An aromatic alkylation process includes contacting an aromatic compound with an alkylating agent in the presence of a zeolite beta in a reaction zone under alkylation reaction conditions, wherein said zeolite beta is a high performance zeolite beta possessing a ratio of strong acid sites/weak acid sites greater than 1. The high performance zeolite beta is superior to conventional zeolite beta in the aromatics alkylation reaction, such as benzene alkylation with ethylene for ethylbenzene production, and benzene alkylation with propylene for cumene production.