is the northern half of Belgium, defined nowadays by the five counties or provinces of East and West Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Limburg, and Antwerp. The official language is Dutch, spoken in a variety of local Flemish dialects.

As with much in modern Belgium its brewing traditions differ from those of the French-speaking south, Wallonia, though they retain some continuity with other parts of old Flanders.

The original 9th-century fiefdom was based around the city of Bruges (now Brugge) but grew in influence such that by the 16th century the Dukes of Flanders ruled an area spanning from Antwerp in the east, via Courtrai (Kortrijk) and Tournai in the south, to the North Sea coast west of Dunkirk, encompassing a swath of what is now northeastern France.

Indeed an ale-brewing culture is far more discernable in the part of France known as French Flanders, which is home to over 50 craft breweries, than in the one-third of present-day Flanders that lies east of the Dijle river, which has barely a dozen.

Before the acceptance of hops as an essential ingredient of beer, brewers would lengthen the shelf-life of their beers by adding herbal mixtures called gruut (also grut or gruit) to stall oxidation, bitter the beer, and mask unpleasant spoilage notes. See gruit.

The owners of the best gruit recipes held considerable power, particularly in medieval Bruges, and to this day, Flemish beers frequently contain a mix of herbs and spices, at least in part to continue a long tradition of the region.

Another, entirely separate practice that has survived particularly in the southern part of West Flanders province is that of aging (usually brown) ales in oak tuns for long periods, sometimes up to 2 years. Oak-aging allows lactic fermentation to occur and some additional conditioning by slowly working yeasts, turning the beer slightly sour like neatly aged wine, though many varieties are later softened by the addition of younger beer.

This tradition shares a history with English stock ales. The most magnificent examples are at Rodenbach in Roeselare and the smaller Verhaeghe family brewery at Vichte, east of Kortrijk. Others are beginning to revive the practice, though a similar tradition around the East Flanders market town of Oudenaarde has largely died out in recent years.

The region is also at the westernmost point of what some beer historians refer to as “the wheat beer belt,” which can trace its origins back as far as the Holy Roman Empire and likely encompassed the wheat beer traditions of Bavaria, Berlin, Belgium, and elsewhere.

Defunct local styles such as Leuven’s peeterman and various sour and sweeter styles, such as the witbier style revived by Pierre Celis in his De Kluis brewery at Hoegaarden in 1965 were part of that heritage, though none has crept closer to the edge of sane brewing practice than the lambic traditions of the Payottenland region of Flemish Brabant. See celis, pierre, lambic, and white beer.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw more links between Flemish and English brewing through the influence of George Maw Johnson, the Kentish brewer who became the first editor of the Belgian brewers’ house magazine, Le Petit Journal du Brasseur.

Johnson is credited with helping to create the soft form of pale ale called Spéciale, suited to the new breweries of the industrial age that were growing in the north of Brabant, and with popularizing light sweet stouts and strong Scotch ales, styles of beer now rarely found in their native Britain but still made by breweries in East and West Flanders.

At the heart of Flemish brewing, however, is a desire to stand out from the crowd by doing things differently. Where lesser brewers will imitate successful beer styles thereby creating a trend, the Flemish brewer craves non-conformity, be it through pushing the limits of accepted brewing practice or simply by creating outrageous glassware.

How else can one explain the presence on a single café beer list of local streekbieren (regional beers) as singular and diverse as Anker’s lush, deep Gouden Carolus Classic, Dolle Brouwers’ near-sharp, burnt Oerbier, Bosteels’ honey-sweet Karmeliet Tripel, Boon’s razor-edged Oude Geuze, Struise Brouwers’ authoritative Black Albert imperial stout, Slaghmuylder’s peppery pale Witkap Special, Van Eecke’s flowery Hommelbier, and Kerkom’s delicate-but-firm Bink Blond.

One explanation for this diversity and originality is that the Flemish are overly used to having their lands invaded and occupied by foreign powers. This happened twice in the last century and dozens of times before that, courtesy of the Spanish, Dutch, Austrians, French, Germans, and others. The Flemish, it seems, prefer anti-authoritarian beers.

At the present time just under 60% of Belgium’s active breweries are found in Flanders. The fiscally more conservative north does not offer the same generous start-up packages given to new microbreweries in the south and the gap is narrowing, albeit in part due to younger Flemish brewers setting up businesses there.

On the other hand, Flanders remains home to most of the larger independents, including Duvel Moortgat, Palm, Haacht, and supermarket brewer Martens, plus three Trappist abbey breweries, at Westmalle, Westvleteren, and Achel.

The lack of government support for new brewers also shows itself in a wariness by newcomers to invest in creating a brewery themselves, instead relying on other breweries to make their beers for them, sometimes even hiring out their brewhouse for the day to do so. One such “brewer-for-hire,” Proef of Lochristi, has made over a thousand different brands.

Fears that the authorities’ disregard of their brewing industry may lead to its demise, however, disregard the nature of the population’s spirit.

See also achel brewery, belgium, westmalle brewery, and westvleteren brewery.