Five on Five: Belgian Beers, as Chosen by the Pros

Thanks for posting this. Gotta go add a few things to the ISO list now. (Cherry Kool-Aid pickles excepted.)

 

My only major complaint .

It's actually an extremely solid 5 overall. Personally I'd give Dupont the slight edge over d'Erpe-Mere. And easily set aside Chimay for Orval, although it's a fine beer in it's own right.

The key takeaway seems to be just how readily available the best Belgian beers still are.

 

I too am a BIG fan of Orval. I will soon be discussing Orval in a side-by-side tasting in a BA thread.

I too am fortunate that my local beer retailers have a wide selection of "best Belgian beers" but I personally do not purchase them all too often due to the very high prices. I did 'spring' for a single bottle of Orval recently, though.

Cheers!

 

Mad respect to Orval, but I would not be mad at anyone who doesn’t include it in their top 5 Belgium beers. I respect it, but it’s far from my favorite. Would be no where near the top of my Belgium list. Also wouldn’t hate on anyone who did have it in their top 5, as I get that take.

 

I was actually thinking just the opposite! Belgian beers used to be really expensive compared to American beers but I don't know that that's the case anymore. $32 4-pks have changed my mind, and for Brett beers and barrel-aged stuff you can easily pay more. Who's making a beer that rivals Orval for even close to (what is it?) $6 per bottle?

 

There are times where I literally do that kind of mental tradeoff- if I get the $12 IPA instead of the $18 one then I can also get an Orval for the same overall price.

 

I'm guessing you're doing fresh vs. aged? We do seem to be getting fresher shipments over the past few years (by fresh I mean less than 6 months old ).

 

Me!

Jim, I will tag you on my side-by-side tasting.

Well, perhaps you and I have differing baselines here since I personally refuse to pay inflated prices for craft four-packs.

Cheers!

P.S. I will be at Sly Fox Brewpub in an hour (or so) for Happy Hour. I might be coming home with a six-pack/12 ounce cans of Princess Jenny Maibock.

 

No, it will be my homebrewed version vs. Orval.

Unfortunately there will be an age aspect involved; the Orval was bottled 10/13/21 and my version was bottled 5/14/21.

And another potential confounding aspect is that I know how my homebrewed version was handled/stored but no insight here as regards the Orval.

Oh well!?! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

At least I will be happy drinking two tasty beers!!

Cheers!

 

We are on the exact same page Jack, I refuse to pay inflated prices. Some beers I feel are warranted, but a lot of what's out there is price based on hype and/or what they've been allowed to get away with in the past. Those days will soon be over. Unfortunately, all beers will be going up in price as well. We can thank Putin for that.

 

Yeah, I wonder how this overall "too hyped" vs. "inflation" thing is going to work out. During my last visit to Tired Hands to meet a friend and have a couple of draft beers I saw lots of folks walking out of the store with multiple four-packs. One guy even purchased a case (six four-packs). Tired Hands make very good beer but damn, that is a lot of money exchanging hands there for these multiple four-packs. A situation of folks on the Main Line have the bucks!?!

Cheers!

 

Chimay White is my very favorite beer. I love the Rodenbach Grand Cru. Rochefort 10? Surely. Never had the Saison Derp or deRanke XX, but would like to try them, but they've gotta go for Orval and WestyXII.

 

I am loving all of the Orval omittance anger.

 

Fresh Orval is less than 8 months according to the brewery itself.
I like mine aged: 2005 is OK, 2002 also.

Generally, to name top 50 would be easier for me than top 5.

 

Yeah out of this list kind of need them all from time to time
If I had to choose would be the Chimay
Edit never seen Orval mentioned as a tripel, but what the heck do I know

 

Tag me as well Jack!

 

Okilley Dokilley.

Cheers!