Belgium beer recommendations?

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 -

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

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.)

sounds fantastic - any food? cheers MikeMcG

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.

Brian

Where is this beer mentioned in your quote above?

It has taken me several minutes to track down any reference to this beer.

Please try and quote all previous info about what you are on about. It could be several days before I get back to this group.

Thanks

Dave

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

wrestle?

I assume you mean Westvleteren?

Their peace cafe and shop is worth a visit, and you don't need a time slot to buy the beers there. Turning up early is recommended, all the same.

It was mentioned in my post. (the one above Christine's) much of my long post was understandably snipped.

FYI, I wrote about Lambic beers/brewers-

try google, it comes up top of the list & (according to them) took

She quoted the name of the place I'd mentioned & agreed it was good, I'm not sure what the problem is?

Fair enough.

No problem.

MikeMcG.

On Wed, 2 May 2007 22:12:03 +0100, Gareth wrote (in message ):

Get Jacko's book; it should be in any self-respecting beer-drinkers library anyway:

My favourites...

Abbaye de Notre Dame Rochefort 10 Abbaye de Notre Dame Rochefort 10 Abdij Trappisten van Westmalle Westmalle Tripel Bocq Blanche de Namur Corsendonk Agnus Gauloise Ambree Bosteels Karmeliet Tripel De Bie Helleketelbier Hellekapelle Plokkersbier Dubuisson Bush Ambree De Dool Ter Dolen Drie (3) Fonteinen Oude Gueze Girardin Geuze Girardin Geuze Black label 1882 Kriek 1882 Kerkom Bink Blond Lebvre Barbar Floreffe Tripel Moeder Overste Meilleure Floreffe Moortgat Maredsous 10 Proefbrouwerij Babbelaar Troubadour Reinaert Tripel Ranke Guldenberg Westvleteren Blond "12" Bruin Verhaege Vichtenaar Duchesse de Bourgogne Van Den Bossche Buffallo St. Feuillien Brune Sint-Bernardus St-Bernardus Tripel Watou Tripel Pater 6

But not quite what I answered to, but see later.

The problem was that she had cut something that you quoted. I am not getting at you, but Christine.

Dave

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 -

Also, Tim Webb's GBG Belgium is well worth purchasing.

Superb beer and café guide, and it also lists some of the better drinks shops, including wholesalers that also cater to the retail trade.

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.

On the Hoegaarden thing, an interesting article here:

Peter

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

Gareth a écrit :

For something suited to British palates, I'd go for :

- Wheat : Blanche des Honnelles (clear, hoppy, a wonderfully complex and heretical take at a belgian wheat)

- Blonde : Saison Dupont (very much everything Leffe Blonde isn't, that is hoppy, complex, dry, peppery, at a mere 6.5% ABV, and very versatile in matching with food, apart frou sour dishes and desserts, it works with pretty much everything). The rest of Brasserie Dupont's range worth a try too, Moinette Blonde being similar to Chouffe, but a lot less sweetish.

- Tripel : Guldenberg, definitely (the triple from De Ranke, who also brew XX Bitter. Hoppiest, or rather most balanced tripel in Belgium, IMHO)

Cheers !

Laurent

d.g.s. a écrit :

Hear Hear. Jackson'r book is pretty useless as a guide to carry with you, whilst Webb's guide is the travel companion, crammed to the hilt with practical information. And it's a lot more critical than Jackson is, which is not a bad thing considering the state of self-complacency of quite a bit of the Belgian beer world...