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Townsite 7800 Saison

Townsite is back with another Belgian style, their 7800 Saison. The name represents the distance between Powell River, and their brewer Cedric’s home town in Belgium. Their review last week stood out, as I haven’t tried many North American tripels that I like. Well, their saison is even better.

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Townsite 7800 Saison was originally published on The Flagon

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Driftwood Farmhand Saison

The second review today is from Driftwood. Before there was Fat Tug, Sartori Harvest, or Singularity, there was this beer, the Farmhand Saison. This is one of the three beers that Driftwood launched with, along with White Bark and their pale ale.

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Driftwood Farmhand Saison was originally published on The Flagon

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Category 12 Unsanctioned Saison

Category 12 came flying out of the gates with their black IPA. This is the other beer that they released at launch. It is a surprisingly bitter take on a saison. It is decent, but it is definitely not as good as the Disruption.

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Category 12 Unsanctioned Saison was originally published on The Flagon

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Spinnakers Dragonfly Rye Saison

Spinnakers is the third Victoria entry into the saison category, and this one contains rye malts. I have not tried many Belgian style beers from Spinnakers, but I did really like the Belgian Porter. Unfortunately, this is not anywhere near good.

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Spinnakers Dragonfly Rye Saison was originally published on The Flagon

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Week 25: The Saison Has Arrived

This week I continue to make my way through Belgian-style beers that get much of their flavour from yeast. Week 25 features the saison, which is the french word for season.

Traditionally, these are farmhouse ales that are brewed in the cooler months for consumption by farm workers, who were often seasonal, in the warmer months. Nowadays, the style is brewed all over the world. It represents a light, refreshing option that is full of yeasty flavours.

The standard for all saisons seems to have been set by Saison Dupont, a Belgian classic, and the last beer I review this week. In the meantime, I will review a bunch of BC brewed saisons, and see how they stack up.

Saisons have become very popular, and for good reason. They are well carbonated, quite dry, and have lots of flavour. Many have spices added, but those that don’t still get some spice flavours from the yeast.

These beers are very good for summer sipping. You won’t see any double digit alcohol numbers this week.

The time has come to kick off the season of warm weather, and I will do that with a whole week of saisons.

Cheers

T

Week 25: The Saison Has Arrived was originally published on The Flagon

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Week 24 Summary: Dageraad Dominates

After a week of Belgian ales brewed here in BC, I feel comfortable with declaring Dageraad as the king of this castle. Their beers are all full of character, and show that subtlety and complexity that is typical of the best Belgian beers.

The 10° quad is phenomenal. It is among the best in the province in any style, and I can imagine it will age very well. It is rich, complex, and full flavoured without ever going overboard. Well done Ben Coli, as this is a world class quad, in my opinion.

The Blonde is also delicious, and in a much easier to drink package. It is refreshing and deceptively light, while being full of diverse flavours. It is a smoothly delivered, complex beer, and it is not just for beer geeks, but also great for getting folks into Belgian ales for the first time.

Gladstone’s Golden Strong is a delicious brew, and is another beer that represents the style better than many of their North American counterparts. Not overly sweet, it has lots of spice and a  perfect dryness at the end. Gladstone has consistently made delicious beer since they opened, and this has quickly become a Courtenay staple.

Townsite’s Charleston Tripel is what I have been waiting for from Townsite. Tripels are my least favorite of the Belgian styles, and most North American examples are heavy handed and too sweet. Well, Townsite avoided all of the pitfalls to make a beer that I really enjoyed. It pushes the sweetness close to the edge, but the spiciness and emerging bitterness create a difficult to achieve balance.

Four Winds Triplicity is another tripel. Unfortunately it does come off as a bit heavy handed and sweet for my tastes. It is still pretty good, with lots of interesting flavours, but not my favorite.

Dageraad might brew the best of the Belgian ales in BC, but their Anno 2014 didn’t quite come together with such success. It feels a bit thin in places, and the booze is too prominent. It is interesting and drinkable, but the lowest rated beer I have tried from them.

After this week of reviews, it is obvious to me that Dageraad has this Belgian thing on lockdown. They don’t just make the best Belgian ales in BC, they have the ability to make world class brews. This is quite an achievement, considering they have only been open for a year. The 10° quad is an amazing and humongous beer, and the Blonde is subtly complex and dangerously drinkable.

Belgians brew some of the best beer in the world. It is nice to see BC representing it so well.

