Belgian-Style Table Beer

« View all styles

Location:Belgian and French
Category:Ale

Beer Style Description

This is the description of how the Belgian-Style Table Beer style of beer should taste, feel and look. However, there may be perfectly fine beers in this style that fall outside of these ranges and descriptions. This information is just to show the most commonly accepted ranges for the Belgian-Style Table Beer beer style.

These beers may contain malted barley, wheat, and rye as well as unmalted wheat, rye, oats and corn. Though not common, flavorings such as coriander or orange and lemon peel are sometimes added, but are barely perceptible. The mouthfeel is light to moderate, and sometimes boosted with unfermented sugars/malt sugars. Low carbonation and aftertaste are typical.

  • Color: Gold to black. Caramel color is sometimes added to adjust color.
  • Body: Low
  • Malt Flavors & Aromas: Mild malt character may be present
  • Hop Flavors & Aromas: Not present to very low
  • IBUs/Bitterness: Very low to low
  • Fermentation Characteristics: Diacetyl should not be present. Traditional versions do not use artificial sweeteners nor are they excessively sweet. More modern versions can incorporate sweeteners such as sugar and saccharin added post fermentation for additional sweetness and to increase smoothness.

Brewing Properties of Belgian-Style Table Beer

These are the functional brewing properties of Belgian-Style Table Beer beers, as descided by the Brewers Association. These guidelines reflect, as accurately as possible, the historical significance, authenticity or a common profile in the current commercial beer market.

ABV
The alcohol by volume is shows the amount of alcohol this style of beer should have.
0.5 - 3.5%
Bitterness
The International Bittering Units (IBU) scale is used to approximately quantify the actual (not perceived) bitterness of beer.
5 - 15 IBUs
SRM
SRM is a scale for measuring the color intensity of a beer. Low SRM grains impart a pale straw color while higher values mean it will add a darker color to the wort. Learn more »
–
5 - 50 SRM
(10 - 99 EBC)
Original Gravity
Original Gravity (OG) is a measure of the sugar content in the wort before alcoholic fermentation has started to produce the beer.
1.008 - 1.038
Final Gravity
The Final Gravity (FG) is how much sugar is left over in the beer when fermentation is complete.
1.004 - 1.034

If you see an error in our data, please let us know!

Based on Brewers Association 2020 Beer Style Guidelines with changes. Used with permission of Brewer's Association.