Belgian Beer Appreciation Thread (2023)

Just drank a Cigar City Cosmic Crown Belgian golden ale. Part of a mixed 12 pack. Nice Belgian yeast and banana with a light bitter finish. Brewed with Galaxy, not sure what that adds here.

Enjoy

 

Cross posted from the March Madness thread, a bottle of Duchesse De Bourgogne. Unlike the bottle I posted earlier in this thread, this is a fresher bottle, dated BB 2025/01/25

 

Now drinking a bottle of Piraat for the first time. earthy herbal aroma, a little clove, on top of bready malt. similar taste, a little sweetness, a touch boozy. thinner bodied, but still coats the tongue. fairly lively carbonation

 

Rodenbach Red Tripel...their 200th (!!) Anniversary beer!

A really beautiful beer. Mild tart cherry, big oak, soft wheat & faint clove notes here.

 

Do you have a preference for how much aging for Orval? Is the one year mark the 'sweet spot' for you?

Cheers!

P.S. Here is a video about a vertical tasting of Orval:

 

Saison Dupont, one of my Belgian favorites.

 

Since @Beersnake1 brought up Orval I figured I would 'recycle' the below post I made in the NBW thread discussing a side-by-side tasting:

Ow, we want the funk - Give up the funk

Today’s tasting aren’t exactly new beers to me but it is a new drinking experience so…

The commercial beer is Orval and the other beer is my homebrewed version of Orval.

Orval is a unique beer in several ways:

While the other Trappist Monasteries brew a number of brands of beer (e.g., Dubbel, Tripel…) the Orval Monastery only brews one brand of beer labeled: Orval.

Also, Orval is brewed using Brett which is not used by the other Belgian/Dutch Trappist breweries. The other aspect that is unique to Orval is that it is dry hopped (likely only noticeable in very fresh bottles).

There is an interesting backstory to Orval (from the article linked below):

“According to legend, around 1070, Countess Matilda, from Tuscany, went to Orval, shortly after the death of her husband Godfrey the Hunchback. Sitting on the banks of the source, she dropped the wedding ring, a souvenir of her late husband. The search for the ring proved fruitless. After a prayer at a nearby church, Matilda returned to the stream. Suddenly a fish leaned out of the water, holding the countess's ring in its mouth. Delighted Matilda exclaimed: "really this place is Val d'Or" or the golden valley. Out of gratitude, she decided to found a monastery in this area.”

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Brettanomyces

The aspect of a fish/ring is depicted on the label on the bottle of Orval:



Now, when it came to homebrewing a version of Orval I leveraged a blog by Ed (I don’t know his last name) who visited the Orval Monastery in 2015. I provide a link to his blog in the article.

I keep using the verbiage of “version” for my homebrewed beer since not all of the needed brewing details are provided in Ed’s blog so I had to do some guessing plus I also leveraged my past homebrewing of Belgian Trappist style beers to influence the recipe of my version.

I think I should also caveat that these two beers are not of the same age; Orval was bottled 10/13/21 and my version was bottled 5/14/21. I think folks might be interested in knowing that Orval provided a best by date of 10/13/26.

So, how close does my homebrewed version come? Let’s find out!

Beers served in small tulip glasses:

Appearance

Jack’s version of Orval: Deep golden colored with a BIG fluffy white head. This beer has excellent head retention as the beer is consumed creating a beautiful Belgian lace.

Orval: Light/medium amber in color with a BIG fluffy white head.

Aroma

Jack’s version of Orval: An enticing and vibrant combination of fruity and funky aromas.

Orval: Muted in comparison with noticeable but subtle funky and fruity aromas.

Taste:

Jack’s version of Orval: On the palate the flavor profile is skewed towards funky (barnyard-like) than the fruit and there is also a tiny bit of phenolic (e.g., spicy) flavor as well. Just a bit of biscuity malt flavor. A moderate bitterness.

Orval: Follows the nose with subtle but noticeable flavors of funk and fruit. The is a noticeable biscuity malt flavor. A moderate bitterness.

Mouthfeel

Jack’s version of Orval: Highly carbonated (spritzy for the first few sips), medium bodied and a very dry finish.

