July 21st marks the annual celebration of Belgian National Day and in honor of our friends in Belgium, as well as their amazing beer tradition, we're dedicating this post to some of the best Belgian brews, as voted by you, the LivingSocial user.
For this category, we're not going to talk about your typical supermarket Belgians like Stella Artois or Hoegaarden. Instead, we're going to highlight some really unique brews like Kwak, for example, which is a strong pale ale that LivingSocial reviewer Glen G. praises by saying, "the lingering flavors that pick up toward the end are by all means some of the most extraordinary I have had in some time," while Randy P. calls it, "The REAL champagne of beers, because it was bubbly and tart." With more than 480 reviews like these, and an overall 4 out of 5 rating, you can be pretty sure this beer is the real deal.
Next up is Delirium Tremens, a favorite amongst several of us at LivingSocial; but we're not the only ones who like it. Delirium, with its unmistakable pink elephant and baby blue label wrapped around a solid white bottle, was voted "Best Beer in the World" at the World Beer Championship. Jason, a LivingSocial reviewer, points out that Delirium's "unique bottling is the first thing you notice" and Richard says it is "a tremendously dangerous drop. A taste of liquid insanity. A beautiful, hoppy, strong taste with demonic after effects." How can you not be intrigued by that review? And there's nearly 1,000 more where that came from. If you haven't tried the pink elephant, knock one back and let us know what you think.
Finally, for those of you who tend to find the hoppy, bitter flavor of typical Belgians a bit strong, we recommend a sweeter pour of Kriek, which is a lambic that is fermented with fruit and tastes of sour cherries. We noticed this is popular amongst the ladies of the LivingSocial community like Christina, who calls this "a relatively gentle introduction to the Belgian fruit lambics and a good dessert beer", while Necole points out that it is "fantastic with a dessert of cherry chocolate cake - YUM!" Beer for dessert, eh? We'll take two, please.
After you get a good taste of these three Belgian brewskies, check out our Top 10 Belgian Beer List, compiled based on the preferences of LivingSocial users just like you. And if you're planning on sippin' some adult beverages this July 21st, remember to raise a glass to Belgium and all it has done for the evolution of beer the past few centuries.
