What Belgians can you recommend?

Mashing
1

The last couple of years I’ve brewed two Belgian beers, Duvel and Belgian Blonde (La Chouffe). I would like to add one more Belgian to my repertoire.
Any suggestions ?
I have Ardennes and Belgian Strong 1388, but happy to order another yeast. I have fermentation temp control and access to a fairly good inventory of malts.

2

Saison? WLP 566 Saison II is a great yeast, easy to work with. You’l want to start at 66-68, and then ramp it up to the high 80s after 3-5 days.

3

I have a Belgian IPA on tap right now that’s mighty good. I would no way call it a traditional Belgian, but good none the less.

4

Belgian Dark Strong
Tripel
Dubbel
Witbier
Orval-type brett funk pale ale

this is all assuming you don’t want to wait the 18 months+ for a lambic, gueuze, oud bruin, or flanders red.

5

If you are refering to using another yeast, I would recommend either the corsendonk yeast(Leuven pale ale) or the wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity. You can make a wide range of Belgians with those. Also what about Sours? You could get a sour culture and change it up a bit…

6

You could brew up a NZ Abbey tripel featuring tropical local hops.
Make it 6-7-8 %, whatever. Make it as strong as you like.
With an IBU/SG of .750/1- or go 1/1 if you want one that’ll really bite your tongue.

7

I haven’t tried many belgians, so I don’t know how it compares, but I love Tallgrass’ Velvet Rooster. I’ll be brewing it this weekend.

8

[quote=“Scott Miller”]You could brew up a NZ Abbey tripel featuring tropical local hops.
Make it 6-7-8 %, whatever. Make it as strong as you like.
With an IBU/SG of .750/1- or go 1/1 if you want one that’ll really bite your tongue.[/quote]

Great idea. But, I think that is too much bitterness. I didn’t realize the OP was in NZ… I think a tripel with an OG of about 1.080 (including 2 lbs of simple sugar) with 35 IBUs or so of tropical NZ hops should be really nice.

9

Since you have two light styles in your repertoire, I’d go with dubbel or BDS. I spent a lot of time brewing dubbels, people like those.

10

I’m not a huge Belgian fan but I brewed NB’s Belgian Strong Golden

in February and it’s excellent. Just be very patient with it and it will reward you. Mine is about 10.5% ABV and it drinks like a Stella. Fantastic beer.

11

Rodenbach! Regular or Grand Cru. Best Belgian beer I’ve ever tasted.

12

Kwak for me - - it is really good

13

If you want to go for a traditional Belgian, I recommend you try a clone or kit of a Trappist beer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trappist_beer

Some of them have very simple grain bills, like Westvleteren 8 or 12, but are better when brewed with authentic candi syrup.

I’ve enjoyed brewing a variety of Belgians, and recently bottled a clone of Pannepot, which is actually Finnish. In fact this is a good reminder to open one to ensure it bottle conditioned successfully!

Here’s a link to some clones based closely on the real deal. For great insight into brewing Belgian beers I also recommend you read “Brew Like a Monk” by Stan Hieronymus.

http://www.candisyrup.com/recipes.html
14

Edit: OK, since my original joke post was met with silence bordering on scorn 8) , I’ll get back on topic.

I have to agree with Tom on all counts:

A darker and perhaps maltier brew would be a good contrast. Also, I absolutely love dubbels and Trappist ales.

I made something very similar to NB’s Dubbel kit a while back and liked it quite a bit. I felt like the recipe was solid, and any problems it had were in my execution…If I recall correctly, I ended up wishing I’d fermented warmer than I did.
:cheers:

15

Anchorage Brewing Co. uses Ardennes in their Saison.

http://embracethefunk.com/2012/03/09/ga ... qa-recipe/ http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24903/72810/
16

You could try for a lambic or if you have patience a lambic gueuze. I recently came back from Belgium, loved the Noir de Dottingnies by De Ranke, might be in a bottle shop. Or Saison Regal. Sounds like you should do a saison, lambic or dubbel.

17

thanks all. I’m thinking towards a clone of Orval at the mo.

18

I know its an InBev product, and I’m loathe to reccomend anything from them… but…

I’ve alwaye been big fan of Leffe, you may want to try a few bottles of that and see how that inspires you.

19

[quote=“Trimack”]I know its an InBev product, and I’m loathe to reccomend anything from them… but…

I’ve alwaye been big fan of Leffe, you may want to try a few bottles of that and see how that inspires you.[/quote]

I actually came here to say the same thing, almost to a word.