Love for Belgian beers

Nope, but you are a man of the people... I was in self appointed special-beer-zones.

 

Wow! If I knew where those were (and I was permitted to enter) I would have gone there to drink.

Instead I just wandered the streets and went in cafes which looked inviting. I had a great time in a number of 'random' cafes enjoying beer with the regular folks! I will confess that I only drank one Jupiler and occasionally 'bad thoughts' popped into my mind of "why are they drinking Juplier!?!". I kept my thoughts to myself and just enjoyed the beers I was drinking - many of the times it was Duvel since I loved (and still love) that brand of beer.

Cheers!

 

You haven't paid your membership dues in years! Permits will only come when I get your check.

 

It's in the mail!

Cheers!

 

Looovveee Belgian beers of all sorts

I was actually planning on grabbing a 750 of Westmalle Tripel and a couple bottles of Orval when I get off work today

 

I am guessing that today is payday!?!

Cheers!

 

Belgian-style ales are great. I don't have much experience with Saisons though.

 

I was eyeing this one at the shop the other day. I have never tried it, really wanting to try more saisons. This will be my next purchase.

 

The best description I have heard for it is that its like drinking flowers. I hadn't had one in at least a year till two nights ago. Its one of the easiest beers to drink considering its around 9%. Between it and St. Bernardus I don't think you will find a better triple in the world.

 

I have a big love for belgian beers, is that beers i drink the most of. quadruples,triples,dubbles,blondes,strong dark ales etc.
I am planning to enjoy a St.Bernardus abt 12 soon :-)

 

St Bernardus Abt 12 is one of my favorite beers. Truly delightful. Enjoy!

 

I adore American saison’s but they don’t have anything in common with Belgian Saison. Saison’s made with fruit, brett, barrels etc. basically don’t exist in Belgium. There are an American invention based on romanticized ideas of beers no one is producing anymore. I am very happy that Americans invented them. Saisons were up until recently quite rare in Belgium, the classical producers are largely great, there were very few of them. These days Belgian brewers finally that there is an interest in American for beers called saison, I have seen so many breweries churning one out. There were largely bad, blond, poorly made overly yeasty exercises. As such these days, I get super excited when I see an American saison but I cringe when I see a new “saison” made by a Belgian brewer. Same goes for the Netherlands where everyone last year seemingly decided to release a lousy blond Belgian occasionally with weird ingredients.

Same goes for sours, USA sours carry a massively different profile from the sour beers produced in Belgium, lambiek or otherwise. I like American sours but they are a very different game. I do consider Allagash Resurgam to be a geuze on par with the best Belgians. Russian River Beatification is a spectacular beer.

As far as the rest goes, Belgian classics are spectacular, world class beer, they form a small part of the landscape. There are many producers intend on making lousy overly yeast beers & boring soulless exercises, using the excuse that these beers are supposedly traditional whilst mane date back to the 80s only (very recent given ho old brewing culture is in Belgium I would say). There are some more interesting new producers, too few of them create something impressive & unique, bit too many are content at making Belgian-ized attempts at USA styles.

i question almost whether the current Belgian beer scene would be even interesting internally without lambiek outside of nostalgia, historical interest & for causal beer drinkers. Considering the progress that the Netherlands have recently making, massive explosion & amazing beer coming out England, we seem to be struggling to keep these days.

 

Can you elaborate on this please? Maybe define what you mean by "interesting."

 

I am a BIG fan of the Trappist beers. Is Trappist beer considered passé in Belgium?

Cheers

 

The Belgian versions are usually pure and true to a traditional recipe and ingredients and are usually perfectly balanced. Whereas US versions try to mimmick the flavors with over-the-top bastard and stylized versions that never get it right. Example: Victory Golden Monkey, a "Belgian Tripel" that has an almost sickly simple syrup finish.

 

Big fan here, too. I went through a period where I "fell out of love" with them, but I'm back on the train in recent years.
Lambics of all sorts, the various abbey beers, and all things in-between.
Contrary to popular belief not ALL Belgian beers are great or even good, though

 

How'd you know?

 

Excellent stuff!

 

Although there are a lot of great American Sour and Belgian style brews, I do have to agree somewhat that straight from Belgium usually seems to be the best...