Confession About Belgian Beers

I have a confession to make. I have never been able to develop a taste for Belgian beers. I've tried maybe a half-dozen or so and they just don't do it for me. I've never been able to get past the 'funk'. I've tried Dubbels, Trippels, and even some Lambics. Even American beers listed as Belgian-styles don't really appeal to me that much. Whenever someone hands me one I'll smile and drink it, but I don't go back for seconds.

Based on all the fanfare around Belgian beers I feel like I'm missing out. So I've decided that I'm going to give them another go. I'm determined to find some I like, even if I have to drink my way through the entire country. The good news is I won't have to travel, because there is a shop nearby that carries a lot of them.

Today I picked up Delirium Nocturnum and Delirium Tremens. I've heard good things about these. I figure I'll start high-end and work my way down (When I say high-end I mean 'Holy crap - I can't believe I'm paying this much for a bottle of beer').

I'm looking for ideas, so if anyone has anything they think I should try, and I can get my hands on, I will try it and report back.

Thanks and wish me luck!

I'm a fan of the Chimay white. Lots of people who love Belgians aren't a huge fan of Chimay, but it is a good beer IMO. If you aren't a huge fan of the "funk" the Chimay white is pretty restrained in that area.

Try a Belgian IPA. Belgo is awesome, so is Le Chouffee's IPA

I like quads myself. More dark fruit, less funk.

Delirium tremens and duvel started me on the path to righteousness

thood6 said:

Delirium tremens and duvel started me on the path to righteousness

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Hallelujah! Hopefully I too will be saved.

I'm not a Belgian fan, either. I just don't like the fruity taste. I prefer other beers, so I normally don't buy or drink Belgians. I stopped brewing them about a year ago, just because I don't care for them that much. Once in a while, a friend will offer me one so I try again. It's just not my thing. I like many other beers, so I just don't worry about it.

Well if this doesn't work out at least I'm in good company. No one can say I didn't try.

I recently brewed up a bunch of Belgian pale ale. It's not really my thing. I even brewed up 10 gallons of it. Funny thing is, one fermenter had blow off, would did not. I should have kept better track of which bottle came from each one. Some bottles have more of that slight pepper/ phenolic character. The other has a little more astringency. Either way, not my favorite brew ever. Drinkable, certainly not going to dump it, but probably won't bother to attempt a Belgian again. Seems like the love it or leave it kinda beer.

B-boy, do you like Belgian whites? Like hoegaarden?

I didn't used to, but SWMBO does. She likes Leffe particularly. I don't mind it now, and I appreciate some of the others too. It's the same story with white wine (Sauv Blanc mostly).

So my recommendation would be to just drink lots of it until you like it...................

ABT 12? Yums.

The deliriums never did it for me. I only finally got into belgians after trying an assortment of Unibroue. Still some of my favorites and made me fall in love with the style.

Had a dubbel (sp?) a couple weeks back and it wasn't bad but nothing I would write home about either.

I am in the same boat as you though, all the hype but I have no palate for them so I think I will make it a goal at some point to dedicate time to developing that a bit.

I to am not a super big fan of MOST Belgians. I like singles and triples mostly and some stranger ones.

I actually just bottled up (in ref bottles with corks and wires) a spiced pumpkin dark strong and I think it is going to be amazing. I made it last summer and really have no plans to brew up another Belgian style anytime soon. A word of advice if someone else thinks the idea for a spiced pumpkin belgian sounds good, use 1/2 the spice bill you would for a standard pumpkin beer as the spice notes from the yeast ramp up the perception of the spices a lot.

Try Stone's Cali-Belgique. It's a hybrid Belgian/West Coast IPA. Good way to ease into Belgian-style brews. I too am not a huge fan of Belgian beers, but I liked the Cali-Belgique. You could too!

Oblig. Monty Python: Miserable fat Belgian bastards!

I have never liked them either. I would much rather have a clean yeast, and taste the wonderful grain and hops. The only Belgians I like are Wits.

passedpawn said:

ABT 12? Yums.

