Belgium = Best Beer Country In The World

http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest/default_2010.asp

Some people still doubt that Belgium makes the best beers in the world. Well here's your proof.

Quote(Santa Rosa, CA) Nearly 2 and a half million times, RateBeer.com beer reviewers worldwide have raised a glass to review a new beer. The RateBeer administrators have tallied the scores and presented them in the their annual RateBeer Best competition results.

RateBeer Best was again the largest beer competition in the world -- over 2.47 million reviews of 110,000 beers from over 9680 brewers worldwide were tallied. A particular emphasis was placed on tastings from the last year's performance. Additionally, brewpubs, bottle shops, restaurants and bars around the world were awarded prizes. Cheers to all the winners and to everyone who keeps the world of craft beer growing as a friendly community devoted to excellence.

EXPERIENCED REVIEWERS
RateBeer is now home to the most experienced beer critics in the world with five master beer tasters having over 12,000 documented beer ratings. That's a phenomenal feat thought to be impossible even just a few years ago. Another 3100 RateBeer members have over 100 ratings each.

TRULY WORLDWIDE
Despite the majority of reviewers and beers being American, the community is enriched by 90% of RateBeer's top 10 raters being from outside the United States. The depth and breadth of RateBeer's beer database is unsurpassed.

EXCEPTIONALLY INDEPENDENT
RateBeer Best is a beer competition unique in its independence -- the site survives most entirely without support by any brewer or distributor.

REAL SAMPLES
Unlike other beer contests, the emphasis was largely placed on tasting commercial samples -- not special batches prepared for festivals. Additionally, most beers were not tasted in large flights, allowing a more reliable and accurate account of the beer.


THE LIST

Westvleteren (12) is officially the best beer in the world. It can only be obtained by a special procedure (you gotta call the brewery during the only two hours they are taking phonecalls a week, and go get your beers - 1 crate per car max - during specific opening hours at noon). Eat that hating nubs!
Comments
193
Ik drink water
Holy shit right at the moment I read your sentence I was drinking water too!
Parent
sick stuff .. what a coincidence
Parent
a coincidence? A COINCIDENCE!? A COINCIDENCE!?!

no.
Parent
Well I still prefer German beer tbh, but Belgian beer comes probably right after. Or maybe Czech beer.

And ye, as others said before count the American shit beers out. We need an all European list tbh.
Ik drink cola
bel and ger...obviously
no other country has the beer as such an huge nation proud and part of the culture like bel and ger
other country barely drink beer or serve (mostly wine)
and USA is full of college dumbfucks who makes beer a god because it has alcohol and its cool...
Ye for those Americans it's illegal to drink alcohol to what, 21 years of age? Sure they think it's "cool", but they don't know what real beer tastes like!
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I agree on that!!... However Heineken which is a Dutch beer is the most global beerbrand in the world, available at most places, and is the most consumed beer!

edit: that list contains special beers and its nice to drink a few of them. not to drink every week the whole night when you go clubbin
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I doubt I will get the chance to experience any of them:/
Parent
I live in Israel... We drink a lo of beers but not ales... Mostly goldstar, Stella tuborg heinken. Etc... We don't have the chanced to taste those ales
Parent
I prefer czech, estonian & russian beer ^_^
that list sucks, seriously like 50 of the top 100 beers are american and everyone knows that american beer is the worst.
agree and no german beer in the top100 looks like a baaad joke :)
Parent
don't try this, though:

image: gulden-draak

especially not if it has 20°C+ :o
You shouldn't drink any beer if it has over 20° mate.
Parent
Had no choice last summer on that camp thingy. Fridge broke down :(
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I don't like it that much (cold), so shouldn't even try it at 20° :p
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Very true, Sir. That's why I said especially. However, it is an interesting experience.
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wtf, that's the best beer ever :D
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You, Sir, are a sick man! :D
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what the hell, that one is so good
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The last Fin I saw drinking these fell asleep in the campfire.
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lol pls some american rating where 90% of best beers are american :D
Learn2read:

QuoteTRULY WORLDWIDE
Despite the majority of reviewers and beers being American, the community is enriched by 90% of RateBeer's top 10 raters being from outside the United States. The depth and breadth of RateBeer's beer database is unsurpassed.
Parent
ye 90% of foreigners voting for american beers, dream more :))))
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nonconformist
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he is absolutely right
Parent
list full of unknown ales? wtf, where are the more known popular beers
The popular ones aren't necessarily the good ones
Parent
theres not even one, all with random names of ales you probably will never hear or taste...
Parent
There's a difference between a lager and a real beer!

