Belgium Beer is awesome

cruasder777

Went to a Belgium bar recently in London, its in Waterloo, with a Belgium girl who introduced me to the delights of Belgium craft beer. Seriously impressed.



Extra Blonde(10%), Flemish red(7%), Rochford 10 (11% !!!), Orval amber (7%),and many others.

Serious stuff, some of it was £8 a pint, bottles £6 but worth it, as its so rare to find, I tried 4 and was seriously rocking !

Made me realise English and Irish craft beers are very nice but pretty lightweight.

Most Belguim beer was originally brewed by Trappist monks, they must have been out of their heads all day.

I certainly recommend Belguim craft beers.

http://www.beerhawk.co.uk/discovery-belgian-premium

oblivious

cruasder777 wrote: »

Went to a Belgium bar recently in London, its in Waterloo, with a Belgium girl who introduced me to the delights of Belgium craft beer. Seriously impressed.

Extra Blonde(10%), Flemish red(7%), Rochford 10 (11% !!!), Orval amber (7%),and many others.

The Drink store in stonybatter usually has most if on all of the above any they deliver too http://www.drinkstore.ie

cruasder777 wrote: »

Made me realise English and Irish craft beers are very nice but pretty lightweight.

mmmh have you tried White Hag Black Boar, 8 degrees dubble or O'Hara's Leann Folláin are just a few the comes to mind, certainly not light weight beers

cruasder777 wrote: »

Most Belguim beer was originally brewed by Trappist monks, they must have been out of their heads all day.

That's just good marketing :P, the modern trappist beer are product of the 1900- 1920 though competes to improve the quality of Belgian beer. Plenty of secular brewing, but which tended to very local, much weaker and poor quality till the beginning of the 20th century

n97 mini

What was the name of the bar? I'll be in London in March, wouldn't mind having a look.

a_non_a_mouse

Yeah, its only in the last couple of months I've tried Belgian beers, but most of what I've sampled I've been blown away with.

Some of my fav's
St Bernardus stuff is just stunning. (I've had Wit, 6, 8, Abt 12 and Christmas)
Duvel at 8.5% is dangerously nice and can be picked up at less than €3 a bottle
Trappistes Rochefort 8
Westmalle Dubbel and Triple
Urthel Hop-It 9.50%
Pauwel Kwak 8.4%
Gouden Carolus Christmas 10%

I've only dipped the toe in the water yet...but what I've had encourages me to keep trying

dan1895

a_non_a_mouse wrote: »

Yeah, its only in the last couple of months I've tried Belgian beers, but most of what I've sampled I've been blown away with.

Some of my fav's
St Bernardus stuff is just stunning. (I've had Wit, 6, 8, Abt 12 and Christmas)
Duvel at 8.5% is dangerously nice and can be picked up at less than €3 a bottle
Trappistes Rochefort 8
Westmalle Dubbel and Triple
Urthel Hop-It 9.50%
Pauwel Kwak 8.4%
Gouden Carolus Christmas 10%

I've only dipped the toe in the water yet...but what I've had encourages me to keep trying

My new year's resolution is to try more Belgian beers.

jsa112

Check out liefmans goudenband, triple karmeliet, gulden draak, saison dupont, urthel saison, and there's some geuze floating around dublin

RasTa

ze Germans would disagree. What I had in Bruges, which was a lot I wasn't that impressed.

the beer revolu

RasTa wrote: »

ze Germans would disagree. What I had in Bruges, which was a lot I wasn't that impressed.

Apples and oranges.

Stylewise, German and Belgian beers are generally so far apart, you couldn't really compare them.

It was Belgian beer that really opened my eyes to what beer could be.
As a much younger man, German beer opened my eyes to the fact that not all lager is sh1te, but that was all.

drumswan

German beer is boring. There I said it.

GLaDOS

Was in Brussels last summer and I was in heaven, so much quality beer everywhere.

the beer revolu

drumswan wrote: »

German beer is boring. There I said it.

Schneider Tap X Aventinus Mein Barrique is far from boring.
(but I do know what you mean)

Big Nasty

the beer revolu wrote: »

Apples and oranges.

Stylewise, German and Belgian beers are generally so far apart, you couldn't really compare them.

It was Belgian beer that really opened my eyes to what beer could be.
As a much younger man, German beer opened my eyes to the fact that not all lager is sh1te, but that was all.

+1 on this.

Personally I find German beer a bit watery. When drinking pils I'd rather something Czech.

drumswan

the beer revolu wrote: »

Schneider Tap X Aventinus Mein Barrique is far from boring.

For every Schneider Tap X Aventinus Mein Barrique theres 500 boring lagers.

