OK, I'm going to have be honest here. A tremendous amount of research went into this post which, though absolutely necessary, made for some pretty rough mornings. With Steve's visit coming to an end, we may have tried to get too much in before he left. Regardless, I'm proud to present the product of these many labored hours of tedious research, and I hope you appreciate my solemn, devoted contribution to beer drinking posterity.

So little is understood about the nature of beer and the manner in which it should be consumed that it astonishes me. In many ways, beer has remained a product produced quickly and drunk fresh, with a limited shelf-life and a mass consumer appeal. This is true of pale ales, porters, stouts, lagers and any combination of grains and hops weighing in between 3 and 7% alcohol abv. Drinkers of beer shy away from over-analysis, understanding too much about it's delicate nature, or guarding it in cellars, so as to keep it as a working-class beverage: a simple, enjoyable intoxicant that doesn't have to be doted over to please the palate. There are beers for this type of drinking in every country; we usually call these swill, and in most nations these beers make up a large majority of the offerings on any shelf, in any bar, or in any refigerator. Then there are the majority of beers in Belgium.

When I first arrived here I was blown away by the selection and flavor of these beers and yet at the same time I wondered just how good even the most common beers could be. Are the majority of Belgian ales drunk long before their full character is revealed? Asking around, I was told repeatedly that even the best Belgian beers should be drunk fresh as the breweries let them mature and release them in the prime of their flavor development. Even Michael Jackson, the notorious Beer Hunter, in his book "The Great Beers of Belgium" refers only a hanful of times to "Devotees (who) like to lay down the stongest [beer] for a month or two..." though he never describes just how these beers can change in only a couple of months. In my opinion, the change is remarkable enough to motivate me to try to create a rotation in my cellar so that I am regularly drinking even the most common beers at their optimum flavor potential. Many of my experiences with ageing beers will appear below in this post, as I will be updating it whenever I have another important tasting experience with a well-matured Belgian Ale.

I would like to start off first with a beer that I have already drunk my weight in since I've been here, and feel that it is sill one of the greatest beers on the planet, regardless of its purported fall from grace and it's presence in every grocery store in Belgium. This beer is Hoegaarden Grand Cru. The grand cru tends to have a rough alcoholic sheath around it when young, though not always, yet after three months, the samples I have were outstanding. When tasted simultaneously with one right off the shelf, there was literally no comparison, like apples and oranges. The fruit and malt came all the way through in the aged sample while the young sample tasted much like a strong version of the blanche.

Bon Secours Brune - Brasserie Caulier. This beer sat for 5 months before the side-by-side and really did impress with its maturity. The young version has a lot of DMS while the aged sample truly tasted of chocolate and toffee, as a good brune should here. It is a bottle-conditioned beer that I have had a few carbonation problems with.

Rochefort 10 and 8 - The real winner here was the 10 degree. One of the lesser known and more expensive of the trappist breweries that makes some of Gods greatest nectar, Rochefort is available at most grocery stores here for around a buck a bottle. At 11.3%, the 10 is a huge beer that needs plenty of time in the bottle to mature before it can truly shine. Though good young, it can have a rather astringent solvent character that goes away completely after about 3 months. If you really want to experience one of the greatest beer flavors imaginable, buy a few of these and let them stew for a bit. You will not be disappointed. The most recent sample I had was so remarkably smooth that I could have easily mistaken it for the 8, while the warming sensation at the finish reminded me not to take this beer lightly. The 8 also gets better but the differences are not as exceptional. Still worth holding onto to get a full crack at all that wonderful molasses in the finish.

Hoegaarden Verboden Vrucht. - Americans will never be able to sample this beer in country due to its scandalous label depicting a naked woman getting trashed and seducing a helpless young man. If it weren't for the fact that this label were a humorous take on a masterpiece by Peter Paul Rubens depicting, what else, Adam and Eve, I could marginally understand the FDA. As it is, this organization is depriving America's beer drinkers of one of the more unique beers of the world. This beer gets MUCH better after only a few months. The intense fruit and yeastiness are not evident in the young sample, but steal the show later on. It tastes to me a lot like an Aventinus Weizenbock. If you haven't had this one, you might give it a try as well.

Westvletern 12 and 8 - Westy 12 was pretty darn good young, but I must say it left me a little disappointed compared to many more readily available and cheaper beers of similar character. But I have recently been able to enjoy a few of them that I bought in October and have found them much more to my liking. This is the beer that I had imagined while driving through the pastoral Flemish countryside looking for the tiny abbey that brews it. The 8 has also improved quite a bit and I would give this one at least a month after purchasing to shape up or you might be sadly disappointed, as I was.

Gouden Carolus - This a beer that has always intruiged me, and after visiting the brewery in Mechelen I know why. It is a very well crafted product from a dedicated brewery. The young version of this is very, very good, and not one that I would necessarily recommend laying down over drinking fresh. It did, however, turn into a complete antithesis of itself after 6 months. Gone were the delicate ester and malt overtones, and in its place were powerful dark chocolate, raison, and coffee flavors. This was a beer that tasted much bigger than it was. I can't think of another beer that better embodies the best of the Belgian ale at such a gravity (8%).