Belgium - a country of charm and interest [not to mention alcoholic bevrages], which is often under-appreciated?

[kristiang85]

I love Belgium. Lots of history, beautiful cities, amazing beer and lovely food. Not to mention easy to get to.

 

[Busaholic]

Interesting that there's been virtually no mention of the native population. Got to say my experience of the country, very limited and many decades ago, was hostility to a young man with a bit longer hair than short back and sides haircut, and this was 'cosmopolitan' Brussels! Couldn't believe the stares and pointing, so different from Paris, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Finally got slung out of the Youth Hostel when the overgrown boy scout running it started a rant at us in Flemish. Chips with mayonaisse all that I missed: never even got to take a tram ride.

 

[52290]

I love Belgium. Lots of history, beautiful cities, amazing beer and lovely food. Not to mention easy to get to.

Belgium does have some nice beers but there are some rubbish ones too, like Jupiler Pils, which seems to be in every bar. A Belgian landlord once told me that some of the locals would come into his bar and buy one bottle of 12% Trappist beer and make it last all night. The chips are ok, but they don't have any steak and kidney puddings or mushy peas.

 

[eMeS]

Like many of us, we drove through Belgium on our way to other areas of the continent, and on our first visit we negotiated Brussels with no problem, using the motorway style bypass to the east of Brussels. On a later visit, having missed a sign, we found ourselves approaching central Brussels and an offer to take the underpass. So we took the underpass, and it seemed to go on forever - with a mass of unrecognisable exits. My partner/navigator then realised that we were in a circular tunnel, and that the exit names were repeating. So we surfaced at the next exit, and found ourselves pointing back to the UK, and close to the roads for Zeebrugge. Ouch!

 

[alex397]

Belgium does have some nice beers but there are some rubbish ones too, like Jupiler Pils, which seems to be in every bar.

The pilsners/lagers in Belgium are not as good as Germany and Czechia, but I’d say Jupiler is fairly good, especially when compared to some British mainstream lagers.
On my last visit, I even reluctantly tried Stella Artois, as I heard from someone that it was much better in Belgium. I tried it at a pub in Leuven (the town where it is brewed), and it was miles better than the watery rubbish you get in the UK, as Stella here is brewed in the UK. I don’t really understand why Stella is so popular here - it tastes really cheap and watered down.

 

[gysev]

Interesting that there's been virtually no mention of the native population. Got to say my experience of the country, very limited and many decades ago, was hostility to a young man with a bit longer hair than short back and sides haircut, and this was 'cosmopolitan' Brussels! Couldn't believe the stares and pointing, so different from Paris, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Finally got slung out of the Youth Hostel when the overgrown boy scout running it started a rant at us in Flemish. Chips with mayonaisse all that I missed: never even got to take a tram ride.

Sorry to hear that. Belgium has always been a bit more "traditional" compared to the Netherlands and France, a remnant of the very powerfull position the Catholic church once had. I was born in 1969 and until the late eighties it was indeed difficult to be a rebel, especially in smaller towns. However, the sixties had arrived in Belgium by 1990 and a lot has changed! The last 15 years, Belgium has been a pioneer for things like gay rights, abortion and euthanasia.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The pilsners/lagers in Belgium are not as good as Germany and Czechia, but I’d say Jupiler is fairly good, especially when compared to some British mainstream lagers.
On my last visit, I even reluctantly tried Stella Artois, as I heard from someone that it was much better in Belgium. I tried it at a pub in Leuven (the town where it is brewed), and it was miles better than the watery rubbish you get in the UK, as Stella here is brewed in the UK. I don’t really understand why Stella is so popular here - it tastes really cheap and watered down.

I don't think Stella has been popular here for about twenty years. I'm also a bit sceptical of the "X beer is much nicer in the city/country of origin" thing, which supposedly applies to every beer* under the sun. I'm convinced that wishful thinking is 99% responsible for these theories.

*= Nobody has ever tried to tell me that Carling is nicer in Burton-upon-Trent or that Boddingtons is nicer in Manchester, but if they did I probably wouldn't believe them anyway.

 

[bspahh]

I don't think Stella has been popular here for about twenty years. I'm also a bit sceptical of the "X beer is much nicer in the city/country of origin" thing, which supposedly applies to every beer* under the sun. I'm convinced that wishful thinking is 99% responsible for these theories.

A beer in its city/country of origin is less likely to have been sat around forever. That is something I learnt after a few horrible pints of Guinness like that.

 

[kristiang85]

Belgium does have some nice beers but there are some rubbish ones too, like Jupiler Pils, which seems to be in every bar. A Belgian landlord once told me that some of the locals would come into his bar and buy one bottle of 12% Trappist beer and make it last all night. The chips are ok, but they don't have any steak and kidney puddings or mushy peas.

Every country has some form of terrible beer though; just Belgium has many excellent ones to make up for it.

La Chouffe Blonde is the absolute god level of beer, closely followed by Bruges Zot, Tongerlo Tripel and Westmalle Tripel (all in my humble opinion). Oh, and not forgetting Westy...

 

[Benters]

Finland comes a poor second to it when going abroad according to the Monty Python song.