A New Project for the Fall: Belgian Pale Ales

I admit that I’ve been spending way too much time thinking about this, but I’ve finally settled on my targeted beer style for the fall… Belgian Pale Ale.  This is a style that I have limited experience with, so it should be an interesting experiment.  I’ve had Redemption from Russian River, and both Devotion and Saint’s Devotion from Lost Abbey and Port Brewing.  All three are amazing beers.  I love Extra Pale Ale from Almanac Beer Company and Tafelbully from Heretic.  Ommegang's Rare Vos is brilliant, as is Waldman from Georgetown Brewing.  But sadly my list of highlights pretty much ends there.  Sam Adams' Belgian Session is uninspiring, Ritual's Tafelbier is something you’d probably only drink once, and Brouwerji West’s Blond is a disaster (as is the balance of their portfolio).  With only a few more exceptions, that pretty much sums up my resume on this style.

My first objective with this was to get a clear definition of what Belgian Pale Ale really is.  How does it compare to other Belgian beers?  How does it compare to other pale ales?  After reading just about everything I can get my hands on, I now envision the style to be the result of a one night stand between a Belgian Blond and an English Pale Ale.  It may have a slightly similar yeast profile to the blond, but it won’t be quite as dry.  The color and ABV will probably be closer to its English counterpart, but it’s not going to be as bitter and obviously will feature a completely different yeast characteristic.  Blonds generally use pilsner malt and sugar, where a Belgian Pale Ale may use pilsner, pale, and/or specialty malts.  But I think one of the key identifiers when it comes to Belgian Pale Ales is the alcohol.  These are designed to be session beers and should fall in or around the 4.8% to 5.5% range according to the BJCP style guidelines.  Beer Advocate offers allowances slightly broader at 4.0% to 7.0%, but they also don’t feature a section specifically dedicated to Belgian Blonds. 

One of the challenges I anticipate encountering throughout this quarter’s initiative is inconsistent labeling.  Over the summer, every Saison I bought was called a “Saison”.  Easy.  But it’s already clear that Belgian Pale Ales are going to be a little more cryptic.  For example, the label on Avery Brewing Company's Karma says “Belgian Style Pale Ale”… er, ok, that one was pretty easy.  But Hangar 24's Belgian Summer Ale is called a, well, “Belgian Summer Ale”.  Uinta Brewing calls its Monkshine a “Belgian Style Blonde Ale”, Perennial Artisan Ales’ Hommel Bier is tagged as a “Belgian Style Ale”, and Stillwater’s contribution to the style is called Table Beer.  So how the hell am I going to know what falls within the criteria of the style when nobody knows what to call their beers?  I need some guidelines.  So to help guide me through this liquid quest, I have decided to stick to the following parameters…

• The beer must be less than or equal to 7.0% ABV
• The beer must be fermented with a Belgian yeast strain
• There must be some malt in addition to pilsner
• The SRM must be around 10, give or take five

I’d like to follow the BJCP limits for alcohol content, but I think I may run out of options fairly quickly.  I’d also like to keep the IBUs down below 30, but some American brewers may challenge that ceiling.  I guess I’ll consider it as long as it is not labeled as a Belgian IPA.

Finally, I think I’m going to drop my targeted total from 30 to 25 since this style is not going to be as readily available as Saisons were over the summer.  So from September to November, that’s one new Belgian Pale Ale every 3.64 days. 

Here we go.  Wish me luck.

-Matt