Why can't most American breweries master Belgian styles?

I get what you're saying, but growing conditions for crops are a lot tougher nut to crack than the chemistry of a specific water source, and they are a lot more expensive and difficult to reproduce. What if you did analyze the soil of all the best Cuban tobacco plantations and determined exactly what was in it? Ok fine, now you're supposed to go produce a 100,000 yards of it? Oh and you also have replicate the exact climate and light cycle. Not so easy as adjusting water chemistry.

I'll give you that we may not know what, if anything, is special about the water they use, but that's probably because nobody (competent) has made it their mission to find out.

There you go. It's not just the water.

I don't know why anyone needs to reproduce it exactly anyhow. Things can be different, yet of equal quality. The Columbia Valley isn't the Napa Valley and the Napa Valley isn't The Bordeaux region. None have duplicated the character of the wine from the others, but who cares? Unless you have some sort of mental handicap that prevents you from appreciating diversity in wine, you can consider all three regions an agricultural treasure.

 

"Here" being Florida or the US? If the latter there are at least 3 counter examples, to the cafe part a least, in Philly alone. Although that said, Belgian beers and styles do well here in general. You'd be welcome if you choose to move North with your dream.

 

Florida of course, I am not moving.

Its too cold in the winter up there for me. being serious my dream is just me having a pub as an excuse to drink, and a tax write off. Ido not really want to run a biz, more of a private club....again its just a dream. as for Philly yes they rock and I love going there from time to time, when it is warm. plus they have real cask beer up there...

here not in this town. besides now were are off topic, lol

 

I think part of this is a style preference. I would imagine that many breweries want to ensure adoption of what will be "liked" by their target audience without much stress on their part.

Why brew a quad or trippel, when it's more likely that folks on this side of the pond will more likely prefer a hopped up DIPA or BA <insert the blank>.

Even with those styles, art, experience and customer expectations play a large part.

Belgian/Flemish styles are what "converted" me many years ago and I still love them.

I think it's all about playing to a niche market and then seeing how you can expand your portfolio, while you expand the minds and tastes of others.

 

Brewers will never need to work to perfect Belgian or German style beers while their audiences are still blowing their loads over IPAs, which are easier to make.

 

Not really off topic when we are discussing a US based brewer producing Belgian style beers to rival those produced in Belgium...

 

Or ... why can't Belgian brewers master non-Belgian styles? Anyone had a good Belgian stout, lately?

 

There are some Water profiles for Belgian brewing towns here. Some of these need are alkaline, and would need treatment by the brewer. Boiling, slaked lime, acid additions, or an acid rest of the mash would be ways to drop the alkalinity.

http://home.comcast.net/~david.s.draper/beer/waterpro.html

 

Allagash is definitely the standard bearer for American breweries producing Belgian styles. Allagash obviously up there as well.

But I'm glad you mentioned Boulevard. Yes, their tripel is very good, but their other Belgian styles are also quite good: Nommo is a fantastic seasonal-release dubbel (not as good as Chimay red or Ommegang Abbey, but still), Sixth Glass is a very tasty quad that's year-round, and BBQ (Bourbon Barrel Quad) is just outstanding, although the fact that it's bourbon barrel-aged probably pulls it away from the classic style a bit.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a total Boulevard homer, but they really do well with those Belgian styles anyway.

 

IPA's is where the money is right now.

 

some places just do things a little better. and when you concentrate your efforts on only making 1-5 beers, the quality should be top notch.

Its kind of like wondering why BBQ in Memphis, KC, and Texas is so much better than the rest of the country. Or why football seems to be better in the SEC. When your efforts are concentrated and you care just a little more, the product reflects that.

And while the overall styles may be straightforward, as with any beer its usually the little tweaks that make all the difference between a "good" beer and a great one.

 

Those are just 2 examples. Others are Mikkeller, De Molen, Haandbryggeriet, Rooie Dop, De Preof, Evil Twin, Thornbridge, Brodies, De La Senne etc.

 

There are a lot of small Belgian breweries churning out mediocre to terrible beers. They have limited distribution and they are less visible and you will certainly not find them in most bars. Most people drink local pale lagers / pilsners. Specialty beers which most people drink are limited to fake-ones like Leffe with the occasional trappist & Duvel. Trappist beers are indeed quite well integrated and drank on special occasions but other than the trappist breweries most specialty breweries are not very known in Belgium. Try to find someone who has actually had a geuze or De Dolle beer for instance. That is my observation.

 

YEA I had have quite a few actually, De Dolle comes to mind, for 1.

 

This was to be my next point. Perception and bias are a huge factor in forming opinion. Does a Belgian beer taste better in Belgium. Absolutely. Not just or only because its of superior quality ( might be) but because you're drinking it in the exact environment you want to drink it in. This colors your perception. Now take someone who really knows and drinks Belgian beers often as I would assume some who have posted here are. Would such a person want to think that they could taste the difference between an " authentic" Belgian beer and an "non-authentic" American clone? Absolutely. That's where a blind tasting is essential. Not saying there aren't differences, there absolutely will be for the reasons I've stated above. But in a blind tasting could you discern not just a difference in flavor which is irrefutable. But rather could you taste the "quality"? Or does that come from knowing its origin or how much you paid for it at your specialty store?

 

Learning a lot in this thread and don't have anything to offer. But a few have alluded to the idea that "master" does not mean create a copy. I think that is a valid part of the argument.

 

I'm fine with that approach. My main problem with less-than-stellar examples is that they just plain don't taste good- not attenuated enough, cloying, overbearing yeast signature, etc. - not so much that they aren't exact copies.

 

Sure have : http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/15237/56776

And the Damnation I Belgian session stout, they make is not too shabby either.