OT: Belgian Beer

ducknumber1

Milemuncher1 wrote:

Ooooh is this one of these threads where people try to 'out obscure' each other. Deep joy.

No challenge, just a few cyclists sharing a love of belgian beer.

(Through a shameful lack of foreign language skills I defer to Google here, feel free to feedback, but I want to join in )

"pak een biertje en chill"

slim_boy_fat

Milemuncher1 wrote:

Ooooh is this one of these threads where people try to 'out obscure' each other. Deep joy.

Ooooh is this one of those posts that adds nothing to a discussion

Back OT, Dan Lloyd's Twitter feed yesterday is worth a look for beer officianados.

orraloon

ducknumber1 wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions, managed to pick up a few this morning.



Not sure if I'll see much of the Rhinos game this evening though.

I spy the aforementioned St Bernardus Abt 12 in that collection. Mind you I also spy something that looks very like an Estrella...

Anyhoo, got our St Bernardus brewery tour booked for April, €12.50 pp including tour, tasting and gift pack.

Tonight though Matthew, it will be a hopfest of Houblon Chouffe, Hommelbier and Duvel Tripel Hop.

ducknumber1

orraloon wrote:

....Mind you I also spy something that looks very like an Estrella...

You do indeed, also in the plan for viewing today was Catalans v Leeds (didn't go well :evil: ), this is token Barcelona filler (not for my consumption, until everything else is gone).

BelgianBeerGeek

orraloon wrote:

ducknumber1 wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions, managed to pick up a few this morning.



Not sure if I'll see much of the Rhinos game this evening though.

I spy the aforementioned St Bernardus Abt 12 in that collection. Mind you I also spy something that looks very like an Estrella...

Anyhoo, got our St Bernardus brewery tour booked for April, €12.50 pp including tour, tasting and gift pack.

Tonight though Matthew, it will be a hopfest of Houblon Chouffe, Hommelbier and Duvel Tripel Hop.

Sharp eyes there Orraloon. Also an Orval lurking there. Stick that in a cupboard for a month or two. The Westmalle Tripel is a winner.
FWIW, I have always enjoyed the Buffalo beers, and I think they are getting out a bit more. The stout is a truly excellent beer.
PS a Sint Bernerdus tour. You lucky bugger. Not jealous. Not in the slightest...

bobmcstuff

So who's added me on untappd and checked into orval seconds before I did?

ducknumber1

bobmcstuff wrote:

So who's added me on untappd and checked into orval seconds before I did?

Possibly me

Its been a good day

ducknumber1

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

...Also an Orval lurking there. Stick that in a cupboard for a month or two...

This may have lasted less than an hour or two in our house, let alone a month or two :oops:

Is there be a forum penance for this?

BelgianBeerGeek

ducknumber1 wrote:

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

...Also an Orval lurking there. Stick that in a cupboard for a month or two...

This may have lasted less than an hour or two in our house, let alone a month or two :oops:

Is there be a forum penance for this?

Not at all. Drink 'em down, and go back to civilisation* for more.
*Belgium

Dodger747

Milemuncher1 wrote:

Ooooh is this one of these threads where people try to 'out obscure' each other. Deep joy.

Depends on where you live, where I am in the centre of Brussels, I can buy pretty much everything named within 5 mins for a couple of euro [with the exception of SSX - but St. Bernadus 12 is the original recipe and yeast anyway]...

No_Ta_Doctor

Spent yesterday evening at the opening of a new Belgian lambic bar in Copenhagen.
They had draught lambics from six or seven different brewers, including Cantillon, Giradin, Oude Beersel and Liefmanns :-) Never seen draught lambic outside Belgium before, and they won't be able to get hold of it regularly, but reckon they may be able to do a once a month event. The fridges were stocked with all sorts of fantastic gueuze, including some obscenely expensive vintages. Happy days!

bobmcstuff

Six degrees has had cantillon on draft before, didn't realise it was so rare to find it on tap... Not a huge fan though (much prefer a Flanders Red as far as sour Belgian beers go).

bobmcstuff

bobmcstuff wrote:

Kwak, Orval, Westmalle Dubbel and Saison Dupont for Omloop.

