Several people have asked me what my (being Belgian) favorite Belgian beers are. The best I can do right now is a list of my favorite breweries.
My top 5 (i.e., worth the trip):
De Struise Brouwers (basically everything)
Dochter Van De Korenaar (best IPA’s)
Cantillon (yes, they are really that good, but of course I pay only 15 euros for a big bottle)
3 Fonteinen (see Cantillon)
De Dolle Brouwers (esp. the wine barrel aged beers)
Trappists:
Westmalle (Dubbel and Tripel - from my province)
Orval
Rochefort
Sour beers
Girardin
Boon
(several more, of course)
Saisons
Fantôme
Sour red/brown
Rodenbach (esp. Caractère Rouge and Vintage)
Other
De Koninck (from my hometown)
Bosteels (Tripel Karmeliet)
Dupont (esp. Avec Les Bons Voeux and Moinette)
And across the border, in the Netherlands: De Molen and Emelisse.
It’s a shame that I’ve never come across any of your top 5 in my area, especially Cantillon and Drei Fonteinen. But I’m glad to see Girardin on top of your sour list. Gueuze Girardin is a top-ten favorite beer of mine, and Girardin dregs are one of the primary components of my house sour culture.
Girardin is very good. At the brewery you can buy 10 liter bag-in-box (uncarbonated) lambic. I’ve been experimenting with adding my own fruit to this lambic. Already “made” excellent redcurrant lambic and very nice raspberry lambic vinegar ( )
I’ve had DeDolle and Cantillon on your top list - both crazy good. DeDolle is an underrated, amazing brewery . Everything I’ve had from them was fantastic - LOVE Stille Nacht. I’d love to find some of the others on your list.