Affordable Belgian Style Beers

OP, you should get yourself a six-pack of Sly Fox Grisette (a Saison/farmhouse style beer). Sly Fox just started canning this beer a few months ago. I bought a six-pack for about ten bucks. This beer is very tasty!

Cheers!

 

St. Feuillien Saison is out in 4pks of tallboy cans now, I think it was around $10-12 near me for what I think is a criminally overlooked great saison.

 

Where are you going to get your brew? Brown jug, gold rush? I'm sure you've checked brown jug warehouse in midtown. Not sure if you get on ft. Rich/elmendorf, but if you can check the shopette over by the government hill gate (if it is still there). That's the main store when I was there. I haven't been up to AK in about 5 yrs but hoping to get up for a visit now that I'm in the Pacific Northwest.

 

I got Heavy Seas Red Sky At Night which is a Belgian style Saison for 10 bucks a sixer. Its not the greatest but its pretty decent and is a summer seasonal so it will be off the shelves soon.

 

Great Divide Colette; farmhouse ale for $10 a six

 

I have to agree with the other posters about leffe bruin, ommegang, and unibroe. I will also add Alagash, although not always cheap, they make some good Belgian styles. Kasteel Donker (bruin) is another good one and is about $10-11 for a 750 here. Delirium Tremens is an amazing buy at the same price but sometimes goes on sale for $7-8 for a 750.

 

It's pretty close to that, actually. The Tide and Its Takers and Bitter Monk are a couple of my favorites from them, and both are available most everywhere around here for about $11~12 per 750.

 

I'm guessing these places (Brown Jug, Gold Rush) are in or around Anchorage, as I've never heard of them. I live in the interior, about 350 miles north of Anchorage, and the pickings can sometimes be slim here. However, I'll be visiting Anchorage (which is like going to a major metropolis for me) a week from now, for the first time since becoming craft beer crazed. I'm excited to see what I'll be able to find there... I have a feeling I'll be coming back with a smaller wallet... and a bunch of beer. Especially looking forward to checking out Midnight Sun's brewery.

 

R10- 6.99 around here and worth every penny--pricey compared to many but for a truly world class beer comparatively cheap.

Allagash white would seem to fit the affordable all the way around list.

 

I also recommend the New Belgium dubbel (Abbey Ale) and Trippel. Both at about $8 a six pack. I get those pretty frequently. Also Great Divide has Orabelle in the winter (?), which I think identifies itself as a Belgian style golden ale and is friggin' delicious, but that'll run you about $10 for a six. Upslope did a tripel at one point that was good if you can still find it, or wait till it comes out again, but I usually see their stuff for $8 to $9. I've seen Boulevard's Long Strange Tripel and Sixth Glass quad in four packs for $12 too, and I really like both of those (but I'd probably just spend $8 and get them in a 750).

Now if Great Divide would bring Hades back in sixes I think we'd be all set.

 

Start making your own Belgian styles at home!

Cheers!

 

Victory Helios Saison for $3.99 a bomber....a huge steal in my opinion.

 

$8 in Michigan, $7 in Atlanta (from my experience).

 

You can never go wrong with Delirium Tremens. A little pricey, but worth it.

 

For those in/near wisconsin, New Glarus stone soup is a damn good beer for $7 a 6pack

 

Ommegang Abbey Ale is a solid deal.

I need to try more American-made Belgians. I've found a couple decent saisons, but need to keep experimenting.

 

I was amazed it took this long to mention the best belgian tripple in the world-La fin du Monde.Maybe the best beer bargain in the world after Vitus.Come on guys seriously-do your homework.Matilda is great and Golden Monkey is good but no where near the bargain that La Fin is considering the beer

 

Lindeman's Cuvée René is a solid option if you're looking for a cheap gueuze fix.

 

trader joe's belgian strong dark (breweed by unibroue) is $4.99 for a 750. it is a VERY good beer, reminiscent of trois pistoies.
they have a golden ale for 5.99 but it isn't anywhere near as good.

 

Believe it or not, yes it does. First of all, in the US, prices can be radically different in different areas for everything based on the local and state taxes and cost of overhead. A quick example is where I live in New York, Founders year-round beers generally sell for about $10.99 for a six-pack, but in New York City, it's more like $12.99 or $13.99 both because overhead is more expensive, and because the city imposes an excise tax on alcohol above what New York State charges. If I go to other states, sometimes beer is significantly cheaper because the alcohol taxes are lower.

Secondly, most of the United States uses the three-tier system for alcohol distribution, which means that, with some exceptions, the brewer has to sell it to a distributor who sells it to the store. So, you're paying the distributor markup on top of the retail markup, which potentially means that even at the same wholesale price you're going to pay more at the store in the US than in Belgium. I don't know for sure, because I don't know enough about the distribution system in Belgium, but it's something to keep in mind.

Thirdly, while I couldn't quickly find production numbers, I would be willing to put money down that the big Belgian brewers are likely producing more than Unibroue and Ommegang, and are certainly producing more than some of the others mentioned on the thread. Higher production lowers the price.

And it's not like it's limited to Belgian styles. The pricing for American and Canadian versions of Belgian styles is on par with other styles. Beer is just flat-out cheaper in Belgium than it is here, if you leave out the biggest mass-produced stuff. Another way to look at it is that the homegrown versions are drastically cheaper than the real thing here. When I was over in the summer, I saw Chimay blue generally going for €2.50-€3.00 for the small bottles. I generally see them here starting at $7.50. So, $9.00 for a 750 ml bottle of Unibroue is a bargain by comparison, even if it's more than a comparable style in Belgium.