Will high alcohol Belgian beers ever get hype status?

Anyone who can predict the mind of the Nerd stands to make a walloping amount of money.

 

Well considering I've had Westy 12 multiple times, both aged and fresh, and each time I've been underwhelmed compared to truly good quads like Rochefort 10, La Trappe Quad and St. Bernardus 12, no they won't since, I'm sorry, the style has already been perfected. Only took 500 years or so.

 

Everything is cyclical. Belgian styles will be "in" again at some point.

 

I mostly drink IPAs. I love them. Largely because I find them easy to drink and refreshing.

However, when I want to sit and get philosophical and REALLY think about what I'm drinking - there is nothing like a Trappist ale. A dubbel, tripel, or quad is what you need.

I'd suggest that the Belgian style ale is the most complex beer style. Very enjoyable.

But not all the time.

 

I've thought about this myself. Had a westy several months ago and was blown away. I think sooner or later there will be a craze surrounding belgian quads, especially if a good brewery specializing in them opens up since it is such a wide open market in the U.S.. Nobody was talking about berliner weisse and De Garde came along....

 

Short answer. No.
Long answer. It depends.

 

I love a good Belgian Quad or Tripel. I don't mind if they're less popular for the time being. If others don't enjoy them, then it will be easier for me to find them.

 

I disagree with this in that I would consider Westy 12 to be one of the "truly good quads", but I do agree that if you're expecting Westy 12 to be something far and beyond Rochefort 10 or St. Bern 12, you'll be disappointed. Also agree w/ the sentiment that not much progress has been made in this style in the last few centuries. I certainly like quads and tripels but will shamelessly admit that my taste in beer is not subtle and I prefer boldly flavored Belgian sours and American IPAs/stouts.

 

I guess the OP is about high abv stuff but seems ignorant of the fact that the sour craze here originated with Belgian lambic. It's a much more complex flavor profile than a triple or quad which is why I can see why people wanted to replicate it,

 

At one point, Westy 12 was the #1 ranked beer on this site. So, I'd say they've had a hype phase.

That being said, I love these styles, and despite being pretty anti-standing-in-line, I'd possibly consider doing so to try something like an eisquadrupel.

 

I would say as much as I love bold IPA's and really deep flavored stouts, there is a time I truly enjoy a good Belgian (I enjoy quads but Tripels tend to be my preference) I recently had a couple great Triporteur Full Moon 12's and just had a Westmalle Tripel that was very satisfying. Personally I don't care what the 'Nerds' deem hot, I do not stand in line, I drink what I want out of what is available. If Belgians are less popular, then I should be drinking them as the price is not at a premium because the 'Nerds think it's 'hot'.
If a style is at its peak and has not changed in 500 years so what? Maybe there is a reason...Enjoy it...Do we always have to have 'New and Improved', 'Now with Nitro', 'Bacon Flavor Added'? Try the offerings and enjoy them...Don't like them brew you own variation and corner the market.

 

When I started drinking craft Belgians were the best. Remember that in the mid 1980's there was very little good beer made in America. As I kept drinking more beers and years passed Belgians became less appealing to me and hops started to rule. I much prefer the hoppy citrus IPA to the dark fruit Belgians. I do like tripel but not as an every day or even monthly. Never a fan of dubbel and quad not really either. I think Belgians ruled in the day because they were so different and so flavorful compared to what was available. As time moved on so did our taste and more and more good beers became available in America.

These are all still great beers but I think with all the new flavors will not cone back to the top

Enjoy

 

10 years ago they did.

 

I'd love for doppelbocks, dreifachbocks, hopfenweizens, edelweizens, weizenbocks, etc. to be the nerd beer. I'd be really freaking happy if that ever happened.

 

I hope so

 

My first craft beer ever was Unibroue's La Fin du Monde, which I soon followed up with most of the trappist ales. This left a soft spot in my heart for Belgians, I still go pick up a 750 of la fin du monde every few weeks and would love to see more breweries doing belgian style beers!

 

They already did. In the early years of this site almost all of the highest ranking beers were Belgian. It's only in recent years that IPAs and BBA stouts surpassed them in terms of popularity.

 

Ever? They were. With the high abv stuff. Asking this question means you already missed the lambic train.

 

...and failed.