wow, how could i have missed that, i guess i'm always too concentrated on opening a bottle to look at the label, THANKS!
Cliff as for what else i drink, that's tough. i primarily stick to trappists because of consistency and i'm not a exclusive beer drinking, also keep a nice stock of single malts and wine...so i distribute my alcohol consumption are several disiplines. but as for beer. If i'm out at a pub, which 9/10 won't have belgians and i'm just looking to empty a couple beers, i stick with Sam, Guinness, Sierra Nevada and the likes. but at home i pretty much only keep belgians style beers and maybe a few brit styles here and there.
for belgians outside of trappistes, i pretty much stick to strong ales, doubles and triples. I'm not a fan of big wheat beers like a Heogaarden or other whites...i like meat on the bones of my beer. I also don't take to lambics, too fruity. but in the heat of summer I will stock some saisson styles..obviously the well knows Saisson Dupont as well as Phantom.
so since i stick to strong, double, and triple belgian styles..the beer i drink most is Allagash. A maine microbrew that brews in the stickest belgian fashion, even have their own belgian yeast. their best styles are the Triple and a brew called Grand Cru (out in fall). you can find these for $6 a 750ml bottle. worth every penny. i drink it most often due to price. if you do find Allagash go with the 750 bottles and not the 12oz bottles..more care goes into their 750s and is obvious, 750s are "reserve". althogh the 12s aren't bad at all and i do stock those. Allagash's double is very good, but not great, i mean i always have some, but the trappists do a better job at that style. Ommegang out of NY makes some great belgians (you've probably seen their Three Philosophers on the shelves, a quadrupel)
non-trappist belgians...st. Bernardus double and triple is a great brew and value, although i must admit i have had 2-3 that were off, don't know what that was from. Brasserie des Rocs put out some great stuff. it can even be round in a 30 liter just under a 1/4 keg.
there are a couple more, but more or less i stick to trappiste because they truely are amazing. if i ONLY drank beer i'd propably dive deeper, but right now, they are all i need.
Posts: 1540 | Location: Boston | Registered: February 28, 2003
Thanks for the extremly interesting post bomb. I find that we have very similar tastes in beer. I would say if you like alagash you must try their aniversary ale which was a small release but is worth it. I am also a huge Ommegang fan, based on price, it always seems to be on flavor wise, and availible. I would have to say that my biggest kick right now is based around Dogfish Head and what they make, one of their IPA's is always on tap at my local bar. I find all of their beer to be very interesting and flavorful. But I do realize that it takes a special type of person to like their off-centered ales. I have to agree about what Dupont has to offer also, I find their saisson ales to be awesome. I am also quite partial to corsendonk (wrong spelling) brown, which I love for the winter time. Good to see a fellow beer nut here.
you know, i've never gotten around to try a Dogfish Head, i'll but it on my booze list this w/e. i'm due for a run to the nearby booze warehouse! I'll check out Corsendonk too, thanks for the tips.
glad to hear you also support domestic brewers who pursue Belgian styles! we need more of them. Never got around to Allagash Anni. and haven't seen it in a while. my booze run list is growing so far.
stock up on allagash triple, double and grand cru, all 750s of coarse rochefort 8 and 10s chimay blue grand reserve westmalle tripel Glenfarclas 105, 60%abv, (keep me warm in the winer!) possible highland park 18 as well, although might be over my budget for the day and last but not lease nail the wine aisle, right now i'm stuck on hitting affordable itialians. can't wait for the weekend...
its raining so no smoke on the deck tonight, so i'll go with allagash grand cru reserve, followed by a rochefort 10 by the fire. can't wait to to open a beer tonight!
take it easy
Posts: 1540 | Location: Boston | Registered: February 28, 2003
Originally posted by Bombardier: wow, how could i have missed that, i guess i'm always too concentrated on opening a bottle to look at the label, THANKS!
Are you being sarcastic or did you actualy not notice that?
**S.H.U.T.U.P. #4** R.O.C.A #0012
By the way, if you don't like it, start you own magazine and web site... - James Suckling
Posts: 989 | Location: Victoria ,BC. Canada | Registered: December 28, 2004
although i am painfully sarcastic in real life, this was not one of them. i really never noticed it....I guess its kind of like running around the house looking for your keys and they are in you hand...or looking for glasses and they are on your head.
