Brussels Beer Challenge

Over the weekend, Leuven, Belgium was the site of the 3rd annual Brussels Beer Challenge (which is like having the New York City Beer Challenge in Hoboken, but let’s not go down that rabbit hole).  It’s Belgium’s answer to the World Beer Cup–similar in structure, but slightly more Belgiany.  There’s an international panel of judges, but the majority come from Belgium (21%), The Netherlands (15%), UK (11%), and Italy (10%).  Only 5% came from the US.  I don’t know what affect that had, but the results (pdf) look a lot less like they do at the American-hosted version.

The United States has been by far the most significant driver of the current bloom of new breweries in the 21st century–and also on the types of beer they brew.  Because of that, the US has taken a lead role in defining not only the taxonomy of flavors (with the always-metastasizing style guidelines), but what counts as “good.”  It’s time that other countries weigh in on these questions.  The Brussels Beer Challenge has to …