Love for Belgian beers

There is a huge amount of breweries that are releasing beers labelled “hoppy”, “saison”, or doing something barrel-aged. A lot of them do it only because they see that there is interest in such beers in the USA. They put little care or attention in them, sometimes expressing even dislike for such ideas. As such the beers are often badly made, not hoppy at all etc. Fall massively behind anything like that made in the USA.

Then there are those who try to mimic USA craft beer scene, their efforts often fall short compared to American examples even if they are not.

There are also those who are happy to churn out more poorly made yeast blonds, coriander bombs etc.

Even good stuff sometimes pales compared to great USA examples, new styles are not being invented, progress is slow compared to neighboring countries.

Every time there is a new lambiek release, people rave about, there is little interest outside of the classical beers. Even the really good new breweries (that are phenomenal in my opinion get little attention). I am talking about De La Senne or Dochter van De Korenaar just to give 2 examples. Some stuff does get unjustly overlooked, De Leite is making some of the best sour beer in the world but those beers have barely ratings on here.

 

Trappist beers are major brands in Belgium largely. You get Westmalle everywhere, gas stations, night shops,… They are what specialty beers are for most people. They are a very static given; people are unwilling to move past them, many of their fans are akin to pale lager drinkers. This is my brand, this is how beer should taste like,… They are world-class beers but they stand separate a bit from the rest of the brewing world. That is fine, the goal of this beers is just to create a means of living for the monks anyway. They are the same as they were 10 years ago.

Chimay is becoming bit of an exception here, likely inspired by La Trappe they are starting a barrel aged series & have released a new beer. 150th anniversary beer was a bit rubbish & the barrel aged series whilst fun is hardly anything novel. Orval apparently is going to do USA collaborations which is interesting but only for the USA.

Trappist is a major brand in Belgium, just not Belgian Trappist beers. A lot of bars have done effort to get Tre Fontane, Engelszell, Zundert & even Spencer. You could buy La Trappe beers in the supermarket even back when foreign beer was basically sold nowhere in Belgium. Zundert is available also in the supermarket. Looks like the standard Spencer beer is going to become common.

Hopefully that answers your question.

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond. You've always illustrated that you're tuned in and it's great to get your thoughtful perspective. You're knowledge of what's going on in Belgium will clearly eclipse mine by a billion, but please allow me to throw in my two cents if my outside perspective adds anything. It's easy for Americans to either ignore Belgian beer because it's distant, or to romanticize it due to the same... but I feel like you might be thinking that "the grass is always greener on the other side," and as a result, taking some of what's in your own country for granted.

While I was briefly there, I encountered some of what you're describing - Belgian pales that tasted odd, off, yeasty, incredibly sweet, even plant-like. Your criticisms sound very familiar to me. Beyond personal preferences and cultural differences, I think my shopping methods were partially to blame - grabbing odd random (perhaps old) bottles of beers that don't make it to the US. At the same time, I encountered some gems. Funny that you'd mention Brasserie De La Senne because they were the huge standout for me. I was so happy drinking their stuff. Not on the same level, but I had nice experiences with beers from Verzet, Smisje, and Brasserie de la Semois. Not a new kid on the block, but the Brasserie de Cazeau saison was heavenly for me. I didn't encounter Dochter van De Korenaar.

Of course, you'll get the same variations of quality in America. Breweries that can do no wrong, breweries that can't do anything right, and the ones in the middle.

I was chatting beer with a guy in Brussels and he was exclaiming his love for (American brewery) Cascade... over the likes of Cantillon. Are Americans overly-romantic about Cantillon? Was this gentlemen taking Cantillon for granted because it's commonplace? Either way, it's sometimes easy to fall in love with the exotic (and what's exotic will change depending on where you're standing).

Regarding the Trappist beers, Americans tend to be overly romantic about them, but I think you are missing some of the value. You seem eager to discount them by stating their popularity and lack of evolution. When I was in Brussels, I was struck by the scene of being in a restaurant, and the customers were from all walks of life... young, old, male, female, professionals, partiers, etc. They'd be drinking their Trappist of choice as if it wasn't anything special. As an American, the fact that it wasn't anything special made it so special. It was just part of the night out. You will not find something quite like this in America. Fancy beer bars cater to young nerds and a common night out anywhere else won't feature beer the same way. I'm not naive about the realities of the majority of drinking habits (Jupiler), but it appeared to me that there still was quite a difference in some of the culture over there. America would be fortunate to have the same sense of inclusion and commonplace.

