BEER- the choice

erik neuteboom wrote: And what about cheese made with beer? I love La Chouffe and Chimay cheese  !

Actually a lot of Belgian cheese are made with the cheese crust washhed with beer a bit like they do the Camembert with Calvados or Epoisse with Marc De Bourgogne; it helps giving it more flavour!

Outside of that, the beers do not come into the process of making the cheeeses!

But most belgians abbeys make cheeses otr have them made out to their names. but they use to money to upkeep their abbeys and for foods. most of themonk communuties are self-supportive and the convents actually make cookies or Belgian laces.

erik neuteboom wrote: BEER UNITES ..  !!! By the way, once I visited the Rochefort monastery where the monks brew my famous Rochefort 10. I noticed that on the entrance monks were carrying trays with Trappist beer to a truck and on the other site of the building monks were praying in the garden....you can say that opposites met over there, God and money!

Commerce and religions are never far apart! You should check out the souvenir shps at pilgrimmage ^pllaces!

But the Trappist monk have only their beers to survive. they do not get money from Vatican. This is why outside of Chimay and Westmalle which has taken a commercial option , most of the Trappist beers do not have regular feeds/supplies to shops .

Theyonly brew so much as to have enough to survive. Brewing is a second activity to praying !

Rochefort 6° (red cap) is very rare and the 8° (green cap) is not regulars in shops!

Orval does not have problems since they chose to brew only one beer

Sean Trane wrote: oliverstoned wrote: Chimay has good taste but too strong! The red label tastes almost the same as the blue label but has two degrees less!

i'll try

oliverstoned wrote: Chimay has good taste but too strong!

The red label tastes almost the same as the blue label but has two degrees less!

Moogtron III wrote: Sean Trane wrote: As the only Belgian on this forum , I will not touch the poll (even Stella , the only Belgian beer is made for foreigners and exportation), BUT I will say that yes!!!! We Do Make The Best Beers In The World!!!! And I would like to thank my Dutch Friends for acnowledging this, but their beer is not bad also! ... That's very nice of you to say, but you MAY be honest  . Okay, just joking, but I'm wondering: what Dutch beer do you like?

Well to be honest , you put me on a spot, here!

I find Grolsch , Gulpener and Amstel well worthy of your average Maes Pils !

In general terms , for Pilsener beers I like Jupiler & Primus but clearly the best was Wiels , but Interbrew bought it to destroy it!

Trappist:
Chimay Blue and Red are excellent! I don't appreciate
Westmalle (the double is daft and the tripel is way too bitter for my taste , but it is considered the purest trappist),
but Achel both are excellent.
Orval is an acquired taste (Gentle Giant),
Rochefort 6 & 8 are both excellent but the 10 is too caramel for me,
but the most intriguing is Westvleeteren (not too far away from where you live) : you will not find it at stores, they only sell it at their door and only on wednesdays afternoon if they brewed any and have them in stock and can only take one case at a time! The Blue and Yellow caps are wonderfull, the Green (blond ) is less so, and I have never seen or tasted the Red cap - I think they made a myth out of it or keep it to themselves!You can find an acetate of those by  tasting the St Bernardus (ex-St Sixtus) beers

BTW:Dutch Koenigshoeven abbey has regained the right to Trappist beers etiquette, last month and so the La Trappe beers are now again Trappist beers, but I find them not quite that good!

So out of seven trappist beers , six are Belgians (3 Flemish and 3 Walloons, would you guess) and one is Dutch!

No, I agree with Erik. Beer goes very well with prog. And some beers really reflect the different facets of prog.

Renaissance is like a good, mild white Hoegaarden or Corsendonk (white beer (= wheat beer)). Sweet and light.

Genesis is like a De Koninck, a bit more tastier and challenging

The Cardiacs are like Kriek Lambic (cherry beer, from "krieken" - cherries), delicious, joyful, but is it really beer?

Gentle Giant is like a good triple trappist, +/- 10% alcohol (Westmalle or Chimay)

Henry Cow is like Eku Kulminator - the strongest possible beer, but a bit over the edge for me.

The Dutch Grolsch is like... the first Asia album, I suppose. Tasty but direct.

 

Edited by Moogtron III

Sean Trane wrote: As the only Belgian on this forum , I will not touch the poll (even Stella , the only Belgian beer is made for foreigners and exportation), BUT I will say that yes!!!! We Do Make The Best Beers In The World!!!! And I would like to thank my Dutch Friends for acnowledging this, but their beer is not bad also! ...

That's very nice of you to say, but you MAY be honest  . Okay, just joking, but I'm wondering: what Dutch beer do you like?

Edited by Moogtron III

Guinness from that list. Murphy's Stout is another favourite of mine.

Not too fond of Lagers, my favourite would be Tuborg I guess.

I am Dutch but not really proud on the worldwide very good selling Heineken, it has a rather average taste. I prefer the Belgian beers, especially Trappist (brewed in monasteries) like Westmalle and Rochefort. Other great Belgian beers are Carolus D'Or, La Chouffe, Barbar and Kwak. Outside Belgium I like Guiness, Kilkenny, Dutch Gerardus blond and Korenwolf white beer. By the way, beer and progrock is a great combination!

Hemp beer