And it's not because you can't ever own the best performing car in the world - let alone drive it - that it's all of a sudden complete shit & lies :p
Parent
lets make a list what colour is the best, makes sense ^_^
orientblau metallic
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white obviously, because it has all colours!
Parent
this list is just shit!

1. I mean i never heard of one of those beers
2. Half of the beer is from america
3. 2nd placed beer is from SWEDEN! and we all know worst beer is from america, and then sweden!
never tasted a swedish beer, that is better than water!
yes it's shit because you know better

:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Parent
ofc xD

no but seriously, i mean the popular one's don't have to be the best, but why are those soooo good one so freaking random??

i mean if they are so good, atleast some people should know them, except their brewers!

and german beer ftw!! JEVER<3<3<3

then some belgian, czech etc!
Parent
Because the best beers are often the most exclusive beers. The Sint Sixtus brewery only makes a very limited amount of Westvleteren beers a year, why? Because they keep the quality in the beer. Heineken for example aims at profit and as many beers as possible. That surely lowers the quality of the beer wouldn't you think?
Parent
well ofc thats a point! i mean heineken tastes shit xD

but well if i got a that good beer, i would atleast try to get a bit profit of it or?
Parent
The Sint Sixtus brewery is a monastery. With monks. They don't aim for profit, and don't want to sell the brewery because it's a part of themselves.
Parent
ok well i didn't know its a monastry, but still there are beers of monastrys or atleast formers monastrys that are famous!

some german weizenbeers atleast xD
Parent
i u can give one or several of them too me, i would try, but when i saw the annual production, i was like, wtf how can u get one of those xDxD


but to come back to my point!
this list is shit xD swedish beers can't appear on this list, just impossible xD
Parent
For Westvleteren for instance you have to make an appointment. Every license plate only can get 2 bottle crates and the waiting list is around 3 weeks :)
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Thought only 1 crate per car!
Parent
something tells me that the list was made by Americans
Dunno... I think there nothing to be proud being #1 contry with the best booze in the whole world. It's like you are proud to be #1 producer of the best cigaretts or other drugs :D. Anyway, never heard before that BEL is beer contry, only about germans and czech... :s
Right, because beers are worse than cigarettes and drugs. Go back to school boy, most beers are very healthy.
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"healthy"
it's a stupid word
beer is considered ok, but alcohol like vodka and whiskey does worse when it comes to stupid wnb cool teenagers...
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sure that's true :)
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lol, that's why you nerd 24/7 crossfire cuz u follow your Israel mom and dads theory that drinking alcohol till age of 21 is bad for you :((


jewish nerd
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Su I drink alch but I don't think it cool unlike u miss bkac from the 24/7 bio journals fag
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Is it drug? It is drug! Marihuana is drug too, but it's prohibited in most country although it's less deadly then cigarets or alcohol... Only alcohol and cigarets have traditions in Europe :P.
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Yes it's a drug, but drugs can be healthy too.
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Heroin is healthy too but noone will use it for medical cure! :o
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Morphine is used in clinics.
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if I'm right morfin isn't healthy :)
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I'm no expert so don't take my word on it, but as far as I know it's only damaging if you consume it too much and too often. The occasion shot of morphine for clinical means won't hurt you.
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Yes you are absolutly right. But Krosan wrote that drugs are healthy and I want to show him that it doesn't matter how much drugs are healthy or useful. Drugs are drugs, no matter if it's alcohol or morfin... they still kill people :).
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They only kill people who are too stupid to realise that those products can't be consumed to often. Good riddance.
Parent
I can say same thing about morfin.. but yes idd.
Parent
Alcohol is NOT a healthy drug..
Drugs like cannabis, amphetamine, tobaco, magic mushrooms for example are less dangerous than alcohol.

