Suggest a Belgian style...

Quad

 

i agree on quad, check the bottle date and see if you can find one with a little age. It'll be lighter on the yeasty phenols you said you didn't like.

 

I Love most Belgian beers and drink them as often as my budget allows. They are by far some of the highest cost brews I buy but worth it IMO. Some of my favorites in the darker range are:
St. Bernardous ABT 12
Chimay Grand Reserve (Blue) and Premier (Red)
Maredsous Brune
Spencer (American Trappist)
Troegs Jovial, if you can get it in your area is one of the only domestic brews that comes close to an authentic dubble.

Hope this helps, enjoy!

 

Quad or Strong Dark Ales

 

In addition to quads I would include dubbels which are slightly lighter versions of quads, but still robust. In fact, since you're coming from the world of british and german beers, which ride on nuance, start with dubbels first then go into quads.

If you hate clove, stay away from Tripels.

 

"it's only clove that I dislike." The clove flavor is a phenol and the Belgian yeast stains used to brew Abbey/Trappist style ale tend to produce phenols (including the phenol that tastes like cloves).

A number of folks have suggested the darker styles like Quads and Dubbels but the yeasts used to produce those beer tend to produce phenols. Maybe the other aspects of those beers (e.g., darker specialty malts and/or dark candi sugars) may tend to 'obfuscate' the phenols that the yeast produce or maybe not.

Perhaps Abbey/Trappist style ales are not your 'thing'?

Cheers!

 

There are a lot of great Belgian Christmas ales this time of year, not really to any specific style other than "Belgian Strong Dark Ale". One of my personal faves that's a bit under the radar is Gouden Carolus Christmas ale. It's sweet, with a definite anise flavor. Can't go wrong with anything from St. Bernardus either.

 

Not dark, but...



I mean come on.

 

You dislike the phenol "clove" profile produced by many Belgian ale yeasts, especially Abbey ale yeasts. All the recommendations for dubbels, quads, dark strongs, etc. will have that character. IMO you may be out of luck when it comes to finding dark Belgian ales if you dislike this character. Maybe try a dark saison?

 

While not truly belgian, trois pistoles is a great dark belgian ale that is more focused on dark fruits and less phenolic. Also, alot of american quads, while not always dark, also seem less phenolic than their belgian counterparts.

 

Do you have any examples of Belgians you've tried that do have the clove flavor you dislike?

 

Quads/strong darks ... everybody's right about that.

But don't underestimate the power of the dubbel ...

 

How about the dunkel lager (or schwarzbier? I know its not belgian but it does present the same basic dark malt flavors as the dubbels and quads without the high abv and without the phenols form a Beligan yeast. It is not as bubbly as a belgian but close and the deep rich flavors are all there without clove. Same with the schwarzbier.

Besides dubbels, quads and the strong dark ale the other darkER belgian are the flanders red and flanders brown or oud bruin.

 

I sometimes really do not get this forum
"I don' like yeast strains that produce clove-like flavours""Hey, here are dozens of beers that are famous for clove-like flavours.."
Reminds me of "Im searching for a Pilsner Urquell substitute""Hey, here are hundreds of german pilsners"..

Seriously, I would suggest a belgian amber-ale like the classic De Koninck. It's not entirely dark, but it is a great session ale with a character all its own.
Otherwhise, yeah, the clove character is what defines the taste profile of a lot of belgian beers. When you don't like it, maybe most trappist- or abbey-style beers just are not for you..

 

Yes, rather point here I think. If I didn't care for a taste note common among a group of beers I would just avoid the group entirely.

 

Just to echo the above, Belgian probably isn't your thing. You could always go down the sours route.

 

Oud bruin