Beer! Glorious Beer Thread!

[Pirian]

Oh that's cool, I never noticed that part of the site. Going to be showing that to a few friends

Yeah, we do have good beer here, but you always want what you can't have

[pahnphoenix]

private message me here or (better) on beeradvocate if you start trading and want some advice on "trade value" of something or what might be appropriate extras or whatever. obviously you'd be fine w/o messaging, but i'm usually good at gauging dynamics if anyone wants some advice ._.

[Pirian]

It'll probably be a good while until we get into it, if we do. When we would start will most likely be once the October seasonals start rolling out, though

[Darlantan]

Among other things, tried some great new (for me) beers in my recent trip.

I wont get into specifics because I am no expert, but I will say we deeply enjoyed quite a bit of what we tried, like these:

Spoiler: show

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/IMG_2973.jpg

Salud! (Warning, geek inside)

Spoiler: show

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/IMG_2981.jpg

[Pirian]

If you liked then Trappistes Rochefort 10 then try the Trappistes Rochefort 12. Masterpiece of a Belgian

edit:
Hmm could have sworn there was a 12, but my collection indicates that it is indeed 10. Fantastic beer, none-the-less :D

[Darlantan]

Yeah, the Trappistes proved delicious and so did the St. Bernardus. Gulden Draak is good, I had already tried it a few times but a friend was curious about the alcohol punch it has so he had one and didnt dissapoint, its a good beer but not my favourite kind. Same with Columbus it was good, tasted a lot like fresh fruits, but not my kind of beer.

[Auspice]

St. Bernardus is <3

[Dook]

If you liked then Trappistes Rochefort 10 then try the Trappistes Rochefort 12. Masterpiece of a Belgian

edit:
Hmm could have sworn there was a 12, but my collection indicates that it is indeed 10. Fantastic beer, none-the-less :D

The 12 is Trappist Westvleteren. I'm pretty sure any bar that served that would be the mecca for most beernuts

[Vimes]

I'm no beer expert by far, but I do live in Belgium.

It's really cool to see a beer appreciation thread, wonder why I didn't see it before. I haven't read the entire thread, but perhaps I can share some thoughts, even though it's highly likely you guys know more about beer than me.

First of all, I really wouldn't bother with Hoegaarden (blanche). If you like it, that's cool but there are too many other good beers and it isn't really considered a good one. Also, it's what girls drink over here.

And, if I may say so, I don't think Leffe is an exceptionally good beer. I mean lol, it's ok I suppose and many people here drink it. But not really considered a "good" beer. Better go for a real trappist beer then, like Westmalle Tripel, Orval, Chimay, Westvleteren. Can't go wrong there.

Some of the better beers imo:
Tripel Karmeliet, La Chouffe (or Houblon Chouffe), Hopus, Gouden Carolus Classic. Also Rochefort 10 & Gulden Draak, but I've seen them mentioned before already.

Well there are others obviously, problem is there are so many and probably ones I've never tried.

HTH.

[pahnphoenix]

I'm no beer expert by far, but I do live in Belgium.

It's really cool to see a beer appreciation thread, wonder why I didn't see it before. I haven't read the entire thread, but perhaps I can share some thoughts, even though it's highly likely you guys know more about beer than me.

First of all, I really wouldn't bother with Hoegaarden (blanche). If you like it, that's cool but there are too many other good beers and it isn't really considered a good one. Also, it's what girls drink over here.

And, if I may say so, I don't think Leffe is an exceptionally good beer. I mean lol, it's ok I suppose and many people here drink it. But not really considered a "good" beer. Better go for a real trappist beer then, like Westmalle Tripel, Orval, Chimay, Westvleteren. Can't go wrong there.

Some of the better beers imo:
Tripel Karmeliet, La Chouffe (or Houblon Chouffe), Hopus, Gouden Carolus Classic. Also Rochefort 10 & Gulden Draak, but I've seen them mentioned before already.

Well there are others obviously, problem is there are so many and probably ones I've never tried.

HTH.

like any cantillon or struise?

i agree with everything else you said, by the way (leffe and hoegaarden thumbs down, trappists thumbs up). re: gouden carolus, love cuvee van de kaiser blauw.

i hope to make it to belgium for a beer trip some day. visit struise and westvleteren, also a couple of the bars everyone talks about (names eluding me... this one is big i think).

oh, also, do you like fantome? they are pretty amazing.