The only reason it's not illegal is because it's so usual and been in many generations.
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Nothing dangerous about alcohol.
Parent
Are you serious or ironic?
Parent
I'm serious. On itself, alcohol is not dangerous. If you consume too much of it however, it's dangerous. But that goes for everything, even for water. The fact that you have to drink less of alcohol compared to water is irrelevant, because as I said, if you drink it in normal quantities (as you're supposed to) it's not dangerous.
Parent
Compared to other drugs it is. I drink alcohol myself, more when I was younger tho.
Parent
And what dangers did you experience whilst drinking alcohol on a moderate level?
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A very high percentage of the crimes is because of alcohol, dont you think it's enough how dangerous it actually is?

And not to mention how addictive it is and how it ruins the liver etc.

And if I remember correctly, alcohol is the fifth to seventh most dangerous drug.
Parent
QuoteA very high percentage of the crimes is because of alcohol, dont you think it's enough how dangerous it actually is?


Cos alcohol is responsible for people's actions in your eyes? People are responsible for their actions, not alcohol.

QuoteAnd not to mention how addictive it is and how it ruins the liver etc.


I thought we were talking about drinking alcohol in a moderate amount? When you drink a moderate amount of alcohol those problems practically don't occur.

QuoteAnd if I remember correctly, alcohol is the fifth to seventh most dangerous drug.


sauce?
Parent
It's hard not to blame alcohol when it casues so much crime, car-accidents etc.
Everyone knows how alcohol makes you do stupid things you wouldn't do if you were sober. Everyone doesn't become aggresive, do crimes and drive car when they are drunk but too many do.


Well, you dont wake up the next morning after a party with a ruined-liver it's a long progress and someone who never drank alcohol has a much healthier liver(and much more) than someone who drank alcohol his whole life in a moderate amount.

http://www.drbenkim.com/ten-most-dangerous-drugs.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/nov/02/david-nutt-dangerous-drug-list

The two first hits when I googled it.
Parent
Once again you're only talking about excessive alcohol abuse and the consequences. Still, it's pretty stupid to blame alcohol instead of people. Are they suddenly not capable anymore to make decissions? Are they suddenly not responsible for their actions anymore? They choose to drink excessively and cause accidents, it's not the alcohol that jumped at them whilst thinking "oh boy, im gonna use this body to kill someone, gnihihi".
Besides, there are more people who are drunk and don't cause problems than there are people who are drunk and do cause problems.
And there have been numerous research about how beneficial 1 glass of alcohol is every evening, as long as you don't exagerate everything is fine :-)

About the link you provided:

These three factors were used:

* Physical harm to the user
* Addictive potential of the drug
* The drug's overall impact on society

Guess that says it all. It's not the alcohol's fault people use it too excessively :-)

On a sidenote not directly relevant to the discussion, I assume you're a big fan of Systembolaget then?
Parent
You should do some research about alcohol.
The fact that 80 percentage of the fights is alcoholrelated explains itself how peoples can't control theirself with alcohol in the blood.

And about drinking a small amount every day, I'm sure you have read it in many newspapers :))

They always forget to mention who's partipicating in the examination and it's already sober alcoholics who's already injuried because of his drinking.

The other part is a group of peoples who doesn't drink because of the bad health they already have, it's not so weird that they die earlier and it's not because they are not drinking...

It's around 6000 persons who dies of alcohol every year in sweden, it's like 17 every day.
And around 50 peoples are youths who dies because of alcohol-poisoning.

Okay, lets compare this healhty drug with other usual drugs:
Lets start with the illegal drug Cannabis, how many has died? 0
LSD? 0
Ecstasy: 20-25 persons/year in England, In England, more die each year of the peanut stuck in his throat and resulting in suffocation than Ecstasy

So How can you say that Alcohol is a healthy drug?
Even heroine is healthier than alcohol, except the psychic problems you get by using heroine.