BeerNut

drumswan wrote: »

For every Schneider Tap X Aventinus Mein Barrique theres 500 boring lagers.

That's true of everywhere, including Belgium. Belgium's biggest selling beer is Jupiler, remember.

drumswan

BeerNut wrote: »

That's true of everywhere, including Belgium. Belgium's biggest selling beer is Jupiler, remember.

Ah yeah. I just have this perception of German beer as boring. I walk past the German beer section in Redmonds every time.

BeerNut

drumswan wrote: »

I just have this perception of German beer as boring. I walk past the German beer section in Redmonds every time.

A bit like the people who think "American beer" is all Bud and Coors

drumswan

BeerNut wrote: »

A bit like the people who think "American beer" is all Bud and Coors

Possibly. but I definitely think German beer has a bit of an image problem these days (not ruling out the possibility that its only in my head). I tend to look at local beer, US Beer, UK Beer and Belgian beer when I peruse the shelf of my local off licence.

BeerNut

Yeah but if your opinion on an entire nation's brewing is formed based on what's available in a different country you're only seeing a tiny part of the picture. It's not German brewing's fault if your local off licence has no decent German beer.

drumswan

BeerNut wrote: »

Yeah but if your opinion on an entire nation's brewing is formed based on what's available in a different country you're only seeing a tiny part of the picture. It's not German brewing's fault if your local off licence has no decent German beer.

I guess. Im just saying when I walk into drinkstore the lads dont say 'here wait till you see this new beer we got from Germany'. It doesnt have the same buzz about it that other beer producing nations do these days.

BeerNut

It kinda does, IMO. It's just that the likes of Grand Cru, Four Corners and Premier aren't scouring the place for the good stuff the way they do with Belgium, the UK and the US.

drumswan

BeerNut wrote: »

It kinda does, IMO. It's just that the likes of Grand Cru, Four Corners and Premier aren't scouring the place for the good stuff the way they do with Belgium, the UK and the US.

Fair enough, but that is kinda what I am saying.

drumswan

Great article from Pete Brown on beer becoming unfashionable, food for thought.

http://petebrown.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/whats-difference-between-craft-beer.html

oblivious

drumswan wrote: »

Great article from Pete Brown on beer becoming unfashionable, food for thought.

http://petebrown.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/whats-difference-between-craft-beer.html

Its the nasty ended of those that assoicate Hispster with craft beer

RasTa

I personally think the yanks make the best beer. Hitting Barca on Thursday, anything to look out for?

drumswan

RasTa wrote: »

I personally think the yanks make the best beer. Hitting Barca on Thursday, anything to look out for?

Yank beer you cant buy here :P

the beer revolu

RasTa wrote: »

r. Hitting Barca on Thursday, anything to look out for?

Yes. The scangers they allow into La Cerveteca to beg who will rob your phone.
They have a pretty stunning selection - lots of Lambics but they are quite expensive.
Also, they were really unhelpful and disinterested when my wife's phone was robbed. Not sure I'd darken their door again.

cruasder777

n97 mini wrote: »

What was the name of the bar? I'll be in London in March, wouldn't mind having a look.

There you go.

http://www.auberge-restaurant.co.uk/waterloo/


The ground floor bar recalls a Belgian beer hall with dark wood furniture and twisted iron fixtures. At the back of the bar an area for 50 diners or a larger drinking party, is neatly tucked away

drumswan

Theres a few of these Belgos about, like a TGI Fridays with Chimay and Moules

http://www.belgo-restaurants.co.uk/

BeerNut

Used to be one in Dublin too. Moules frites and a Brugse Wit for £5 at lunch. Happy days.

the explorer

a_non_a_mouse wrote: »

Yeah, its only in the last couple of months I've tried Belgian beers, but most of what I've sampled I've been blown away with.

Some of my fav's
St Bernardus stuff is just stunning. (I've had Wit, 6, 8, Abt 12 and Christmas)
Duvel at 8.5% is dangerously nice and can be picked up at less than €3 a bottle
Trappistes Rochefort 8
Westmalle Dubbel and Triple
Urthel Hop-It 9.50%
Pauwel Kwak 8.4%
Gouden Carolus Christmas 10%

I've only dipped the toe in the water yet...but what I've had encourages me to keep trying

Can you get Duvel for under €3 in Dublin anywhere? Its currently €3.29 in O'Briens.

Beano

if you are ever thinking of heading to belgium to drink loads of their lovely beer (and you really should) give brussels a miss and head to Bruges. its a nicer looking town and prices are a lot lower than brussels. Beer was generally a euro a bottle cheaper than in brussels. plus you get to try the local bruge beers. Straffe Hendrick quadrupel is just awesome. http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/268/63185/