the beer must be brewed within
the walls of a Cistercian monastery,
and the brewery must be a non-profit
enterprise of secondary importance
within the monastery. Currently there
are ten Trappist breweries in the world
and six of them are located in Belgium.
Year est.
Production
1838
1836
1998
1862
1595
1931
475
12,000
450
12,300
1,800
4,500
4
(in kiloliters)
Market share of all producers
on the Belgian beer market
Private label
(generally large companies
that sell beer to a marketer to
label and brand as they see fit)
Other
5
4
3
2
2
10,000 kl
6
5
1
1,000 kl
3
1
6
Largest Breweries
(or brewing companies)
less than 1
Breweries
by province
per 100,000 people
1-2
1
2
2.01-3
3
4
more than 3
5
Ab InBev (4 breweries)
Alken-Maes (4 breweries)
Haacht (1 brewery)
PALM breweries (3 breweries)
Duvel Moortgat (3 breweries)
Production
1
(in kiloliters)
500,000 kl
510,000
140,000
100,000
100,000
88,000
cumulative total of all trappist
breweries’ production
2
3
100,000 kl
4
10%
market
share
5
all
Breweries built by year
10
3
5
2 1
5
6
4
1
1350
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2013