What makes belgian beers taste belgian?

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pj_rage

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This might be a silly question, but I'm trying to pinpoint what makes belgian beers taste belgian-y. Lately I've been trying a lot of them, and find them to be quite delicious, but very different from any non-belgian style I've tried, and from the strong ales to tripels to quads, they all have a common sort of underlying flavor, and I don't know what the major contributing factor to this flavor is?

Is it a specific malt? Specific hop? Belgian yeast? Or something else?

Or am I not making sense that they "taste belgian" ?
 
It's the flavors put off by the yeast. Belgian yeasts tend to produce some very distinct spicy and fruity flavors whereas most American yeasts are designed to be relatively neutral and showcase the malt and/or hop flavors.
 
Yep, it's the yeast. Now I do not like Belgians, to me Belgian ales taste like pork chops, Belgian Wits taste like finger nails and Saisons like sauerkraut.
 
+1 yeast is the reason.

Take a basic ale recipe (or better yet, a Pilsner) and substitute Belgian yeast, and it's not even close to the same beer.
 
Well I can get on board with Pork Chops and Sauerkraut, I'm not so certain about the fingernails though.
 
Can it be porkchops with sauerkraut? If so hot me up with that recipe in AG format...mmmm meat beer.
 
Yep, it's the yeast. Now I do not like Belgians, to me Belgian ales taste like pork chops, Belgian Wits taste like finger nails and Saisons like sauerkraut.

No lambics or other sour ales? What about a Biere de Garde? Those tend to be fairly light on the yeast funk character. So many wonderful beers, from such a small place. It borders on the unbelievable.
 
They tend to use adjuncts to lighten the body of the beer at such a high gravity, the base ingredients aren't really that different than those used in Germany otherwise.
 
I brewed a Belgian Tripple about six months ago. I just didn't enjoy the flavor. I thought maybe I did something wrong in the brewing process that gave it an "off" flavor. Couldn't describe the taste, but on matter how long I waited, it never got better. Guess Belgian's aren't my style.

NRS
 
They tend to use adjuncts to lighten the body of the beer at such a high gravity, the base ingredients aren't really that different than those used in Germany otherwise.

That sounds about right. We did an Abdey ale that had candy sugar in it.
 
I brewed a Belgian Tripple about six months ago. I just didn't enjoy the flavor. I thought maybe I did something wrong in the brewing process that gave it an "off" flavor. Couldn't describe the taste, but on matter how long I waited, it never got better. Guess Belgian's aren't my style.

NRS

Never, ever, ever, pass judgment on a beer style based solely on your homebrewed interpretation of it, ever.

So your batch didn't turn out like you hoped. Try several commercial examples (dubbels, tripels, lambics, farmyard ales, etc.), then aim to duplicate which you liked best, if any.

For example, the first Koelsch I tried was a homebrew recipe that I got from some blog (this was years back), and I didn't like it. Took me years to try finally find and try a commercial example, and now I've got a damn good (refined) homebrew Koelsch recipe that I love. It really helps to have a good benchmark before making any kind of judgment.

Not everyone likes all, or any, Belgian style ales or lagers, so it's OK if you don't. All I ask is that you try the real thing before dismissing any style from the that region of the world.

Cheers,
TB
 
Thanks for all the responses!

I had a suspicion it was the yeast that was playing the biggest role.

So I guess when I taste a belgian beer I can say the taste is dominated by the yeast, and tastes "yeasty" (granted it's a special belgian yeast), in the same way I would say an IPA is dominated by the hops and tastes hoppy.
 
Mmmmmm. I think I'll get some SWMBO wheat beer on now! Curse you forum!

That is unless someoen can think of something else I should do with my Belgian yeast...
 
+1 yeast is the reason.

Take a basic ale recipe (or better yet, a Pilsner) and substitute Belgian yeast, and it's not even close to the same beer.

Yep...a great example is Stone Brewing's Cali-Belgique. It's essentially their standard IPA recipe with a different yeast. Other than the yeast it's the same beer, but those beasties make a completely different, and wonderful in a different way, beer.
 
Yeast and candi sugar combine to form the prevailing difference between Belgian beers and the rest of the world. The yeast is also fermented at much higher temps to get those characteristics.
 
After reading the thread title I'd have to say....

Because we make them from real Belgians?
 
The real reason is the Belgian spit. Seriously. I visited a Belgium brewery and they all spat in the fermenter as they passed by. 2 or 3 times I saw this and so I asked. "What is it that makes your beer so Belgian?" I said "is it the spit?" And you know what their response was...?

You guessed it. I now do the same thing when I want my beer to taste like a Belgian beer. Fortunately that is a rare occurrence. But it works man, it works!
 
The real reason is the Belgian spit. Seriously. I visited a Belgium brewery and they all spat in the fermenter as they passed by. 2 or 3 times I saw this and so I asked. "What is it that makes your beer so Belgian?" I said "is it the spit?" And you know what their response was...?

You guessed it. I now do the same thing when I want my beer to taste like a Belgian beer. Fortunately that is a rare occurrence. But it works man, it works!

I like my Belgians to have that fresh Belgian taste, so I spit a big luger right into the freshly poured glass. Doesn't get fresher than that.
 
I like my Belgians to have that fresh Belgian taste, so I spit a big luger right into the freshly poured glass. Doesn't get fresher than that.

Genius! Post fermentation spitting, so the CO2 doesn't scrub out the more delicate flavor compounds. Why didn't I think of that?
 
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