Losing one's taste for Belgians

These days I don't have a particular "taste" for anything. I'm kind of all over; Belgians, stouts, hefs, bocks, cheap high octane lager, (palatable) adjunct lagers, etc.

Although in the past I have gone through what you are going through. Nothing to do but just go with the flow. You'll make your way back to Belgium some day.

 

Jesse, I homebrew many batches of Belgian beer. In the past 12 months it has been 7 batches (Dubbels, Saisons, BSDA, Wit, etc.). I have been drinking Belgian Ales since I first had Duvel in Brussels on a business trip (which was a very long time ago). I personally have never lost my taste for Belgian Ales and I have in fact increased them; the BSDA I recently brewed was my first BSDA. I have made two batches of Belgian Ale that I Brett’ed over the past two years.

It may very well be that you will reacquire your taste for Belgian Ales but I personally cannot conceive of ever losing a taste for these elixirs.

Look on the bright side, as a person who used to buy Belgian beers you will now save a lot of money!

Cheers!

 

The Belgians will wait for you to come back to them, which I'm sure you will.

 

Belgian beers are my favorite but from time to time I bottom out and have to take a break. That certain sweetness they have as well as other classic flavor profiles get old so I occasionally take a break from them. I know this sounds like they're all I drink which they most certainly are not but, I'm very partial to them. As a matter of fact, this happens with a lot of styles for me. I drink and appreciate every style of beer (even light lagers that are well made) and I'll need to take a break from a style every now and then but when I finally come back to it, it's very welcoming. In fact now I've hit the Belgian ceiling again as well as stouts but I know that they're still awesome styles, I just need a break.

 

I'm going through a similar transition as well. But, I haven't "lost a taste" for the Belgians. It's more of a seasonal thing for me right now.

In Florida, where we don't really have a "winter", and it's insanely hot for 5 month of the year (May 1 - Sept 30), I go for the IPAs, Double IPAs, and some German styles (Hefes mostly) during the hottest period, like now.

Also, the Belgian prices have gone up ~ 20% over the past year. The prices were already high. But, with the recent uptick, and so many affordable great American beers available, I've severely cut down on my Belgian intake.

I haven't exactly lost a taste for them... it's that my financial outlook is better when drinking less of them.

Cheers!

 

The yeast notes have never been a strong selling point for me. I'm not a fan of Duvel and "Belgian IPA" is one of the easiest styles for me to outright ignore.
I still like the darker Belgian styles, and tripels are growing on me somehow. And it's hard to turn down Belgian sours...

 

I go in and out with the styles I love, but I can't imagine never liking any of them again.

"Belgians" covers so much ground, as does "Belgian Yeast" I wonder what common thread you find between the tart and tangy pales and the sweet, thick, fruity BSDA's? To me Belgians also includes Saisons, Gueuzes, Flanders style sours. Do you mean to say you don't like any? Perhaps it is merely the thick sweet styles you have begun not to like?

 

Thought I was the only one! The local Belgian bar down the street got me first into exploring new and unique styles, and I'll be forever grateful. However, I very rarely drink belgians anymore, and even the word "belgian" in the beer descriptor (ie Belgian pale ale) is a turn off (doesn't taste good either). I've resigned myself to just not liking the style as much anymore compared to other styles. I think it may be less that my enjoyment of belgians has faded, but more that my appreciation of other styles has surpassed that of belgians. Just my experience!

 

The Belgians hate you, too. Leave them all to me.

 

My favorite beer is one I haven't had yet. I'll try anything once and when I'm out on a beer run, I generally buy beer I haven't yet tasted (last night I had a grapefruit radler, hated it). On top of trying new stuff, I always keep an inventory of stuff I've already had for when company stops by or I just don't feel like rating a new beer. The majority of the beers that I buy that I've already had are Belgians. St. Bernardus Christmas Ale spoiled me and last year after Christmas I bought all 23 remaining 750 mL bottles the store had in stock. I've not yet lost a desire for Belgians.

 

Though I once liked bigger beers, I now have almost zero interest in them. These days, they're way too sweet for me. Like you I'd much rather drink something low in abv with a dry finish. Instead of looking for the latest barrel aged stout at bottleshops, I hit breweries and tasting rooms to drink fresh beer in the styles I enjoy or grab a growler.

I also find myself much more impressed by a well crafted pale or bitter than a humongous barley wine. Best of all, I'm supporting my local beer scene more than ever before.

 

I've experienced a similar change in tastes. I used to search out any sort of Belgian or German Hefe on all beer lists and I'd barely touch an IPA with a 10 foot pole. Over the last several months, I've done a complete 180 and have turned into a total hop-head. I still like the occasional Belgian and always keep some Rochefort 10 in my wine cooler beer cellar, but I just don't like them as much as I used to. I'm sure my preferences will continue to morph. I'm just starting to develop a taste for sours. A couple of years ago, I couldn't stand them at all. Now I'm just frustrated that Georgia doesn't produce some better IPAs! Although, I did try one from a brand new brewery (Hop Dang Digigty from Jekyll Brewing) and it was outstanding!

 

Jesse, when it comes to alcoholic beverages the word to describe not sweet is dry. The Belgian beer style which is defined by dry is Saison. Victory Swing is a spring seasonal so you will have a hard time finding it now; maybe there are some leftovers? I enjoyed that beer.

Below are some posts I recently made concerning Saisons:

“There is one aspect that should be common to all Saison beers: they should be very dry since Saison yeasts are highly attenuating (they ferment almost most of the sugars and leave very few residual sugars).

The Saison yeast strain will produce varying levels of spicy (e.g., peppery) and fruity (e.g., citrus flavors). So, depending on the yeast strain used the Saison will vary from being spice forward to citrus forward or a complex combination of both.

A traditional Saison moderately utilizes European hops which will provide subtle flavors. If American aroma hops (e.g., Amarillo, Citra, etc.) are used the hop flavors will be more prominent.

So, there is variety of flavors which can be evident in a Saison depending on the ingredient selection.”

And:

“I recently had a dry hopped Saison on draft from Brash Brewery. I am guessing that the folks at Brash are ‘interesting’ people because they select some ‘different’ names for their beers. They call their dry hopped Saison: Cold Ass Honkey. It is a tasty beer and the Amarillo hop aroma/flavor complements their Saison yeast strain very nicely. If you see this beer I would recommend that you try it.”

Cheers!

 

I love a good Belgian but I've noticed I am not as enthusiastic about them recently either. Which is nice because when I do actually sit down to have one it ends up being a real treat. Looking forward to Goose Island's Belgian Beer fest in a couple weeks, that event is always a good time.