Blond

The BJCP describes Belgian Blond Ale as a golden-blond, moderately strong Belgian beer of 6–7.5%. But the BJCP itself warns that many Belgian monastic and craft beers are called 'Blond' without being representative of that style.

The light monastic table beer, the Belgian Single (4.8–6%), is sometimes simply called a Blond; the BJCP deliberately avoids that name to prevent confusion. In addition there is an American Blonde Ale of 3.8–5.5%, a very different style with the same name. And among the Trappists alone, blond ranges from Chimay Gold (4.8%) and Westvleteren Blond (5.8%) to Chimay Green, a strong blond of 10%.

So look at the alcohol percentage and the description, not just at the word blond. Westmalle, too, stresses that the colour of a beer says nothing in itself about how heavy it is.

The BJCP is clear on this: despite claims going back to the year 1200, the style arose after the Second World War and was first made popular by Leffe. The aim was to appeal to drinkers of European pilsner.

Leffe itself says that the canons of the abbey brewed beer from 1240. But according to that same Leffe, Abbot Nys and brewer Albert Lootvoet decided in 1952 to revive the abbey's brewing tradition. According to Gordon Strong (Brew Your Own), Leffe Blond was only developed after Leffe Bruin had returned in the 1950s. We found no exact year for Leffe Blond. According to Leffe, AB InBev now takes care of the brewing.

The year 1240 is therefore about brewing in the abbey, not about the blond beer you buy now.

According to the BJCP, very few religious institutions still brew themselves, but many of them have licensed their name to commercial breweries. In 1999 the Belgian brewers' federation introduced the logo Erkend Belgisch Abdijbier (Recognised Belgian Abbey Beer), for breweries with a licence to use the name of an existing or former abbey.

Leffe is the best-known example. According to Leffe itself, canons brewed there from 1240, the tradition was revived in 1952 by Abbot Nys and brewer Albert Lootvoet, and AB InBev now takes care of that task. According to Gordon Strong, Leffe was presumably the first abbey with a formal licence agreement with a commercial brewery.

For the label Authentic Trappist Product, stricter rules of the International Trappist Association apply: the beer is made in the immediate surroundings of the abbey, under the supervision of monks or nuns, and the proceeds go to the community, the order, development projects or charities. An abbey beer can be perfectly good; it is just a different promise from Trappist.

The Belgian brewers' federation itself writes that there are thirst-quenching beers and tasting beers, light and strong beers. It also counts pilsner and lager as part of the Belgian beer offering.

The style guides show it in figures. The Brewers Association gives Belgian-Style Table Beer 0.5–2.0% and Belgian-Style Session Ale 2.1–5.0%. The BJCP gives witbier 4.5–5.5%, with most examples around 5%, Belgian Pale Ale 4.8–5.5% (De Koninck has brewed it since 1913), saison at table beer strength 3.5–5.0%, lambic 5–6.5% and the monastic table beer (Belgian Single) 4.8–6%. Westmalle Extra, a Trappist, has 4.8%.

There is a grain of truth in it, though. On the monastic beer styles, such as dubbel, tripel and quad, the BJCP writes that many of them are strong. Belgian blond, too, is moderately strong at 6–7.5%. But Belgian and strong are not synonyms.