I found all this. This quietly obsessive interest in food, described in Ruth Van Waerebeek's lovely Everybody Eats Well in Belgium Cookbook, naturally extends to beermaking, given that Belgium lies north of the grape-growing belt. The color of beer depends chiefly on how long its component grains are roasted. As with coffee, dark roasts create the sweet, toasty flavors of caramel, and dark beers are frequently described as tasting like coffee. Dark-roasted barley, the base for dark beer, is even a traditional surrogate for coffee.
Belgian brewers keep their yeast strains under lock and key.
They also take rigorous precautions to preserve a copy lest a brewing accident wipe out the yeast. Without the right strain they would never be able to recapture a particular beer's flavor. Certainly, other places produce great beers. Ales ferment at much higher temperatures than lagers, resulting in flavors that are stronger and more complex. The chocolate overtones and sweet roasted flavors of these ales first made me see how much more there could be to beer.