Orval: Highly carbonated, medium bodied with a very dry finish.

Overall

Jack’s version of Orval: This beer is very good – excellent.

Orval: Very good.

These two beers have a very similar aroma/flavor profile but there is a notable difference in flavor intensity; likely due to the difference in bottle age.

For those of you that homebrew you too can make your version of an Orval; the recipe is included in the article linked above.

Cheers!

 

I have been a BA member for 7 years and I am Belgo-phile (my term, but I'll share it.)
This is my first post on a Belgian Beer Appreciation (yes, I have been living under rock.)
I offer three comments.

First, the thread proves a lot can be said in three months (some 400 messages, if I understand partially what is really going on here.) Where this thread ends is anyone's guess.

Second comment... I've given some thought to why some palates prefer Belgians and conclude some palates prefer fruit to spice. Belgian-style yeasts produce fruit better than other styles and yet require fewer spices to create balance. This subtlety also explains for me how it takes North American brewers so long to achieve the quality of the true Belgians.

My third unrelated comment is that my BA count of Belgian inspired brews has remained constant at just over 30%. But as we know, that number is just how many of a specific brew we've drunk once. So about three years ago, I joined UnTappd because I wanted to know how many total Belgians I was drinking and I soon discovered the % was more than double. Not a criticism of BA (for I think it is a fun place), but it is important to count what one likes.

Thanks for starting the thread, but I conclude this is all too much to digest.

 

Hmm, I am not 100% certain I am completely following your thought here:

Fruity vs. spicy

You specify “require fewer spices to create balance”. Are there other beer styles (yeast) which requires more spices to achieve balance (maybe Hefeweizen?)?

Belgian beer yeasts fruity vs. spicy

I homebrew a lot of Belgian ales (e.g., Dubbel, Trippel, Quad, etc.) and a preferred yeast strain for me is Wyeast 3787 (reportedly the Westmalle yeast strain) and I create fermentation conditions which foster both esters (fruity flavors) and phenols (spicy flavors) to achieve a balance of both fruity & spicy. I also pick up this balance in imported Belgian ales. Perhaps I am in the minority that appreciates both spicy and fruity?

On a related note I just wrote an article with some discussion included concerning my homebrewed Dubbel:

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Why_Homebrew_Beer

Cheers!

 

You make an interesting point, but I'm making a generalization. Part of it is that I consider hops and spices from the yeast to both serve as spicing that, when it is doing its job, balances the fruit. Not being a brewer, I focus less on ingredients and more on how the balance emerges... being a malt-head.

 

I'm glad you brought Belgian sampler packs into the discussion and maybe they deserve a thread of their own.

I developed the taste for Belgians from sampler packs; making it easier to analyze styles and variations within styles. Many of the samplers are good ways to collect beautiful Belgian tulips and goblets also. Tho not Van Steenberge's sampler as I wish I had a few of their glasses. I also wish Global Beer Network and their new owner (forget their name, but doing a good job) would change up the contents of the Van Steenberge sampler.

I've been buying GBN's sampler for a dozen years, but it seems like it has not changed for several. Consequently, I buy it less frequently. But I've still tried more of Van Steenberge's brews than any Belgian brewer, 22 uniques if memory is correct.

 

One of my favorites, it's been too long since the last one.

Unibroue La Fin du Monde

 

Heres an outstanding Farmhouse ale from 2 Rowe aged in White wine barrels..Its super crisp, a little fruity and has a strong barrel finish. It's a real contender

 

I just posted in the Chimay Blue thread which included:

"During this web search I read some ‘hits’ which reminded me that Chimay has a ‘new’ brand out now: Chimay Green (150). I have yet to see this beer at any of my local beer retailers but I hope to someday."

Have any of y'all seen this 'new' beer from at your local beer retailers? If you have tried this beer, what do you think of it?

Cheers!

 

Typically, we here in the capital of the Midwest get new brews close-to-last because both coasts (at least the Bay Area on the west) are the first to get Belgium's good stuff. That said, I had Chimay Green about a year ago, reviewed it and checked-in 4 more on UnTappd. So I keep finding it here in the hinterlands HQ.

If you find it, buy as much as you can. Even if you don't like it, you will have friends for life.