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Yum is correct. That and westy 12 might be my two favorite Belgian beers.

faithfull44 said:

The deliriums never did it for me. I only finally got into belgians after trying an assortment of Unibroue. Still some of my favorites and made me fall in love with the style.

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Unibroue does have some good Belgian style stuff, and usually much cheaper than trappist or abby ales. They brew a couple things for Trader Joes that are really good for the price IMO. I prefer the Vintage ale over the Providential ale, but both are tasty, and only $6 for a 750ml bottle IIRC.

Belgians of all styles are far and away my favorite. I think my favorites is Gulden Draak, but I can't get enough of almost any belgian style. I have an odd belgian on tap right now that I would classify as an Imperial Amber Saison since idk wtf else to call it. SWMBO lurves it too. I blended wyeast 3711 and white labs 570 used some orange peel and lemon peel in the boil and pacific jade and nelson sauvin hops. So citrusy and nice balanced by the saison and belgian yeasts spicy/earthiness. Damn, now I'm thirsty lol

+1 stone's Cali-belgique

You're beer tastes will mature.

It took me a very long time to develop an appreciation for IPAs. They still aren't my go-to beer. But I can now tell the difference between a good one and a bad one and I can enjoy the good ones.

BBQB said:

+1 stone's Cali-belgique

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Might have to try this. I'm a big fan of anything Stone.

Beernik said:

You're beer tastes will mature.

It took me a very long time to develop an appreciation for IPAs. They still aren't my go-to beer. But I can now tell the difference between a good one and a bad one and I can enjoy the good ones.

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My beer tastes are fairly solid. I tend towards super-malty and hoppy. I like anything English or American. I prefer ales to lagers. I love anything 'Imperial', though i'm not sure what that really means anymore. I'd say barleywines are probably my favorite style. After that Red Ales like Nosferatu. My go to beer would be SNPA, though I do enjoy an occasional Bud. I do have a weird obsession with Schaefer as well. Proably a remnant of my early drinking years.

On the opposite side, I run from anything with the word farmhouse in it. Whenever I've tried farmhouse ales I fell like i'm drinking water someone used to wring out their gym socks.

JuanMoore said:

Yum is correct. That and westy 12 might be my two favorite Belgian beers.

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I've had Westy 12. Again, didn't feel a need for a repeat.

I'm gonna make a list of everything you guys mentioned and see what I can find locally. Thanks for all the ideas.

I agree about the Belgians, particularly anything really light. I bought one of those $20 6-pack variety packs about a year ago. 4 of them were not my style, but there were two in there that were worth repeating.

Piraat is very good, I don't remember who made it, but the name is unique, so it should be easy to find.

The other, and my favorite Belgian beer, is called Gulden Draak. It comes in a bottle with a big white plastic wraparound label. If you can find that one, get it!

Everybody's palates differ. I love some styles. Some I don't care for. If we all liked the same thing, we might all be stuck with BMC.

I never used to like them, but they've grown on me. Still not my favorite style though. On the lighter side, Leffe is good. On the darker side, I really liked the Rochefort 10.

I like Belgians because you really have to think about it. You get so many flavors that are different from anything else out there. I run towards any beer that is Belgian/sour/wild/farmhouse etc. It helps to have a local beer bar (100+ taps) that keeps a good amount of Belgians in stock at all time and has a huge Belgian Beer Fest every year. My advice would be to keep trying all the different style of Belgians and find one you like, drink a lot of it, and then start branching out. I've really come to love them, even though there are so many it's hard for me to really learn or remember which ones I like.

I LOVE BELGIANS. Definitely my favorite style. My favorites are Rochefort 10, Duvel, La Chouffe, Kwak, La Trappe Quad, Gulden Draak... I could go on but I would say if you try a La Trappe Quad or a Rochefort 10 and don't care for them then you officially just plain don't like Belgians.

My favorite Belgian is Duvel, which is a golden strong ale. Super dry and carbonated with a wonderful malt character and not a lot of funk. It is the best example of a Belgian golden strong ale.
Another favorite is Saison DuPont. Again very light in color and body, very dry, high carbonation, and very complex Malt and spice character. I would not cal it funky.

