Which Belgian ale should I drink first?

i just noted its absence in this thread as it is good and widely available. im not remotely a maven of belgian beers.

bought a big'un of Gulden Draak for the bottle alone, it was damn good

made a rabbit stew with westmalle recently - the beer was very nice as accompaniment too.

rochefort 10 is all-time. orval is great but not similar at all

I tried rochefort 6 and was surprisingly disappointed as everyone raves about them

I know they get progressively stronger so I still have my hopes up for 8 and 10

that is true, was just throwing it in xp

rochefort 8 is very good but yeah 10 is mindblowing

I'm an Achouffe stan, myself, when it comes to these beers.

Delerium is also my shit

st bernardus is really great

I'm at the local pub savouring the rochefort 8 and it is pretty amazing

Having a pint on the day mum passed three years ago today

I trace our habitual paths and cannot get used to her absence

I'm sure i will never though

so out of the rocheforts, number 8, the special, is definitely my absolute favourite so far

i was also p determined to find the best chimay, and after tasting all four, the tripel/blanche/white/cinq cents is the winner

in terms of general belgian ales, i had a piraat triple hop dry hopped, which i couldn't find info for on the web, and was good but taste-wise it had no trace of hops, so i suspect the bar i had it at had it sitting around far too long. potentially this could be a good one too though

have you gotten to try the Houblon Chouffe?

No but it sounds like my kind of beer

I'll keep an eye out for it but ratebeer says it's not available in los angeles

Actually untappd just found a place that sells it

Will go grab one tomorrow

Then back to tasting all trappist beers

NB Gulden Draak is a barleywine style, so you're supposed to sip it from a glass a bit like a champagne or something. I absolutely love it, so many flavours it's like eating a meal.

Some Tripels are like that too but they're too good to sip

I also recommend Monk's Cafe Flemish Sour Ale if you like the sour type. It's not aggressively sour like Cuvee de Jacobins.

i had a piraat triple hop dry hopped, which i couldn't find info for on the web

About 13,200 results (0.47 seconds)

NB Gulden Draak is a barleywine style

lol no

I'll keep an eye out for it but ratebeer says it's not available in los angeles

check out Whole Foods or any beer store

Maybe a mod should rename this thread Which Beer Googler should I FP at will?

Albert

Did you bother clicking through those links that google sent you to? They provide very little info and most results are only for the triple hop not the triple hop dry hopped, which isn't even on their official website you dipshit

Also come to los angeles. There's a beer in a back alley with your name on it

Aww, you missed me tho:
Beer in the new era

i didn't want to meet you then

now i do

People, people, beer should be bringing us together, not tearing us apart!

NB Gulden Draak is a barleywine style

lol no

anyone who has a choice of belgian beers and chooses chimay is a disgusting savage fyi

In Beijing the choices were Hoegaarden and Chimay Blue.

lol, you have found the exception

It's a completionist thing

Drinking my way down the trappist list

Chimay blanche is not that great, but found it to be better than the other three

I was in Brussels a couple of weeks ago and people out were drinking Chimay Bleue, I dunno, it seems very good to me, but this is an ILX beer thread, of course men are gonna snob out

a buddy in atlanta told me he pays $12 a bottle for Rochefort 10, dang usa. in Paris it's pretty much the same price as in Brussels (take that brexiteers)

5.99 in mpls

nice. this last trip was my first time "getting" Belgian beers, probably b/c I stuck to trappist beers rather than the fruity ones I knew before. not coincidentally it was the first time I had fun in Belgium.

people there said I gotta try Westvleteren 12 but in bars in Brussels it was like 12 euros a bottle so I stuck with Westmalle and Rochefort.

Better tell the brewer that, they refer to it as a "barley wine" (and a tripel tbf) on their description page:
https://www.vansteenberge.com/en/our-beer/gulden-draak/gulden-draak/

yeah it's a tripel with a Bordeaux pitch in secondary. If you would have it side by side with JW Lees you would not consider them to be in the same style at all.

most results are only for the triple hop not the triple hop dry hopped, which isn't even on their official website you dipshit

It's the same beer, just with import labeling.

Also come to los angeles. There's a beer in a back alley with your name on it

i didn't want to meet you then

now i do

wow, sounds romantic

just wanna spike your kool aid man with bud light

yeah it's a tripel with a Bordeaux pitch in secondary. If you would have it side by side with JW Lees you would not consider them to be in the same style at all.

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, May 2, 2017 9:16 AM (forty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this type of nitpicking is ridiculous btw

i mean even bjcp can't categorize this perfectly into one style, but coming in here writing "lol no" about what style a beer like gulden draak is just deserves a good old fashion beating

in 2008 bjcp considered it a belgian dark strong ale https://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style18.php#1e

fast forward to 2015 and you get https://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Beer.pdf

page 53

i like that they put that each brewery has its own unique characteristic

Tried gulden draak. It's very good but

Is it me or is westmalle tripel ale sexual

Augustijn ale is just okay

Just about every Tripel I've had is fairly aphrodisiac by the end

Two bottles in on Chimay Bleue - first time having it - and am floating :)))

oiiiiii that’s the stuff :-)

Jelly.

anyone who has a choice of belgian beers and chooses chimay is a disgusting savage fyi

― imago, Tuesday, 2 May 2017 11:20 (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

literally belgian beer 101. belgian coors. belgian budweiser

powerful snob energy so sorry

Except the 'Belgian' part cancels out the Coors and Budweiser, sorry.

wouldn't Jupiler be the Belgian Coors?

have no recollection of drinking Chimary tbh. Rochefort 10 for me thanks

Tbc my 'jelly' was less 'omg I wish I could get my hands on that priceless ambrosia' and more 'ten Dry January days to go... a Chimay would really hit the spot right now'. 'Second-tier' is correct.

i haven't had a proper belgian beer in months. months! i'd like to pretend a Duvel will do but really fuck it I just want Cantillon

No, this cheap swill has not been ruined for me, merci bien. It’s doin’ the damn thing until my fave local Belgian beer bar re-opens in the (near?) future, alcohol gods willing.

And, yeah, I hit the St Bernardus when I’m there :)

that is the one brew that people can successfully bribe me to do things with