Hi folks! I've been spending a bit of time in Brussels lately, but apart from lambics, haven't found that many new (to me) Belgian beers that are massively better than the ones that I can get at home in the UK. That's partly because I'm lucky enough to have a great Local Independent Beverage Retailer that regularly stocks stuff like De Ranke, Blaugies, De Dolle, Struise, Alvinne, De La Senne and so on as well as the obvious classics (and yes, I'm aware that this is a bit of a world's-smallest- violin situation), but I am left wondering whether there's anything obscure but amazing that I'm missing. Any more leftfield suggestions? Thanks!
Maybe not obscure, but I've very rarely seen an enkel/patersbier from any Trappist brewery outside of Belgium. Beyond those (and the previously mentioned lambics), Belgian beers tend make the rounds export-wise. Most travel well after all.
You probably also get some Flemish old red-brown from the likes of Rodenbach, Petrus and such. But there are many more and hard to find. Hit up some specialty shops and bars, ask for the style and explore.
Not sure if these are really obscure and perhaps you have access to them already. If not, try looking for some stuff from these brewers: de Dochter van de Korenaar (never had a bad beer from them) Brasserie Rulles Viven Brasserie du Brabant Den Triest
Check out Den Haas in Gooik. It's a nice cafe thats been there for decades. They have a wonderful selection, not too big but they do still serve lambic! in Gent you have the Dulle Griet on de Vrijdagmarkt. The cafe has a phenomenal list of beers that never ends and they have some real gems like 'Grottenbier',... If its bottles you're looking for have you had anything from Witkap? I am currently not in Belgium but I will check my local drinkshop when I get back for some special and interesting stuf!
brouwerij 't verzet: oud bruin if u like a new approach to the oudbruin style u can check out their infusions
Thanks for the suggestions so far! There's definitely some stuff that I need to get more familiar with - Rulles, for instance, I see around occasionally but haven't really investigated. To answer my own question a bit, other breweries that have impressed me that I didn't recognize from the UK are Caracole, Bastogne and Legendes. The Moeders are obviously incredible for lambics, and also fantastic for imports, but I don't actually find them that great for less well-known Belgian stuff - possibly because they focus on draught? Meanwhile, a lot of bars seem to hide the really interesting stuff in a long list full of rather ho-hum macro and contract-brewed stuff, presumably to get the bottle-count up, which can be annoying if you don't want to spend the whole evening peering at a phone trying to work out what's actually worth drinking...
A lot of Belgian brewers have been experimenting with barrel aging recently, and some are hard to find outside of Belgium. Het Anker's new Gouden Carolus Indulgence series, St. Feuillien's recent BA releases, etc. not to mention some that have been doing it a little longer, like De Ranke (with their newish vieille provision and back to black), as well as Alvinne.
