Belgian beers, why do I not care for them?

[betarhoalphadelta]

If you're getting a hot alcohol bite, it's a crappy Belgian.

My guess is that you're not used to the big fruity esters that you get from the Belgian yeasts.

Hmm... Maybe I should crack a bottle of Stone Cali-Belgique tonight. Great stuff

 

[JoeinUccle]

Ok, I have tried a few different Belgian brews and can not get over the sharp sweet bite that they have, if that is a proper description. I tried a Homebrew Triple, a New Belgian Tripple, a Delirium Tremens and a Delirium Noel and they all have that "bite" to them that I just can't get over. I drink a large variety of beers and this style just doesn't suit me.

What is this taste/bite that I am tasting in these beers.

Thanks

I'm a "belgophile" as far as that goes, and I happen to really dislike all three of the beers you mention. Cloying and hot. I tend to find most tripels a bit useless anyway, except those few like Westmalle that have enough bitterness to back up the alcoholic sweetness.

(Belgian is not a "style." The variety of beers from that country is mind-boggling, and indeed Belgian beer people tend to reject the styles that American homebrewers seem to memorize. But I digress.)

My suggestion? Go for lighter, drier stuff. Orval. Taras Boulba. Saison Dupont. Please don't reject all of Belgian beer for a few strong ales that might be better drunk (IMO!) out of pint-sized tins by homeless guys in train stations.

 

[itsme6582]

I'm not a big fan of Belgian's but I really like Stone's IPA brewed with Belgian yeast. The hops and funkyness are great together.

Stone Cali Belgique

 

[Gear101]

Taste like sweet tea that someone put everclear into me, the pale ales. I do like the stouts and the Bret B beers.

 

[skw]

Different people, different tastes. I don't like Belgian beers very much, and I don't care for wheat beer either.

 

[iambeer]

Ah, my friend, you haven't tasted my quad. 11% ABV and no bite whatsoever.

I agree, Chimay Red is my favorite commercial dubbel. When you become well-versed in brewing this style, you will see that you can brew a dubbel as good or better than Chimay. The problem is that these beers are among some of the most difficult to brew, from recipe formulation to fermentation.

My two favorite brewing styles are Trappist-style ales, and hoppy American beers. They are not mutually exclusive.

Coincidentally I"m about to brew my first chimay red dubbel. As this is my first attempt with the recipe and yeast, I have little idea of how it will turn out. But I thought I'd bounce the recipe off if anyone can supply some advice.

3 gal

Maris Otter 6.7 lbs
Cara Munich 5 oz
Aromatic 2 oz
Chocolate malt 1 oz
Caramelized sugar 10oz

Styrian Golding Pellets at 60 minutes .8 oz and 30 minutes .3 oz

WL trappist ale.

60F ambient fermentation (I also have 70F available but it seems wrong)

I didn't create this recipe but I trusted it even though the grain doesn't seem right now that I'm actually reading it. Because the grains seem too complicated and not belgian or german.

Maybe one day I will be able to even fathom the quad but today I'm all about the dub.

 

[Beer_Eugenics]

Because your brain says so.

 

[DirtyOldDuck]

Rest assured its not green, its been brewing basically the same way with the same yeasts for thousands of years Pretty cool being able to taste history if you ask me.

Intellectually, I know this. Unfortunately, my roommate made crappy beer with a strong taste of yeast (hell it was probably brewer's yeast from the health food store or bread yeast from the supermarket since there were no LHBS back then). Belgian beers remind me of those beers.

 

[pdxal]

To each their own. I like most Belgian beer, but am not into IPAs much. Everybody has their own tastes and things they like.
Besides flavors driven by yeast (phenols and esters), high levels of carbonation (which gives a bite), and drinking them too cool another reason some people don't like them is that they finish dry. Some like their beers with a higher FG, and Belgian beers are generally "digestible" and finish with a lower FG.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

You probably haven't found the right one. There's almost for sure some belgian you like unless you only like hoppy pale ales and that's it.

