Trying to expand my palate, a little help on Belgians?

[ChessRockwell]

Sorry for the long post, maybe it should go in "drunken ramblings" but I didn't think I'd get the expert opinions there.

So I'm really trying to work on my palate, and learn more about what exactly it is I do and don't like about certain beers. My brain kind of just tends to file things in the "like" or "don't like" category. I've been a big IPA guy for a while now and have learned quite a bit about that style, but recently I've been getting more into the Belgian styles. This was mostly spurred by trying La Fin du Monde, which I absolutely love. To me it's just incredibly smooth, great aroma, and has the perfect amount of sweetness to balance the high abv and make it almost completely undetectable. I'm pretty sure I could drink this exclusively for quite a while before I got sick of it. Anyway, I thought I'd try more of an authentic genuine Trappist ale so I picked up a Westmalle tripel the other night and to be honest I didn't much care for it. Now I'm not good at describing tastes, but here's the best I can do, and I'm hoping some of you with more experienced/trained palates can help me out. To me it tasted a little "hot", I mean you could definitely tell it's 9.5%abv as opposed to La Fin which is almost equal at 9%. Is this because of the dryness? (I read somewhere Westmalle finishes at like 1.008 and I'm not sure but have a feeling La Fin must finish higher as it just seems to have more sweetness all around) Or is it the product of the different phenols/esters produced by different strains of yeast? Aside for the "hotness", Westmalle also tasted much more, what I can only describe as either spicy or skunky. I know skunky isn't the right word as I'm sure it hasn't been damaged by light, but it's just what I want to say. It's a lingering flavor on the tongue that I don't find that pleasant. I guess the other possibility is that it could be bitterness, I also read that Westmalle's tripel was tested several years ago at something like 38 IBU's, which seems high for the style. I love bitterness in IPA's but certain hops give what I would call kind of a "darker" bitterness that I don't like as much as "lighter", more citrus-y american hops. Don't know if that makes any sense to anyone.

So what do you think? I know there are a lot of people on here with MUCH better trained palates than I. What is it I don't like about Westmalle? To add a little more info, I'm currently sipping a La Trappe Quad which I find much more agreeable, and it's at 10%. It's got a little spicy-ness but nothing disagreeable lingering, and seems to hide it's abv better but not quite as well as La Fin. I would probably buy one of these again. So what is the difference? The yeast? The dryness? The hops? Something else?

Anyway, thanks to anyone who even read this whole thing and especially to anyone who responds!

 

[jwf6189]

I'm by no means a palate master, but in my own experience La Fin and a lot of Unibroue brews have a lot of fruity esters that make them unique and easy on my palate. Quads tend to be fruity as well with hints of plum and cherries that I really enjoy.

 

[ChessRockwell]

I'm by no means a palate master, but in my own experience La Fin and a lot of Unibroue brews have a lot of fruity esters that make them unique and easy on my palate. Quads tend to be fruity as well with hints of plum and cherries that I really enjoy.

That definitely makes sense. Honestly I can't think of a beer that I've actually been able to pick out specific fruit notes in, but I love all the hop varieties people describe as "citrusy" or "fruity". I've read Unibroue was more fruity from the yeast, I couldn't pick out any fruits in particular, but I'm thinking that could be what I associate with the "lighter, crisper, more drinkable" taste that I enjoy.

As a side note, I remember now that I tried the Weyerbacher Quad a while ago. Found it pretty "hot" and not really that drinkable. This was a while ago, maybe my taste has changed by now...

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I think some of those Belgians are drier and, particularly in the case of tripels, more balanced than Unibroue's beers. (Some Belgians are extremely malty as well.) You might be getting a lot of the alcohol warmth coming through with the hop bitterness in a way you just don't enjoy. Not all Belgians are strongly fruity in flavor. Some have more of a phenolic taste to them. You might be tasting the phenols and not like them. (Phenols give you clove or nutmeg flavors, like in a hefeweizen.) Could be a combination of several of those things.

One thing that accentuates the alcohol warmth in a lot of those beers is drinking them at fridge temps. If you let them warm up it helps develop more of the flavors and you lose some of the bite from the alcohol.