Craft Beer
Craft beers are speciality beers that come from a craft brewery or microbrewery. While large, commercial breweries focus mainly on large production, craft breweries have more room to experiment with flavours. The result is an extensive and diverse range, in which you are bound to find your taste. Craft beers are also known for being local and sustainable.
Discover craft beers from well-known Belgian microbreweries such as Galea Craft Beers, Enigma Brewery and Brussels Beerproject in Belgian Beer Heaven's webshop. Add your craft beer to your shopping basket, order easily online and count on a 100% insured and fast delivery. Questions about your choice or your order? Contact us, we will happily provide the answer.
The history of craft beer
The term ‘craft beer’ originated in the United States in 1978. Then-President Jimmy Carter signed a law that no longer prohibited the home brewing of alcoholic beverages. That ban was a remnant of the prohibition. From 1920 to 1933, it was illegal to produce, transport and sell alcohol in the US.
After prohibition, the few remaining breweries made lots of lager. The Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco was the exception to the rule, first with Californian steam beer, and later with porters, barleywines and IPAs. Their example was followed by others, especially after the ban on home brewing was abolished. The new microbreweries mainly took their inspiration from imported beers, especially Belgian beers.
The definition of craft beer
A craft beer is brewed in a microbrewery. But what is a microbrewery? This has been strictly defined by CRAFT, the trade association of craft beer brewers in the Netherlands. A microbrewery meets these 4 criteria:
- Independence: a minimum of 75% of the shares is owned by the craft brewer.
- Authenticity: the brewery makes beer on an undiluted basis, without using cheaper ingredients such as corn and rice to reduce costs.
- Transparency: it must be clear to customers where the ingredients and the beer itself come from.
- Limited volume: the brewery does not brew more than 1 million hectoliters of beer per year.
By comparison, brewing group Palm Belgian Craft Brewers, which in addition to Palm includes Rodenbach and Cornet, is right at that limit, brewery Duvel Moortgat goes just over it with 1.2 million hectoliters. 1 million hectoliters is a wide margin, but not as wide as in America. There, you are still a microbrewery when you produce 7.2 million hectoliters annually. That’s roughly the total annual Belgian beer consumption.
A wide range of craft beer at Belgian Bear Heaven
No Belgian beer heaven without Belgian speciality beers. Above, you will discover delicious craft beers from well-known Belgian microbreweries such as Galea Craft Beers from Brasschaat, Enigma Brewery from Heusden-Zolder, Brussels Beerproject, Brouwerijen Alken-Maes with 4 branches in Belgium, and the North Antwerp Brewery.
Choose the craft beer you want to try or that is already your favorite, add it to your basket and order online quickly and easily. We provide fast and 100% insured delivery. Any questions? Contact Belgian Beer Heaven, we are happy to help.
