We’re going to be living in the Netherlands for a few months next year, so we’re planning on taking advantage of being next-door to Belgium to sample some hard-to-find brews and maybe visit an abbey or two.  Belgian beer is a domain roughly as complex as French wine (see e.g., A Beginner’s Guide to Belgian Beer).  So I thought I’d do some “research” before we went.

Background

I have had a couple of Belgian beers before:

• Tripel Karmeliet and Maredsous 6/Blonde: I had both of these in Oakland on a business trip, and was really impressed by the complexity and maltiness.
• Chimay Tripel: I picked up a bottle of this shortly thereafter (when I couldn’t find Tripel Karmeliet or Maredsous locally).  This has a lot in common with those, if maybe a little spicier.
• Saison Dupont: I tried this after my not-so-gentle introduction to Saison, when I saw recommendations online to start with a milder variety like Saison Dupont.  This struck me as almost Champagne-like, with a ton of aroma and flavor I didn’t associate with beer at all.

I’d also had some “Belgian-style” beers from American craft brewers:

• Saison Athene, Lectio Divina and Pays du Soleil from Saint Somewhere (Tampa, FL): I didn’t have much luck finding these, even in Tampa.  But I did find a few bottles and found them all very interesting — much more intense than the Belgian beer I’d had.  There may also be some production or handling problems, since I’ve seen a lot of variation between bottles.
• Rare Vos, Ommegang Abbey, and Gnomegang from Ommegang (Cooperstown, NY):  These were more in keeping with the Belgian beers I’d had, and a little less “challenging”.  We even went to visit the brewery.

Game Plan

A quick search for “top 10 belgian beers” turns up a lot of lists like this and this.  Those lists have a lot in common, so I’m drawing up a list of the usual suspects to try.  Of course, I quickly stumbled on a couple of interesting brews widely considered to be among the best beers in the world that will be hard to find locally:

• Westvleteren: An abbey near the Belgium/France border who only sell their beer at a gift shop across the street, and you have to call ahead and make a reservation.  So you’ll never find it in stores.  Though there seems to be a brisk trade in “collectible bottles” on Ebay, typically with caps in mint condition, and any ancillary contents not intended for consumption (wink, wink).
• Cantillon Gueuze: Making lambic and gueuze the same way they did in 1900, they are as much a museum as a brewery.

So I’ll see what I can find and post updates along the way.  I’ve also got several good beer shops in town, so I’ll ask for recommendations.  They have a lot of Belgian beers, many that aren’t on the lists I’ve found online.  They tend to be from the larger breweries that produce enough to export and promote their beers for an international market.