Could really feel those when I was up at 6am...

Dodger747 wrote:

Milemuncher1 wrote:

Ooooh is this one of these threads where people try to 'out obscure' each other. Deep joy.

Depends on where you live, where I am in the centre of Brussels, I can buy pretty much everything named within 5 mins for a couple of euro [with the exception of SSX - but St. Bernadus 12 is the original recipe and yeast anyway]...

Yeah, all mine were from Oddbins so hardly obscure!

blazing_saddles

bobmcstuff wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Kwak, Orval, Westmalle Dubbel and Saison Dupont for Omloop.

Could really feel those when I was up at 6am...

Dodger747 wrote:

Milemuncher1 wrote:

Ooooh is this one of these threads where people try to 'out obscure' each other. Deep joy.

Depends on where you live, where I am in the centre of Brussels, I can buy pretty much everything named within 5 mins for a couple of euro [with the exception of SSX - but St. Bernadus 12 is the original recipe and yeast anyway]...

Yeah, all mine were from Oddbins so hardly obscure!

Unfortunately these days, Oddbins is pretty obscure for those of us not living in London.

takethehighroad

Blazing Saddles wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Kwak, Orval, Westmalle Dubbel and Saison Dupont for Omloop.

Could really feel those when I was up at 6am...

Dodger747 wrote:

Milemuncher1 wrote:

Ooooh is this one of these threads where people try to 'out obscure' each other. Deep joy.

Depends on where you live, where I am in the centre of Brussels, I can buy pretty much everything named within 5 mins for a couple of euro [with the exception of SSX - but St. Bernadus 12 is the original recipe and yeast anyway]...

Yeah, all mine were from Oddbins so hardly obscure!

Unfortunately these days, Oddbins is pretty obscure for those of us not living in London.

I know it's not Belgian, and it's not actually beer, but does anyone know any off-licences selling Guinness' Hop House 13 lager? I've been scouring for about 2 weeks with no luck

disgruntledgoat

Richmond Racer kicked off our tour of Gent with 2 Westmalle Tripel on Saturday lunchtime. Bold move.

Richmond Racer 2

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Richmond Racer kicked off our tour of Gent with 2 Westmalle Tripel on Saturday lunchtime. Bold move.

EKIMIKE

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

it's not actually beer

How so? I mean Guinness produces some relatively bland and uninteresting stuff but it's still malt, water, hops and yeast, and therefore beer.

I know that some (but not all) major lager producers essentially brew a cheap, generic 4/5% ABV lager beer using mainly corn malt, filter and strip it of all flavour and then add in lab-engineered flavourings to make it taste like beer again. This is how you can get 'X beer brand' brewed at 100 different breweries worldwide using a 100,000 different raw material suppliers and still the end product tastes the same, whether you're in Brussels or Bangkok.

But surely that's as bad as it gets (and that's overlooking how impressive that is - to get a product to be so consistent when it's produced so widely, under such a variety of conditions).

dish_dash

Apparently its been a very bad year for the hops harvest... so the little brewers are gonna struggle this year as supply tightens. Stock up now!

No_Ta_Doctor

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Richmond Racer kicked off our tour of Gent with 2 Westmalle Tripel on Saturday lunchtime. Bold move.

Panache. Heavyweight. TrueChampion. Chapeau.
I want RR2 on my My (wo)Men team next season.

No_Ta_Doctor

dish_dash wrote:

Apparently its been a very bad year for the hops harvest... so the little brewers are gonna struggle this year as supply tightens. Stock up now!

