Why can't most American breweries master Belgian styles?

Patience & Palate.

There are many brewers that have no idea what various strains of belgian yeasts do prior to termination. If they shut them down too soon the charecteristics are so different than if they well allowed to complete on their own. Also if they used less yeast and let it max out, that too would produce dramaticly different results.

Off topic, but that god damn ringwood is a great example. Too many large production breweies looking for volume quickly, do not let the yeast mature enough, giving the beer an off flavor. I suspect that same thing is occuring with various belgian yeast strains.

 

Because they ain't Monks living in a 700 year old Abbey!

 

Not sure why people would argue against Saison Dupont being a style definer. Their American importer made the beer big in USA in the 1980s which made people familiar with saison’s and generated the initial interest. It is questionable that saison’s would even exist these day if their importer didn’t make that happen. Dupont was struggling financially, there was little interest in Belgium and none in America before his efforts.

 

It was 1991 actually. according to the importers web page. As some on who had visited in Belgium allot in the 1980's it was quite common there.

as for why most Americans think it is not the definer of the style, who knows.

 

Weren't most of the Abbeys sacked by Napolean in the start of the 19th Century? Orval was rebuilt in the 1920's IIRC.

 

And again in WW I and then again in WWII. Germans had to stomp out all that blasphemy!

 

Don't forget Michael Jackson.

 

Not sure if they sacked the Abbeys, but they did take the copper kettles to make munitions.

 

usually its a money thing and some folks cannot tell the difference between a bud and a stella...took me years to convince my wife that miller lite was not a great beer, lol

 

Some of the better thoughts on this are about the yeast.

At the NHC in 2011, a SN brewer talked about the Ovila project. Guess what he said they struggled with. Not the grains, hops or water, it was the yeast. What temperature do you use the yeast at in the fermenters you have? Yeast work differently in larger vessels that have different geometry, and might put the bulk of the yeast under higher pressure than a small vessel. Then there is what temperature? He said they did studies at one time where the temperature in a 800 bbl fermenter was 8 degrees different depending on the probe location. So what do you do - test batches, and dump if it is off. Gets to be expensive, no?

I share your feelings on the Ringwood!

 

wow great input, is there a transcript of this talk anywhere? I love to read it.

 

Oh I knew what you meant. I asked many folks this question and they say various things, but its mostly: it tastes funny to me. they want some alcohol in their water...or its just beer...etc etc

 

Because they are Belgian styles. (?)

 

People drink BMC style stuff because it is cheap and if beer is cheap you can do rounds without going broke and treat your friends. That is the proper thing to do. If others buy pils and you are getting something expensive when it is their turn you are kind of ripping them off. You can buy crates of it and chare it with your friends. That is how it has been for a long time – in the 70s people did that with 1 litre jugs of lambic because lambic was cheaper than pale lager or pils. That experience springs over to other parts of your life and you associate BMC fare with that. Ads do stimulate that but it is not really the ads that drive it.

If you are not in that situation, you are relaxing and doing just a one beer or something. People will drink Duvel or one of the trappist beers – their preferred choice. Most people are just not very aware of other options, unless if it is not local, it is not promoted or anything.

Keep in mind that most Belgian beers are high ABV. People don’t do nights out with Duvel unless if they are looking to get insanely drunk. Lots of people eat fast food in Paris.

 

Unless you are in bumkcufnowhere or in the ghetto. Space to do beer RIGHT costs money in America. If you are willing to pay in on that by the brewer charging a bit more to offest those costs to get your ass in the door to drink it. FINE. If not. Plug that hole with a beer, please.

 

Time to broaden minds:
http://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2013/07/travel_craft_breweries_help_tr.html

 

Totally off topic, but living in Portland and having traveled to Belgium, I actually prefer Portland. Surprisingly, in Belgium there's no shortage of Jupiler signs hanging around town (the Belgian version of Bud). Don't get me wrong, good Belgium bars are totally hardcore. The ones I visited all had awesome tap selections plus 100+ bottles on the specialty menu. If I only drank 3F for the rest of my life I wouldn't be complaining.

But in terms of market saturation of craft beer, I think PDX actually has Belgium beat. Even the crummiest dive bar here will have Deschutes or Ninkasi on tap; I can't remember the last time that BMC was the only thing on the menu, and often it's not on the menu at all. Whereas in Belgium, you can definitely tell the difference between the "craft bars" and the "BMC bars."

It's kind of sad, but Jean Van Roy has said that the US saved Cantillon because there was a time when the Belgian interest in Lambic dropped so low that the US was literally sustaining their business. I think the Belgians are beginning to appreciate what they have again, but there is something to be said for beer culture, and how it can make or break a market.

 

Ironically lambic was seen as a BMC-style product in the 70s and most people traded up in their opinion to the classier pilsners / pale lagers.