So dont say alcohol is a healthy drug :)
Parent
QuoteYou should do some research about alcohol.
The fact that 80 percentage of the fights is alcoholrelated explains itself how peoples can't control theirself with alcohol in the blood.


I'm gonna say this for like the billionth time, don't blame the alcohol for stupid decissions people made.They chose to drink an amount of alcohol that would make them stupid and irrational, prone to stupid accidents and fights. It's not the fault of alcohol people are stupid and use it too much.

QuoteAnd about drinking a small amount every day, I'm sure you have read it in many newspapers :))

They always forget to mention who's partipicating in the examination and it's already sober alcoholics who's already injuried because of his drinking.

The other part is a group of peoples who doesn't drink because of the bad health they already have, it's not so weird that they die earlier and it's not because they are not drinking...


All very circumstantial discrediting of research made by qualified people, nice one.
And I don't read newspapers, I read it on some science-website. Not that that necessairly makes it true, but I'm more inclined to believe them than you. No offence.

QuoteIt's around 6000 persons who dies of alcohol every year in sweden, it's like 17 every day.
And around 50 peoples are youths who dies because of alcohol-poisoning.


And exactly how is that not the fault of those people who don't know their limits and can't use their brain? If you drink 15 litres of water in a day I'm pretty sure you won't survive it but does that mean water is bad? No, it just means you're pretty fuckin stupid to drink that much water on a single day. The same goes for alcohol, in moderate amounts there's nothing wrong with alcohol. That's your problem, you always use examples and arguments based on excessive use of alcohol. Ofcourse that's bad, everything is bad when used excessively.

QuoteOkay, lets compare this healhty drug with other usual drugs:
Lets start with the illegal drug Cannabis, how many has died? 0
LSD? 0
Ecstasy: 20-25 persons/year in England, In England, more die each year of the peanut stuck in his throat and resulting in suffocation than Ecstasy

So How can you say that Alcohol is a healthy drug?
Even heroine is healthier than alcohol, except the psychic problems you get by using heroine.

So dont say alcohol is a healthy drug :)


I said it's not dangerous and beneficial to your health if consumed in normal dosages every day (1 glass).
And seriously, where do you get those silly statistics from? They're not only silly, they're also completely irrelevant. I wonder how many people would die if they smoked 10 joints in a row, or took 10 LSD-pills in a row, or shot 10 doses of heroin in their body. I'll tell you how many people die when they drink 10 beers in a row: 0.
Parent
Pretty much everyone drinks too much sometimes(some peoples more than others) which makes you wanna vomitt, dont remember anything etc.


Where I get this silly information? I read quite much about drugs cuz I find it interesting.
No you wouldn't die if you smoked 10 joints in a row, you would get reaally really high and most probably fall asleep :)
And no you wouldn't die if you took 10 doses of LSD, only reaaally high.
Dunno about heroine tho, dont have any interest in that so haven't really read about it.
Parent
Are you a fan of Systembolaget?
Parent
What do you mean? If I rather want to be able to buy alcohol in stores or if I like the alcohol they sell? :)
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I mean, do you think it's a good thing or do you want to see it dissapear.
Parent
I dont mind, having alcohol in stores would facilitate it but 99% of the alcohol I buy is bought and imported from Germany.
Parent
Wat hij probeert te zeggen is dat als alcohol nu zou worden uitgevonden, het verboden zou worden. Er zitten gewoon veel schadelijke effecten aan, maar doordat het zo is ingeburgerd in onze maatschappij laten we het toe. Je kan wel zeggen dat alcohol geen criminaliteit veroorzaakt en ongelukken, maar dan kan je ook zeggen dat junks die dingen stelen dat dit ook niet veroorzaakt word door de drugs, maar door hun zelf. Misschien als we hun drugs ook gewoon zouden verkopen voor normale prijzen (zoals alcohol), dan zouden we daar ook veel minder last van hebben.
Parent
Met uw laatste zin ben ik het volmondig mee akkoord.

