The UN Says This Beer Is a Piece of ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’

You can experience a country's culture in a lot of ways. Its architecture, the hospitality of its people, the great thinkers and works of literature and art it produces …

Also: beer.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has just added Belgian beer to its Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list. The commendation is designed to protect and raise awareness of traditional cultural practices like art, religious festivals, music, and of course, food.

Belgium beer will join other UNESCO-protected food practices including French cuisine, the Mediterranean diet, and Turkish coffee.

UNESCO said: "Beer is also used by communities for cooking, producing products like beer-washed cheese, and paired with food."

Belgian beer is known across the world for its variety and flavour, as well as the innovations of its brewers—one of whom recently built a two-mile-long pipe to transport beer from its Bruges brewery to an out-of-town bottling facility.

We're guessing those brewers will be pretty excited about the new UN commendation. Sven Gatz, former head of the Belgian Brewers association, compared the UNESCO award to winning the World Cup.

He told the Guardian: "We love our beer and appreciate the endless diversity within it, something that can't be equalled anywhere else in the world. In Belgium, beer doesn't have to give way to wine or other drinks in terms of quality and diversity."

Cheers to that.