Hopefully they (the micro and craft brewers) will start brewing something other than bloody triple hopped IPAs then. About time some of them paid a little more attention to their malts and getting balance in a brew.

disgruntledgoat

No tA Doctor wrote:

dish_dash wrote:

Apparently its been a very bad year for the hops harvest... so the little brewers are gonna struggle this year as supply tightens. Stock up now!

Hopefully they (the micro and craft brewers) will start brewing something other than bloody triple hopped IPAs then. About time some of them paid a little more attention to their malts and getting balance in a brew.

Hat

disgruntledgoat

That said, the new Duvel triple hop is out tomorrow..

No_Ta_Doctor

disgruntledgoat wrote:

That said, the new Duvel triple hop is out tomorrow..

I'll look forward to hearing a review from you then :-)

Though I've never been impressed with them before, IMO there is nothing you can do to a Duvel that wouldn't ruin a perfect beer.

dish_dash

So I wasn't able to watch the racing on Saturday, but was at a South Indian restaurant with an extensive beer menu. So picked the only Belgian one on the list - a Tongerlo Blonde. The world's best beer in 2014 apparently... I rather enjoyed it, and def better than the hoppy IPA that the others had.

bobmcstuff

No tA Doctor wrote:

dish_dash wrote:

Apparently its been a very bad year for the hops harvest... so the little brewers are gonna struggle this year as supply tightens. Stock up now!

Hopefully they (the micro and craft brewers) will start brewing something other than bloody triple hopped IPAs then. About time some of them paid a little more attention to their malts and getting balance in a brew.

There's plenty of less hoppy "craft" beers. Some good stouts and porters about. It's a market thing - a lot of people will only drink pale things and all those breweries want more customers so they churn out lots of pales and IPAs. When I drag the work lot to one of these places most of them usually have whatever 5% pale ale is on.

No_Ta_Doctor

bobmcstuff wrote:

No tA Doctor wrote:

dish_dash wrote:

Apparently its been a very bad year for the hops harvest... so the little brewers are gonna struggle this year as supply tightens. Stock up now!

Hopefully they (the micro and craft brewers) will start brewing something other than bloody triple hopped IPAs then. About time some of them paid a little more attention to their malts and getting balance in a brew.

There's plenty of less hoppy "craft" beers. Some good stouts and porters about. It's a market thing - a lot of people will only drink pale things and all those breweries want more customers so they churn out lots of pales and IPAs. When I drag the work lot to one of these places most of them usually have whatever 5% pale ale is on.

Yes, the stouts and porters are the other staple of the craft/micro brewers. Usually something-or-other Imperial Chocolate Liquorice Coffee stout thick enough to eat with a spoon and with a specific gravity that makes you wonder if the darkness of the beer is, in fact, caused by light failing to escape from the singularity at the centre of the pint.

I just want to see a few session bitters and a balanced premium ale or two....

rick_chasey

dish_dash wrote:

So I wasn't able to watch the racing on Saturday, but was at a South Indian restaurant with an extensive beer menu. So picked the only Belgian one on the list - a Tongerlo Blonde. The world's best beer in 2014 apparently... I rather enjoyed it, and def better than the hoppy IPA that the others had.

Well played.

rick_chasey

I hear plenty of chat about 'non-hoppy craft beers' in London, (usually after I've been moaning how rubbish they all are for being all hops and bitterness and nothing else), but I've yet to drink one.

Where are they? It's not like i'm down the local spoons.

disgruntledgoat

No tA Doctor wrote:

disgruntledgoat wrote:

That said, the new Duvel triple hop is out tomorrow..

I'll look forward to hearing a review from you then :-)

Though I've never been impressed with them before, IMO there is nothing you can do to a Duvel that wouldn't ruin a perfect beer.

I concur. They're too much for me, the Chouffe IPA is the same. I like one every now and again, though.

I was celebrating getting the opportunity to do some more work last night. I'm sure whatever i got done after a mikeller milk stout, a Gulden Draak quad and a sint bernadus tripel will be of the highest quality...