Nu ik weert wat hij bedoelt, maar bij mij gaat het om normaal drinkgedrag terwijl al zijn argumenten gingen over de gevolgen van overdadig drinken.
Parent
Dat's waar, maar ook elke dag een glaasje of 2/3 (wat algemeen geaccepteerd word) zal op latere leeftijd problemen veroorzaken.
Parent
it's people, not peopleS

people is already plural
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You're fucking amazing.
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you can stop baiting me now
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Enjoy the ignore :)
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You still get to see my replies sweety<3
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german beer > all

guess cause I grew up with it :p
bier > muttermilch :D?
Parent
i need to try that :D i liked leff and stella, and both are bel if im right?
Parent
Leffe & Stella are both commercial beers (so is Duvel) and basically they are just "standard" but nothing like wôôôôw. If you want to try good Belgium beers, I'll name some:
- Achel
- Geuze Boon/Cantillon(if you like the sharp & sour taste)
- Floreffe
- Chimay
- Rochefort
- St Bernardus
- Probably another 100 more :)

All are so much more than just a commercial "inbev"-beer :))
Parent
Duvel ain't inbev and never will :P
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didn't say that :)
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From the Belgium ones I liked the most Jupiler.
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I live in Israel, I don't think I can get any of these
Parent
Don't drink it like you drink stella tho :D
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Why not? Cheap evening :p
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& back home early :D
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or not home at al. xD
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Remember kids, it's about what others like. Not about what you like yourself!
Stop acting like a retard
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Stop being a retard.
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Just accept the facts.
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Stop taking it personal.
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I'm not, you are!
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this list is shit!

i even dont know that german beer whats listed there lol

Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock Doppelbock Brauerei Aying - Germany
"aying" muss was türkisches sein xD
Parent
gibt nhe kurdin in meiner klasse.. die mit nachnamen "Ay" heißt.. das kann kein deutsches bier sein XDDD
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Die Endung -ing deutet offensichtlicherweise auf einen deutschen Ortsnamen hin.
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naja du wirst es wissen!

aber selbst wenn bleibt es random xD

udn in meinen augen türkisch! xD
Parent
It's an opinion..

but hey, governmentless country has something to be proud of now
It's not "an" opinion, it's 2.47 million opinions!
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I can still have my own
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Yes, but the list is not 1 opinion.
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I got that by now
Parent
"Westvleteren (12) is officially the best beer in the world. It can only be obtained by a special procedure (you gotta call the brewery during the only two hours they are taking phonecalls a week, and go get your beers - 1 crate per car max - during specific opening hours at noon). "

There is also a small store near the monastery which sells them in limited amounts
Well, I haven't been there actually, but from what I've read, there is a small shop, right across the "Westvleteren Monastery" which buys limited amounts of their beer on a daily basis.

I'm quite surprised most of the users here haven't actually tasted, or at least, heard about most of the beers on that list. For Christ sake, in almost every store in Israel you can buy most of the Trappist beers, I assume they must be much more common in Europe.

Oh, and Micheal Jackson (not the pedo), is also a great beer critic.
Parent
Most of the cf nerds think real beers are just like lagers, but nothing is further from the truth.
Parent
I'd recommend any one to watch this eye-opening and quite sad documentary: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1326194/

It does explain a lot, and made me distance myself even further from the big and money hungry beer companies.
Parent
can you tell some more about this? and in every store i visited it's always full of goldstar/tuborg/carlsber/macabi etc :/
and what is exactly the movie is talking about "the truth"?
Parent
I'm not quite sure where you live, but I know for a fact that most trappist beers, for example, are sold in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. You just need to know where to look (In the krayot-haifa there is a nice store called 'xo').

