Belgian IPAs : What's Your Take?

in general, over the years I have moved away from Belgian beers, thirty years ago they were the best things going, and then the American craft beer scene really exploded with some great and better than Belgian beers. slowly I grew to actually dislike Belgian beer, too yeasty. now enter the Belgian IPA, definitely not my thing, those that I have tried, though Green Flash made one that was pretty good. the Chouffe beers were always pretty good if you like Belgian. and I think a good hoppy Trappist is Orval. I am going to say Orval, though not an IPA it has the hop profile. I will give the Stone a try since I like what they do.

 

I love them

 

Totally agree.

 

Belgian Ipa's are a nice step aside from american ipa's. different tastes due to the yeast strain/grain etc. What about a german ipa? Where are they at? Just kidding. Where are the german and also New Zealand yeast strains. Just something I was thinkin about.

 

The Belgo was a good one from NB, but I was just on their website today and can verify it was discontinued. Too bad - I thought that one was nice to have in the rotation. Chainbreaker is a an easy drinker, for sure.

 

I like Raging Bitch and a couple other examples. Generally, I find that most are made with a less-than-pleasing combination of hop aromas and yeast - at least they don't work for me.

 

“What about a german ipa? Where are they at? Just kidding.”

No joke, you may be seeing German IPAs very soon. The German hop growers are making new unique hops to compete with the US hop growers. These newer German hops could be used to make tasty German IPAs.

Victory recently made a Pale Ale using of these newer hops:

As a point of example I was able to drink a pint of Victory CBC Mandarina Pale Ale. That beer was a very tasty pale ale brewed with German Mandarina hops.

Below is a description of CBC Mandarina Pale Ale from the Victory website:

“CBC Mandarina Pale Ale

Pale Ale

A blend of German pils and caramel malts combine with German Mandarina and dry-hopped Mandarina to create a full bodied, citrus-hopped brew with a pleasant bitter finish and lots of hop flavor.

Composition

ABV: 6.0%

Availability

Special one-time release, March 2013”

Other ‘new’ German hops:

Huell Melon - pronounced melon aroma.

Hallertau Blanc - white wine aroma.

Polaris - super highs alpha as stated above, wintergreen aroma. A huge hop in the field, 3000 lb/acre yield.

Cheers!

 

Where's my Michigan buddies? Brewery Vivant Triomphe

 

Oh, damn! I completely forgot about Triomphe. It's on the side of the style that tastes less like a tripel, but it's really tasty. The Belgian yeast and American hops really play nice in that beer.

 

Doesn't make it so

 

I've talked to some purists who don't even like the idea of a black IPA. I see nothing wrong with either. Hell, if someone made an abbey-hef-lambic-porter-IPA I'd try it.

 

Well, it's all a matter of taste, but FWIW, I don't like them. Much. Maybe I just haven't had the right ones. (Though I have had the Stone and some of the others mentioned here.) To me, the belgian yeast phenols don't work well in a hop forward beer.

 

I'll add my two cents here too.
Another vote for La Chouffe Houblon and Cali-Belgique - two of the best that I've had.
Really want to try Lagunitas Wild, but unfortunately we don't get it here
Anyone want to send me couple to sample - I promise to report back with the findings......haha

Going to try Stone Mixtape Winking Lizard Blend V5 tonight - we'll see where that falls!

 

I've had several. I think the American versions (I'm thinking of Raging Bitch here) are more like a typical American IPAs, with slight twist in the flavor profile due to the Belgian yeast, but still more closely resembles an American hopped IPA with hop bomb citrus/fruit notes in the smell/taste but also a slight touch of the spiciness noted in the Belgian componentsr.

The couple I've had, I've enjoyed quite alot with just a few one's not so well crafted. I think its an interesting style. I'd love for HillFarmstead group to take a crack at the style as it seems like something they could do really well (if they haven't already tried that is).

 

Yes, but I think the description of the style does shed light on your confusion "Various malts are used, but the beers of the style are finished with Belgian yeast strains (bottle-conditioned) and the hops employed tend to be American. You'll generally find a cleaner bitterness vs. American styles, and a pronounced dry edge (very Belgian), often akin to an IPA crossed with a Belgian Tripel." So I'll go with that - a tripel-y ipa. I think the brewery also has an offering that is identified as a "triple hop" that is a further development of the style. Never had it.

 

Would you say that Saison Dupont is not funky?

 

Every Saison Dupont that I have ever drank (and there were a lot) never tasted funky. There was definitely a Belgian yeast (Saison yeast) character to the beer, but no funk.

I have homebrewed over 25 batches of Saison and I have used the Dupont yeast strain a number of times and those beers are not funky.

I have somewhat contemplated making a funky Saison (e.g., add some Brett at bottling) but I have never done that.

Cheers!

 

Like Jack said, definitely not funky. The word 'austere' comes to mind- it's quite dry, earthy, herbal with some gentle fruit and bread notes in the background. Very nice beer if you can get it in good condition.

GI Sofie with at least 6 months on it starts to become funky, in a very good way.

 

Duvel triple hop is fantastic. Need to track down the gnome.

 

Some are great (Anchorage Bitter Monk, Duvel Tripel Hop, Stone Cali-Belgique) and some are pretty bad (Sam Adams Grumpy Monk).