Belgian Beer Is Now Officially Considered An International Heritage

The next time you go out and order a Belgian stout at your local bar, you can brag that you're drinking an international treasure. Belgian beer culture has been added to the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list this year, along with other cultural phenomena like flatbread making, rumba music, and multiple festivals celebrated in Japan, France, Spain, and Greece.

"It is the unparalleled diversity of the art of brewing and the intensity of the beer culture, as a part of our daily lives and at festivals in our country, that make this beer culture a part of the identity and the cultural heritage of the entire country," a statement from the culture ministers from the French-, German-, and Dutch-speaking communities of Belgium told Politico.

The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage list is kept and curated by the United Nations and contains both physical heritage sites, like The Great Pyramids of Giza, as well as the intangible, such as cultural events, phenomena, and creative expressions like French gastronomy, Italian opera, and Spanish flamenco.