For the longest time I treated it as a fault, a failure of some sort. I tried to hide the fact from others and went to great lengths to avoid situations that could have revealed my failings. My tastes were a disgrace, especially for one who called herself a beer snob.

Now that I’m solidly in my mid-thirties, though, I feel old and wise enough to say What do you care? Shut up and drink your beer. So: I don’t like Belgian beer. ThereIvesaidit! So far, no not-so-merry monks have run into the room, robes a-flutter, threatening to bludgeon me with oversized wheels of cheese.

I’ve been drinking long enough to know that it is not the Belgian part of Belgian beer that I don’t like. That unique, expansive taste of Belgian yeast is delightful! Rather, it is the lack of hops that gets me. I need the dryness, the bitterness, the kick in the pants that is a well-hopped beer. And then I discovered the Belgian IPA.

Sweet mother of fermentation! Where have you been all my life?! My first Belgian IPA was a tulip glass of The Audacity of Hops in Boston’s Cambridge Brewing Company. I was suspicious. My favorite cute bartender with the Buddy Holly glasses served it to me and I eyed it sideways, its perfect head and cloudy orange hue suspect. But then I took a cautious sip and was hit with a face full of hops. I was instantly converted.

The Belgian IPA, according to BeerAdvocate.com, is “still very much a style in development.” Consensus stands that real Belgian yeast is used with bottle conditioning, meaning the fermentation continues after the beer has been bottled. You will often find a bit of detritus in the bottom of your bottle, but just think of it as beer fairy dust.

If, in fact, this style is still being perfected, then where do I sign up to be a hopped-up Belgian guinea pig? Let me tell you what I’ve liked so far, after the initial Audacity awesomeness. Top 3 Belgian IPAs:

Great Lakes Brewing’s Spacewalker American Belgo. In an effort to honor the absurd number astronauts from Ohio, they named this beer that goes “where few beers have gone before” for all 25 of them. Like many Belgian IPAs, this beer uses Belgian yeast with American hops. This new summer seasonal is a bold beer that will pair well with something spicy off the grill.

Heavy Seas Riptide. I’ll rave about pretty much anything Heavy Seas brews, but this one is especially delicious. They label it a White IPA, brewing it as a Belgian wit but hopping it heavily. In the last stage of brewing, the beer flows through a hopback, a device beer is pushed through on its way from the hot boiler into the fermenter. Heavy Seas fills their hopback with orange peel, coriander, and more hops, adding to the fruity, spicy flavor.

Flying Dog’s Raging Bitch. While this is a deliciously powerful beer, I enjoy it even more when my mother walks into the convenience store and asks loudly, “Where’s the Raging Bitch?” and then laughs uproariously. They have T-shirts, and if she keeps this up she’s likely to get one from Santa. More than the other two, Flying Dog maintains the “funk,” as they call it, of Belgian beers. It is funky and fruity at the same time and will cut through just about any thick, heavy flavor you pair with it.

There are so many more worthy of trying, and yet not nearly enough. Keep brewing, America! Keep innovating, keep riffing, keep surprising, and keep it coming! But keep those immigrants out (unless they’re well-hopped).