Only two Belgian beers were awarded at this year's World Beer Cup in Nashville, USA – the lowest amount of medals ever won by Belgian brewers at the event.
More than 10,000 beers from around 50 countries took part in the international competition, the results of which were revealed on Wednesday.
Seefbier and Hoegaarden were the big Belgian winners. Seefbier, of the Antwerp Brewing Company, won the gold medal in the Belgian-style or French-style Ale category. AB InBev's Hoegaarden White took home the silver for best Belgian-Style Witbier.
The competition had a total of 24 "Belgian-style" beer categories, for which US beers took home most of the prizes. Canadian brewers also got more medals than Belgian ones for "Belgian-style" beers, receiving four prizes.
“It's been said that Belgian beer is having some difficulties on the international scene due to a lack of innovation. I think we are proving the opposite with our Seefbier, a beer style that dates back to 16th century Antwerp,” said Johan Van Dyck, founder of the Antwerp Brewing Company.
Losing medals, not reputation
North American beers dominated all the categories. US-based brands took home more than 250 medals in over 100 categories. Other European countries did little better than Belgium: Germany took five medals and the Netherlands four, while Italy only took home one. In total, some 300 beverages were awarded by a jury of experts from 26 countries.
This is the first time that Belgium has left the World Beer Cup with such a low medal count. Five Belgian beers were awarded in 2022 and seven in 2018.
Enige gouden medaille voor #Belgie op #worldbeercup2023 komt naar #antwerpen Deze nacht bekendgemaakt in Nashville: @Seefbier wint goud! #trots #blij #trotsenblij #bier #brouwen #seefbier #onafhankelijkelokalebrouwerij @Visit_ANTWERP pic.twitter.com/vTpMGArpvl
— Seefbier, Johan Van Dyck (@Seefbier) May 11, 2023
The director of the Belgian Brewers, Krishan Maudgal, does not see this as a problem. “We are losing in terms of the number of medals, but not in terms of reputation,” he said.
Last week, he and several Belgian breweries took part in a Belgian Beer Week promotional tour in the United States. “The attractiveness of Belgian beer is returning there. We have seen this in both B2B and B2C relationships. And that is the reality of the market,” he explains. B2B refers to transactions from businesses to businesses; B2C means business-to-client transactions.
Exports of Belgian beer across the Atlantic could therefore pick up again after they plummeted by 44% in 2021 compared to 2020.
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Some Belgian brewers are increasingly likening the World Beer Cup to a very American event. Maudgal, who has been on the jury for the event in the past, believes that the appreciation of beers differs from other competitions, particularly those held in Europe.
“The categories are sometimes expanded and very different styles of Belgian beer are sometimes grouped together in the same category,” he says. This is enough to make the brewers from Benelux more and more hesitant to enter their beers in this competition.
