I think I have finally found a beer I can call "the greatest beer I have ever tasted". St. Bernardus Abt 12, it has an amazing rich flavour, though is quite strong, despite the price I was happy to drink it for the entire night.

I found it in a pub up in Durham (England) along with an amazing selection of imported Belgian beer including La Chouffe on tap (though I think this may rotate with other Belgian lagers) and Delirium Nocturnum. The menu was extensive but once I tasted the St. Bernardus I had no interest in trying the others.

Which pub? I live in Newton Aycliffe

The Head of Steam.

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=hea...m&z=16&iwloc=A

I think Rochefort 10 is better than St. Bernardus though I got a taste for Rochefort 8 when I was in Belgium earlier in the year.

Buy it on Ebay or get it in Mass. earlier this year or are you near Belgium? $75 is a really good price for that.

Earlier in the year I went to In de Vrede and drank some Westvleteren at the source. Really enjoyable stuff.

I tried the Rochefort 10 on your advice and it's a great beer but I think I prefer the Bernadus, the Rochefort I found to be a bit sweeter and it didn't sit as nicely on my palate as the Bernadus, the girl I was with on the other hand much preferred it over the Bernadus.

It looks like I'm going to be trying a lot of new beers over the next few months as the pub that serves the above is doing a 100 beers challenge, try 100 different beers before the end of February and you get put into a raffle to win a bottle of Crown Ambassador Reserve 2010.

I started with a Straffe Hendrik which was a beautiful and very different beer, really complex flavours, then moved on to Maredsous 10 which was also good. Finally I thought I would go back to the amber and tried a Westmalle Tripel which was a really great fruity beer.

I visited the Straffe Hendrik brewery in Belgium too. Nice place, great tour. So depressing to walk on their coolship although they only used it for cooling, not for spontaneous fermentation. Still a beautiful piece of copper that is relegated to basically stairs which is depressing to me.

Also, yeah, I think I like that the Rochefort 10 is a little sweeter. When I was in Belgium, though, I realized I liked 8 a bit more as the alcohol bite was much lighter and there was a bit of chocolate in there too. I never drink them here though as they're expensive enough that I'd rather just try something new.

I recently visited Italy for 2 days. If you ever find yourself in the area, you should try Limoncello. It's a liquor not a beer, but its pretty tasty and I promess you it is pretty strong. They also have a very nice selection of wines and incredible food.

No, I'm not near Belgium (although I often wish I were!). Calgary, Alberta.

Make friends with your local bottleshop owner. Went to my local shop today to get a Logsdon Peche n'Brett. He pulls out a Cantillon Fou Foune for me... and he only got six.

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