I know I did but it’s been a long time. I probably also tasted it when I had sampled other Belgians so my tastebuds may have been ravaged by that point. Someone mentioned Leffe Blonde as a “gateway” Belgian beer. My wife and I were at a Yardhouse Pub with 200 beers on tap so we ordered one. Blech. We ordered some others as well. I would have no issue grabbing some Duvel next time I’m at the bottle shop. If I like it… awesome! If not, I’ll throw the rest of them into the Klopek’s yard.
I used to be that way with blow you outta the water with IBU’s IPA’s!! Terrible!! Then one day I liked them. Then one day my palette said no more!! I can’t taste anything else!
Sours! Sours suck and even though I ALWAYS get a splash from a newly visited brewery, just to try them, I haven’t had one yet that doesn’t remind me of drinking OJ right after brushing my teeth.
I look at beer lovers who turn their nose up to Belgians the same way I look at people who say they don’t like coffee. I don’t trust 'em and I consider them people of low class and lower standards. (I kid! Well, not about the coffee part)
yeah, i actually don’t go nuts for rochefort because of its lower phenols than some others. i will happily drink it and enjoy it, but i almost don’t consider it part of the strong belgians in my mind.
i think theres lots of room for lower ABV belgians btw, which i believe i’m going to try out this fall. i’m thinking some british grists but with belgian yeasts, also some higher IBU belgians.
Funny you say that. I just picked up a pack of WY1762 for my next brew - a light bitter inspired by Ron Pattinson’s recent string of articles on AK. Rochefort’s strain is allegedly of British origin, and the genetics support that. I thought it would be cool to test it in some British Ale styles.
i have it in my head that a fully dark roasted malt ie black malt, chocolate malt wouldn’t be to my taste in a belgian.
but a beer i’ve always wanted to really make a 100% clone of was my memory of gouden carolus classic. maybe something like that but scaled back to 4.5 to 5.5% ABV, most candi sugar replaced with a dark crystal malt to help the body at that lower gravity.
re: 1762, i remember denny saying that he uses it at cool temps for good results. i haven’t used it or 540 yet though. there’s also that aspect of belgian yeasts vs british. i bet you would get some more extreme stuff if you fermented british yeasts in the mid 70s.
I’ve done a few versions over the years. I’m using t-58 and about 30 IBUs of perle, just pils malt. It’s basically just a North German pils with Belgian yeast. I’ve used crystal or mt hood in the past, any noble-ish hops work.
There’s a recipe Michael referenced in another blog post from that Candi syrup company that is more like 40 ibus and 1/2 lb of sugar. Westy purportedly uses a mix of 50/50 pale and pils, fwiw.
I’m kegging a batch tomorrow that is a 50/50 blend of pale and pils with a lb. of cane sugar, EKG and SG (Bobek), and 3787. OG 1.059, FG probably between 1.008 and 1.010 (I call it a Belgian Blonde, but it’s probably not really to style).
I’m going to harvest some of the 3787 slurry and pitch 100% pils malt and either all SG or maybe SG and Saaz. I’m targeting an OG of 1.051 for that.
Reminds me of a music podcast in which a music critic said that they feel a bit bad when they don’t like an album/song/artist as much as others because they wish they could truly understand and appreciate why others like it as though they might be missing something…
I am with Northern Brewer in his assertion that a lot of yeast strains we associate with Belgian beer are actually British in origin. The Brits have been brewing beer commercially for a lot longer than the Belgians.
