Belgian Style Ales, A New Trend in American Craft Beer?
It’s impossible to say what the next “trend” in craft beer will be. For a while it seemed like every brewery was working to make the biggest, strongest most Imperial or Double style of whatever beer they chose. Some breweries, if they weren’t focusing on high ABV were trying to cram as much hops into their beer for bitter, high IBU “hop bombs”. While neither of these types of beers are going away anytime soon (I hope!), and I’m not complaining because they are some amazing beers that could be described by the characteristics above, I’m starting to notice a lot more American craft breweries making Belgian Style Ales.
Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a new thing, but I have noticed it more and more Belgian style beers lately, from breweries that I haven’t seen Belgian’s from in the past. According to Soggy Coaster at Beer at 6512, Durango Brewing Co. is brewing a Belgian inspired sort of hybrid ale for their 20th anniversary, incorporating saison, witbier and Belgian golden ale characteristics.
One of the things that intrigues me (and presumably a lot of brewers) is that Belgium has been brewing beer for a long time and produces a wide range of varied beer styles. You can’t pinpoint one (or even a few) beers and say “This is Belgian Beer”. If someone hands you a Belgian beer and doesn’t tell you anything else about it you really have no idea what to expect.
Just a day after Soggy Coaster blogged about Durango Brewing Co.’s upcoming Belgian style ale, The New York Times ran an article about their blind tasting of 20 Belgian Style Golden Ales. It turns out their favorite out of the lot wasn’t even brewed in Belgium, they picked out Jolly Pumpkin’s Oro de Calabaza as their top pick. (Their top ten list was pretty evenly split, four of their favorites were from the US — two brewed in Dexter, Michigan, who knew? — one from Canada and five from Belgium).
Since there are so many different Belgian styles it can be hard to even compile a list of locally made Belgian style beers. As far as I can tell Durango Brewing Co. hasn’t made any Belgian styles in the recent past. Carver Brewing Co. does a ton of seasonals, far more than I can remember, but off the top of my head I can’t think of any they’ve made recently. Steamworks Brewing Co.’s seasonal Ale Diablo is considered by some to be a Belgian style Strong Pale Ale. And Ska Brewing Co.’s year-round True Blonde Dubbel is a Belgian style Dubbel or Strong Pale Ale. Ska’s DIFF, a witbier could also be considered a Belgian style.
Personally I love diversity in beer so I welcome the more Belgian style beers that local brewer’s are making, especially because beers brewed in Belgium are typically more expensive because they have to be imported and have more of an environmental impact having traveled so far.
This last part is pure speculation on my part, but it’s possible more craft breweries are making Belgian style beers because they can charge more for them. I imagine they’re more expensive to produce, especially if they’re making them in limited quantities, but when the competition is already expensive because it’s being imported from halfway across the globe, I presume there’s more room to adjust prices. Many Belgian style beers are also packaged in slightly fancier bottles. Ska’s True Blonde Dubbel comes with a wax dipped top, Steamworks’s Ale Diablo was packaged this past year in a 24oz bottle with a cork and cage top, and Soggy Coaster reports that Durango Brewing Co.’s 20th Anniversary beer will be bottled in champagne bottles.
I don’t mind paying slightly higher prices for quality beer or special, limited release beers that I don’t get too often.
Carver’s “Saison du Tour” came out when advertised. I don’t know that there’s any convention regarding American breweries using the terms sour ale, saison, or Belgian farmhouse ale. Carvers’ was a low-abv light-colored beer with a little spice that didn’t impress me, or so I remember. Tangent: They now have a barleywine, a nice drink, if you like that style of beer.