Beer: There are over 450 different types of beer on sale in Belgium and it is an obvious statement to make that beer is the national drink. Beer first became popular when the 11th century when the Benedictine monk St Arnold claimed that beer was good for you. He founded the Oudenburg Abbey in Bruges and during a bout of plague told the people to drink beer instead of water. The people stared feeling better and attributed their recovery to the beer that they were drinking. However the simple fact behind their recovery was that the water used in beer was boiled unlike the water that they had been drinking. St Arnold to this day became the patron saint of beer. There are a number of breweries dotted throughout Belgium and it is well worth visiting one of these breweries and sampling what they have to offer. The Cantillon Brewery in Brussels is the only surviving family brewery in Brussels. Visitors can take a tour of the brewery and then sample either of the house brews, Kriek and Faro. The most famous of the Belgian breweries are the five trappist breweries, Chimay, Orval, Westmalle, Westveltren and Rochefort. Each brewery is run by a monastic order and between them brew about twenty different types of beer.
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