Which Belgian ale should I drink first?

living beers?

Yeah, I don't know what that means. I hope it isn't like "The Stuff".

Get the Gulden Draak out the way first, with a name like that it's bound to be a disappointment, also it will make you warm and fuzzy inside in no time

Westmalle

Westmalle

Unfortunately, not in the box. However I will take your recommendation into account.

OK, I think the "living beer" means that they undergo a second fermentation in the bottle.

clearly piraat, i mean just look at it

OK, I think the "living beer" means that they undergo a second fermentation in the bottle.

― xhuxkfactor (los blue jeans), Sunday, June 7, 2009 8:58 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is correct

Maria, I can't say that I disagree with your logic. However, I might decide to "work my way up" to the Piraat. My theory was that I would kinda sip some of this, sip some of that, then BAM hit up that Pirate shit.
Also I might live blarg this if people are interested (as reflected in the number of votes).

i'd like you to liveblarg it. I am not a fan of Belgian beers generally, but since I have never had any of these particular beers, I'm curious.

By the will of ian it will be done.

is it okay for vegans to drink living beers?

Perhaps due to hivemind sentiment there was a miniFAP in LA today where many Belgian brews were quaffed. Sadly the exact names escape me.

unless yeast is now an animal, I would imagine cask/bottle conditioned beers are fine for vegans to drink

YES!!! I'm part of the hive!!! Thanks guys it was all worth it.

One of us. Of course it would have been better had you been here drinking with us but no matter.)

Duchesse De Bourgogne
Kwak
Koningshoven Quadrupel (actually from the Netherlands)

Ah thank you.

my favorite was the duchesse, but i'm fruity like that.

Is Kwak good with Quark (cheese)?

Hmm we had ours with sausages so I can't say.

xpost - i have no answer to that. btw i voted for bruegel.

And the Duchesse was indeed mighty fine and mighty fruity. Heck of a way to start the get-together.

ugh kwak

Hahah you need to read the eatig while drunk thread if you haven't already.

steampunk beer.

It's all in the glass design. As admrl almost discovered to his detriment.

Re: poll - Do you want to keep the best for last?

Well, maybe. I want to have the best overall experience, which might entail drinking the highest rated beer in the middle of the session.

Gee, there really is nothing that will suck all the joy out of something like trying to quantify it.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Gulden Draak is one of my favorite Belgians, but the only other one of these I've had is the Piraat, and I don't remember how it ranked. Maybe go from lowest alcohol to highest? I'd save the GD for last.

Yeah I had to drink Kwak because "max drunk kwak" or some shit...

;)

I've only had Gulden Draak and Piraat, but I would favor the former out of those two, I think. We have a bar here that has at least a few Belgians on tap at all times and a bunch in bottles, and all I've really learned is that drinking a lot of the stuff is a good way to feel woozy.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Sorry for not liveblarging. BTW I don't know much about beers, for the first 8 years after I turned 21 I think I had about 4-5 beers a year (not much of a drinker). It is only in the last year that I have started to throw back the brewskis after work or whatever. My favorite beer so far is a dunkelweiss (forget the brand) that I had in Germany last November, but that had a bit of a halo effect since it was during a vacation after a really long year. (feel free to lol at me going on hols in Germany in November)

Results so far:
Bruegel - Kinda bland, not bad but didn't seem worth the bother to import it
Gulden Draak - Really strong alcohol taste, like someone put a shot of JD in the beer. Would not get again.
Augustijn - I forget. I don't think it was that great though.
Bornem Triple - Not too bad, but not exactly nectar of the gods or anything.

DRINKING RIGHT NOW:
Piraat
Bit of a light amber color, a bit yellow. Has the same yeasty flavor that all of these beers have. Despite a deep fondness for leavened bread, I can't really say that I like these yeasty beers. I also prefer a bit more carbonation than this beer has. Kind of a smooth bittersweetness to the beer overall, without the overpowering alcohol of Gulden Draak. Probably my favorite so far of all these, I would possibly get it again.

A lot of Belgian beers just turn my stomach. I love other beer, btw.

mmmmmDuchesse = desert island territory, for me. i love that sweet&sour-y, lactic, gastrique thing it brings

St Bernardus Abt 12 is my fukkin jam.

ever had a rochefort? that's where you go next iirc. that or orval

or a delirium

chimay

i find chimay quite dull but you should probably not listen to me, i'm ruined by lambics

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

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

Aye, that's a pretty naive take. Stella/Jupiler are for sure the prominent macro lagers in BE.

(xp: to imago)

St Bernardus Abt 12 thank u

I'll take Stella & Jupiler over Coors & Budweiser, hands down. Mentioning Chimay in the same breath is performative af.

obviously chimay isn't literally a mass-market lager but cmon it is as basic as 'proper' belgian ale gets

stella and jupiler literally do not figure in my ideation of anything involving belgium and beer

That's true, but it's proof positive that basic can be good not bad when done right.

xp

that sweet massaman gai posting to the what are you listening to thread energy

lol

just been drinking an ostbuigrinzvlet 283 special reduction, only 3 bottles brewed

Chimay is pretty basic Belgian beer, sure, but Chimay Blue is still, well not top-tier, but second-tier anyway.

captaine jay vee's transcendent experience has not been ruined by my dreadful messageboard grousing, we may be assured

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