beer lovers in indonesia unite.............

[Hombre de Maiz]

My money is still on Belgium. Belgian beer is like Led Zeppelin, Ray Charles, Paco de Lucia, James Brown. They took a long-standing genre to a different level that they spawned an altogether different genre.

At a beer convention, the ambassadors of the United States, Germany and Belgium go to a restaurant to have lunch. The waiter asks what they'd like to drink. The ambassador of the United States says, "I'll have a Bud". The German ambassador says, "I'll have a Carlsberg". The ambassador of Belgium thinks it over and after a long pause he says, "I'll have water". The American and German ambassadors are vexed and perplexed, and demand to know why the Belgian ambassador is not joining them with a national drink. The Belgian ambassador replies curtly, "if you two are not having beer, neither am I".

[itinerantman]

couldn't agree more hombre!

some beer related links:

http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest...ers_012012.asp

http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest/ByStyle_012012.asp

http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest...ers_012012.asp

http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest...ers_012012.asp

Australia and New Zealand- Best beers
Belgium - Best beers
Canada - Best beers
Denmark - Best beers
Germany - Best beers
Italy - Best beers
The Netherlands - Best beers
Sweden - Best beers
British Isles - Best beers
United States - Best beers

[itinerantman]

The others are all available in Singapore when the craving gets too much. Grolsch is considered a somewhat more of a quality lager in The Netherlands (Amstel->Heineken->Grolsch). They kept this bottle with the special (ancient) closing system for a long time, it became their trademark.



The Dutch have great marketing*, the Belgians (esp. Jupiler but even a Maes or Stella) have better beer.

yup-those were the bottles i bought in oman. SAB Miller has bought grolsch so it should be more widely available now

[Hiram]

My money is still on Belgium. Belgian beer is like Led Zeppelin, Ray Charles, Paco de Lucia, James Brown. They took a long-standing genre to a different level that they spawned an altogether different genre.

At a beer convention, the ambassadors of the United States, Germany and Belgium go to a restaurant to have lunch. The waiter asks what they'd like to drink. The ambassador of the United States says, "I'll have a Bud". The German ambassador says, "I'll have a Carlsberg". The ambassador of the Belgium thinks it over and after a long pause he says, "I'll have water". The American and German ambassadors are vexed and perplexed, and demand to know why the Belgian ambassador is not joining them with a national drink. The Belgian ambassador replies curtly, "if you two are not having beer, neither am I".

Carlsberg is not a German beer. Might wanna change that slightly.

Regarding Belgian beers, to me they're like Foie Gras. Nice to have every once in a while, certainly delicious, decadent and packed with flavor. But I neither could nor would want to have it every day. I wouldn't wanna drive a Ferrari to work either. A nice BMW on the other hand... Fine by me if you disagree, but for most (note: I wrote "most", not "all") cultures where beer is an integral part of everyday life rather than a slightly snobbish past-time, Pilseners rule. And for good reason.

[jstar]

Well, they call Stella Artois wife beater in the UK, so it's not all that upper class. The pilsners like Alken Maes, Jupiler, Primus, Wieze etc. are served in common bars (cafés) and the breweries are even often the official owners of the premises and rent them out (so as a bar keeper you can not choose).

If there is culture where beer is a part of everyday life it has to be Belgium. Up to thirty years ago it was completely normal to server 'table beer' at lunch and dinner at home, even to the young children. That beer has between 1 and 4% alcohol (as a Bud Light I guess). All the pilsners have an alcohol percentage of 5,2-5,3% which is considered 'regular' beer in Belgium. And it is even served in company lunchrooms and at McD's and gasstations.

What I like as a bit more refined (premium) pilsner is Vedett, this is from the same brewery that makes Duvel. This you see from the highway:

[itinerantman]

indeed-i shuttled between london & bruxelles when i was a kid. stella & piedboeuf(same brewery as jupiler) were the working man's choice-after 6pm the city reeked of them. also favourites during a sunday game of boules at the bois with frites & hache. the more sophisticated sipped their ales at posh taverns along the boulevard san michel. i was practically weaned on belgian 'table beer' & shall always return to the mother teat in all it's incarnations lol






and if you happen to be in bruxelles here's a link

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile...ly&ba=komet155

[jstar]

There is a lot of scrutinizing nowadays: The vending machines in train stations etc., have a slot to insert the ID card. So under 16 the kids aren't able to buy beer anymore.



And the slogan 'Geniet, maar* drink met mate' (Enjoy, but drink moderately) is used in all beer ads in The Netherlands and Belgium.

MAAR at Wiktionary:

From Middle Dutch maer, māre, mar, mer, apheretic variant of Middle Dutch nemaer, nemāre, from earlier newaer, newāre (“except, however, only”), from ne (“not”) + wāre (optative past tense of Middle Dutch wesen (Modern wezen) "to be"). Cognate with German nur (“only, just”) (from Old High German niwāri), West Frisian mar (“but”) (from Old Frisian , mar, mer, newēre), Old Saxon ni wāri that (“was it not that, unless”), Old English nǣre (“were it not”). More at not, were.

[Hombre de Maiz]

And the slogan 'Geniet, maar drink met mate' (Enjoy, but drink moderately) is used in all beer ads in The Netherlands and Belgium.

Off-topic curiosity. What is the etymology of the word "maar"?

[jstar]

Another development has been that it becomes more and more 'acceptable' to drink beer with your meals instead of wine. There are restaurants who have an adapted beer list for the dishes served in a menu set. Some restaurants have a beer sommelier, there are even zythologist courses.

Of course (most) beers contain less alcohol than wine and do fit better in today's eating habits (limited amount of alcohol at business lunches to avoid sleepiness or problems at police control).

Many examples of ideal beers for certain dishes. For asparagus, white beer is much better than most wines. Even with fish or white meat that tastes great. Trappist and abbey beers go perfect with game (deer, wild boar, pheasant). Sweet&sour beers (e.g. Rodenbach) go very well with lobster and shrimp. It's all a matter of combining the right flavors.

It's a shame there are not more Belgian Beer Cafés in the region, it's a rather nice chain ( http://www.belgianbeercafe.com/bars). But in places like Perth, Singapore and Hong Kong there are quite a lot of bars serving even the more obscure brands. When you visit Singapore, this is not bad: http://www.brusselssprouts.com.sg/

Will Paulaner Bräuhaus in JKT ever return to brewing and serving the German beers btw?

[john madden]

A trivial question - some time ago I was given a mixed box of beers, amongst which was a Belgian drop. All I can remember was that the label had an image of a classical statue of a naked male. We jokingly said we were indulging in a spot of nude beer drinking. Any clues as to the brand? Thanks.