On December 10 2010 00:05 Grumbaki wrote:
I think in my previous post dedicated to Belgium, I should have praised the Westvleteren 12 more...

It might be a snob thing : You need to buy it directly from the abbay or shell out from 7 to 13€ each from "bootleggers" (if you're in brussel, i heard it can ebay up to 50$) as monks dont commercialize them properly (they don't want resell, hence the no sticker policy to purposely go against "belgian FDA" regulations). Even to buy them from the abbay you need to book an appointment on a day they sell them (depending on production availability) by phone (1 phone line, 1 monk for the whole belgium), give your licence plate so they check it, do it max once a month (they really keep booking). You can only buy 1 or 2 packs max (24 bottles per pack). Oh and they are starting to refuse payment in cash and only have a terminal for bancontact, a mostly belgian payment card system. On the other hand it's really cheap once you go there (50€ including recycling fee)

On the other hand, it's a very tasty dark ale with subtles notes of plums and nuts but with a very light texture. Perfect dark ale in my view. Was so hard to get some that I paid 13€ to get my first one. Didn't regret it.

(oh this is all about the 12 kind -yellow cap-, 8 and blond are awesome but not up to the absolute perfection of the 12)

official website
WIKI
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Public Service Announcement: Don't get hooked on belgian beers, you end up spending 100 RMB in beijing for a Leffe or 7€ in france for a Duvel because you can't drink anything else...

I agree. Belgian beer is above and beyond any other region in terms of overall beer quality.

Zero.Tha.Hero

Canada155 Posts

December 09 2010 16:49 GMT

#106

Any western Canadians may have heard of this, from a microbrewery in Edmonton [image loading]

Fantastic brown ale, smooth and malty :D

Simplistik

2138 Posts

December 09 2010 17:00 GMT

#107

Oh, yes!

annYeong(o11)

Canada784 Posts

December 09 2010 17:05 GMT

#108

Newcastle: Very good ale, I still remember my first taste, as it's the first non-shitty beer i've tried, before than it was all Coors, Molsen, Budweiser, and Labatts. It's still my go-to "I have money, let's get a good beer". This beer with a cigarette and a good folk song playing is almost indescribable, the best chill out beer on cold days. Best served room temperature like the English intended it, but putting it in the fridge for a couple hours doesn't harm its taste very much.

Innis & Gunn: Sweet mixed ale, tastes like vanilla, but not shitty-vanilla like vanilla coke, actual, from-the-ground vanilla. Worth the high price tag, is the classic "I'm going to try something expensive" ale. Very good ale with a heavy dinner, like Thanksgiving or Chirstmas, especially since those are the times of year you're going to be treating yourself anyway.

Definately using this thread to try new ales.

Robellicose

England245 Posts

December 09 2010 17:11 GMT

#109

Badger Original Ale - an adaptation of Badger Best Bitter, the ale that was served in the 1700s and to troops during the napoleonic war. Most of the Badger ales are excellent.

snorlax

United States755 Posts

December 09 2010 17:14 GMT

#110

I'm sitting their thinking for like two minuets what is an aaa-leee (phonetically) click on link, read it and am like, wow T_T

Blobskillz

Germany548 Posts

December 09 2010 17:27 GMT

#111

man really americans have to call their beer Ale because it's so bad that you cant call it a proper beer

Real beer comes from Czech republic and the former german areas in Poland

Grumbaki

Belgium141 Posts

December 09 2010 17:44 GMT

#112

On December 10 2010 02:27 Blobskillz wrote:
man really americans have to call their beer Ale because it's so bad that you cant call it a proper beer

Real beer comes from Czech republic and the former german areas in Poland

Without any intend to troll, I'd like to ask for advice for good beer from these regions...I mean I've been there several times, took advice from locals but I always end up with a slightly tastier stella, nothing that can match a Saison or Hommelbier or a blond abbey beer like Tripple Karmeliet or Maredsous, that are quite basic premium belgian.

