The Belgian Beer Thread

[Trevorrow]

StreetPreacher for President

May I suggest trying Leffe Blond? It's available in the US... Quite a full taste, but make sure you serve it in a proper glass, and nicely cooled...

I was not a really fan of the leffe blond when i tried it. I remember it being a bit full bodied for me and it was not nearly cold enough. That was a few years ago so perhaps my taste buds changed some

[StreetPreacher]

StreetPreacher for President
I suppose you have access to a specialist dealer there? If available, do try the Rochefort 10 !

I wish! We can only get booze from government run liqour stores, and they just happened to bring some of this in as part of a special "Winter Warmers" release. Store stock is already dwindling, and other than the case I put in my cellar, we won't be seeing any St. Bernnies again until next year (if we're lucky).

I'd love to try the Rochefort 10 but our stores just don't carry it, same with the Westy 12.

I did just pick up a few more of these though:

[carendt242]

SimonSays - it's about $8/bottle here in the Bay Area at Whole Foods

StreetPreacher - you can definitely get Rochefort 10 in Canada - i have a friend who buys cases every year from the govt liquor store. in fact, that's where i first tasted it.


- chuck

[Thieu]

SimonSays - you'd probably be surprised that we can get a lot of belgian beers over here. i can, and do, buy Rochefort 10 all day long.

the only one that has proved elusive is the westy 12 - only had once in the states, aged a little over 3 years.

- chuck

By "Westy" 12 I suppose you mean this one? I never knew it had a hip hop name as well

I was not a really fan of the leffe blond when i tried it. I remember it being a bit full bodied for me and it was not nearly cold enough. That was a few years ago so perhaps my taste buds changed some

When i had a friend from California over this summer he tried the Leffe Blond and he immediately wanted me to teach him how to order it in Dutch. He never drank anything else while he was here

[carendt242]

everything is hip hop in the US (especially when we can't spell out the full names correctly!)

(btw, awesome avatar - beautiful)

- chuck

[Thieu]

everything is hip hop in the US (especially when we can't spell out the full names correctly!)

(btw, awesome avatar - beautiful)

- chuck

I'll present you another tasteful Westy later this week, just to get you guys confused

Avatar is courtesy of Kuester

[Thieu]

as promised, another Belgian Westy



This beer is the Westmalle Tripel, from the Trappist monastery of Westmalle, a small town in Belgium. It is one of only 7 breweries that may actually call their product Trappist Beer (Westvleteren Orval and Chimay are a few others) and is considered one of the best beers in the world by connaisseurs.
This one is a Tripel (the name is given to denote it being the best they produce, but also refers to it's alcohol level), which has 9.5% of alcohol, the other variety is the Dubbel, which only has 7%. The monks also brew Westmalle Extra, which is only for their private consumption and contains even less alcohol.

About the beer itself: it's a blonde beer with a soft, creamy feel to it. the taste itself is very complicated: to me, the bitterness of the beer coming from hops prevails over its gentle sweetness, which is why i like it so much.
It's a perfect beer to start my holiday: I finished all my work a day early and now i got nothing but a week in the Swiss Alps ahead of me

[StreetPreacher]

StreetPreacher - you can definitely get Rochefort 10 in Canada - i have a friend who buys cases every year from the govt liquor store. in fact, that's where i first tasted it.

I'm sure it's available in some places, but just not in Ontario. For retail sales we're stuck with whatever the LCBO is currently stocking, and Rochefort isn't on the list.

[DialM]

In my beer fridge, I currently have Stella, Leffe, Chimay, Orval, Deus, Gulden Draak, Rodenbak Grand Cru, Duvel, Affligem Noel, Sloeber, Westmalle, Delerium Tremins, Rochefort, St. Feullien, Bokrijks, Korsendonk, Maredsous, and several other that I can' think of off the top of my head. I have some of these in dubel and tripel, and some limited releases. That reminds me, I have to drink that Duvel Tripel Hop (and hope it isn't TOO hoppy). I also have some Ommegang (and Omm. Hennepin), which is a good American beer brewed in the Abbey style, now owned by Duvel.

Still trying to get my hands on a Malhuer Bier Brut, and wouldn't mind if Duvel decided to distribute Vedette here (it is a good, easy-drinking beer, a good Stella alternative).

[Jonathan@CatsExotics]

Scaldis FTW!