Belgian Beer Board

Quote from: Trappist on June 02, 2023, 03:34:24 PM...But too much of that same IPA's really is not the way to go I think.

I agree with you 100% Filip. Certainly there are other styles of beer being made, but they're getting harder to find. The vast majority of beers you will find on the shelves of your common store and easily available will be those "hazy" "hoppy" "juicy" IPAs. Tons and tons of them, and for the most part they're all very similar to each other.

Cheers! - John

Sounds good Viv and thank you. Looking forward to hearing more about this project.

Cheers! - John

Forgive me for not providing more information at the moment. I'm on my phone and having some connectivity issues and also have to go to work very shortly.

Just saw an interesting post on the BeerAdvocate website in the "Beer News" section of the forums in regards to an upcoming book due out next year called "The Hidden Beers of Belgium" which looks promising.

A few links there to check out in regards to the book and what they have planned. See what you think.

Cheers! - John

Wow, look at that beer list!     It would take me a couple of months to drink my way through that. How to decide which ones to try in a matter of a couple of days ...     Decisions decisions ...

Wishing you a wonderful time at the festival Cheers! - John

Have the monks at Westvleteren ever said why they haven't ever sold their beers in stores before this? All the other Trappist beer makers have for years. What's the point in not selling them in retail establishments, especially since it seems to be working out well for the others?

And as for this Dutch experiment, I'm picturing long lines of beer lovers outside every store that sells the Westvleteren, and the supply running out in a matter of minutes. And as Viv pointed out, what's to stop those people who manage to get some bottles from reselling them later on for a big increase in price? Maybe even minutes later to those people who waited in line but were unable to get the beer because it sold out.

I'm wondering the same thing as you Filip, this may not be a good thing. I'd say either keep things as they were and only sell the beer at the abbey and In de Vrede, or open up another larger brewery and make enough beer to sell it commercially as all the other Trappist breweries do. But yeah I know, that supposedly goes against the monks wishes at Westvleteren. Which begs the question again, why do the monks at all the other Trappist breweries feel differently?   

Haven't Had a Westvleteren in Years Cheers! - John 

How do you do it Jay? My liver would be begging for mercy. What an amazing collection of beers. Thanks for another wonderful report!

Cheers mate! - John

Off to a lovely start Jay.     You and Linda manage to find some nice places to go, some of them pre planned and some just stumbled upon. I love that sense of adventure and discovering new beery places to visit.

Cheers! - John

Such a lovely beer. Whether a newer or an aged bottle, it's a real beauty.

Cheers! - John

It's been probably close to 10 years since I've seen any of those on the shelves for purchase, so about that long since I actually drank one. Lovely beer.

Cheers! - John

Quote from: Trappist on April 27, 2023, 03:41:12 PMViv,
No problem for me though
The world will become very dull when we continue with all those strickt (stupid) measures
Actually, that whole "woke" thing sure will pass by in the very near future. People tend to be brainwashed too easy lately. NOT me
I love those labels and they are in fact woman friendly. My personal view ofcourse.
Cheers,
Filip

You said it perfectly Filip. I think a lot of people nowadays are looking for a reason to be offended. Except that I think that a lot of those people aren't really even actually offended. They just enjoy trying to manipulate society into thinking and acting "their" way.

We recently discussed here on the forums about getting older. On one hand, of course I'm pretty sure we'd all like to be in our 20's or 30's again. It's nice to be young. On the other hand, I'm so thankful to have grown up when we did, and there wasn't things like this "woke" garbage with people trying to tell you how you're supposed to think and trying to erase history that they don't like. So in that respect I'm pretty happy being in my 60's now. I just have to wonder what the future holds for the young people these days though.

Politically Incorrect Cheers! - John   

Hi Viv,

Well, I suppose the term "expensive" is all relative. $70 for 12 bottles of beer is hard for me to justify on my budget, especially when I can get variety 12 packs of good quality beer from breweries such as Firestone Walker, Sierra Nevada, Lagunitas, Stone, Deschutes, North Coast, etc for under $20. But certainly, if price was no object I'd be drinking far more Belgian beers than I do now. Including that nice Chimay variety pack. 

Cheers! - John

Hi Viv,

I wonder if the person who said they bought that Chimay 24 bottle variety pack could be mistaken. Perhaps they meant it was a 12 pack, or that they bought a 24 bottle pack of a single Chimay beer. I can't seem to find anywhere online at Total Wine or any other retailer about Chimay having a 24 bottle variety pack. However there are various retailers who sell 24 bottle cases of a single Chimay beer, Blue, Red, White etc.  If you see something to correct me please let me know.

Total Wine stores and some other retailers do sell a Chimay variety 12 pack. I've actually purchased it before at one of the Total Wine stores here in southern California. As we all know they're great beers, but at $70 for the pack it's going to have to be one of those very rare treats for me.

Cheers! - John   

Not only the T-shirt, but also sweatshirts, pants, coffee mugs, phone cases, shower curtains, even women's underwear. I've seen similar websites do this with other logos, even "fake" Westvleteren shirts and hats.

These logos are not even really on these items as of now, they just superimpose them onto the picture to make it look like the logos are actually on them. Then when (if) someone orders an item they'll put the logo on an item, usually a low quality cheaply made shirt, and sell it.

Other times it's like you said, you may not even ever get your items, but somebody in China or India or elsewhere will get your money. And you're right Filip, I'm sure nobody at the Beertje gave their ok for this. Might be a good idea to make them aware if you haven't already.

So the old adage is always a good one to remember ... "Buyer Beware".

Offically Licensed Cheers! - John (The real one)

 

Quote from: Viv on April 19, 2023, 09:04:34 AMHey John,

You've got some beauties there!

I've seen Pliny the Elder getting ratings to put it near the top
of worldwide beer lists...

Cheers!


Viv

Hi Viv, yes Pliny the Elder is a very highly rated beer. The key is to drink it as fresh as possible. I'm not the world's biggest fan of IPAs, but that beer is a real beauty that I'll treat myself to on occasion. It's a beer that many breweries strive to copy or at least approach in quality, but few do.

Sometimes I wonder what it's like drinking this beer for those of you who are many thousands of miles away from the source (Russian River Brewing is located in northern California). I'm sure many have heard of Pliny, but how often is it drank fresh over there? It makes a big difference. People likely have big expectations for this beer (and some others), but if you're drinking a bottle that's a couple of months old, or hasn't been properly handled then you're not drinking this beer as it was meant to be.

In fact, Russian River is very very serious about who is allowed to sell their beer here. They stipulate that their beer MUST remain refrigerated at all times from the moment it leaves the brewery. If Vinnie Cilurzo, the owner of Russian River finds out that a store has his beer sitting out on unrefrigerated shelves he will stop allowing that store to sell his beer in the future.

This thought crosses my mind in reverse as well. How many Belgian beers sold here have been properly cared for by the time it reaches our shelves and what affect does it have on the taste of the beer? Hard to say. I guess what it all comes down to is this:  Try to drink beers as close to the original source (the brewery) as possible. Also in not all, but most cases, drink it as fresh as possible too.

Fresh Beer Cheers! - John 

Very cool Jay! It must be nice having such nice beery places so close to home. Got a chuckle out of seeing Corona and Coors at Wrights. Man, those lousy beers seem to be everywhere. 

Cheers! - John