pics for moar shameless belgian pluggin' ^^
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Even more shameless ad because i really love this one: Saison Dupont 75cl in Cora Anderlecht is at 1,90€ per bottle, recylcling tax included...how fucking unbelievable is that????

sixfour

England11062 Posts

December 09 2010 17:55 GMT

#113

ah, a thread that i can get behind, massive ale bore here

chimay is the absolute nuts, love that stuff and was delighted to find a somewhat-local pub that sells it, and at a reasonable price now (not at the LOL £4.35/bottle that my old local does). blue > red, not tried the white yet

i don't get the love for newcastle, it's just not that special and it's only ever in bottles here. even in newcastle it's rare to find on tap apparently, the only place i've ever seen it on tap was when i was in nyc

most of my favourites however are fairly local stuff that you won't find exported in the states. i know that wells' banana bread does go over. everard's tiger might, fuller's already been mentioned, the esb is good, london pride is ok.

next time i put in an order with beersofeurope (a misnomer, yes) i'm meaning to get some dogfishhead, but it's pretty expensive imo

VarmVaffel

Norway378 Posts

December 09 2010 18:01 GMT

#114

Heineken all the way, glad to see that there are more people in here agreeing with this! This is also one of the beers they have almost everywhere in the world, neat stuff!

Grumbaki

Belgium141 Posts

December 09 2010 18:06 GMT

#115

On December 10 2010 02:55 sixfour wrote:
chimay is the absolute nuts, love that stuff and was delighted to find a somewhat-local pub that sells it, and at a reasonable price now (not at the LOL £4.35/bottle that my old local does). blue > red, not tried the white yet

White is a pretty decent strong "pilsner" (with high fermentation tho if i'm not mistaken). Worth the try but maybe not at £4+ (this price is madness, take eurostar to come on a shopping spree it'll be cheaper! That above the price of a 4 pack here -5ish€ here-). imho white ranks under the ones I quoted before.

Oh and if any TLer comes over in Brussels, PM me! I have the adresses and will be happy to take you on a beer tour of brussels/belgium!

PS: like the SFW pics thread, no post without pic!
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gogogadgetflow

United States2583 Posts

December 09 2010 18:14 GMT

#116

These all look so refined. Isn't ale just another word for beer?

Leinie's, brewed in Wisconsin.

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zerglingrodeo

United States910 Posts

December 09 2010 18:14 GMT

#117

There is only one best beer.

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sixfour

England11062 Posts

December 09 2010 18:16 GMT

#118

On December 10 2010 03:06 Grumbaki wrote:

White is a pretty decent strong "pilsner" (with high fermentation tho if i'm not mistaken). Worth the try but maybe not at £4+ (this price is madness, take eurostar to come on a shopping spree it'll be cheaper! That above the price of a 4 pack here -5ish€ here-). imho white ranks under the ones I quoted before.

the pub i can find it in now has it at ~£3 which is pretty reasonable imo

maxtodd

58 Posts

December 09 2010 18:20 GMT

#119

My favorite ale, brewed a mere 5 miles from where I live.

garbanzo

United States4046 Posts

December 09 2010 18:36 GMT

#120

On December 08 2010 15:38 Roe wrote:
edit: what is an ale anyways?

On December 10 2010 03:14 gogogadgetflow wrote:
These all look so refined. Isn't ale just another word for beer?

I don't think these have been answered yet, but basically the short of it is that there are two categories of beer: ale and lager. The difference is the type of yeast used. Ale has "top fermenting" yeast and lager have "bottom fermenting" yeast. The end result is that you get two completely different beers.

In my opinion, most great beers are ales. I've only ran into a few lagers that I actually liked.

On December 10 2010 02:27 Blobskillz wrote:
man really americans have to call their beer Ale because it's so bad that you cant call it a proper beer

Real beer comes from Czech republic and the former german areas in Poland

Most of the mass produced beers in the U.S. (e.g., Budweiser, Coors, Millers, etc...) are actually lagers. Also the regions where you say "real beer" comes from are usually known for their pilsners, which, if you didn't know, are also types of lagers.