"New: try a coffee beer"

Discussion in 'Belgium' started by Dennoman, Oct 28, 2012.

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  1. CwrwAmByth

    CwrwAmByth Initiate (0) Jan 24, 2011 England

    I have ninja skills, i'd be out of there with all your Struise before you can say Woesten-Vleteren.

    p.s. i'll get some Brains Black to Ruds (plus anything else from Wales you want) for him to give you
     
  2. SStein

    SStein Initiate (0) Dec 26, 2012 Colorado

    I think that the phrase Ignorance is bliss is very true. However as someone who enjoy beers I do enjoy being in this great country. I have been able to pick up some wonderful beers and have only lived here for 2 months. I already have began planning to visit many different breweries and pick up some great beers.
     
  3. Wowcoolman

    Wowcoolman Pooh-Bah (1,636) Sep 25, 2010 California
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Wow. Next thing you know some crazy Belgian will start putting coffee in his chocolate.
     
  4. CaptainPiret

    CaptainPiret Zealot (576) Oct 5, 2009 North Carolina
    Trader

    I have three left from the two years I lived in Belgium. It will take three special events to motivate me to open them. I treasure these beers!

    As for the original post, while living in Belgium I wrote a story for an English-language magazine in Brussels about how Belgians don't understand the quality of beer at their disposal. Here's the link. Carlo at De Struise was a very valuable resource for the story.
     
  5. CStrife187

    CStrife187 Initiate (0) Apr 22, 2011 North Carolina

    As an American currently living in Germany I have to say this really hits home. While I wasn't expecting the enthusiasm for innovation and new things I see in America, I also wasn't expecting almost every bar to only have 1-4 beers on tap and people in grocery stores buying stuff like Beck's. Didn't they see the Schneider Eisbock right there? Did they just pick up the Bitburger that was sitting next to the Weihenstephaner and was almost the same price?

    The only people I've met here so far with a taste for good beer have also been American. At least I have somebody to carpool with to Belgium!
     
  6. LBIsurf

    LBIsurf Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2009 New Jersey

    I felt the same way when I went to Germany. I don't remember how it was when I went to Aachen and Cologne, but in Berlin I was really surprised by the amount of shitty beer. Hell, in Berlin you couldn't even get anything as good as Schneider Eisbock in any stores (besides the one, awesome, craft beer store I was able to find). I really couldn't believe that all of the stores, even the huge grocery stores, only had the really really bad, cheap shit. Beer in a plastic bottle? Come on. I lived in Brussels for a while, and I guess I was expecting stores in Germany to be more like those in Belgium. Most corner stores and night shops didn't had great selections, but at least I could get a Chimay or at the very least a Leffe, at most of them. Which leads me to my reply to this next post:

    I'm right there with you. When I moved to Belgium (sadly, I'm back in the states now) I expected there to just be incredible beer everywhere. And there was. But so many people drank Jupiler (my favorite crap beer was Cara Pils :wink:)! It makes no sense. Good beers are so readily available, and for cheap! I just don't get why so many people get locked in to the same one or two beers, and never try anything new. Is this just what they assume the good Belgian beer is?
    After I came back to New Jersey, a Belgian friend moved over here for a year. My buddies and I were out for drinks with him one night, getting all kinds of great beers. We decided he should try a Nugget Nectar. He had some of it, and said, "this is okay, but let's get some Belgian beers now!" And then he ordered a Leffe Blonde. And the next time he came over, he brought a 12-pack of Leffe Blonde. It was all he drank! And it probably still is. It's a shame that so many Belgians don't take advantage of the great beer selection they have available to them. But I guess most Americans don't, either. Is it the majority of Belgians that over look the better beers? I don't know, I certainly met a lot that appreciated the great variety. But it always surprised me that so many Belgians would order Stella and Jupiler at bars.
     
  7. Ruds

    Ruds Initiate (0) Sep 15, 2008 England


    It's the majority of people in EVERY country who overlook the beers we perceive as better !

    Remember craft beer is a niche market - why would people from Belgium be any different in this respect?
     
  8. LBIsurf

    LBIsurf Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2009 New Jersey

    Yeah, good point. But I guess the point was that it was just kind of surprising. But you're right, I guess it shouldn't be haha
     
  9. Dennoman

    Dennoman Initiate (0) Aug 20, 2011 Belgium

    Of couse it shouldn't. We're not beer paradise as much as the next country. We have a budding craft culture and simply have the luxury of some solid traditional beers.
     
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