Posts: 1540 | Location: Boston | Registered: February 28, 2003
its on the cook as well. basically, i never searched out old trappists because i like mine fresh anyway. more lively...although as i said before, the Chimay Grand Reseve is one of the only ones i do like with a year on it.
since i prefer mine fresh i never really put the time into looking for a date...
Posts: 1540 | Location: Boston | Registered: February 28, 2003
Just returned from a visit to Belgium (Antwerp, Brugges, Gent) and was loving every beer that I tried over there.
Can't tell you much about each because it was a business trip & I was supposed to be working, and not learning about beer, but here are some that I recall:
Corsendonk blond (8%), and black (7%)
Kasteel brune (brown) (11%)!
De Koninck Amber (5.5%)
Hoegaarden Gran Cru - darker & heavier than the regular Hoegaarden I can get here in the states
Duvel - just don't drink the sediment in the bottle!
The mentioned Chimays & Westmalles
Leffe blond, brune (one of my favorites)
Gruenbergren (sp?)
Plus some others that escape me now.
Wow, in retrospect, that's a pretty lengthy list. I really was getting work done... honest, boss.
man i never even heard about trapist beer before last month. Now i have over $100 worth of beer sitting in my bar at home aging. you guys have to stop telling me about new beers
**S.H.U.T.U.P. #4** R.O.C.A #0012
By the way, if you don't like it, start you own magazine and web site... - James Suckling
Posts: 989 | Location: Victoria ,BC. Canada | Registered: December 28, 2004
I just got done asking my wife if she was using the car because I needed to pick up some more of that trappist ale stuff. I was thinking of buying a bunch of those large blue chimays to put away for awhile. Dre, we've been brought into a new addiction without even seeing it coming. Minding our own business reading this forum and now - trappist ale. I even have my own glass that says Trappists Rochefort
Ha, you sound like me, for all my beverages i have to have the correct glass. I have a set of stella glasses (my everyday beer), I have a set of crystal glasses for every type of wine (burgundy, bordeaux, chardonay, etc.). Im a total sucker for liquor acessories. And everyting has to match.
**S.H.U.T.U.P. #4** R.O.C.A #0012
By the way, if you don't like it, start you own magazine and web site... - James Suckling
Posts: 989 | Location: Victoria ,BC. Canada | Registered: December 28, 2004
I buy my glasses based on 1 of a kind but mostly all blue. I have 2 different ones for sipping rum. One is blown glass, dark blue with silver patterns in it and the other is a small tapered glass of deep blue with cool lines around it. Got a really cool clear crystal glass for wine tasting that I also use for rum. It has a hollow stem area to measure the same amount each time for wine tasting. But I like the way it looks with the color of the rum in the stem.
the best part about encouraging more belgian (specifically trappist) beer drinkers is that it will hopefully encourage more domestic micro brews to start up beglian production, like allagash and ommegang.
Posts: 1540 | Location: Boston | Registered: February 28, 2003
Ah yes, the beers of Belgium. I moved to Belgium 4 years ago and have as yet, not sampled all the beers !!
Just had a friend over from Scotland for a week and we sampled a few. His favourite was Leffe Bruin, closely followed by Chimay Blauw.
We had ours from the barrel (van 't vat) so a little different from the bottled variety.
The Belgians drink their beer different from us "British". Drinking 12 pints of British beer at 4% ABV is a good evening session. Drinking 12 bottles of Chimay, needs to be done a little slower, maybe only 3 per hour.
Duvel is a good standard Belgium beer.
And of course, plenty of good food, followed off by Cuban cigars. A, that is life !!
------------------ Hi, I'm Plenty." Bond: "But of course you are." "Plenty O'Toole." Bond: "Named after your father perhaps."
Yeah, I nicked a Brug goblet from one of the hotels. Never tried that beer, but they let me take the goblet up to my room, so it was a no-brainer.
Owen, the Corsendonk I had was van 't vat. We had it in a Corsendonk beerhaus right infront of the Antwerp cathedral. Paired with smokes, of course, it was a great afternoon.
