Confessions of a beer snob: My favorite beers

I like beer. A lot. But not just any beer though, it has to be good. Of course, what I consider a good beer is determined purely by my taste buds and my biased notions of what qualifies as good. I will always prefer a real beer over a boring ale. For example, for me the worst of the worst is something like Budweiser.

I guess that makes me a beer snob*. I don't think I am that bad, but I do know what I like and what I don't like (and I go on about both a lot). What I like are mainly Belgian beers, specifically strong blonde or tripel beers. Below are two lists of my favorite beers - in alphabetical order, because I couldn't decide which I liked best (and I enjoy alphabetising things a little too much).


Favorite Belgian tripels and (strong) blondes:

Affligem Tripel - Tripel 9.5% (Belgian)****

Brugge Tripel - Tripel 8.7% (Belgian)****

Brugse Zot - Blonde 6% (Belgian)****

Coccinelle - Tripel 8% (Belgian)****

Gouden Carolus Tripel - Tripel 9% (Belgian)****

Kanunnik - Tripel 8.2% (Belgian)****

Maredsous 10 - Tripel 10% (Belgian)****

Sloeber - Blonde 7.5% (Belgian)****

Tongelo Prior - Tripel 9% (Belgian)****

Triple D'Anvers - Tripel 8% (Belgian)****

Val-Dieu Tripel - Tripel 9% (Belgian)****

Vicaris Tripel - Tripel 8.5% (Belgian)****

Waterloo Tripel - Tripel 7.5% (Belgian)****

Westmalle Tripel - Tripel 9.5% (Belgian)****

Zeezuiper - Tripel 8% (Belgian)****



Beers besides Belgian tripels and strong blondes I enjoy:

Augustinus - Tripel 8% (Dutch)***

Brugse Zot Dubbel - Dubbel 7.5% (Belgian)***

De Ranke XX Bitter - IPA 6.2% (Belgian)***

Erdinger Weissbier - Weizen 5.3% (German)***

Gauloise Ambree - Amber ale 5.5% (Belgian)***


Houblon Chouffe - IPA/tripel 9% (Belgian)***

Kasteel Cuvee du Chateu - Quadrupel 11% (Belgian)***

La Trappe Tripel - Tripel 8% (Dutch)****

Naparbier ZZ+ - Amber ale 5.5% (Spanish)***

Nivard - Blonde 5.5% (Austria)***

Six Degree North - Tripel (Scottish)***

St. Bernardus Abt 12 - Quadrupel 10.5% (Belgian)***

Urthel Saisonniere - Saison 6% (Belgian)***

Westmalle Dubbel - Dubbel 7% (Belgian)***

Zatte - Tripel 8% (Dutch)***


What are some of your favorite beers?

Enjoyed reading about my love of (Belgian) beer? Find more of my beer lists here, here and here.

* Even though beer lover sounds much nicer than beer snob, I prefer the latter term because most definitions of beer lover seem to refer to people who enjoy a beer regardless of the kind of beer, which so does not apply to me.