Cheers,

T

Week 24 Summary: Dageraad Dominates was originally published on The Flagon

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Dageraad 10°

The final Dageraad review of the week features their 10°, which is a Belgian quadrupel. Quads are usually very big brews, with lots of booze and flavour. The comparison from last week is the Rochefort 10. This beer might not be quite as good as the Rochefort, but it is not out of place in the same sentence, and that really says something. It is clearly the best Belgian-style beer I have tasted from BC.

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Dageraad 10° was originally published on The Flagon

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Townsite Charleston Tripel

Other than Dageraad, Townsite is the BC brewery that I associate most with Belgian brewing. This is a tripel, which is a style that often translates as a bit sweet for me. The best are very good, and this is one of the best I have tried from a brewery outside Belgium.

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Townsite Charleston Tripel was originally published on The Flagon

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Dageraad Anno 2014

Dageraad is back for their second of three reviews this week. This brew is a Golden Strong that is made with pears grown in Karameos, BC. The local pears are a great idea, and the beer is decent, but it doesn’t live up to their other brews.

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Dageraad Anno 2014 was originally published on The Flagon

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Dageraad Blonde

Brewery: Daagerad Brewing

Beer: Blonde

Alcohol: 7.5%

IBU: Unknown

Today I kick off a couple of days of Dageraad by reviewing their flagship beer, the Dageraad Blonde. As far as I know, Dageraad is the only truly traditional Belgian brewery in BC. Their brewmaster and owner, Ben Coli, spent time in Belgium studying brewing and beer culture before launching the Burnaby based brewery. This delicious beer, for example, contains wheat, sugar, and spices.

Smells of peaches. citrus, herbs, and bread. First taste is quite sweet, with honey, pears, white grapes and a little tangerine. The carbonation is a significant component of the beer, softly lightening up the texture the whole way, keeping it from feeling syrupy. The middle of the beer combines some sweet banana and tart tangerines with a nutty, bready taste, and spices that gradually get more prominent as the beer gets dryer. The finish is very dry, with flavours of pears, apples, a touch of orange, clove, corriander, and some herbal, spicy bitterness. This is a complex and very tasty beer, and among the best BC brewed Belgian brews I have tasted.

Dageraad Blonde was originally published on The Flagon

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Four Winds Triplicity

Four Winds returns with their take on a Belgian tripel. They definitely took the ‘tripel’ thing seriously, as this brew is made with three varietals of hops, three varietals of barley, and three types of sugar, including Lilooet sage honey. They even list the IBUs at 33.3. While this is all very clever, the beer is a sweet example of a Belgian tripel, which is not really my thing.

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Four Winds Triplicity was originally published on The Flagon

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Gladstone Belgian Golden Strong

BC Belgian week kicks off with Gladstone’s Belgian Strong. The obvious comparable from last week is Duvel. Gladstone has had a lot of success since opening their doors. That will happen when you brew good beer, and this is another good brew from Gladstone.

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Gladstone Belgian Golden Strong was originally published on The Flagon

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Week 24: BC Does Belgian

Last week I reviewed a handful of classic Belgian ales that have helped set the standards for quality beer worldwide. It was a week of classics.

This week, I look at similar styles, closer to home. Belgian brewing is one of the major influences on craft brewing everywhere, and BC is no exception. Nearly all of the BC craft brewers have tried their hand at brewing some kind of Belgian style ale.

So, I will review a number of Belgian style ales from breweries here in BC. The breweries will include Gladstone, Four Winds, Townsite, and Dageraad. The last two on the list are synonymous with Belgian beer in BC. Dageraad, in particular, is set up as a traditional Belgian brewery that makes only Belgian-style ales. As a result, more than one of their brews will be appearing this week.

Lets see what happens when BC meets Belgium in a brewery.

Cheers,

T

Week 24: BC Does Belgian was originally published on The Flagon

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Week 23 Summary: Trappist Monks Brew Amazing Beer

This week was a great way to jump right back in to the beer reviews, with a whole bunch of inspiring and delicious beers that are widely considered among the best on the planet.

These Belgian brews hold a special place in my beer consuming heart, as they were among the first big flavoured small batch beers I ever drank. When I was in my early 20s, I had already converted from drinking Alexander Kieth`s to drinking Czech and German pilsners, but my first Chimay Red is what led me to explore the more exotic Belgian beers.

When I discovered, a few years later, how these breweries are run as non-profits that help support the abbey and those that live and work nearby, I was even more impressed. I am staunchly non-religious, but there is great charm in the idea of cloistered monks making beer, and often cheese, that is some of the best in the world, then using the proceeds to do good locally.

