Hoegaarden is prob a bit of an unknown after InBev/Interbrew/Stella closed the original brewery down recently. (why would anyone expect Hoegaarden to be brewed in say Hoesgaarden, or Boddies in Manchester, same company closed both!)
Quick recommended list of goldens & wheaties (some of which you can get here) - Westmalle Tripel, Orval, Achel (the very much newer Trappist brewery), a less religious beer, but a classic is the golden strong 'Duvel' - just superb - very consistently good IMO.
for other beers I've always enjoyed the strong & sometimes spiced beers of La Chouffe (look for the sign of the gnome) & the characterful brews from the De Dolle Brouwers ('mad brewers'); the darker strong beers from Rochefort (also brewed by Trappist monks).
for adventure you could try some of the more authentic wild-fermented wheat-based lambic beers (if you don't know them - they can be very challenging! - sharp, funky, sour, complex, but IMO at its best, worth it). Look for Cantillon (tour the brewery in Brussels too?). Lambics come in sweetened, natural & fruit versions, but this is not alcopop! Other good names - Lindemans, Boon, Hanssens, & Drie Fonteinen (if you get the chance eat at the cafe, in Beersel)
If you have a sweeter tooth, the brown ale based brews from Liefman's (of Oudenaarde) come in Raspberry & Cherry flavour - they might not be loved by all beer fans, but I enjoy them every now & again.
Burgundian Babble Belt is an international bunch of Belgie beer fanatics, with a discussion group you could ask for more advice -
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CAMRA also publish Tim Webb's regular Good Beer Guide to Belgium (there's signed copies apparently somewhere on the net!)
Online there's also what seems like q a good guide at
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My advice - find a decent bar in the town you're going & try a few different beers then find a decent beershop & get a few cases of mixed beers to see what floats your beery boat? good luck & enjoy, cheers MikeMcG
Yes I'd concur with these. I really can't abide any of the lambic style beers, nor any of the fruit beers, and only really like the Belgian wheat beers.
The Drie Fonteinen I also agree with, I couldn't drink the beer in there so stuck to coke, but it's full of character (and characters).
If you go to the Hop Duvel at Ghent, IIRC it comes with its own beer wholesaler and you can drink in the pub and then go and buy what you like in bulk. Seems reasonable to me!
I like the wheats too, but I couldn't remember many of the other (non Hoegaarden) wheatie beers - Dentergems was good IMO, when I had it a few years ago, likewise Blanche de Namur. I've a friend who last I heard still drinks little other than good UK trad cider & Belgie wheats.
when we were there a few years ago on a Sunday I think, the place was heaving, but we managed to sneak on a quick tour of the brewery with owner Armand. I had rabbit cooked in lambic - lovely stuff. (shiny brewplant is all stainless & computer controlled, all bells & whistles
- used to be the pilot plant at InBev/Interbrew Leuven IIRC - now making ancient style rustic brews, beautifully ironic.)
Good wheats IMO are Watou Wit, Troublette and Wittekerke.
Another pair of breweries worth seeking out are De Ranke (XX Bitter is VERY bitter; Guldenberg is also excellent) and Buggenhout (the Malheur range - I particularly enjoy the blond 6 and the dark 12 - they also do a blond 10).
The Het Kapittel range of abbey beers from the Watout Wit brewer, Van Eecke are worth looking for, as is their Poperings Hommelbier, another hoppy little number.
ring up wrestle Trappist brewery & get a time slot, buy whatever they offer you( you only buy beer from them for your own consumption) its not available elsewhere
I didn't think you were criticising me - my point was that, despite Christine having snipped my post a little, it was still IMO pretty clear what was being talked about (a v. good brewery / beer cafe) & that it wasn't hard to find out more info about it - a google search for the place "drie fonteinen" shows their own website as top of the list (then you click on the link for the english version -
Gareth, lad ... if you don't quite know what you like, how do you expect anyone else to know?
A well-stocked drinks warehouse in Belgium can have hundreds of bottled beers on offer. What types tickle your palate? Something big and malty like the beers from Westmalle? Something rather more hoppy like Orval? A strong delicious blond like Duvel? Something rather more spicy like Binchoise Blonde? Dark beers too: Rochefort, Westmalle Bruin, and so many more... you'll be spoilt for choice.
If you want a wheat beer, Hoegaarden isn't a patch on its formerly glorious self, and there are better wheats from St Bernardus, Bavik (Wittekerke), and Lefebvre (Blanch de Bruxelles), among others.
They're not what they used to be, especially since InBev shut down the brewery and moved production to the lager factory at Jupille.
Funny you should mention that. Was just discussing this with Mike McG over on alt.beer. Hopefully, the shortage will get people buying some of the other brands like Wittekerke and Blanche de Bruxelles and even Celis White - ones that actually still resemble the Hoegaarden of old.
I hope so too, but aren't some/many of the the bars tied in some way to InBev? But even so, if the buggers can't even supply the beers that you want, then how could they object if they weren't elsewhere for their wit?
If it was an English speaking country, I could imagine the headlines though - INBEV HAVE LOST THEIR WITS
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