Belgians

Mmmmmmmmmm.

Belgians.

I love Belgium. Obviously.







Any self respecting 'Beer Geek' should and would love Belgium.

I love their beer. Obviously, but I also love their chocolate and their art and culture.

Anybody who saw Enzo Scifo play for Inter or Torino could even be caught dead saying they liked their footballers.

But I seem to be struggling with Belgians themselves.

I've only ever met 4, and that's not a lot.

I'm sure there is plenty of decent Belgians going about, and I'd like to meet some of them. Have a beer with others.

But unfortunately. The 4 I have met, have all been blithering know all fake artisan prats. So wrapped up in the fact that they're Belgian, they don't really understand how much of a pillock they portray to the rest of the outside world.

That self air of smugness, somehow thinking that being European makes you more civilised. like the french but much more. Well. Annoying.

"all zis bier iz crass, znot like in Belgium. zee Chimay/Duvel iz too dear here is Australie, znot like in Belgium".

Conescendingly down playing Australian interpretations of hand crafted Belgian beers as they were merely no match for thier originators.

"Wicked Elf Tripel? How pathetic, taste nothing like un bier belge!"

At that point I usually like to remind said Belgian that apart from your scorching brewing scene, lovely peasant-y countryside and of course, Brugge.

Belgium is merely the place that lies directly in the middle of where the Allies and the Germans decided to fight it out.

Ask me now and if you told me I had to go to a beer diner with a few Belgians, I might just decline and eat a fist full of dirt covered in fat bull ants stinging my tongue and throat as they go down.

Yep, that's how annoying the Belgians I've met, make me feel.

So. The quest continues, to find a Belgians who dont take themselves too seriously and one that I don't want to stab in the eye.