[Vimes]

Well, this will probably sound really bad, but what I drink most is lager (like Jupiler) or maybe Duvel. Simply because of price and availability. But also depends what's on tap. Like, where I live, Tongerlo on tap is very common so we drink it quite often.

But with food, like having lunch at a small restaurant or whatever, more likely to get a good beer. I think Karmeliet is my favorite. I also said Hopus, but Hopus is only cool because of the way it's served, with 2 glasses: http://bier.blog.nl/files/2010/02/hopus-glazen.jpg

I haven't even tried most of those beers you mentioned, I feel ashamed lol.

[pahnphoenix]

that 2 glass thing is cool. do you know if they serve kwak in the hilarious glass they often use over here? i love that thing.

[Zoolander]

Not beer, but I started brewing moonshine. The mash is currently fermenting, been going for a week and the glorious yeast is still shitting out CO2, so hopefully I get a nice yield. I post some pics once I do the distilling.

Science is fucking awesome.

[Darlantan]

I saw those glasses in Amsterdam, Pahn, they served La Chouffe in them, on tap. I thought it was a solid beer, not bitter at all so probably not the better choice for most of you american ipa lovers. Citrus, a nice balance, alcohol kind of hidden but still there, it made for an awesome evening. Plus the glasses are indeed awesome.

[Vimes]

Dutchies serve La Chouffe in Kwak glasses? lol, that's weird.

I love La Chouffe, especially on tap (even hard to find here in Belgium). But you can find it in 750ml bottles easily here. They say the redder the nose of the gnome on the bottle, the better (which is bullshit, just means you've been drinking too long already lol).

I've always had it served here in Duvel-like glasses, like so:
La Chouffe: http://test.smigg.be/upload/lachouffe.jpg
Duvel: http://www.thalsfm.be/upload/76_1282253736.jpg

Now I'm thirsty.

Edit: @pahnphoenix: They do serve Kwak here in those special Kwak glasses, always.

[Darlantan]

Yeah, I know that kind of beer is suppossed to be served in tulip glasses and the like. To be honest, I am not certain they serve them in Kwak's, lol. We saw the glasses, looked at each other, and decided to have the bartender serve some of what was on tap in them. It turns out they had La Chouffe and the girl served it in there happily, so I didnt think up until know that maybe they only did it because thats what we asked and she was probably thinking "idiots..." lol. As I said, it made for a great evening nontheless :D. Its the same place we had the Rochefort, St.Bernardus and the others the day before. And yeah, I had never seen La Chouffe here in Spain. Now, the Dutch, they had bottles of both 750 and 330ml fucking everywhere, and on-tap, at least on that place. Actually, they had quite a lot of well known Belgiam beers, for obvious reasons.

[pahnphoenix]

mm, i love la chouffe too. i haven't reviewed it on beeradvocate because i think i drank too many gallons of it over the years before i started reviewing ._. (edit: did give a glowing review to houblon chouffe on tap though, and chouffe and ommegang's collaboration gnomegang. p.s. if i don't get a chance to pour gnomegang on a naked woman in a lush forest, my life will be incomplete)

also, i drink pretty much everything out of a duvel tulip at home. apparently the laser etching does some crazy science shit to help with head retention, and the overall shape is perfect if you want to smell your beer. (plus, duvel gift set is about as expensive as a normal duvel 4pk, and i love duvel, it's one of the few beers that, while i don't drink it all the time, i always have it in the fridge).

speaking of duvel glasses, i like the limited edition ones that came out at some point. i hope to eventually pick up the one with nudity on it. speaking of nudity, rosé de gambrinus label is soooo sleazy.

[Tricen]

There's a place called World of Beer near me. They have like over 500 types of beer. It is pretty ridiculous.

[Kiro]

Haven't been keeping up with this thread, but has anyone tried the new Guinness Black Lager?

[Ohemgee]

Haven't been keeping up with this thread, but has anyone tried the new Guinness Black Lager?

Yes. I don't like it. The malt flavor doesn't suite well with my taste