Just because these Trappist beers are more static, it doesn't make them any less interesting or worthwhile. Perhaps it even makes them more of both. The thought of Chimay doing "barrel aging" might make some eyes roll in America, or even cause some disappointment. We selfishly and unrealistically want them to stay just the way they are (at least some of us I'm sure). Who knows the better path? Hopefully Chimay does.

By the way, the idea that Spencer beers are getting imported to Belgium sounds really crazy, but I guess I can see the novelty or appeal in completeness. Sounds like a waste of energy to me.

I'll provide an anecdote: Last night, I was out drinking in New York City and I had 7 different beers: an English ale that tasted off, an American cask ale that tasted like it's time had passed, a hoppy American interpretation of a saison that was great, an American "macro" that claimed to be "Belgian Style" that didn't deserve to have that on the bottle at all, one beer from Belgium - Blaugies Darbyste (it tasted beat up, but still delicious), and a French beer with ties to Belgium - Thiriez Extra. That Thiriez beer was awesome... a hoppy saison more delightful than the American hoppy saison.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. In the end, it sounds like you might be putting too much value on the wish for the "new" and exciting while taking for granted some unique qualities that already exist. Cheers.

 

That is most certainly the case for beer drinkers who are traditionalists.

IMO it is not an either/or situation. Chimay will continues to produce their red/white/blue beers and in addition produce some barrel aged beers as well. The beer consumers are the 'winners' here since they get to choose which beer(s) they want to drink.

Cheers!

P.S. It is not uncommon to read BA's who post that Chimay is no longer 'good' since they switched to conical fermenters from open fermenters.

 

We are getting some incredible hoppy American saisons in NYC lately- do you mind sharing which one you had? In the past few weeks the ones I've had from Grimm and Tired Hands have been pretty remarkable- the kind of beers that make you stop sampling and just order another .

 

Oxbow Grizacca. It was really nice. Technically, they call it a grisette. Oxbow makes nice stuff but they are draught only for me since their bottle prices are off the charts. I would have appreciated that beer more if it was my only beer of the night but it wasn't that kind of night. Comparing it to the Thiriez Extra is a bit unfair because: 1) the Thiriez beer hits my sweet spot, 2) they are very different, 3) I've had the Extra before.

 

This time of the year is basically all Belgian cycling races for the UCI World Tour Calendar. As such, I try to celebrate with some Belgian brews. While I had Trappist Rochefort 8 about a year ago, I just had one last week and holy shnickies. Delicious. I followed it up with an American made - Boulevard Sixth Glass (quadruple ale), and it was equally as delicious. I really enjoy the Belgian styles, but I tend to pick up coffee beers from the bottle shop since my love of coffee runs deep.

I do have a Rochefort 10 waiting for me tomorrow morning. I need to pick up one more Belgian brew, as tomorrow is the BIGGEST cycling race in my mind. It's my favorite race all year. Gaah. I'll stop ranting.

Belgian brews are fantastic though.

 

Sounds like you might enjoy one of the travel tours where you cycle through the Belgium countryside going from brewery to brewery.

 

Thanks- I'll keep an eye out. My next one should be from Sloop, unless they run out before next week.

These beers have some similarity to Belgian IPAs to me, but are much more complex and well-knit- like a finer way of achieving that flavor profile. That Grimm beer, in particular, also had a killer silky mouthfeel going for it.

 

Which Grimm beer? Honestly, Grimm usually doesn't click with me, but I'd like to try a saison of theirs if I had the option. I know they like Apex Predator and I think that's a nice beer.

 

It was called Liquid Crystal. There's another one called Vacay on some taps as well lately, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

I love that Apex Predator, myself!

 

I've considered it quite a lot. One thing on my bucket list is to ride some of the cobbled streets in my favorite races. No doubt that I went over, I'd be consuming as much Belgian beer as possible and still stay up right on my bike.

