Which beer designations are legally protected?

The Warenwetbesluit Gereserveerde aanduidingen defines beer, alcohol-free beer, low-alcohol beer, oud bruin, pils and bok, each with its own limit.

Beer must be fermented wort of which at least sixty percent of the extract comes from barley or wheat malt. Alcohol-free beer contains at most 0.1 percent alcohol by volume, low-alcohol beer more than 0.1 and at most 1.2 percent by volume; both have at least 4 percent original gravity.

Oud bruin is a sweetened dark beer with 7 to 11 percent original gravity, pils a light-coloured beer with 11 to 13.5 percent, and bok or bock is above 15 percent.

Oude Geuze and Oude Kriek carry the European Traditional Speciality Guaranteed mark, which fixes the method of preparation rather than the place of origin.

A TSG protects a recipe and a method. Anyone who wants to use the name must stick to the registered product specification, which in principle a brewer outside the region can also meet.

Lambic beers are all about spontaneous fermentation and blending young and old lambic. On the shelf in Bathmen the gueuzes and krieks are with the Belgian beers.

Trappist is not a designation from the food law but a mark managed by the International Trappist Association and awarded only to member abbeys.

The association issues the Authentic Trappist Product logo. Only abbeys that are members of the association can apply for it.

The difference with abbey beer lies here: abbey beer is a trade name that an ordinary brewery may also use, whereas Trappist is tied to the abbey and to the supervision of the association.

Limits on pils and bock keep the name on the label verifiable: the original gravity is a measurable number, not a taste impression.

A regulator can back-calculate the extract content of the original wort in a laboratory from the finished beer. That is how to check whether the name on the label is correct.

For a shop that is practical. If it says bok, the beer started above 15 percent original gravity. If it says pils, it is between 11 and 13.5 percent.

A protected designation tells you what the beer meets, whereas an unprotected name such as tripel or IPA says something only about the style.

Names such as tripel, quadrupel, saison and IPA are not in the Warenwet and are not tied to a number. Brewers use them at their own discretion.

If you are unsure what you are holding, read the label: it shows the alcohol percentage, the ingredients and the brewery. We do not sell alcohol to anyone under 18.