La Vaudrée is a small chain of bars created specifically to make sure gourmet-beer-seekers in…read moreBelgium have a place to go where they can find a huge selection and people to guide them through it. (From what I could see from the street, although Belgium makes a lot of beer, many of the local bars are Jupiler, Stella, etc.)
We would have loved to support some tiny tavern that there's only one of or go straight to a monastery, but we were just quickly passing through Liège as our only stop in Belgium. We'd already tried a Jupiler (the local pride). La Vaudrée gave us a perfect place to try Belgian beers too small to be exported to the States, watch the Liège-Bastogne-Liège bike race on TV, and even hike up a nearby hill to see the race come by.***
If you just want to drink lots of Chimay really cheaply in your hotel room or along the riverbanks, I learned afterwards that you can get it or any other fine widely-exported trappist for 1.30-2 euros at any supermarket in town.
But if you're looking for a cozy place with HUNDREDS of Belgians available for 3-5 euros/bottle (which is fair ... it is a bar, after all, not the liquor store), and friendly staff to guide you through what's what, Vaudrée is a great place for you!
(Plus, if you've ever worked in a bar, you should go & see their beer-glass selection ... only a small portion of which is on display over the bar...you might get yet something else with your order. It's quite impressive.)
4 stars instead of 5 (wish 4.5 were an option) because I only really got into the flavor of 1 of the 3 beers I tried. That's more the fault of my picky palate than of La Vaudrée. That said, either there aren't as many sweet Belgians as I'd based on falling in love with highly sugary, cream-soda-ey ones like Tripel Karmeleit & Kwak, or my server hadn't tried enough beers in that direction to really know what was in the cooler to that end. I'd also put a constraint on the search to show me brews that probably weren't big enough for export to North America. Maybe many of the "safe"-tasting beers get exported for a reason. Local US craft brews are often a bit bitter, too, as I think that's how most beer snobs like it. I did like Brice, the first instinct of my waiter.
***(Note: the race swings through town about a 12-minute uphill walk from the course, which is probably easiest to find by zooming in on cyclists' paths on MapMyRide & Strava. The race ends at the Carrefour/ Pizza Hut / Uhoda Sa in Ans, though, so ignore any paths continuing on clockwise back into Liège from there ... those are from the previous-day social ride that follows but also overshoots the end of the pro course. Best sure bet for any given year's racecourse is to pull up MapMyRide/Strava after the social has finished on Saturday but before the pros get close to returning to town on Sunday. In 2016 it could be seen at Rue St. Laurent & Rue Bidaut, 50°38'27.1"N 5°33'28.2"E, approaching up RSL from the SW & turning NW onto RB.)
