Jaunted

The first thing to know about Belgian beer is there are a lot of choices. Furthermore, in Belgium, your beer choice is almost like a fashion statement. Of course we didn't stick around long enough to try the hundreds of local brews available, nor do we know if the ones we liked are "fashionable" choices, and you should know that we leaned heavily towards trying the blonde beers.  Those Lambic beers were just not our bag. In any event, here is the long and the short of what a night's worth of Belgian beer festival tokens taught us:

Our Favorite Belgian Beers:

·   Delirium Tremens
Though it looks ands sounds like something Potter and the gang might drink up at Hogwart's, this beer is tasty and packs a 9% alcohol punch. It is light and creamy and the aftertaste is not bitter, nor too fruity like some of the Belgian beers we tried.

·   Palm Brugge Blonde
Again, a smooth, not too fruity beer. The alcohol content is a bit less on this brew (6.5%) and the beer went down smooth and easy.

·   Brugse Zot
Became one of our favorites because of the legend that is told with the beer:

To welcome Maximilian of Austria to their proud city, the people of Bruges organized a wild festive parade, full of revellers, merrymakers and people generally acting a little crazy. At the end of the day, Maximilian was asked to provide money for a new lunatic asylum. He replied: `Today I have seen nothing but lunatics. Bruges is already one large lunatic asylum!" Since then the people of Bruges have always been known as the `Lunatics'.

Beers Belgians Rave About:
Chimay Bleue
If you like heavy, thick mouthfuls, this is might be the Belgian brew for you.

Beers Belgians Crack On:
Kwak Beer
Served in a traditional hourglass shaped glass, this beer is definitely known as the "tourists beer". You know the people at Fenway that buy the ice cream just because it is served in a mini Red Sox helmet? The same people grow up to drink Kwak beer in Belgium.

Who is Michael Jackson?
In Belgium there is a different version of the gloved one, let's call him the glassed one. As far as we know he isn't nearly as eccentric, nor as prosecuted by the law as the Michael Jackson we know here in the States. This Michael is called the "Beer Hunter" and he goes around the world searching for exception beers, which naturally bring him to Belgium more often than not. During Bierpassie, this Michael Jackson's opinion was scribed on almost every beer booth and six pack we whitnessed. The fact that we noticed Michael Jackson's name all over the place after we were a couple beers deep left us in a drunken state of confusion for the better part of the evening. Hopefully, now that you have read this, the Belgium Michael Jackson mystery will be clear to you long before you are a couple of Delirium's deep.


Related Stories:
·   Belgium Field Trip [Jaunted]