Best Craft Beer - what's your favorite

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ghostfather

Well-Known Member
TRF Supporter
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
435
Reaction score
558
A good friend drove up to launch rockets today in the Netherlands, and I had promised to bring him some black powder, as that is difficult to get in Belgium, unless you have a permit. He lives just over the border, but is a member of our club.

If you know anything about Belgium, they have a rich beer-making tradition, especially the Trappist beers (dubbels and tripels), and generally some of the best beers I've ever tasted. Recently there seems to be a lot more craft beers being made, and as thanks for the black powder, Stephen brought me some to taste.

IMG_20210523_193030.jpg
  • Kompel is a triple hop beer, made in Maasmechelen, and is 10.5% alcohol by volume. It's named after a kompel (mineworker, in Dutch koempel, or German kumpel), as there are (or were) a lot of coal mines in the area. According to Stephan, this is his new favorite.
  • KLBS is an IPA of about 5.4% alcohol, fairly typical for an IPA. Made in Breuvanne by Brasserie de Chameleon. Nice and hoppy.
  • Tits - what's in a name. It's a Triple blond, 7.5% alcohol. Made in Wegnes by a Belgian gynocologist (yes, seriously) who also does cancer research. He donates a third of his profits to cancer research.
  • Viven - an IPA of 8.0% alcohol, made in Sijsele. Hoppy and fruity, but with a kick.

    Thanks, Stephen, I'll be trying these soon.

My personal favorite is Hommel. It's a strong Blond beer (8.5%) available in Belgian supermarkets, so not really a craft beer. Sorry, no photos, it seems to disappear here rather quickly for some reason...
 
Last edited:
My recommendations:

-New Holland Dragon's Milk (stout)
-Evolution Lucky 7 (porter)
-Alesmith Nut Brown (Brown ale with a nut flavor)
-Leinenkugel Oktoberfest (marzen, seasonal)
-Lost Abbey Witch's Wit (I don't actually remember what kind of beer it was, but darn if it wasn't delicious.)

I will not drink IPA's. IMO, hops are like onions: good as part of the flavor, awful as the flavor.

I have also never been wronged by a beer with a monk on the label.

I also have a neat little appliance called a BeerMKR that you can toss water, grains, yeast, and hops into, and get 5 liters of beer in about two weeks. That's been lots of fun to play with. The company makes kits for particular beer varieties that you can use as a basis while adding your own twist to it, or you can start from scratch. They actually just came out with a Belgian Tripel kit.
 
St. Bernardus Abt. 12, but go slowly or you'll get in trouble. I figure if they've been working on the recipe for a few hundred years it's probably pretty good by now.

Westvleteren was delicious, but honestly I probably couldn't tell them apart double blinded.
 
St. Bernardus Abt. 12, but go slowly or you'll get in trouble. I figure if they've been working on the recipe for a few hundred years it's probably pretty good by now.
Since the Middle Ages. Part of the origin of Trappist beers was to brew beer to help feed the community, and help the monastery to be self-supporting. Also during a Lente Fast, the monks were not allowed to eat for 40 days before Easter, but they were allowed to drink to stay alive. The reason the Trappist beers are so heavy is because of their food value.
So think of drinking Trappist beer as a religious experience, if that helps.....
 
Lost Abbey Witch's Wit (I don't actually remember what kind of beer it was, but darn if it wasn't delicious.
If it's it's Wit, I would expect it to be a White/Wheat beer.

I've got to where I like the juicy IPAs. Couldn't care one way or the other if they are hazy, bring on the juice. But I like the juice from the hops, not fruit or actual juice additions.

We have a few here in Louisiana that are currently my favorite(s)
JUCEE from Flying Tigers
Jucifer from Gnarly Barley
Holy Roller from Deep South
And Abita has their seasonal Spring IPA that I stock up on when it comes out.
I like a good Red as well.

I make a pretty awesome Red myself and a decent juicy IPA.
 
Since the Middle Ages. Part of the origin of Trappist beers was to brew beer to help feed the community, and help the monastery to be self-supporting. Also during a Lente Fast, the monks were not allowed to eat for 40 days before Easter, but they were allowed to drink to stay alive. The reason the Trappist beers are so heavy is because of their food value.
So think of drinking Trappist beer as a religious experience, if that helps.....
Aware of Trappistes generally, just didn't want to overstate the claim for Westvleteren/Bernardus specifically. I can't remember if I had the Rochefort or not.
 
I like Bell's Oberon, a wheat ale that is seasonally available in Northern Indiana, Michigan and maybe a few other places in the Great Lakes region.

It probably doesn't count as craft any more, but Fat Tire is my goto drinking beer.
 
Haven't been on the Rocketry Forum for well over a month but today I go on to post a question about CTI's SkidMark motors and I see something about beer, click on it and it's fellow Tripoli NL member Steve Dulek and a photo of the beers!! Hey, it is a small world sometimes!! I love "DogFish Head 90 minute IPA" -- and about 300 others but DFH (9% I believe) and now Kompel Triple Hop (10.5%) are 2 favorites--- 1979 is a very interesting one - as is Revanche by "De Dochter van de Korenaar" -- 7% and quite a hoppy single IPA. I have at least one bottle of Chimay Bleue from 1992 to 2021-- it's one of the few beers that are millésimée (have the year on the label) -- and all 31 of mine are still UNopened! (Chimay is 9% and you can drink them 5-6 years old but after 10 years… forget it). In Belgium we have some restaurants (what are those? - well before COVID we USED to have them…) anyway-- in the past these places served beer instead of wine with their dinner-- I think the Vaudree near Liège does this-- about 400 beers of which 60 on tap or something like that. Hopefully these places can open again soon!!
 
Back
Top