Belgian Beer -- It's Mysterious, Wonderful, and, Ouch My Head Hurts

First off, my favorite place in the world to get a beer is BXL in Manhattan. It's a Belgian restaurant with two locations that serves a great lineup of beers, each with their own glass designed to enhance the flavor. The best of these is the Cuvee, a dry, 6% alcohol amber ale that goes down way too easy that is made specially by Ommegang Brewery for this restaurant alone. I once tried to make it - emailing the brewer and getting the bulk of the recipe. It turned out so terribly I had to pour it out (not before attempting to distill it to make a bourbon-like substance, which was a geometric progression of bad outcome.)

I love most, but not all, Belgian beer. It's like Pete Rose to German beer's Joe DiMaggio. It's big bodied, can be crude and colorful. It's spicy or fruity, and most of all, it will knock you out if your standing in front of the plate, err bar. German beer is pure excellence, clean, simple, outstanding and consistent.

Stay with me, I am going somewhere with this. This all brings me to the other night when I was at Cadieux Cafe doing research on Belgian beers. This East-side institution has a nice menu of Belgian beers. I tried this one, the Delirium Tremens, a Belgian wheat, and found it to be very characteristic: strong note of coriander, light orange taste and a hint of the banana flavor. Overall, very good, and, ouch, 8.5% alcohol by volume. 

Belgian's don't mind throwing in a bunch of candy sugar to, "BAM," take it up a notch in the alcohol when they are brewing. A few of these babies and sleep is assured. I also tried the Corsendonk brown ale (6.5% ABV) and, really, just loved it. 

The history of brewing in Belgium is really a cool one, and linked to the Christian monks who live in Abbeys and still brew beer today. If you are interested in learning a bit more about the history - and trying some very good beer, there's an event on June 30 at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial. 

Check the details .