Belgian Beer
A special report from the Beer Research Project (BRP)
I had some Trappist beer and a white beer from Belgium back in the USA, so I knew that the styles were very different from either lager or ale. I also knew that I liked what I had tried. In accordance with the BRP charter, we sampled several Belgium beers to round out the research.
At a quick beer-tasting in Brussels we tried the Chimay peres trappiste (red label, if you are scoring at home), the Leffe Triple (a white beer) and a couple of styles from a brewery in Brugge that I did not catch the name of. All wonderful.
In Brugge we tried the the Brugse triple, the Brugs blond and 't Smisje honey beer (all brewed locally). I didn't enjoy the honey beer as much as the other styles. We also tried Steenbrugge triple blond, Hoegaarden Crand Cru, Hoegaarden Witbier and Duvel. Lovely, one and all.
Several of these beers are very high in alcohol content; the Leffe triple is 7% and the Brugse triple is 9%. Lagers and ales are usually under 5%.
July, 2000 update from York--We tried a few more Belgian beers to combat the warm weather. Any excuse, right? Leffe Triple (8.4 percent here) and Karmeliet Triple were great: citrus-y and refreshing. The Chimay Triple was also very nice. The Westmalle Trappist Tripel was spicier and had less of s citrus flavor. It was nice, but not what I was in the mood for.