It’s a wrap: Belgian fusion tasting at The Trappist

Nicole and Chuck pouring the beers

This past Sunday was the 5^th installment of the Thirsty Hopster Tasting Series, and the first time we’ve partnered up with a local bar to enhance the experience. Initially, I thought ‘enhance the experience’ would just mean that everyone would be guaranteed a seat and there’d be no more discreetly hustling crates of beer to and from the park or makeshift seats fashioned out of couch cushions in my living room. But no! Chuck and Nicole from The Trappist went above and beyond: opening up the bar early especially for us, putting together and awesome plate of cheese, figs, olives, and other snacks, and providing better tasting commentary than I could on my best day.

The theme was a loose one I came up with when wondering about the two way traffic of ideas (or lack thereof) between Belgian and American brewers. Belgian and Belgian-style beers have gotten big in the US lately, with imports booming and domestic brewers innovating on classic Belgian styles. What I haven’t heard as much about is an impetus within the Belgian brewing scene to pick up on what the Americans are up to, and to innovate on American styles. So, we set out to find the best beers brewed by Belgian brewers in non-Belgian styles (generally American or British).

The group discussing the beers

Before diving into the beers themselves, I think the best insight of the day on this Americo-Belgian beer trend came from Tim  from William’s Brewing in San Leandro. He noted that when we Americans brew Belgian-style beers, we usually mean that we use their yeasts. But when Belgians brew American-style beers, they usually use… their yeasts. You’d think that if yeasts are what “define” one family of beers from another that a Belgian brewing an American-style beer would use American yeasts, but nope! They change up just about everything else except the yeast. This seems rather obvious on one hand, but struck me as I kept thinking about it as pretty important. There’s no particular reason why a Belgian-brewed beer has to use a traditionally Belgian yeast strain. On one hand, I think this means that there’s an untapped source of innovation there for Belgian brewers (brewing with other yeasts), so long as they think their customers show any kind demand for the crisp flavors of low-ester yeasts. On the other hand, it means there’s also a potential for a global convergence on high-ester Belgian style yeasts, if we adopt them at such a rate that they become the standard in every geography. I don’t really believe this will happen, especially considering how tiny the craft beer market still is in the US. I’m just throwing it out there as a possibility. In reality, I think that if anything the selection of craft brews styles and flavors out there will continue to diversify, both in the US and globally.

I have no official tasting notes from the event, but I will give a few words on each of the brews:

• Belgian Scotch Ales
  • Scotch Silly from Brasserie de Silly: Deep clear amber color, think off-white head. Very malty and very sweet, as expected with a Scotch, but gets its Belgian twist in its exceptional fruitiness. For me, the high sweetness and high fruit flavors together were a little overwhelming. I usually like either a strong dose of one or the other, but both together tasted cloying. 8.0% ABV


Miriam & Ben (who came in from NYC for the tasting! ok, not only for the tasting...)

• Belgian Stouts
  • Troubadour Oscura from Brouwerij De Musketiers: Very light color (medium amber) and lightness of roast (small bit on the second half of the taste) for a stout. Probably more similar to the prior beer (Scotch) than the following one (Export Stout). More drinkable than the Scotch Silly, but still showing strong Belgian-style esters. 8.5% ABV
  • De Dolle Extra Export Stout from De Dolle Brouwers: My favorite of the first three (the malt-driven beers). The carbonation rush was intense at first, bursting even, which was too much in my opinion, but it calmed down as the glass warmed. Nicole gave us some great tasting notes of which I only remember ‘pine’ and ‘licorice’, and in fact I could taste the licorice in the middle of the taste. Darker and roastier than the Troubadour, this one is unmistakably a stout. The alcohol is more noticeable as well, even though these two aren’t far apart in ABV. 9.0% ABV.
• Belgian IPAs
  • Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor from Brouwerij Het Anker: This was a total about-face from the stouts, but there was really no good choice in terms of whether to drink IPAs before stouts or stouts before IPAs. It was very light in color for an IPA, straw colored, but not light in flavor. It had a really aromatic nose, full of perfume-y and earth-y hops and a big lemon kick. It was only mildly bitter, so many of the non-IPA drinkers proclaimed it the first IPA they ever enjoyed. It was a really nice departure from West Coast IPAs that often all have the same light amber color, pine and grapefruit aroma, and bitter flavor. I love those WCIPAs (Is this an acronym yet? It should be.), but I like most of all when someone does something new that’s just as good as the old stand by’s, if not better. 8.0% ABV.
  • Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel from Brasserie d’Achouffe: Ah, at this point, I was long caught up in conversation, and failed to take mental notes. However, I will make it up to you with another recommendation…

Me & Michael, kicking back from our talking and picture-taking roles respectively

I’ve been hearing scuttlebutt for months now about Linden Street Brewery, a new distribution brewery going in over in Oakland, not far from The Trappist. Apparently they specialize in California Common style beers, which got me pretty excited since this is a style that needs a little more attention. It’s an ale-lager hybrid style, using lager yeasts fermenting at ale temperatures (which are higher), that Anchor rescued from oblivion. To-date, Anchor Steam is still the only commercial example you can find reliably, though there are others that pop up in smaller brewpubs here and there, or as seasonal releases. I had previously emailed the owner of Linden Street to find out what their deal is, and how an enthusiastic beer drinker could get a hold of their brews, but unfortunately he told me that their ‘unofficial’ Friday get-togethers had gotten too big, and there would be no more until their official opening. So, you can imagine how excited I was to find not one, but two Linden Street beers on tap at The Trappist, and that both were California Common style beers. One was a traditional light ale-lager hybrid, while the other was black. I tasted a few sips of them both and quickly snapped up a glass of the Black. It was incredible: dark, smoky, and heavily roasted, but still really crisp and refreshing. If you like Moonlight Brewing’s Death and Taxes, you’ll like this as well. I just hope they have their official opening soon so that I can get it at more places! In the meantime, make your way over to The Trappist fast, and see for yourself!