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Hello all,

I need your recommendations on the best Belgian beers, preferably those available in the U.S. I'm going to a great BYOB restaurant in a few weeks, and the chef is really into Belgian beer. I would like to bring some for he and the kitchen team, because it's always good to keep the chefs happy!

Thanks very much for the help.
John Danza

Leffe, Duvel and Chimay are easily available in the US and are all excellent

Thanks very much! One follow up question. What's the proper service temperature for Belgian beer? Should it be cold, cool, or room temp?

Cool (fridge).
And if possible, get a Trappistes Rochefort. It's one of the seven trappist beers in the world (like Chimay) and from what I heard reasonably available in the States.

I serve them at cellar temperature, can be a bit cooler but don't take it down to 0K like you normally have it in the US.

If you can get it and, especially if you can get the glasses, Kwak. Kwak glasses are obvious from 100 paces, whereupon you are duty-bound to ask what the person is drinking at least three times. They will be shouting "Kwak" repeatedly at you, much to the hilarity of their companions.

Thanks very much guys. I appreciate the help.

History places Paul Kwak as a brewer and bar owner in Dendermonde. A regular stop for mail coaches, coachmen were not allowed to leave the carriage and horses. Therefore not able to enjoy the Kwak beer. As a result, Paul Kwak invented a glass which could be easily hung on the coach and ordered the shape of the glass we know today. Problem solved.

Called a coachmen's glass (koetsiersglas)

John Danza wrote:the chef is really into Belgian beer

KillerB wrote:Leffe, Duvel and Chimay are easily available in the US and are all excellent

No. If the chef is really into BB, you will go wrong. He will like X far more than Y, where you have no idea which are X, Y or Z. Take something about which you know more than the chef: how about a bottle of port?

jdaw1 wrote:

John Danza wrote:the chef is really into Belgian beer

KillerB wrote:Leffe, Duvel and Chimay are easily available in the US and are all excellent

No. If the chef is really into BB, you will go wrong. He will like X far more than Y, where you have no idea which are X, Y or Z. Take something about which you know more than the chef: how about a bottle of port?

Hear Hear!

KillerB wrote:I serve them at cellar temperature, can be a bit cooler but don't take it down to 0K like you normally have it in the US.

I like pilsner and some other blond beers best at around 4-6C (39-43F). I prefer the darker ones a little less cold, say 8-10C (46-50F). Often the brewer will advise an optimum drinking temperature on the label.

I would just endorse Kwak. It is very satisfying. One is usually enough, two definitely so.

Unibroue from Quebec makes some of the best Belgian beers around!

La Fin de Monde is a classic.

http://www.unibroue.com/index_eng.html

mosesbotbol wrote:Unibroue from Quebec makes some of the Belgian beers around!

La Fin de Monde is a classic.

http://www.unibroue.com/index_eng.html

This reminds me of when I was in Atlanta and wanted to know where the Stella was brewed.

"Stella Artois is a Belgian beer sir," said, in the most patronising voice available, by the plonker behind the bar.

Thanks. For. That.

KillerB wrote: This reminds me of when I was in Atlanta and wanted to know where the Stella was brewed.

KillerB,

Did you ever have Stella before they started making it in Burton-on-trent (or wherever else they make it?). My first encounter was in Lourdes, France in the summer of 1980 at the ripe old age of 15. It was Bastile Day (14th of July, I think?) and I was there with a group of hitch-hiking Scots, all of us in in Kilts, working in the hospital there over the summer. I downed 5 x 1 litre dimpled glasses (Stiens?) of the stuff and woke up 2 days later

I have never touched a drop since

I had it even younger than that. My dad discovered it many, many years before it got brewed in Luton. He caught my sister committing the cardinal sin of putting lime in it. Nobody would even blink now.

KillerB wrote: before it got brewed in Luton.

Is that where Ronnie and LadyR moved to?

If only!

I can second the recommendations already made, and certainly the Rochefort. I recently rediscovered the "6" after not having drunk that for many years. While the other Rocheforts are sort of a meal in itself, this is a beer that you can easily enjoy, but still has enough bite to keep your attention.

Some other favourites (not sure about the aivalibility in the US though):
- Gulden Draak
- Tripel Karmeliet
- Orval
- Moeder Overste
- Judas

And of course, Westvleteren (trapist). But that will be very expensive, and difficult to find. It has been voted 'best beer of the world' a couple of times, and especially the brown and the triple are exceptional.