"Belgian beers" is a broad category! It's tough to make sweeping generalizations about such a varied beer culture.
No, you're totally right, I was having a little fun with my opinion there. That said, my buddies were saying even beers that are easy to get here in the states are cleaner in Belgium, something they think may be a function of shipping and age. I don't know.
This is very possible. I'm convinced that none of the German beers we get here are as they should be. But since I haven't been to Germany to try these beers for myself, I'm just spit balling when I say that. Even the beers on tap we get here probably don't taste as they taste in Germany. And that elusive German lager flavor that we seek is probably just age and oxidation. I just don't know...
That is why I don't purchase many German beers anymore.
The reason I say that, really, is because if you have ever had Samuel Smith's Organic Lager it has that very same flavor. So it must not be something specific to German beer, but something the shipping and aging process does to the beer.
Makes it very hard to trust that what you're getting is really what it's supposed to taste like. But I often wonder...can we trust that even the kegs we get from Germany are as they should be? Is there something different about the beer being in a keg and being shipped versus beer being in the bottle? While bottle caps can let O2 in, I doubt sealed and pressurized kegs can, because the many kegged German beers I've had on tap have had "that" flavor.
Anyway, sorry for going on a tangent here!