YOU really have to love a country that can routinely brew 9.5 per cent strength beers and then actually consume them responsibly. Belgium is such a country. Nowhere on a Friday and Saturday night in central Leuven was there a drunken stag party or mass of inebriated students veering unsteadily towards the nearest chip shop.

Here, revellers young and old drink and dance in bars until dawn, but know how to savour their red ales and yellow "witbiers". Either that or they have just acquired an immunity to alcohol.

Like Belgium's other beloved export – chocolate – beer is an art form, and a national obsession.

Both these traits underpinned the quest by Belgian master brewer, Joris Brams, when he set out to recreate one of the country's long-lost beers at Park Abbey in Heverlee.

Brams, a native of Leuven, was inspired after reading about a beer which was brewed by monks at the 12th-century abbey throughout the Middle Ages. The religious order, known as the Order of Premontre, had pioneered a light, fresh-tasting lager at a time when other abbeys focused on heavier, darker ales, and it became a favourite beverage of the local townspeople.

However, its production ceased in the late 16th century when brewing became a commercial enterprise and the recipe languished into obscurity for more than 300 years – until Brams came knocking.

Working with the monks and a local brewer, Brams used archives describing the taste and production methods behind ancient Pils-style beer to bring it back to life.

The result is a balanced, easy-drinking lager with a more restrained – by Belgian standards – 4.8 per cent alcohol strength, in line with the abbey's motto, "Ne Quid Nimis": life in balance. Or, in its literal English translation, "nothing in excess".

Heverlee is brewed using a slower, more traditional process than some larger Belgian brands. It blends malt and maize mash with the distinctly bitter aroma of Noble Saaz – the world's most expensive hop – to create a refreshing, slightly bitter tang.

Even the methodical way it is served speaks volumes about Belgian attention to detail when it comes to beer. It is available only in draught and is pulled into a Heverlee-branded, chalice-style glass designed to preserve the beer head and concentrate its flavours. The foam is then sliced off with a knife in a process known as "beheading". This removes the larger bubbles, which tend to cause the head to deteriorate faster, protecting the liquid underneath from exposure to the air and maintaining the head’s bitter aromas.

Heverlee is only ever brewed Belgium, but drinkers in Scotland were among the first to get a taste of it back in 2013 after the brand was bought up by Glasgow-based Tennent Caledonian Breweries. It is now distributed to dozens of pubs and bars throughout Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Visitors to Park Abbey, which is currently undergoing a major €45million (£40m) refurbishment, can sample the "original rediscovered" (as the beer is marketed) along with a selection of other Belgian classics during special beer-tasting sessions at the abbey's bar and restaurant.

Guests can expect to taste anything from a crisp pint of freshly-poured Heverlee to the popular Duvel ("Devil"), an 8.5 per cent pale ale, or one of Belgium's ultra-strong – but uncannily easy to drink – trappist beers. Belgium has six Trappist-Cistercian brewing monasteries – Achel, Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle and WestVleteren – and most brew beers with upwards of 7 per cent ABV. Some even come in at a whopping 10.2 per cent ABV.

Overall, Belgium boasts a vast array of beers. Even non-aficionados are bound to find at least one or two brands to delight their palate, from strong pales ales with undertones of coffee to Belgian blondes and "witbiers" spiced with coriander and orange peel or sour "lambics" flavoured with cherry.

Of course, no trip to Belgium would be complete without also sampling its other national delicacy: chocolate.

Visitors to Leuven should head to Domus restaurant, a traditional rustic haunt in the centre of town. The venue is best-known for its homemade beer and customers can purchase taster "flights" of three glasses of different Domus ales served on a wooden rack.

But for my money, the real attraction of Domus lies in its the dessert menu and the traditional "Dame Blanche" – a generous serving of sumptuous vanilla ice cream smothered in thick, sweet Belgian chocolate sauce and finished with lashings of fresh whipped cream and wafers. This is a so-good-you-want-to-lick-the-bowl dessert.

While Domus is not a culinary heavyweight (burgers and "frites" are, oddly, served in plastic baskets), diners can push out the gastronomic boat at Leuven's high-end, Het land aan de Overkant.

The restaurant, overseen by top Belgian chef Wim Dejonghe, literally translates as "the land on the other side", a tongue-in-cheek reference to the institution located on the opposite side of the highway: Leuven's Central Prison.

Belgians were shocked in 2009 when an Iran-born inmate, Hussein Mamiani, and an accomplice ran amok inside the facility with a pair of scissors, stabbing a prison officer 12 times and wounding another member of staff and three prisoners. Mamiani was eventually shot dead.

It adds a certain unsettling juxtaposition, anyway, as you settle down to dinner. As well as the main dining space, Het Land offers private dining rooms and a chef's table where diners can watch as the food is prepared.

Its speciality are set menus where a series of small plates such as cured beetroot, monkfish, duck and chocolate ganache tart are complemented by beers chosen by the resident beer sommelier. A three-course lunch is also available at €35 (£31) per person, with an extra €16 for pairings.

It is a reminder that beer is to Belgium what wine is to France – and if you wouldn't settle for a bottle of Blue Nun, then why buy bland lager? The market for craft beer is booming in Britain and the choices can be bewildering, but if you are looking for a new favourite Belgium's breweries have something for everyone.

Helen McArdle was a guest of Heverlee

She flew from Edinburgh-Brussels with Brussels Airlines: return flights from £54 per person

She stayed at Haverlee Lodge Hotel in Leuven, double room & breakfast €110 per night

Five Belgian beers to try

Heverlee (4.8%): A light lager-like beer served in a chalice glass, made to an ancient Pils-style recipe. Widely available in draught at various pubs and bars across Scotland.

Duvel "Devil" (8.5%): Widely considered the definitive example of the Belgian Strong Pale Ale style. The original yeast strain selected in the 1920s originates from Scotland, arguably making it a "Scottish" beer. Duvel is matured in cold cellars for an unusually long six weeks, which is said to give it its "refined flavour and pure taste".

Westmalle Trappist (9.5%): Made at the trappist brewery in Westmalle Abbey. A clear, golden yellow beer which undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle. Fruity aroma.

Brasserie Lefebvre Blanche de Bruxelles (4.5%): A traditional Belgian "witbier". Orange notes and a distinctive sour quality (from the unmalted wheat), with a touch of cream, honey, unripe apricot, and the slightest hint of butterscotch.

Rodenbach Grand Cru (6%): The archetypal Flanders red-brown ale. Aged for two years in massive, pedestalled, oak tuns, before blending. Tart-sour taste.