Is it just me but...........................................

[clanpowell]

Belgium Beers are the best in the world.
As an avid beer beer drinker I have sampled many from as many corners of the world as I can get my hands on. I love Britain and it's many many wonderful ales. Uley producing my favourites other than Innis and Gunn. However it is Belgium were I return to again and again for interesting and tasty beers. Our xmas dinner tipple at clanpowell was Cantillon's Rose de Gambrinas. I take a 100 mile detour to visit the monastry where they make Westvlerten when we go to Belgium on holiday. My favourite shop is Bitter Virtue in Southampton. Mecca for beer worshipers. They stock the biggest selection of Belgium beers I've seen in Britain. Also whenever I brew anything at home other than Belgium style beers they go off, where as my Belgium style beers seemingly last for years. I could quite happiy only ever drink Belgium beers for the rest of my life.
Am I the only one?

[123sologne]

Whoa! You have opened a very big can of worms here, Clanpowell.....
I have to admit, my favourite "purchased" beers are also Belgians, as they have a selection that no other country seams to equal, but I do like British home brewed beers too, bitters and lagers... Mostly I can't stand those beers with 4% alcohol. If I am going to have an alcoholic drink, I need to taste the alcohol, otherwise I will stick to fruit juice... When hubby makes some beer, we generally get 6 to 7 % alcohol, which to me is just the right number to be on the way to get a good beer.

[MKG]

Interesting how you discover things about people in seemingly innocent posts. Now we find that a) clanpowell is a national traitor and b) Caroline is a complete plonky

But yes - Belgium does some OK beers. To be fair, though, I've had some pretty bad beers in Belgium. I've had some awful ones in the Netherlands (mostly Belgian imports). Discounting lagers (which is the only thing to be done with them), I think that's about it for the beer-brewing world, isn't it?

Mike

[scrap]

Yes,mostly.
Just had to jump in and mention Hertog Jan grand prestige though.
A rich,bittersweet barley wine,10% alc. and one of my winter favorites.
The rest of the commercial dutch beer market doesn't have much surprising good stuff.
Some smaller local breweries do come up with some true gems now and then.
Brouwerij Het Ei,located on the outskirts of Amsterdam is one of those small independant breweries.
Sometimes hard to find,but well worth their price.

[Percy]

Has to be real ale and cider for me, cant stand lager i'm afraid, might be ok for catching the slugs though. There's a chap who lives in a village couple of miles up the road who makes his own cider semi/commercial very strong and really nice. I'm involved in organising a local Beer festival in Kent every year which has grown every year for the last 8 years. My good friend who was the instigator of it all unfortunately passed away just a couple of weeks after this years festival in September so I have taken up the responsibility of organising it, in his memory.