Belgian Tasting Opinions

Van De Keizer Blauw should be in there.

 

There are so many options for you to choose from.

 

You should do a panel of the most common Belgian styles, wit, blonde, dubbel, tripel, quad, maybe a geueze that's readily available, maybe Flemish brown or red.

St. Bernardus wit
rochefort 6, 8, 12
Westmalle tripel
Rodenbach
Hansenns Oude Gueze, Boon mariage parfait, duchess or one of those.
Saison DuPont

That's a pretty good cross-section I think.

 

Who needs Westy when you have the ubiquitous St Bernadus anyway? I'd include Duvel and probably Orval, then a dark Trappist or two. Perhaps even Leffe Brune.

 

Good call on the Orval for sure, can't believe I forgot that one.

 

Westmalle Dubbel, Saison Duponte, and Orval should all be on the table.

 

Don't forget Gulden Draak, if it's available to you. A couple of years ago, we did a Belgium and Netherlands trip, and Gulden Draak was our favorite beer of the whole two weeks (closely followed by a lot of other fantastic Belgian beers).

 

In the vein of the immediately above, add a couple other big non-Trappist (and importantly different) ales, like something from De Dolle or De Landtsheer (Malheur) or even Huyghe, which represent a pretty part of the tradition. Or other stuff from Dupont may do the trick. Otherwise, the others above cover the essentials of the Trappists, a wheat, a saison, "the Duvel category," and various families of sours. Don't be too proud to throw in a good kriek or framboise from someone real. I know that you'll have to build around what you can get mitts on where you are. If you go for American brewers in the style, I'm not sure how to steer you -- I've had some excellent stuff but usually excellent in their own right, not for being bang on Belgian style. Oh if you go the Belgian IPA route, you can explain that as a style invented stateside although a couple Belgian brewers are doing one now. Prost/santé.

 

Pannepot.

 

Black Albert

 

Unibroue
La Fin Du Monde
Trois Pistoles
Maudite, etc.

Great brews that sort of got me hooked on their respective styles and, of course, at a great price.

 

One thing you should sort out ASAP is whether you want to go wide (as many styles as you can find) or deep (multiple examples of limited styles). That would help sort this thing out a bit.

I would seriously recommend getting AT LEAST Ommegang Abbey Ale. The stuff is phenomenal. Ommegang also has several other Belgian Styles that compare well with Belgian examples.

 

Noobs? Get a belgian pale, dubbel, trippel, and quad (strong dark) and see how they do with those. For all you know, they might not like "belgian" beer at all, regardless of the style.

 

Ommegang Hennepin, Orval, Tripel Karmeliet, Gulden Draak, Affligem Blond, Kasteel Donker

 

Duvel, Westmalle Dubbel, Orval, Chimay White, St. Bernardus abt 12, Saison Dupont, Petrus Aged Pale

 

I would stick with all actual Belgians. 2-3 Dubbles, 3 Triples, 3-4 Quads, and a couple of Saisons.

 

Agreed. It is a commonly overlooked great beer.

 

Given that the people attending are “noobs” and you have a desire to not break the bank maybe having a tasting with more ‘mainstream’ (read: not Trappist) beers would be worthwhile.

A good Wit; maybe Hoegaarden

Some good Abbey Ales: Leffe Blond & Leffe Brown

A good Golden Ale like Duvel

If you want to include some non-Belgian brewed beers then you can’t go wrong with a variety of beers from Unbroue.

The above should give the “noobs” a good appreciation of what Belgian Ales can be and still be relatively easy on the wallet.

Cheers!

P.S. If you want to be ‘complete’ and expose the “noobs” to the popular beers of Belgium then purchase some Stella Artois as well.

 

I am traveling to Belgium soon. What other beers do you recommend that you really enjoyed?