A Report from Beer Mecca (Bruges, Belgium)

There are few times in one's short, seemingly ridiculous life, that a person can state "I had the number one __________." At the very most, it's normally something like "I had the number one fishsticks in Scranton, Pennsylvania." While they might be impressive...well...you get the idea.

I sit only inches away from the number one beer in the world. No joke. When it comes to beer ratings, I go to two sources: www.beeradvocate.com and www.ratebeer.com . These guys don't mess around. If you go to any licensed distributor of foreign beer, craft beer, microbrewed beer, you will see a little notecard implying that either one or both of these two websites rated and approved of it. Each year (in the case of ratebeer.com) or just about automatically (in the case of beeradvocate.com) these websites update a top 100 list of the best beers in the world. I generally refer to these two lists semi-religiously as, every time I've tried one of them, my mind has been blown. A few months ago, when beeradvocate.com briefly premiered a new #1 beer in the world, Russian River Brewing's "Pliny the Younger" (an American or Double IPA), I had the rare chance to taste it. This beer spawned the beginnings of a blog entry that I never published. It was IMPOSSIBLE to describe the greatness of this beer. Sure, the 11% ABV might have had something to do with it, but STILL. This beer was outrageous, and none around me disagreed.

At the time, Pliny was making a tour around the USA, blowing minds and kicking the ass of any beer in its path that dared challenge it. For a few weeks time, it supplanted one Belgian beer that rested comfortably in the number one position on nearly every beer rating website I approached: Brouweij Westvleteren (Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren) - Trappist Westvleteren 12, a Belgian Quad from the Northern part of Belgium. Following BA on Twitter, it was practically a revolution akin only to the French Revolution of 1789 or the Russian Revolution of 1917. Literally, people were going nuts about this. However, only a few weeks later (more akin to the Russian Decembrist Revolut of 1825, but don't mind me, I'm a history major) Westvleteren gave a loud and clear "Back off," and once again resumed its imperial status on the beer rating websites of the world.

So when I came to Belgium less than a week ago, I made it a point to find this beer. I knew it was rare. The beer itself is brewed in extremely limited quantity in Belgium, never exported, and barely distributed even within the country itself. So in other words, it was now or never. I had heard rumors of one establishment, Trappistenhuis Gent (in Ghent, Belgium) selling it. The night before, sitting in Rochefort (home of the fantastic Trappistes Rochefort 10, 8, and 6) a Flemish man raved about it, maintaining an almost reverent silence as I mentioned the name of this beer. The next day, my family and I wandered to Ghent.

It took about twenty minutes to walk to the Trappistenhuis. Within one minute, however, I was disappointed: the waitress quickly informed us that "It was forbidden to continue selling such a beer." Don't get me wrong though, with a few hundred Belgian beers, many of which were brewed only ten minutes away, I had nothing to truly complain about. I bowed gracefully, assuming that I would have to wait to travel to the monastery itself at St. Sixtus to try this beer. Then I came to Bruges.

I've been in Bruges about four hours now. I've had a few beers already of course, including a Kwak served in the standard "Yard" style glass. Ok, maybe I had one and a half of them. That's not the point here. Casually strolling after lunch, however, we stumbled upon a place named "The Beer Temple." Normally, I'm not one for gimmicky names. This place, however, couldn't be more aptly named. Imagine two whole walls of every Belgian you've ever tasted. They have just that. After marvelling however, I jokingly asked the manager of the store, "I guess you don't have Westvleteren?" Straight-faced, he told me "Yes, I do. All of the varieties are in the back." I guess it pays to ask.

Interestingly, I purchased four of the top ten Belgian beers listed on beeradvocate.com. I had the opportunity to purchase eight of the top ten. I will be trying these in the near future. I hope you will tune in for the reviews. Signing out from Bruges,
Eric