Recently I had the opportunity to travel to Belgium and visit a number of amazing breweries in the land where beer is truly the drink of the people. In Belgium, beer is ingrained in the country’s culture; from breakfast to dinner, from cooking to pairing with meals, beer is treated as a national treasure. This tiny country, about the size of Maryland, has more than 260 breweries, with dozens more to come (the craft boom has hit Belgium, too!)

I went to celebrate Belgian Beer Weekend, a three-day festival in Brussels, and visited breweries that import their beers to Hawaii.

The festival was a large outdoor event where beer lovers could taste hundreds of beers from some 50 breweries. It drew a festive, loud and energetic crowd and was one of the best beer festivals I’ve ever attended.

Beer in Belgium is big business. The U.S. is one of the largest export markets for Belgian beers, and that market continues to grow.

After the festival, I headed out to five family-owned breweries, all within a few hours bus ride from the capital of Brussels. Each was unique, but all had one thing in common: passion, for brewing the absolute best beer possible while honoring their legacies.

Brasserie de Silly is a small brewery south of Brussels that is now in its sixth generation of family operation. Like many of the breweries we visited, Silly keeps one foot rooted in tradition while taking leaps into the future with modern equipment and packaging technology.

The brewery still produces Scotch Silly, a Scottish-style ale developed during World War I with the help of a Scottish soldier thirsty for the beer he got at home. Its dark toasted-bread notes with light hints of molasses and caramel receive a classic Belgian touch — fruity notes of Belgian yeast and high carbonation.

Brouwerij De Brabandere: Across the countryside in Harelbeke, the fifth generation now operates this brouwerij (Say: “BROW-er-eye”), famed in Belgium for its Bavik Super Pils. In the U.S., beer fans will likely know its Petrus Aged Pale.

This brewery employs modern production equipment, with a state-of-the-art bottling facility that cranks out tens of thousands of bottles per day.

Bavik is a clean, crisp pilsner that the brewery takes great care in making. Unlike many pilsners produced on a large scale, Bavik is not watered down. It spends up to four weeks developing in tanks to achieve it’s brilliant clarity and refreshing taste.

Another room houses “foeders,” extra-large barrels of slowly aging and souring beer that will become the world-famous Petrus Aged Pale. At De Brabandere, the old and new live side by side.

Brouwerij Boon: No other brewery I visited blended traditional and modern methods better than Boon. Just 20 minutes south of Brussels, Boon still makes traditional lambic, a fermented beer that relies on nature to create beer as it has been done for thousands of years.

Frank Boon is as close to a legend in the brewing world as you can get. He has been making lambic and geuze (a blend of various aged lambics) for some 40 years and is passing on the brewery to his children, who share their father’s passion for traditional lambic.

Boon is a keeper of many traditions, but he has also invested heavily in modern brewing equipment to turn out the highest-quality beer. But while the equipment is new, tradition kicks in once beers are transferred to foeders for aging. Here, the final product rests on the skill and knowledge of the brewer to decide when each foeder is ready to blend into a final beer.

Boon Black Label is an amazing geuze that has a lemony brightness, subtle funk and grassiness with a clean, high effervescence. This is a fantastic starting point for anyone interested in trying traditional geuze.

Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck recently completed construction on an enormous gleaming brewery that showcases some of the most state-of-the-art equipment in the country.

Van Honsebrouck produces many traditional Belgian ales, but is also at the creative forefront with beers like Chocolate Barista Quad, a rich Belgian Quadruple layered with decadent chocolate and coffee flavors, and Trignac, a Belgian Tripel that is aged for up to eight months in 100-percent cognac barrels, for a rich wine-like character.

Brouwerij Van Steenberge: Jef Versele represents the seventh generation in his family to run the Van Steenberge brewery, and he has a deep passion that infuses the high-octane beers he brews.

While Van Steenberge produces world- recognized beers such as Gulden Draak and Piraat, Versele has spent the last 15 years innovating and raising the brewery’s profile globally.

A must-try is Piraat aged in rum barrels, an incredibly strong golden ale at 10.5 percent alcohol by volume, yet still delicate with notes of toasted bread and dried fruits. Aging in rum barrels gives it notes of vanilla, spice and oak. As with all of Van Steenberge’s beers, despite the high alcohol content Piraat is smooth, and the strength of the beer isn’t easy to detect.

Tim Golden, a certified cicerone, is part owner of Village Bottle Shoppe in Kakaako.