Experiment #1: Delirium Tremens

I popped this open about an hour ago. Very higly carbonated and the whitest head I have ever seen. I poured it into a regular mixing glass since I posess no fancy beerware. The first pour was 3/4 foam.

I took a sniff and I immediately recognized the 'funky Belgian' scent coming off this beer. Tastewise, it was pretty subdued, but it was still there. Rather than embracing it I found myself trying to keep the beer toward the back of my throat to avoid the aftertaste. I don't know why I don't like the flavor. It's not bad, but it's not good either. To me it is just a bit unpleasant. I can't explain it. After about 20 minutes it was a lot more palatable, but that could just be the 8.5% ABV talking.

I googled this beer and it is highly praised everwhere. It was voted best beer in the world in 2008. I'm just not getting it. It is a cool bottle though. Oh well, tomorrow I'll give the Delerium Nocturnus a try.

I adore Belgos, the older the better.

But not all beers are for everyone. I think Flying Dog Raging ***** is an awesome Belgo IPA. If you don't enjoy that, then the Belgos are just not for you. They do eat their fries with Mayo after all, not for everyone.

I'm with you man. USA! USA!

Cyclman said:

I adore Belgos, the older the better.

But not all beers are for everyone. I think Flying Dog Raging ***** is an awesome Belgo IPA. If you don't enjoy that, then the Belgos are just not for you. They do eat their fries with Mayo after all, not for everyone.

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I've had fries with mayo. I had an English friend who used to eat them that way. They are pretty good. Not as good as poutine, but pretty good.

I've also had Raging *****. Didn't like it.

I'm not giving up yet. I will find a Belgian I like. I've switched to Arrogant Bastard for now though.

b-boy said:

...I don't know why I don't like the flavor. It's not bad, but it's not good either. To me it is just a bit unpleasant. I can't explain it. ...

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B-boy,

Do you like other styles of beer that are yeast-focused?

For a long time, I didn't like Hefeweizens. I liked lots of different lagers, ales, pales ales, IPAs, etc. But I didn't like 'wheat beers,' as I called them at the time. I thought that wheat gave a beer some sort of funky taste.

I had been brewing for more than a year before I realized that the esters and phenols produced by different yeast strains varied so greatly. I learned that the flavors I detected in 'wheat beers' were not from the wheat, but from the yeast. Once I realized this, I was able to focus more on the different flavors contributed by the yeast in beers, and learn to appreciate them. I must say that I've made a 180 and now like most Hefes I taste. In fact, I have a keg of my honey wheat conditioning in the kegerator right now. And I happen to have a Belgian Witbier brewed w/ Wyeast 3944 in primary.

I agree with Thood that you should give Hoegaarden a shot. It's a Belgian Witbier, which is great for summertime. I think it's a good beer for you to try because it's a lighter beer - you won't get a lot of malty flavors - and you will be able to taste the flavors produced by the yeast. Keep in mind that they brew this beer with orange peel and coriander, so those flavors aren't from the yeast. I'm sure someone will argue with me that there's a better witbier out there, but Hoegaarden's easy to drink and I like it.

Cheers!

I haven't had too many commercial belgians, but I find myself consistently brewing them. Love me some WLP 550. Use it for blondes/doubles/tripples, and also fun to use for belgian IPAs. Definitely don't brew 5gallons of a style you don't like, but personally I dig the belgian yeast. Looking forward to trying 3711 in a few styles this summer.

Cyclman said:

I adore Belgos, the older the better.

But not all beers are for everyone. I think Flying Dog Raging ***** is an awesome Belgo IPA. If you don't enjoy that, then the Belgos are just not for you. They do eat their fries with Mayo after all, not for everyone.

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I've had the Raging *****, I didn't think it was as "Belgian" as I was expecting. Just an IPA with Belgian yeast, pretty nice but I think calling it a Belgian style beer is a bit of a stretch! Particularly since very hoppy beers aren't exactly the epitome of traditional Belgian beer styles.

As someone mentioned above the Saison Dupont is nice.

Try a saison dupont or a Ommegang terrapin. Saison is a easy drinker and one of my favorite styles. I cant imagine anyone drinking a Chimay Premiere and not liking it. But everyone has different tastes so i get it.