CAMRA guide catches Chimay on the hop

Belgium's best-known trappist beer has come under fire in the Campaign for Real Ale's latest guide.

Chimay, brewed at an abbey under licence by the Vatican, has long been a flagship for Belgian craft ales and is often found at the top of beer lists in specialist British pubs.

But Belgian ale expert Tim Webb, in the new edition of the Good Beer Guide to Belgium and Holland, lashes into the Chimay range, cutting their rating down to two or three stars out of a possible five and accuses the brewer of using mass production short-cuts.

"Whoever suggested to Chimay, and a dozen other less honest specialist brewers, that you could substitute hop oil or powder for whole hops needs to be put up against a wall and, well, prayed for."

As well as abandoning whole hops, Mr Webb says that "up to a third of the beers' grain base is wheat starch and candy sugar. Insiders say that accountants have taken over the brewing strategies."

Launching the guide at London beer café Lowlander, Mr Webb added that trappist beers were being compromised by the desire to expand volume worldwide and that some abbey-style beers, originally conceived as imitations of the Vatican-licensed brews, had now overtaken many of them in terms of quality.