Aaak! (jonny lights a flame on his breath) Crazy Belgians call this BEER?

[jonnyGURU]

I got 6 bottles of Petrus Aged Pale Grand Reserve. It's 7.5% ABV. I feel like it should be served in a shot glass. It has a flavor reminiscent of Sake. Did someone say this was BEER???

 

[Rallispec]

does it taste good?

have you had steel reserve? 8.1% alcohol content.. tastes like suck.

 

[Rallispec]

oh, and i've never herad of that beer you talked about. i'm not much for imports

 

[Aceman]

Mmmmmm, Is that a dubbel, jonnyguru?

 

[jonnyGURU]

I've had beer with greater ABV than this, but they've typically tasted like beer.

I'm not sure I like the taste of this one.

Tastes more like a cider than a beer.

 

[Rallispec]

is it actually a beer or a sort of malt beverage or something more along the lines of mikes hard lemonade or ciderjack?

 

[conjur]

If you want Belgian beer, go for Duvel, Leffe, or Grimbergen.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Belgians are definitely an acquired taste (and not one I am that fond of, frankly). I lived for some time with a friend who was a certified craft brewer and made many of them - eventually (fortunately!) he went back to ales. Belgians use a lot more grain than regular beer, so they build up very high specific gravities and intense flavors. This also makes them pretty costly to brew.

7.5 ABV is not that high (I like a lot of barleywine ales that are close to twice that, and are still quite drinkable), but I am with you that Belgians taste pretty odd.

 

[N8Magic]

I had some Faxe Strong that was 10% not too long ago. It tasted like normal beer, except it had almost a vodka aftertaste.

 

[Fandu]

Dude, time to catch up with the rest of the world. US beer is pathetic, 2.5%, get real. Hell, here in canada most beer is 5.0-6.5% going up as high as 10%. To us, 5.5% is regular fare, where as Bud tastes like water.

 

[Mookow]

Thats only 15 proof... thats nothing.

 

[jonnyGURU]

<< If you want Belgian beer, go for Duvel, Leffe, or Grimbergen. >>



This stuff is made by Bavik.

 

[jonnyGURU]

<< Dude, time to catch up with the rest of the world. US beer is pathetic, 2.5%, get real. Hell, here in canada most beer is 5.0-6.5% going up as high as 10%. To us, 5.5% is regular fare, where as Bud tastes like water. >>



Actually, US beer is pathetic. Bud is club soda that's the wrong color. Even when it's high alcohol, it still tastes like water. I prefer beers like Guinness, Bass, Warsteiner, Grolsch.... All of which are full of flavor. None of which are high in alcohol. I drink beer because I like beer. Not to get drunk. My complaint here is not the "high" alcohol content. It's the fact that it tastes like ass. When I eat out I often enjoy a 9.8% ABV barley wine called Moosekiller. It does not taste like alcohol. It tastes like a beer.

Don_Vito has the best explaination. Belgians like a grainy beer and grains do not mask the alcohol taste like hops and malts do.

If you're that into high alcohol contact, you may want to consider AA. I hear they have a great plan for dealing with that issue.

 

[flavio]

<< I drink beer because I like beer. Not to get drunk. >>



Well blah, blah, blah good for you. Some people on the other hand like to get drunk every once in awhile. Nothing wrong with that.


I like the taste of some of the Belgian beers, but only every so often. American beers are coming along. Bud is crap but there are many smaller breweries that are very successful like Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams now. Sierra beers are normally between 5.5-8.5%.

 

[jonnyGURU]

<<

<< I drink beer because I like beer. Not to get drunk. >>



Well blah, blah, blah good for you. Some people on the other hand like to get drunk every once in awhile. Nothing wrong with that. >>




Didn't say there was. There just seems to be a bunch of people in here that feel that beer MUST have high alcohol content to be a good beer. That's naive.

 

[loup garou]

Bah, I love Belgians.
Hoegaarden, Corsendonk, Chimay, Delirium Tremens, Duvel are some of my favorites.

 

[Farbio]

not a big belgian fan either, and i had this beer the other nite called belzebub which was 11% abv and also tasted like crap....one of the worst tasting beers i've ever had

 

[azazyel]

2 11

ouch

 

[Platypus]

Not a big belgian beer fan, I stick to my guiness draught, black and tan, and newcastle brown.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

For what it's worth (probably not much), I think the best beers in the world are made in the United States. The lion's share of American beer is undrinkable swill IMO, but there are scores of wonderful microbreweries in the States (particularly in the Northwest) that are as skilled and focused on excellence as any European brewer. For my part I really have a taste for dry, fragrant, bitter, hoppy ales, which are in no shortage in the brewpubs of the Northwest, and prefer them to, say, German beers, which have no hops at all, or Belgians, which lack the bitterness I love.

 

[geno]

<< I got 6 bottles of Petrus Aged Pale Grand Reserve. It's 7.5% ABV. I feel like it should be served in a shot glass. It has a flavor reminiscent of Sake. Did someone say this was BEER??? >>


When I was in Montreal, I had a beer that was 8% alcohol, you could DEFINITLY taste the alcohol

 

[yakko]

<< Bud is club soda that's the wrong color >>

Wrong. Club soda is tolerable to drink.

 

[Aceman]

<< Don_Vito has the best explaination. Belgians like a grainy beer and grains do not mask the alcohol taste like hops and malts do. >>



ummmmm jonnyguru, and Don Vito, grains=malt. Occasionally, nonmalted grains will be used in the brewing process, but it's not to get a "grainy" taste. The reasons many times for the taste that you're trying to describe with a Belgian beer is attributed to the yeast (Many belgian beers are brewed with wild yeasts that only "reside" in that area of the world. The other reason is due to the decotion methods used in the brewing "malt extraction/conversion" process. Higher than usual temps are used to extract the sugars thus getting a more fermentable beer for the yeast to chew through. More fermentable beers = "thinner" less malty beers. You could have also gotten a skunked beer. If you want good beers........BREW IT YOURSELF and buy some good brews every once and a while.

 

[Miramonti]

Actually, US beer is pathetic. Bud is club soda that's the wrong color.

I always thought of it as piss water thats the right color.