There's also a rear entrance to the George from Triq L-imrejkba. It is open daily from 10am.The George has a long narrow inside with a bar along the left hand wall - take a seat at the bar and you will see the beer range in the glass fronted fridges behind the bar. Beyond the bar is the dining area - the extensive menu includes breakfast, Sunday lunches and "2 meals for price of 1" deals.

And the George also has its own Facebook page "The George Pub Malta"

The range of Belgian beer is impressive with as many as 14 different ales and lagers available, supplies permitting.

The top self of the display shows Leffe Bruin and Blond, from AB Inbev The second shelf shows Brussels Frambozen and Celis White both from Van Steenberge and from the world's biggest brewers AB Inbev, Hoegaarden white beer On the third shelf there are Van Steenberges Bruegel Amber Ale and Augustijn Blond and Donker. On the fourth shelf there is from Duvel Moortgat there is their classic strong golden ale - Duvel, and from Van Steenberge there are Piraat, Gulden Draak, and Bornem Dubbel Finally at the bottom there is Van Steenberge's "Monks Cafe" Flemish Sour Ale,

More about the beer styles

White Beer brewed with wheat as well as barley and lightly spiced, was reintroduced to Belgium in the late 1960s when Peter Celis started brewing his Hoegaarden Wit in the town of Hoegaarden. His brewery flourished but sadly a major fire in the 1980s meant he needed considerable finance to continue. This was provided by Interbrew (Stella Artois) , who bought Hoegaarden from Peter in 1990. And Hoegaarden Wit is still brewed by AB Inbev (formerly Interbrew) in the same town today and they export if all over the world including to the George here in Malta

For his next project Celis decided to introduce Belgium's rich brewing tradition to America and in 1992 built a brewery in Austin, Texas. He repeated his success story with many Americans enjoying Belgian style white beer - Celis White as he called it. In 1996 the American mega brewers Miller bought the Texas brewery, then in 2000 closed it and in 2002 sold the equipment to a small Michigan brewer ! (Miller was subsequently bought by South African Breweries). Peter moved back to Belgium and contracted his beer to the Belgian brewery De Smedt who were then taken over by Heineken! And Finally Van Steenberge has now won the contract from Celis to brew Celis White which is flourishing at its new home and it too is available at the George. So why not try both the original and the new.

What is Flemish Sour Ale and why is it called Monks Cafe? It is an ancient Flemish beer style that is a refreshing sweet and sour aged brown ale. This is the type of beer that was brewed in Van Steenverge's farm brewery back in the 1700s. The beer called "Monks Cafe" is produced specially by Van Steenberge for a famous restaurant-bar in Philadelphia, USA called the Monks Cafe. This restaurant is known all over the USA as one of the best places to find an extensive selection of Belgian beers, and also great food cooked in Belgian beer. Monks Cafe has an alcohol content of 5.5%. And the beer is now available here at the George too

What is Frambozen? Well as we said above there are ancient styles of beer still brewed in Belgium. For example Monks Cafe (above) that is refreshing but slightly sour. Such beer would offend some so there is an equally ancient tradition of adding fruit during the brewing process, so alleviating the sourness with the sweetness of the fruit. These fruit beers are now widely popular. Brussels Frambozen comes from a new take on this old beer so instead of starting with a sour beer, it uses Celis White as the base beer to which raspberry (Frambozen in Flemish) juice is added

Bruegel Amber Ale could easily be mistaken for an English Bitter but is typical of Flemish Amber Ale. Amber beer used to be the daily beer of Northern Europe, drunk both with meals and to quench thirst.

There are 6 Abbeys in Belgium that have commercial breweries attached that brew beer both for the monks and to raise money to maintain the abbey. Other Abbeys license their names to commercial breweries who produce beers in the style of the Abbeys. The George offers Abbey style beers from 2 of these.

Augustijn Blond and Donker, and Bornem Dubbel are produced by Van Steenberge. Leffe beers - Blonde, and Bruin - are produced by AB Inbev.

The Augustinian fathers of Gent had brewed beer since 1295. In 1982, the recipe for that beer was taken over and improved by Van Steenberge, who also took over the marketing and distribution. In return they pay a royalty on each bottle to the Augustinian Abbey. Augustijn Blond (7% alcohol)is golden in colour and has a hoppy flavour with a malty background. You may also detect a light fruity vanilla flavour. The New Augustijn Donker (7% alcohol) has a russet hazelnut colour with a fruity (red fruit) and slightly smoky taste.

Van Steenberge's Bornem Dubbel is brewed under licence from the Sint Bernardous Abbey situated in Bornem. Van Steenberge pay a royalty to the Abbey to help with its upkeep and the Abbey has “a right of scrutiny”. With its warm dark brown colour and Bordeaux red undertones, Bornem Dubbel (7% alcohol) has a fruity flavour and hoppy aftertaste making this jewel of a beer. A 'dubbel' means that the brewer uses twice as much malt as for a regular beer. That gives this beer its full round and rich flavour.

The Leffe beers brewed under license from the Abbey of Notre Dame de Leffe. The abbey can be found near the meeting of the Meuse and Leffe rivers above the town of Dinant, where brewing had started in the pre-Napoleonic period. Leffe Blonde (6.6% alcohol) is a dry, fruity, lightly spiced beer. It blends strength and subtlety. The Bruib/Brune is coppery, slightly smoky on the nose, and with a fairly dry finish.

Duvel is a 8.5% golden ale that has a fruity dry aroma, but a still alcohol-sweet flavour makes the beer an excellent thirst-quencher, with a pronounced hop aroma. This beer occupies a unique position in the rich Belgian Beer tradition.

Van Steenberge's Piraat is a 10.5% 'living' beer - it continues to evolve during its secondary fermentation in the bottle. The flavour is so complex and so rich that every swallow conjures up new associations - the spicy light sweetness is richly balanced with the robust bitterness of the hops. Piraat is excellent with both meat and fish dishes, or can simply be enjoyed as a relaxing drink. It is an adventure of a beer, a treat.

Gulden Draak is a beer in a class of its own. It is a 10.5% beer that is rich and glowing, so full of its very own characteristic flavour, that it reminds some who try it of chocolate and others of coffee. Gulden Draak is named for the golden statue at the top of the clock tower of the Belgian city of Gent.

Stella Artois is AB Inbevs flagship pilsener/lager and one of the beers they promote worldwide along with Budweiser and Becks