Regarding the movie, its more relevant to the states, but it does show the beer industry in a different light. How three big companies in the states control almost the whole beer industry, while preventing all the small brewers expanding.
Parent
kfar saba, i'm talking about places like supermarket...i don't really know special 'beer places'
well i only turned 18 a while ago so havent had a chance to visit any decent beer store, not that i know one, ill still need to be 21 to go to some bar in my area that serves a lot of different beers
so far i only see the big brands, never heard of any of the mentioned in the list
Parent
You'll never find any interesting beers in a supermarket. In wine and alcohol stores you will. Just by looking through d.co.il I found plenty of those shops. (https://www.wineandmore.co.il, etc)

About pubs, apart from the usual Temple-Bar and Dublin, I'm not quite familiar with pubs outside Jerusalem.
Parent
Aren't you fucking amazing, you know stuff about beer. Big fucking woo!
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And you flame people on the internet. Good job.
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I'm not bragging about my flaming, now am I?
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I'm not bragging about my knowledge of beer, now am I?
Parent
Krosan on 27/04/10, 14:08:53 PM | Reply

Most of the cf nerds think real beers are just like lagers, but nothing is further from the truth.
Parent
Is that bragging? Wow.
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Well it is a "Look at me I know beer, I'm cool and you guys are nerds! NERDS I TELL YOU!".
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No, it's pointing out that they are wrong.
Parent
Together with a friend, we are trying almost every beer from Europe.
(yes we have a list, yes we have a place where they sell lots of them)
Might make a review, but we are not 'pro-reviewers' or someth :D
Leffe is nice =) But german beer > *
Its nice Belgium has at least SOMETHING they excel in.
Egypt has pyramids. Yey!
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yes, and even the pyramids are better maintained compared to most Belgian buildings/cities!
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I sure hope so lol
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Actually maintenance is crap, but nothing compared to Belgium, of course!
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My favourite soccerteam's stadium could use some maintenance!
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it's called football
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We also excel in retarded politicians. I almost wanted to ask if you needed some, but with Wilders, Rita and Balkenende I guess you have enough of them already.
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balkenende is quite a normal guy..wilders is extreme.. rita is a housewife who think she should be a politician...
At least we get stuff done and once in a while we apply some proper new law. Which in the end, Belgium is copying after ten years..
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For the uneducated mind, it certainly would look like that yes.
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You must have an amazing life for you to brag about your "intelligence" on a gaming site.
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I have absolutely no idea how you read "im so fuckin smart haha" in that.
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U guys have a decent mobility budget... Ours is 5 euro's a year.
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What did we copy?
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u will? :O

make sure u call a month beforehand :p
You go buy one and share it with us at AEF! Or give it as prize to the worst team on the LAN ([*EU*]) ?
Parent
Sounds like something I could do, but you'll have to pay for it then :p

And I dno if I can get enough free time to go get the crates.
Parent
Adminning crossfire is not that a time-consuming job, now is it? ;-p

wa kost zoen bakske trouwens?
Parent
nie veel meer dan nen bak chimay of achel, rond de 15 euro zeker?
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en da hebt gij nie over voor ons? :<
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da kunde gij nie ophoesten voor het exclusiefste bier van belgie? :p
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beetje veel voor iets waarvan ik nie weet dak et ga lusten eej!
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der is wel een prijske aan te verdienen op de zwarte markt ze ;)
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frieten*
patat is aardappelen bij hun :X
juistem
As I can see, then there are no Estonian beers, so this list is a FAILURE.
no heineken? :/
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
Parent
Klokke Roeland > *
no austrian beer in it. list is shit.
well most of the beers is good so who cares
beer is pretty much like music imo, everyone's got their very own taste. No reason to hate one or another brand - going around(specially on the internetz) and _hating_ a beer brand seems completely retarded to me.
everyone likes the beer they grew up with,.. thats what you are used to and started to love =] I proboly like grolsch more than these belgium beers.

but great to see that belgium is finally the best in something
Funny thing is tho, in the worst top 13, 8 are also Belgium
No, is not
did belgium or did germany/bavaria come up with the "purity order" (Reinheitsgebot)?

got nothing more to say ;)
best beer = austrian! (stiegl)
What was the beer they drank in "In Bruges"?

Although the best beer is in Austria! <3 Villacher beer
'Brugse Zot' I think, not sure, should watch the movie again.

One of my favourite beers btw!!
Parent
omg omg

czech beer > all
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