Are Belgian (style) beers no longer popular?

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by JackHorzempa, May 9, 2021.

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  1. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    In this weekend’s New Beer Weekend thread there has been some posts related to the question posed in this thread’s title.

    In one post I inserted a video of the TV show What’s Brewing where the hosts visited a brewery in my hometown: Workhorse Brewing. A couple of months ago Workhorse brewed a first time seasonal beer Belgian Tripel and Joe Sixpack (Don Russell) commented “That’s good since Belgian’s have fallen off a bit.”

    Joe’s statement started me thinking: are Belgian beers no longer as popular these days? I am personally a little ‘insular’ here since I drink a lot of Belgian beers but by large measure they are my homebrewed beers. Twice a year I homebrew a Dubbel, once a year a Saison, periodically other styles like Tripel, Quad, Belgian Pale Ales,… Maybe these styles are not as popular with other craft beer drinkers?

    Then Chris (@zid) posted a link to an article (see below) in his NBW post concerning Ommegang Brewery who heretofore specialized in Belgian beers. Below are some snippets from that article:

    “No one who listens to or reads Good Beer Hunting needs to be told that Belgian brewing is not the hot thing these days,” he says.

    And:

    “Duvel is, after years of declining sales, seeing the disconnect between what the brand is and what drinkers want. European-inspired, traditional styles aren’t high on most beer drinkers’ lists.”

    Also:

    “New darling Neon Rainbows has been one of the few bright spots in the brewery’s portfolio; it’s now the brewery’s top-seller—a dramatic departure from the company’s Belgian-inspired roots.”

    https://www.goodbeerhunting.com/sightlines/2020/10/30/ommegang-has-to-reconsider-its-belgian-past

    Wow! The fact that the top selling beer for Ommegang is a NEIPA (Neon Rainbows) is news to me.

    Is this trend of Belgian (style) beers declining the same in other areas of the country? Is this an artifact that if the beer isn’t hoppy (i.e., IPAs) that craft beer drinkers no longer have the same interest?

    Cheers!
     
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  2. unlikelyspiderperson

    unlikelyspiderperson Grand Pooh-Bah (3,862) Mar 12, 2013 California
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    My observation is that as you go further back over the last 40 years, Belgian beers and styles stand out more and more as "extreme" styles the pack a lot of flavor and abv compared to the other options on the shelf.

    So I think, if you're the type of person who was drawn to BIG beers back in the day then Belgians were often your go to. Many of those people who are just looking for extremes in beer flavor now have sooo many non-belgian style options that the market for Belgian styles is probably just left with people who really like those specific styles as opposed to anyone interested in big and bombastic beers.
     
  3. Smakawhat

    Smakawhat Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,727) Mar 18, 2008 Maryland
    Pooh-Bah Society

    For me it was.. that was the country that had the beer tradition. A really small country with a huge amount of breweries... it was mindboggling...

    15 years ago...

    Now there are huge amounts of breweries, in my State let alone the U.S. with IPAs dominating the market shelves.

    I even go back to familiar buying places, and I rarely see the imports available for sale anymore. I am a huge tripel fan, and it was even a style lots of US makers were at one point doing often. Bold, big, brash, but then IPAs took over that same mantle (then add in the plethora of juice sweet bombs and there you go). Now that's what everyone makes.

    I remember finding lots of diverse Belgian imports, now they are only just some of the standards that I see, La Chouffe, Duvel, Leffe (no surprise there), and everything else is just piecemeal and scattered.
     
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  4. Smakawhat

    Smakawhat Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,727) Mar 18, 2008 Maryland
    Pooh-Bah Society

    So yes I would say in answer to your question. They aren't popular anymore, with the exception of real niche things like Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen, de Cam etc..

    At one point, particularly when I really started with BA, THAT was the big thing, now nobody even seems to care about Belgian beers. Even the focus on Saison is all American producers who have done exceptional unique work with it.
     
  5. cid71

    cid71 Zealot (590) Mar 2, 2009 New Jersey
    Trader

    I would imagine sours are still ok as they are still pretty popular. But the rest I don't know. I used to drink a lot of tripels myself but I'm more ipas and pilsers, helles, etc
     
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  6. IKR

    IKR Maven (1,466) May 25, 2010 California
    Trader

    Give it time and it wouldn't be surprising to see them come back as the latest thing, e.g. hazy IPAs, Sours, and even Lagers to some extent (a welcome trend for me). A good Belgian, and I mean all the styles, is always welcomed by me.
     