Three of the beers that I reviewed this week are among my absolute favorites. The scores obviously reflect this, as one of them now shares top spot on my list.

Rochefort 10 is a masterpiece of a beer. It is ridiculously complex. To this day, after years of Rochefort 10s, I still feel like I am tasting new things every time. It is far from sessionable, and it drinks somewhat like a liqueur, but it is so delicious that I always have trouble stopping after one.

Chimay Red is my go to Belgian ale. It is full of flavour, but also subtle and very drinkable. The beer is crisp, refreshing, fruity, spicy, and mildly sweet, with some soft bitterness and a dry finish. For such an amazing beer, it is pretty great that it is so widely available, and at such a low price.

Orval is one of those beers that is very different. Flavours of black pepper, bananas, nectarines, coriander, hop bitterness, and citrus, combine with an extremely dry finish to create a world class brew. This is another beer that seems to show me a new quality every time I drink it.

Duvel is the only non-trappist beer from this week`s reviews. I included it because it is such an iconic, widely available beer. While I might prefer to cheer for the smaller trappist brewers, Duvel is still a delicious example of a staple Belgian style. Seemingly light and easier to drink, it still has lots of flavour and booze. The 8.5% alcohol is almost dangerous considering how easy it is to down a few of these.

Westmalle`s Dubbel was the lowest scoring beer of the week. It still comes in with a respectable score, as it is definitely a quality beer. My issue is that it is a bit too sweet and syrupy for me. Raisins and licorice are among the few flavours and foods I don`t like, and both featured in this brew. Interesting, and well made, but not my favorite.

This week was one of the highest scoring ever here on The Flagon, as I reviewed a number of brews that are widely acclaimed. It is impossible to go wrong with any of them, really, but that Rochefort 10 is one of the best beers I will ever drink.

Cheers,

T

Week 3 Summary: Trappist Monks Brew Amazing Beer was originally published on The Flagon

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Duvel Golden Ale

The final review this week steps far away from the world of non-profit, small batch trappist breweries, and instead features the iconic beer of one of the country’s bigger brewers. The brewery started in 1871 under the name Moortgat, and Duvel was first brewed in the 1920s. Nowadays they are a big worldwide brand as Duvel Moortgat. They own a number of breweries, including D’Achouffe, Liefman’s, De Koninck, and Ommegang.

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Duvel Golden Ale was originally published on The Flagon

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Trappistes Rochefort 10

Brewery: Rochefort

Beer: Rochefort 10

Alcohol: 11.3%

IBU: 27

Today I get to review one of the all time great beers. Rochefort is another trappist certified brewery, and beer has apparently been brewed at the abbey since 1595. They make two other excellent beers, but the Rochefort 10 is widely considered to be one of the best on the planet. It certainly earns a place at the top of my list.

Smells like oranges and brown sugar, with some chocolate and a touch of booze. First taste is both sweet and bitter. I get tastes of grapes, figs, blood oranges, and spices. There is a decadent, almost creamy quality to the beer as it moves to flavours of pears, currants, cherries, cloves and anise.  The carbonation keeps it feeling light and drinkable, without taking away from the big flavour or smooth texture. The finish is dry, with a great balance of bitter and sweet, and a lot going on. I get pears, oranges, nectarines, currants, cloves, and dark chocolate. This is a subtle, complex, and delicious beer that is among the very best. I have consumed many Rochefort 10 in my life, and I still taste something new every time I take a sip.

Trappistes Rochefort 10 was originally published on The Flagon

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Westmalle Dubbel

Brewery: Westmalle

Beer: Westmalle Dubbel

Alcohol: 7%

IBU: 28

Today I review the third classic Belgian ale of the week, this one from Westmalle. Westmalle apparently coined the terms dubbel, tripel, and quadrupel to represent these prominent styles of Belgian beer. The abbey has been making beer since 1836, though the brews did not leave the abbey until much later. The abbey also produces milk and cheese along with their trappist certified beer. This is their dubbel, or brune, and it is the first beer that they made available to the public.

It pours dark and smells of sweet fruit. I get apricots and pears, along with dark dried fruits. The flavour starts light, where I taste some dried apricot and dates. As the heavier flavour sweeps in, I get raisins, currants, and licorice. It is very sweet through the middle, but it mellows by the end. The finish is dry, with a touch of bitter to go with the concentrated fruits that are still prominent. It is light and somewhat hoppy at the end, where I also get some coffee flavours. This beer is complex and interesting, but also quite sweet.

Westmalle Dubbel was originally published on The Flagon