Yep, most Belgians must be an acquired taste for me. I’m trying to be a fan but I’m really not! So, far I’ve made a Belgian pale ale and Patersbier AG kits from our sponsor. Everyone I gave them to loves them. Good thing 'cause other wise I would still have 5 gallons of each! They have done great in competitions, several gold medals in 500+ entries competitions. Still, I’m not loving them.
At first I thought I just wasn’t tasting good examples? So,I’ve even made an effort to judge both Belgian/French ales & Belgian Specialty category during the last 2 comps. Each time the co-judge raved on about how great 3 or 4 of those beers were in each category. Still not loving them. So, I guess it wasn’t bad examples just poor taste on my part. Bring on the English, American and German styles for me.
I’ve heard some people say that they started out disliking Belgians and eventually started to enjoy them. I have tried quite a few and I’m with the OP… I do not care for Belgians. Some are overly complex, others are bubble gummy, etc. Not for me. But… I am an unusual homebrewer. I have been brewing for almost 13 years and I do not make stouts, porters, hefes, Belgians or IPAs. Ever. It’s not that I can’t enjoy some of those occasionally but I do not want 5 gallons of something that is going to be around forever. I like APAs, ESBs, Festbiers, Helles, Kolsch, Alt, Pilsners, Czech Lagers, Amber Ale and Lagers, Red Ales and Lagers, Blonde Ales, etc. Mostly “clean” stuff. Cheers.
+1 to palates changing. When I started brewing I would make a lot of APAs and IPAs, and occasionally throw in a wit or a hefe. Now I have little interest in hoppy beers, and can barely choke down a wit or a hefe. I brewed almost 75 batches before I made a belgian beer (other than a wit), but since then I’d say that that belgians and sours are 50% of what I make. I was surprised to learn this, but I checked my notes and belgian IPAs are the only beers I’ve made over 35 IBUs in 3 years!
The funny thing is that the vast majority of people who might drink my beers (friends, family, neighbors, etc.) are the same way. They’re not necessarily closed-minded like they would never drink anything that had color, but they tend to like clean-tasting beers. I remember being at a local place that has 200 taps. I ordered a nice pale ale from a local brewery and my wife couldn’t decide so I ordered her a Leffe Blonde (belgian). It was a beautiful looking beer and the glass was just right and everything else. She took one sip and made the most horrendous face. I took the glass and took a whiff… ugh. A few days later I was having a conversation with some Belgian-heads and I asked them, “what Belgian should I try if I don’t really care for Belgians?” and I told them the story about Leffe. One guy laughed and saidm “Before you told me that story, I would’ve suggested you try Leffe!”. That convinced me. I have also asked some brewers which Belgian yeast I should try if I wanted “cleaner” and almost everyone said, “None. If you don’t like flavor in your beer, stay away from Belgians”. Duly noted.
Keep in mind there are a lot of different Belgian styles of ale.
Are we talking about Witbiers?
How about Belgian Pale Ales like Palm?
Saisons?
Blond beers of varying strength-- Blond, BGS, Tripel?
Rich dark beers like Dubbels, Quads, and Trappist Dark Strongs?
The tart lambic family, gueze, and the fruit infused Framboise, Kriek, etc?
What about the winey and complex oud bruins and flemish reds?
You folks are telling me you don’t like ANY of them?
You are correct, lots of styles tied to the country and I do like some of those listed. It isn’t like I have an aversion to the region or anything. For me it comes down to not liking the characteristics that come from Belgian yeast, those spicy, banana and fruit flavors ruin any beer they are in for me. I don’t get those flavors out of the Belgian sour beers thus I actually like those.
I liken it to anchovies on a pizza. Sure some people dig it but it isn’t my thing, the taste is totally dominated by the anchovies and not in a good way to me.
[quote=“Flip”]You are correct, lots of styles tied to the country and I do like some of those listed. It isn’t like I have an aversion to the region or anything. For me it comes down to not liking the characteristics that come from Belgian yeast, those spicy, banana and fruit flavors ruin any beer they are in for me. I don’t get those flavors out of the Belgian sour beers thus I actually like those.
I liken it to anchovies on a pizza. Sure some people dig it but it isn’t my thing, the taste is totally dominated by the anchovies and not in a good way to me.[/quote]
+1 on that.
