[Locknar]

You're not missing a whole lot... your beers are much better. We have some good ones, but none (that I've tried) really measure up to the best of the Belgian and German beers IMO. I'm not sure what being a pita is... but I was just breakin' balls. 

 
You are certainly qualified to know that there is a real difference between Belgian and Belgian Style.
 

J
 
 

 

[Deep Funk]

Brewery 't IJ in Amsterdam has a few nice beers too. Sorry, I am spoilt for choice...

 

[daigo]

Quote:

Well I didn't mean to be a pita but there do is a difference between Belgian Style Beer and Belgian Beer
I wish I could try your american/canadian beers here in Belgium, not that we need more beer, but I'm sure each country has some very nice ones

There aren't too many North American brewers who can brew consistently good Belgian style beers like dubbels, strong dark ales, and tripels.  Unibroue, Ommegang (though part of a Belgian group of brewers) and Boulevard Brewing are the only ones I've tried that come somewhat close to their Belgian inspirations.  Definitely no where near the quality of the Trappiste brewers as well. 
 
There are some very good saisons from some US brewers though, which I'm thankful for. 
 
The emphasis in the US craft beer world has definitely been the IPA (and double IPA) and imperial stouts, with almost every craft brewer having at least one of those two styles as part of their line up.  You can go almost anywhere in the US and be able to try a good representative of either style, which is pretty awesome. 

 

[keanex]

Quote:

There aren't too many North American brewers who can brew consistently good Belgian style beers like dubbels, strong dark ales, and tripels.  Unibroue, Ommegang (though part of a Belgian group of brewers) and Boulevard Brewing are the only ones I've tried that come somewhat close to their Belgian inspirations.  Definitely no where near the quality of the Trappiste brewers as well. 

Russian River and Lost Abbey would like a word with you. Many breweries put out fantastic dubbels, and triples as well. The whole "Belgian beers are better" is something that was true until recently. Now information for brewing beer, ingredients to brew them, and skill to brew them is vastly available. Will a brewery ever brew a quad as good as ABT12 or Westy 12? Probably not, but there's many damn good attempts. Belgians brew great beer, but Americans have taken the styles and have made many excellent versions and takes on them. On the other hand things like IPAs, IIPAs, Imperial Stouts, and other American made popular styles, are very hard to find being brewed there on the level they are from the average American brewery.
 
If you'd like to know more about my drinking habits, check my blog and see what experience I have on the matter.

 

[warubozu]

Agreed what's beeen said by Daigo and Keanex, there are a few brewers outside of Belgium that can produce good quality Belgian style beers. None of them can replace or surpass (and they don't pretend to do so) what's offered by Huyghe Brewery, Westvleteren, Westmalle, or Orval to name a few.

 

[daigo]

Quote:

Russian River and Lost Abbey would like a word with you. Many breweries put out fantastic dubbels, and triples as well. The whole "Belgian beers are better" is something that was true until recently. Now information for brewing beer, ingredients to brew them, and skill to brew them is vastly available. Will a brewery ever brew a quad as good as ABT12 or Westy 12? Probably not, but there's many damn good attempts. Belgians brew great beer, but Americans have taken the styles and have made many excellent versions and takes on them. On the other hand things like IPAs, IIPAs, Imperial Stouts, and other American made popular styles, are very hard to find being brewed there on the level they are from the average American brewery.
 
If you'd like to know more about my drinking habits, check my blog and see what experience I have on the matter.

I guess I'm not too big a fan of RR's and LA's versions of singels, dubbels, and quads, though I love the other beers that they make, like their wild ales.  Actually, heading up to RR this Friday to pick up the newest batch of Beatification. 
 
 
 

 

[keanex]

I've had Russian River's Redemption and Damnation, Redemption was okay but Damnation was out of this world to me. I liked it better than most Belgian brewers takes. I liked it much more than Duvel and Delerium Tremens.

 

[Joshatdot]

Corona Familiar
- Light wheat/grains like aromatics
- Clean, clear, light in color
- Hmmm .. similar to Corona Extra, but this is smoother, not so CO2 bubbly .. silky
- Dang this is pretty good!  I do not have a lime to put in it .. I don't think it needs it
- I'll be getting more of this for sure! 8.5/10
 

 

[Joshatdot]

Pyramid - Discord Dark IPA, Dry-Hopped India Pale Ale (6.5% ABV)
- Light fresh/flowery hops, maybe malty aromatics
- Medium/heavy bodied, velvety/silky mouthy feel
- Dark, roasted, maybe a lil smokey malts/grains taste
- Then a light clean hops bitterness, and similar aftertaste .. very nice
- I like this quite abit .. highly recommend for any IPA lover, 8.5/10

 

[keanex]

 
This beer recently won the title of "Best Beer in the World" and I understand why. This beer is absolutely phenomenal with huge ripe fruit notes, mostly banana, with a clove spice, in the aroma and taste. This is thick and creamy with progressively sharper carbonation. The only other beer of this style I've had is Schneider's Aventinus which is the highest rated weizen bock in the world, but I like this far more. I don't understand the low ratings for this because it's phenomenal. At $2.50 for a 7.7% beer this is a huge value beer I will be buying until stock runs out.

 

[Eee Pee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshatdot /img/forum/go_quote.gif
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Off topic: Those little Losi trucks are fun!  I've got about 13 RCs.  

 

 

[manaox2]

Right now I'm in session with an all day IPA.

 

[sridhar3]

Quote:

 

WOW.

 

[daigo]

Quote:

Best beer in the world? CNBC did a decent job with that slideshow I think.
 

 
Right now I'm in session with an all day IPA.

 
Pretty well stocked.  Unfortunately, I don't have room for a fridge to dedicate so much space to beer like you do  My roughly 400 bottles are mostly in boxes.  

 

[manaox2]

Quote:

 
Pretty well stocked.  Unfortunately, I don't have room for a fridge to dedicate so much space to beer like you do  My roughly 400 bottles are mostly in boxes.  

The plan eventually is to just buy a cheap maybe use chest freezer with some baskets and use a temperature control for cool beer storage.