Chefguy:
Preeeetty sure this isn’t true, since I stayed in a non-touristy section of Prague for a week, and I remember Pilsner Urquell (along with Gambrinus) being advertised as on tap at basically every single bar I passed by.
I was going to say…PU was pretty much omnipresent in my travels through the Czech Republic and Slovakia. I know everyone says this, but I swear it tastes different over there. The Czechs I know seem to agree that PU on tap in America tastes different than PU in the Czech Republic. It just seems to have more depth, more flavor and malt character than it does here. It may just all be a matter of freshness, but I’m surprised at how much of a difference it makes. And I’m talking the beer on-tap. The bottled stuff was pretty similar to what you get here.
Travel time always kills beer. Well, almost always (IPAs are made for it.) There is something about having a beer in the environment it was brewed in that makes it taste better, no matter what the beer is. I loathe Bud, but fresh from the tap at the brewery in St. Louis… it still sucks, but it was a higher quality of suckage. 
My favorite beer changes frequently, but Belgian Ales have spent some time at the top, and that’s just the imported ones. I’d love to take a beer-tasting trip to Belgium one day.
Ommegang, a brewery in Cooperstown, NY, makes very nice Belgian-style ales (IMO.) The “Three Philosophers” quadruple ale is really good.
Those are all good, and even better in Prague (esp. Staropramen), but Velckopopovicky Kozel is the true Nectar of the Gods.
Every bar in Amerstam also has a sign for Heinekin and Amstel.
There’s a Belgian bar in Manhattan a couple of buddies and I frequent like every other day.
All right. Does that demonstrate that Czechs don’t drink Pilsner Urquell? More to the point, does it refute puly’s point (and mine, though I implied it) that Pilsner Urquell on tap in the Czech Republic is absolutely awesome and stacks up just fine against Budvar or whatever else? I mean, I wasn’t actually with a Czech person when I went to these bars, so it’s possible that I’m wrong and they all think it’s crap to be exported. Sure didn’t seem like it, though.
I like a lot of the Belgian trappist ales, and they are some of my favorites. Going to Belgium really sparked my interest in beer. Given that, I also love American IPAs, and my favorites of those are significantly less expensive than the Belgians I like.
Also, you have to be in the right mood for a beer. A high-alcohol Belgian doesn’t go with everything just like a stout or a white beer.
I’ve had Duval (which is Belgian) and that’s pretty damn good…
Beligian beers are without a doubt the best Belgian beers in the world, beyond that, it’s impossible to say. I’m pretty liberal in my beer consumption (liberal in range, not volume), but I prefer British real ales if I’m aiming for something I consider a bit special.
Leffe is easily at the top of my list of favorite beers (depending on what I am in the mood for, of course).
Same with me. I tend to like English, German, and American Micros in no particular order.
I just wanted to agree with pulykamell’s post, except to say that the single most delicious beer I’ve ever had was a Belgain. It was Westmalle Tripel, in fact. I always make sure I have a few bottles on hand for the proper occasion.
…and that’s kind of the problem. A beer drinker at heart isn’t someone who is waiting for a special super occasion to drink what is the greatest beer he’s ever had. Westmalle is great, no doubt about it, and yet—I wouldn’t want to drink it all the time. I tend to brew hoppy American Ales & stouts, and those tend to be my favorite beers in the sense that I can have one with dinner, or desert, on a hot day, or whenever I feel like it.
The true crazy Belgian brews, like Westmalle’s Tripel or Rochefort’s 10, are incredible. I just think they are a bit too much for what my mind considers “beer.” So, on one hand, they are the best beers, but on the other hand, they in a way brew themselves out of the “beer” category. Am I making any sense?
I’ll give a second vote for American beers being the best, and most diverse, in the world. I just took a beer tasting tour of the brew pubs in Vermont, and it was simply incredible.
Southern Yankee, have you gotten you hands on Ommegang’s “Ommegedon”? It’s a funkier version of their ale brewed with the Brettanomyces ‘wild’ yeast. It’s pretty darn tasty.
+1
No, I haven’t found it where I am. I may order a few bottles. Thanks.
One of my brothers used to work at a joint in Chicago called the Hop Leaf (LTG page with link to head spinningly long beer list) and I’ve had more Belgian beers than most average beer drinking guys. Do I like them? Oh my yes, but I don’t have any at my house on any kind of regular basis, but I think I have a bottle of Piraat in the wine rack hidden away. They’re a bit much for drinking all the time.
The five magic words to entice me almost anywhere have been and will always be “They have Guinness on tap”.
Totally agree. Also Rochefort 10 is $7 or $8 for a 12 oz around here. So not exactly a daily drinker.
Belgian chocolate is the best in the World.
Vol de Nuit or Burp Castle?
The odds are very good that we have crossed paths at either. I was at Vol the other day when it poured in Manhattan.
It is kind of hard to talk about “Belgian Beer” as any kind of monolithic entity. The Stella we pay too much for in Manhattan is brewed in Brooklyn. There are also plenty of workaday beers on tap in Belgium that wouldn’t crack the top hundred list of even the most disinterested beer drinker.
In my experience, such as it is, people tend to react very strongly to trappist beers. So for those (like myself) who adore them, the top Belgian ales are as good as it gets. To me, they are such a different experience than English Real Ales that I can’t even compare them.
There are definitely some Belgians that are widely ackowledged to be among the best in the world. Westvleteren springs to mind.
If you like them, you probably love them. If not, try something else and don’t worry about it being best in the world or whatever.
Of course not. Miller Lite is.
You can have my Americanized taste buds when you pull them from my cold, drunk tongue…