Belgium Beers in Brisbane

Last night myself, co-brewer Nick and our respective girlfriends went out to see Brisbane’s ‘Riverfire’ event where barges of fireworks are exploded up and down the city center. After the fireworks we nipped out for a cheeky turkish meal which was sadly ‘BYO’ on the alcohol front.

After a short trek through a dubious area of Brisbane we ended up at a ‘bottlo’ and purchased a six pack of Asahi bottles. It is the usual Asahi Japanese fare, a crisp drinkable beer but quite watery and so lacking character there is little to write about. It is Ashai, it is a generic beer.

Incidently the label states it is a ‘beer for all seasons’ , which when told to Nick he misheard as a beer for four seasons. Much hilarity ensued when it was pointed out four seasons and all seasons are the same thing.

After the delights of great turkish food and generic ‘Japanese’ beer - I am sure it is brewed on license out here - we ventured over to the always great Belgium Beer Cafe. By day it is an excellent bar cafe serving great food and the usual suspects of belgium beers, and by night the bar area swings fully into life.

To kick off with we had a glass of the cherry Kriek, while Nick got stuck into some Leffe Brune. The Leffe was the usual malty glass, but for some reason I always prefer the Leffes on tap rather than out of the bottle.

My Belle-Vue Kriek was very good, usually I dont opt for the fruit beers but I thought it would be good for a change and it did not disappoint. Krieks are made by steeping cherries (or other fruit such as raspberries) in belgium beers thus giving a fruity taste. I must admit this was a better beer than I had remembered, as the Belle-Vue Kriek is quite a common one, and previously I had found it to be too sweet. This time it hit the spot!

We moved to the bar area where the next order was a ‘glass’ of Hoegaarden for me, despite not being overly chuffed with the whole Inbev shifting of production from Hoegaarden to Jupille thing. I have missed the taste and to get it on tap over here is quite rare, so I placed my morals on hold and had a half pint glass of the canal water. This was the first time I had observed someone use a knife to slice the overflowing head square with the top of the glass! Personally I think the heads of Belgium beers is a fun element each having different heights and styles rather like peacock plumage but more beery.

Nick had not tried it before, so went ahead and ordered a pint. If you have not had a glass of Hoegaarden before the branded containers are thick chunky glass that exagerate the weight of the pint. Nick’s pint was the size of his head! Fun times.

As a sign off I finished up with the normal Leffe blonde glass, a nice enough end to a good night.