Hello all! This is an issue that has been in the back of my mind for awhile now. I understand that patersbiers and enkels (distinction notable) are in some sense basic outlines of a given abbey's more complex brews, but while limited in release (i.e. only to the monks of a given abbey) they still seem to satisfy what I'd consider the conventions of a style inasmuch as a dubbel, tripel, or quadrupel does. Certainly, we can't reduce the Enkel label to a "half-malted" dubbel. That's like saying a dubbel is a quadrupel with half the malt. It's fiercely reductionistic. The "Belgian Strong" and "Belgian Pale" categories have long bothered me. The sentiment that Chimay Doree is a "Belgian Pale Ale" seems ridiculous. Is it time we embraced either Patersbier and/or Enkel as its own distinct style? Moreover, I think it's necessary to outline exactly what you consider a style to be. Let's disregard the radical stipulativism of organizations like BJCP here.