Some of my favorite Belgian (or Belgian inspired) beers

Chimay (can't go wrong with any of them)
Westvleyern (almost for sure spelling that wrong, I think I had 10 and loved it)
Ommegang Three Philosophers and Rare Vos
Duvel
Brooklyn Local 1
Riverhorse Tripel Horse
Allagash Black, White, Four, and Yakuza

I think the real key is finding the right one for your taste. I typically like big triples, strongs or quads, because they have a multitude of fighting flavors.

Also remember like homebrew, be careful how you pour your belgians.

 

[rexbanner]

Coincidentally I"m about to brew my first chimay red dubbel. As this is my first attempt with the recipe and yeast, I have little idea of how it will turn out. But I thought I'd bounce the recipe off if anyone can supply some advice.

3 gal

Maris Otter 6.7 lbs
Cara Munich 5 oz
Aromatic 2 oz
Chocolate malt 1 oz
Caramelized sugar 10oz

Styrian Golding Pellets at 60 minutes .8 oz and 30 minutes .3 oz

WL trappist ale.

60F ambient fermentation (I also have 70F available but it seems wrong)

I didn't create this recipe but I trusted it even though the grain doesn't seem right now that I'm actually reading it. Because the grains seem too complicated and not belgian or german.

Maybe one day I will be able to even fathom the quad but today I'm all about the dub.

Definitely don't want to use Maris Otter for a dubbel, it will make it toasty which isn't really a flavor you're going for and will clash. Use pils instead.

Otherwise, the recipe looks very good so long as your caramelized sugar is fairly dark. You are going to want a fairly prominent raisin flavor in there. Trust me, I've made lighter dubbels and it just doesn't work. You want a good candi syrup around 90 SRM.

 

[TNGabe]

Ok, I have tried a few different Belgian brews and can not get over the sharp sweet bite that they have, if that is a proper description. I tried a Homebrew Triple, a New Belgian Tripple, a Delirium Tremens and a Delirium Noel and they all have that "bite" to them that I just can't get over. I drink a large variety of beers and this style just doesn't suit me.

What is this taste/bite that I am tasting in these beers.

Thanks

Two of those beers aren't Belgian and the two that are Belgian, aren't very good. Don't write off a country with thousands of beers because you don't like the two you've tried. What beers do you like a lot? Maybe we can suggest a few other Belgians to try.

 

[domdom]

a german guy i met made a very firm argument that belgian beer isn't really "beer" in the traditional sense. didn't say it was bad or he hated it, but kinda like the difference between wine and brandy. guess you could say they were the original style breakers of brewing.

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

Duvel!!!

 

[jaynik]

I want to like them but they give me the sensation of gagging. I think it is a combination of the yeast and something in Belgian malt. It's like eating a whole bunch of bananas or something. I'm not talking about the hefe type banana flavor either which I also can't drink.

 

[TNGabe]

a german guy i met made a very firm argument that belgian beer isn't really "beer" in the traditional sense. didn't say it was bad or he hated it, but kinda like the difference between wine and brandy. guess you could say they were the original style breakers of brewing.

The difference between wine and brandy is distillation.

 

[drainbamage]

a german guy i met made a very firm argument that belgian beer isn't really "beer" in the traditional sense. didn't say it was bad or he hated it, but kinda like the difference between wine and brandy. guess you could say they were the original style breakers of brewing.

He probably meant it in the sense that the Belgian beer world is about the polar opposite of Reinheitsgebot. Belgian brewers see nothing wrong with adding fruit, spices, wild yeasts, and so on. To many Germans, that would still be blasphemous.

How do you really argue what is and isn't beer though? Several centuries ago, the finest German pilsener wouldn't have been considered beer in the traditional sense, because there was no such thing as light-colored beer.

 

[iambeer]

How do you really argue what is and isn't beer though? Several centuries ago, the finest German pilsener wouldn't have been considered beer in the traditional sense, because there was no such thing as light-colored beer.

The German Beer Purity Law pretty much defines what is beer, especially to Germans, and it was first created before the discovery of yeast. So from the German perspective, it makes perfect sense that Belgian beer isn't traditional beer. He could simply have said no beer is traditional beer unless it follows the Purity Law. We can refer to history to tell us where beer comes from and how a rational state without the crucial knowledge of yeast was able to control production of ale--and fortunately, we can experiment a lot more now without needing such rules.