Part of the problem lies in the presentation. I get the impression that the host is relatively knowledgeable, but his approach to the show is a kind of cultivated ignorance. This can work, but I think it can be overdone. It's one thing to be fun and open to new experience, but from time to time, the host comes across as a obnoxious American tourist.
Another issue is that it feels like the show tries to do too much with any given episode. Tonight's thirty minute episode was about Belgian beer. Not a partcular kind, mind you, but ALL Belgian beer. This strikes me as the rough equivalent of using that time to "cover" the cheeses of France. (DeGaulle is reported to have said, "How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred forty-six kinds of cheese?") He did have the good sense to make his way to Brasserie Caracole, but the bare treatment of Abbey ales, Lambics, and Wit left me thinking that any one of the styles could have generated enough material to fill entire episodes.
And where were the Flanders and Farmhouse style ales?