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  7. JBogan

    JBogan Pooh-Bah (1,837) Jul 15, 2007 California
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    If I was told that I could drink nothing but Belgian beers for the rest of my life I'd be perfectly fine with that.
     
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  8. beerthiefdotca

    beerthiefdotca Devotee (397) Nov 19, 2017 Canada (NL)

    I still love good Belgian beers, there are plenty of styles I enjoy. Lambics have been my favourites for over 25 years.
     
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  9. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    It would seem that you and I are minority BAs here?:flushed:

    Dubbels are a favorite of mine but there are plenty of other Belgian beer styles that I really enjoy drinking. I suppose the only Belgian beers that I am not a fan of are the top sellers in Belgium like Jupiler.

    Cheers!
     
  10. champ103

    champ103 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,682) Sep 3, 2007 Texas
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Just anecdotally, I would say none of the traditional styles from the UK, Germany, or Belgium, are as popular as they once were. But I'm use to all the things I like (physical copies of music, books, and general print media, traditional beer styles, practical effects in movies, hell movies that actually use film) becoming less popular.
     
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  11. Bitterbill

    Bitterbill Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,772) Sep 14, 2002 Wyoming
    Pooh-Bah Society

    They're still popular with me. And that's what counts. :wink:
     
  12. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Since I brought up Juplier in my above post this reminded me of an interesting video about a Swedish guy who traveled to Belgium to discuss the top selling beers of Belgium (Jupiler, Stella Artois) and even tried to get an AB InBev corporate person to conduct a blind taste test (towards the end of the video) but…

    Cheers!

    P.S. My recollection is that @Crusader posted the video in a past thread.

     
  13. jts211

    jts211 Pundit (925) Aug 5, 2018 Pennsylvania
    Society Trader

    My go-to beer back in 2002 and 2003 was Weyerbacher Quad Ale, Blithering Idiot, Merry Monks, Victory GOLDEN Monkey, Dogfish Head Tackle Box (Raison D Etre, 60 Min, Indian Brown, Chicory Stout), Delirium Tremens, & whatever Belgians Ottos Pub and Zenos pub had on at PSU Main Campus.

    After college, I kinda got away from the Belgian scene as all those high powered beers are big beers and I wanted to drank lower abv beer like lagers and brown ales for years. Plus my coal cracker part of PA didn’t carry those “college” beers anymore, lol!

    Then, in 2018 I got sucked into the pastry stout/ ipa craze. Noticeable these styles flood the market today and Belgian beer became more and more scarce on the shelves or are very old.

    But I am getting tired of pastry stouts. I’m ready to get back into my roots again and will be seeking out Dark Belgian beer again!
     
  14. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    As they would say in Belgium:

    Proost op onze lever!

    Cheers to our liver!
     
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  15. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Jeremy, you might be interested in knowing that Golden Monkey is a very popular selling beer for Victory. It is my understanding their number one selling brand.

    Cheers!
     
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  16. BigIronH

    BigIronH Grand Pooh-Bah (3,718) Oct 31, 2019 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Maybe the problem is more availability. For me personally I see one of these styles for every 100 IPA’s or stouts so it’s not that I’m not drinking them because I don’t like them, it’s because I don’t see them, and when I do they’re few and far between a million other beers I want.
     
  17. jts211

    jts211 Pundit (925) Aug 5, 2018 Pennsylvania
    Society Trader

    It is unique I’ll say that! I enjoyed it years ago. Recently, I picked up one of the Monkey variants, TwistedMonkey, and I didn’t really like it. I have been trying to find someone to trade with for some Westvleteren 8 and 12. I don’t think these are distributed. Would love to try these two!
     
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  18. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Have you had it within the past 6-ish years? The Golden Monkey of today (and the past few years) is notably different from the Golden Monkey of 2002. An improvement for my palate.

    Cheers!
     
  19. jts211

    jts211 Pundit (925) Aug 5, 2018 Pennsylvania
    Society Trader

    I don’t think so. My brother- in-law and I are planning a get together to do some drinking and the theme is Belgian beer. I’ll put that one on the list :grin:
     
  20. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Please let me know what you think of the 'new' Golden Monkey (e.g., did you prefer the 2002 version?).

    Cheers!
     
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