Favorite New Belgium Beers?

[gfoster]

Gotta say I love the fat tire. I also really (surprisingly for me) enjoyed the hell out of their raspberry brown ale... Frambozen.

Not a big fan of the sunshine wheat though, kinda boring.

-- Gary F.

[one_eye]

I had my first Beer De Mars the other day, it was pretty good.

[zymurgest]

As far as Belgian beers go, my all time fav is Westvletteren Abt 12 (aka St. Sixtus) which is probably one of the best and smoothest tasting beers available (now only locally to the Abbey ). I make a passable clone of it, but I don't think that the yeast is available from either Wyeast or White Labs :'-/ I've tried all the yeasts available from both and found that key flavor element missing (you know what I mean?). Closest I've gotten is with the 1762 Belgian Abbey II and the 1288 Belgian Strong Ale, with the 1762 for cool temps, and the 1288 for warmer temps (relatively speaking). I'll be making it again with my new system for NHB/BB day next month, so I'll let you all know how it goes down. Happy brewing to you all!

Prost!

Michel

[Speyedr]

As far as Belgian beers go, my all time fav is Westvletteren Abt 12 (aka St. Sixtus) which is probably one of the best and smoothest tasting beers available (now only locally to the Abbey ). I make a passable clone of it, but I don't think that the yeast is available from either Wyeast or White Labs :'-/ I've tried all the yeasts available from both and found that key flavor element missing (you know what I mean?). Closest I've gotten is with the 1762 Belgian Abbey II and the 1288 Belgian Strong Ale, with the 1762 for cool temps, and the 1288 for warmer temps (relatively speaking). I'll be making it again with my new system for NHB/BB day next month, so I'll let you all know how it goes down. Happy brewing to you all!

Prost!

Michel

Michel,

You may have misread the thread title. It is your favorite beer from New Belgium Brewery in Ft. Collins, CO., but no worries, I have some info below that may help with your clone....

According to the book "Brew Like a Monk", Westvletteren uses Westmalle's yeast, and not their own strain. The same book lists sources for different Wyeast and White Labs strains and says both Wyeast 3787 and White Labs WLP530 are the Westmalle strains. Of course, by this time the strains have probably diverged, and the Westmalle strain used at Westmalle is probably different than the one at Westvletteren, which is probably different from both of the commercially available ones as well.

The Book does say that they still use open fermentation tanks and let the ferment go as high as 82f - 84f from a starting temp of 68f. Finally, after 4-6 days in the primary, they lager it at 50f for anywhere from 8 to 10 weeks until the proteins and yeast have all settled out. All of this is probably what gives it that special something you are looking for.

Hope this gets you closer to your dream!

Rob

[sourbeerguy]

According to the book "Brew Like a Monk", Westvletteren uses Westmalle's yeast, and not their own strain. The same book lists sources for different Wyeast and White Labs strains and says both Wyeast 3787 and White Labs WLP530 are the Westmalle strains. Of course, by this time the strains have probably diverged, and the Westmalle strain used at Westmalle is probably different than the one at Westvletteren, which is probably different from both of the commercially available ones as well.

While I agree that the strains sold here in the US have more than likely changed from the current Westmalle strain, I doubt there's much difference between what Westmalle and Westvleteren use. Page 81 of BLAM indicates that, when they are brewing, Westvleteren sends a brewery worker over to Westmalle for yeast to be used for primary fermentation. (Achel does the same thing.)

The commercial strains will each have been fine-tuned, selected, and propogated in such a manner as to select those characteristics each company wanted and don't necessarily reflect what's happening at the brewery.

[Speyedr]

While I agree that the strains sold here in the US have more than likely changed from the current Westmalle strain, I doubt there's much difference between what Westmalle and Westvleteren use. Page 81 of BLAM indicates that, when they are brewing, Westvleteren sends a brewery worker over to Westmalle for yeast to be used for primary fermentation. (Achel does the same thing.)

The commercial strains will each have been fine-tuned, selected, and propogated in such a manner as to select those characteristics each company wanted and don't necessarily reflect what's happening at the brewery.

I missed that one. I thought they secured it and then were propogating themselves. Figured the higher temps of the Westvleteran would have cause mutation, but if they're just running next door for some yeast I'd have to agree.

Either way I think that the commercial strains will still get close, as long as the other practives are duplicated as much as possible.

Thanks for pointing this out as I hate to give out bad info..

Rob

[sourbeerguy]

Either way I think that the commercial strains will still get close, as long as the other practives are duplicated as much as possible.

Agreed. A friend uses (IIRC) the Wyeast version and makes a tripel that, at times, is damn hard to differentiate from Westmalle.

Joe

[zymurgest]

OIC, my bad -- thought it was about new beers not appelations Well, live and learn! Thanks for the tip on the 3787, I tried that once b4, maybe I should give it another go and see whassup. Now I recall...I fermented to LOW (~65-68'F), so next time I'll try the higher temp with the 3787 and see if God will bless me with His cup that runneth over TTYAL, and ILBCNU!

Prost!

Michel