Maybe one of these days.

 

Indeed. I tried some with a pizza. It's no better than an American macro lager. In fact, it's probably not as good as some of the better ones like Banquet. Maes (another popular lager) was a bit better, but wasn't particularly amazing either. It's at least attempting to mimic a pilsner for better or worse.

Even beyond their throw-away lagers, even some of the experimental stuff isn't all that great. Kind of like many experimental beers over here, it doesn't always work out for the best.

That said...when the Belgians do something well, they hit it out of the park.

 

Amen

 

My favorite Belgian beers are in no particular order:

DuPont Saison
Hop Ruiter (amazing hoppy golden ale)
Moinette Blond (hoppy golden/blond ale - made by Dupont)
Fantome Saison
DuPont Avec Les Bons Voeux de la Brasserie (strong/imperial saison)

Burial in Asheville puts out some killer saisons. I recently had a Saison aged in Pinot Noir barrels - simply amazing.

Greg M.

 

I like the Belgian beers very much what I've had of them. My favorite right now is Duval Golden Ale. I also liked the Chimay Red Label.

 

You are probably right for taking a lot of the Belgian beer scene for granted. The thing with USA beer, I am cherry picking, I usually get to try only the highlights, often rare stuff that locals don’t see much. I think also that a lot of criticism comes from the belief that we can & should do better. A lot of Belgian beer culture was lost in the 1970 – 1990 in my opinion. We should let deteriorate further by not adding new things or recapturing what was lost.

Belgian beer geeks are in general very much in love with Cantillon as am I. I know plenty who are very critical of USA sours. Cascade makes lovely beers, Apricot Ale is on par with Fou’ Foune for me.

It is nice & interesting that beers like Duvel & Chimay are a given for us.

As for Spencer, Trappist is a really major brand, obsession here, I couldn’t waste to try Spencer Trappist Ale when it came out. We were all massively excited and anxious to try Spencer Trappist Imperial Stout at a recent tasting, guy paid about the equivalent of 40 – 45 $ for I think. The love affair with Trappist beers is long & lasting here. I do find Spencer Trappist Ale to be rather meh.

Funny that you mention Thiriez in comparison to USA saison’s. Thiriez yeast is probably what most American breweries use for saison yeast: http://allaboutbeer.com/brasserie-thiriez/

Thiriez makes some very nice beers, their quality is very uneven & messy unfortunately.

I might be putting a bit too much value on “new” things but I actually really got into beer after trying an American stout and realizing that beer could taste like coffee, chocolate, look black etc. variety is nice, only after that I discovered lambiek. At the time, interesting in lambiek in Belgium was very limited but that is another story.

 

Belgian styles are my favorite styles: saisons, lambics, Belgian pale ales, krieks, faro, wits, Belgian strong pale ales, gueuze, oud bruin, Flanders red, tripels, dubbels... The list goes on and on. I'd say that 9 out of my top 10 favorite styles are Belgian.

I like waffles too.

 

That is an intriguing thought. As a homebrewer I am very familiar with the Thiriez yeast strain since I have homebrewed with Wyeast 3711 several times. The positive of this yeast is that it is a ‘workhorse’ completing fermentation in a very timely manner with very little fuss or worry (which I can’t say about the Dupont strain). The negative of this yeast from my personal perspective is that it results in a fairly one dimensional beer where the dominant flavors is a spicy flavor (from the phenols) with esters very much in the background.

I have already posted previously my favorite American brewed Saison beers:

“When it comes to the Saison style my favorite is Saison Dupont but IMO American craft breweries make very high quality Saisons: Stillwater (Stateside, Cellar Door,…), Hill Farmstead (Ann and others), Tired Hands (SaisonHands and others), Goose Island Sofie, Ommegang Hennepin,…”

I would be surprised to find out that any of those beers were brewed using the Thiriez yeast strain since they have a more complex flavor profile but there is the possibility that the additions of other ingredients might broaden the overall flavor profile (e.g., Ommegang is well known to add other stuff: Hennepin is brewed using sweet orange peel, ginger, coriander,…).

Cheers!

 

Curious. Would it be possible to use more than one yeast strain at the same time thereby creating some of the more complex flavors?