Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Day Twelve: Belgian Gold Ale, style number 3

Same story every time, no time to drink on work days that's why I haven't done a post for a couple days. But I'm still on track, actually right on track, to finish by mid-September as long as I don't get behind to much more.

This week we have Duvel Belgian Golden Ale. This is a lighter version of the Belgian style of beers which usually are brewed with an addition of sugars and a Belgian yeast. I was looking forward to this one because It's actually a Belgian unlike the tripel I had which was from an american brewery. This beer was categorized as a Belgian Strong pale ale. I guess it's to pale to be a golden but to high in alcohol content to be a pale so they call is a strong pale. I will call it a golden because that's what it says on the bottle and the 8.5% ABV puts it in that category. At the end of the day it really it more important to make a good beer not to make it to style I think because blending styles is part of the creativity and if you have a great result that's all that counts.


This came in a 330mL bottle with a cool short a stocky look. It pours a light, clear golden color with lots of carbonation and a tall white fizzy head. The beer tastes very light, missing a lot of the complexity that a Belgian beer I thought should have. That's not a bad thing at all and it was very interesting that they can make that happen with a beer with such an alcohol presence without much of it's taste. The beer was very crisp and highly carbonated which gave it a tangy mouth feel. This was bottle conditioned, which means that they put a little sugar into the bottle while bottling to give it a little more carbonation. It really didn't have much hop taste or nose but I wasn't missing it either. This beer had a very fruity nose with a strong pear smell and that unique Belgian yeast aroma. Overall this was an excellent beer and made me look forward so much more to other Belgian beers that I have coming up. Maybe I will buy them early and have them sit for a month or two.

On a 0-3 scale; it's a solid 2. (for rating info see first tasting)
Would I buy it again: Yes
Would I recommend to a friend: Yes
What would I do different: maybe a little more complexity would be nice, but maybe it was missing on purpose for a easier drinking beer
Why did I chose this beer: I've heard of it and it's a real Belgian and it was a high scoring beer on http://beeradvocate.com/ 


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