Not pretending to be an expert here, but I lived with several different families in BE and was exposed to individuals from all across the board: high school students sneaking off to get drunk, college partiers, classy family dinners, holidays, up to high class events.
The Belgians I knew would drink their share of fizzy yellow beer, but when it came time for beer knowledge....man did they know their stuff. Most of the fancy beers there (that are even more fancy for us here) have very specific glassware and pouring techniques, which all households I lived in had. They really went all out when it came to beer.
Maybe some breweries in Belgium are looked at the same way we view BMC here. I definitely am curious to learn this as well.
Not really, as others have said since your post, Jupiler, Maes, and Stella Artois as the mass marketed, big "name" beers. The Belgians (in my experience) that also enjoy good beer have a respect for these beers in their place- when out doing physical things, they'll have one. When they want a beer "for the road" they'll have one. When they've just finished excercise, they'll have one. When university students want to get hammered, they'll have 15.
also I've heard that Heineken is hardly sold in the Netherlands and is made pretty much only for export.
(I dont want to pretend to be a know it all, cause I'm really not, but in my experience) it is sold in the Netherlands, and is quite popular, especially in the cities in the same a fore mentioned ways the Belgians enjoy their lagers.
Jupiler is the top selling beer in Belgium, by far. Not sure what beer snobs like, availability of craft beers there is more regional than here. Jupiler is a international mass market lager or whatever you want to call it. Stella isn't that popular in Belgium but is in the UK and in the US obviously.
Agreed, Maes and Jupiler are HUGE with Stella Artois taking up the rear with a performance akin to Miller (popular but not top of the market.)
I was in Brussels last year and really there was no single beer that was preferred by the locals. Jupiler was here and there and the "big" Belgian beers (Hoegaarden, Chimay, Duvel, Leffe and Delirium Tremens) were out in full force too. Here's a picture I took at a gas station in Belgium:
Also, 4 pack of Chimay for 6 Euros..... I'm living in the wrong country.
From what I find the Belgians enjoy all types of beer, with no particular preference to one. They drink each one in its own separate situation, meal pairings, apperatif, after dinner, etc.
Also, the sangria is usually a Euro fifty or two euro's for a bottle, kids buy it to get drunk but usually end up getting sick because its so sweet before they get drunk.
In my experience in Beligum it seems like most beer connoisseurs really liked their local beer in the locality I was in, so saying "Belgians like X beer" is pretty stupid.
Agreed on the first part. In my experience they all support local as much as possible. But they also enjoy the trappist or rarer brews, in their time and place.
When I lived in Belgium the most popular beers from daily consumption are Jupiler and Leffe. Jupiler was even on tap at McDonalds in the Grand Place in Mons. For fancy dinners my girlfriend would buy St. Feuillien Blond, which she considered to be the best Belgian Beer, but she was French so I am not sure it that counts. I will confess that only during the beer festival did I see people drinking the really unique beers. On a daily basis it was Jupiler. My buddies laughed at me when I ordered a Framboise. They told me men drink Gueze!
Seriously? What do the French know about beer?
Having a beer at McD's was pretty awesome though, huh? Did you ever get frites at night at the place up the street? (the name escapes me) Supposedly they were the second best in the country.
All festival's I attended were college parties, so those dont count, but in family homes they would often pair a beer with a meal.