I will say that I have had some fruited Lambics that I thought were okay and some beers that are a little tart or sour can work for me too. But I feel like these are cleaner beers where that Belgian character is either not there or very low. Maybe it’s my midwest upbringing but a lot of these beers just don’t taste like beer to me. I realize that sounds stupid because “beer” casts a wide net. I enjoy the flavor of malt, hops and yeast but I’m almost always making “balanced” beers (I don’t make 5% beers with 90 IBUs) and I like clean-tasting beers. Again, there are STILL those who won’t touch anything that isn’t Bud Light, Miller Light, Coors Light. These are people who wouldn’t even touch one of my Blonde Ales or “Summer Lagers”… too much flavor!
My first AG was a Belgian Wit, which I thought was awesome. I just finished a Belgian Trippel from New Belgium which I thought tasted like ass. So, I guess it’s a wide range of tastes from one to another.
A year ago when I brewed my first batch, I made NB’s Lefse. I chose it b/c I was drinking Belgians at the time and couldn’t get enough of that flavor. I inundated my belly with St. Bernardus etc. Then my palate began to appreciate highly hopped beers and I went on that kick. At this point, I shy away from Belgian’s in general and have also settled for less aggressively hopped ales. I love an SNPA, Torpedo, Dale etc. Now this post has me in a stupor since I have a packet of WY Ardennes that I have to use. I drew up a plan for a Belgian Pale but maybe now might make it an IPA…… What to do, hmmmm.
They have definitely started to grow on me. I used to not be a big fan but seem to be brewing them more and more. Although, I still haven’t scaled them up to anything above a 5gal batch.
I agree that a Belgian Wit is on the acceptable end of a Belgian. I can drink Hoegaarden and some of the other witbiers. I did make a Belgian Wit years ago that was decent but my brewing back then was probably not up to par either. But I have brewed with 1214 (bubble gummy), 3787 and a few others that I just did not care for.
commercially, I drink duvel from moortgat, cynic from surly brewing and the stella artois when i can find it in cans; I’m not close to a mega beer store, but when I travel to chicago, I always hit one of the bennie’s liquor chains and pick up a case or two of random belgian beers to hoard.
my non belgian choices would be (not in particular order), brutal bitter from rogue, two hearted from bell’s, as well as many pale, amber and lager beers from the US and UK; maybe a good porter from time to time and PBR when the wife goes.
i tend to brew with belgian yeasts a lot, probably every third beer, with english pub style pales, recently stouts interspersed…I brew with a lot of honey (in-laws have bees).
I like most of the belgian beer that I have tried, but there are many with “rave” reviews that are very high alcohol content; I prefer to brew belgian ales around 3-6 percent ABV.
First off, I am a belgian fanatic. That is not to say that I do not enjoy other types of beer, but my true love lies across the ocean. One thing that I have noted over the years is that session drinkers usually do not care for belgians. When I am out with a session drinker they many times are on their third beer while I am still on my first belgian. When a session drinker does like a belgian, it is along the lines of Stella, etc which to me has very little taste. Give me my dubbel, triple or quad and I am a happy boy. (Or happy sipper)
[quote=“StormyBrew”]that’s the great thing about beer…something for everyone. me, I really like belgians but am no fan of IPAs (now that’s blasephemy).
Yeah, like everyone’s been saying, the esters are so hard to get past. I think, over time, that I will definitely find a better appreciation for all styles (someone posted a “seriously, you don’t like ANY of these beers!?” thing earlier and set me in line), but the really funny thing is that most of the lovers I know are also more into wine than beer. I love my wines so I guess I’m just a freak.
[quote=“Wahoo”]Keep in mind there are a lot of different Belgian styles of ale.
Are we talking about Witbiers?
How about Belgian Pale Ales like Palm?
Saisons?
Blond beers of varying strength-- Blond, BGS, Tripel?
Rich dark beers like Dubbels, Quads, and Trappist Dark Strongs?
The tart lambic family, gueze, and the fruit infused Framboise, Kriek, etc?
What about the winey and complex oud bruins and flemish reds?
You folks are telling me you don’t like ANY of them?[/quote]
Yep, there are certainly a lot of Belgian styles and even within the same style the variations of beers is probably greater than any other style out there. I have tried most any and every Belgian beer that I find and while I appreciate the brewers art that went into each there still not my style. I can drink any of them. As a matter of fact in the last 2 weeks I just tried 2 new Belgians, Boulevard’s Double Wit and Palm. Both were good beers. I’m glad I tried them but I also probably won’t be buying either one again in the foreseeable future. So maybe “You folks are telling me you don’t like ANY of them?” is too strong a sentiment or maybe not? Let’s just say if I’m paying for beer there are others I would rather spend my money on.
