Belgian Beer Appreciation Thread (2023)

Geuze? American Wild Ale?

 

Thanks for starting this. Enjoyed a Chimay Blue earlier this evening, and an Orval last night. Stopped in at a local Total Wine this afternoon and picked up Chimay Red and Blue, Piraat, Dupont Saison, Westmalle Tripel, Delirium Nocturnum, Gulden Draak quad, and Gulden Draak Cuvee Prestige Laphroig Barrel aged. Had to get my shopping points in before the year ended. At least, that's what I told myself.

Happy New Year to all.

 

Currently sitting at a bar people-watching the amateur hour that is New Year’s Eve and sharing a bottle of Tilquin Gewurzt. There’s mineral, a little funk, and just enough of the grapes coming through to balance everything out.

Cheers to 2023!

 

Weyerbacher Quad



Been sitting on a bottle and figured New Year's Eve was a good time to enjoy it. A bit syrupy and 11.8% abv; borders on barleywine territory.

Here's to- I hope- seeing Weyerbacher beers on the shelves in 2023.

 

I’ve had a very recent hankering for some heftier Belgian beers after a long hiatus and grabbed a 2020 Rochefort 10 the other day. Just as phenomenal as I remembered and a welcome change of pace from lots of hoppy beer and big American stouts. Looking forward to revisiting all those great quads and dubbels during the coming winter months and trying any of the beers of fame I may have overlooked in the past.

 

Totally, I look forward to hearing yours. Many years ago I would have said tripels were my favorite style but it’s been forever since I’ve had one. Probably need to revisit those too.

I had a great trip to Belgium in 2017 which included two trips to Cantillon and a lot of merriment in Brussels and Bruge. Got some stories and pics which I’ll share in this thread. Would love to get back someday if I can.

 

Great idea for a thread. If somebody told me that I could drink only Belgian beers for the rest of my life I'd be perfectly fine with that.

I've been lucky enough to visit Belgium a few times, and visit quite a few beery places there. I'll go into more detail on that later, but for now let's just say that it's one of my favorite places to visit, for both beery and non beery reasons.

Oh, and I commend you for using the correct terminology here ... it is, of course, Belgian beer, not Belgium beer.

 

@Beersnake1, thanks for starting this thread!

I just got back from a New Years Eve party where I brought some homebrewed beers. I have a bunch of homebrewed Belgian Ales I could have brought (e.g., Orval clone, Quad, Saison,...) I choose to only bring some of my homebrewed Dubbels. To my surprise those Dubbels 'sold out' rather quickly.

Hopefully this thread will be inspirational to other BAs to motivate them to purchase and drink Belgian Ales.

And maybe to even homebrew them too? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Cheers!

 

Happy to see this thread, I will definitely make it a point to contribute. I still love dark Belgian beers in particular.

It seems like Belgian beer has really faded from the focus of American "craft beer" drinkers over the last 20 years. Back in the early 00's, most of the good "beer bars" that I knew of were focused on highlighting Belgian beers. My friends and I would drive into Philly to visit Monk's Cafe and Eulogy Tavern. But then as the years rolled on, more local breweries opened up and more bars and restaurants that had better tap lists moved from English, German, and Belgian imports to local and national American craft beer. Top ranked beer lists moved from Strong Dark Belgian Ales like Chimay Blue, Rochefort 10, St. Bernardus Abt 12, and Westy12 to be dominated by IPAs and Imperial Stouts.

My wife and I and some friends visited Belgium in 2018 - we had a great time drinking and eating our way through Brussels, Brugge, and Ghent.

 

Not in terms of individual beers but styles as a whole, nothing beats a quad. The level of flavor depth is insane, and they aren’t overly saturated in the market (cough cough IPAs. Just joshin I do love me some IPAs).

 

I will start my contribution with a Belgian-style beer brewed by one of my favorite local breweries, Free Will Brewing (Perkasie, PA). Their 8.5% abv Belgian-style Golden Ale called Grief Motif. It's definitely a Duvel inspired beer, hits all the right style notes. Bright clear golden color, good head retention and lacing, aroma of pale bready malt and classic spicy Belgian yeast phenols. Taste is similar, with dry finish to balance the malt sweetness in the middle of the swallow. Thin to medium bodied, lively carbonation.

Side note - I love the badass label art on this can in the medieval wood cut style. Like most of Free Will's current beer lineup, the art was done by an English tattoo artist Kolahari.

 

If I had my druthers I would purchase a case of Urthel Samaranth.
It has not been in the Cincy area now for about 4 years. Also miss
Bornem Dubbel when it had the nice yeast layer on the bottom.


Prosit!

 

Now a bottle of 2019 Gulden Draak from the cellar.

Pours a clear dark reddish brown in color, thick khaki colored head of tiny bubbles. Excellent head retention, stays to the bottom of the glass. Pleasant aroma of toasted bread, caramel, light brown sugar, a little spice. Similar flavors in the taste, slightly sweet but short finish. Mouthfeel is very nice - medium bodied but smooth and creamy.