As a wine guy, my brain has been programmed to think Muscadet whenever mussels are involved. It’s not a bad thought–especially when Pepiere is involved–but I was really surprised by how well one of the beers paired with mussels. I figured it would be the lightest-style beer (the lager or the Hefeweisen) but the mussels turned out to be sensational with the Orval Trappist Ale.

Another great pairing was the Samuel Smith Organic Cider with the Duck Terrine. The sweetness and acidity of the cider was a nice counterpoint to the richness of the terrine; duck is a meat that really lends itself to having a fruit component added. In this case, in liquid form.

This veal was served with a trio of beers (Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale, their Oatmeal Stout, and the Ayinger Celebrator Bock) that were all complimentary with the dish. Definitely a heartier beer was in store for this very rich meat; I’d have to say the Stout and Bock were better by a hair.

Finally desert: an apricot and apple tart. It was served with the Lindemans Framboise, which I have to admit I find too sweet. But the tartness of the fruit seemed to tame the sweetness a bit and bring out the acidity of the Lindemans.

I left Quinn’s very full, and full of respect for how well beer can pair with great food. Am I giving up my Muscadet anytime soon? Um, no. Never! (In fact, I’ve got a bottle in my fridge right now.) But I was reminded that the world of beer has many of the qualities that make wine so compelling. There’s a rich history, full of great stories. And it’s delicious.

Full disclosure: Lunch was provided by the distributor and importer.

My very favorites:

• Westvleteren Bruin 12 (draft)
• Westvleteren Bruin 8 (draft)
• Pannepot Old 2006
• Slaapmutske Donker 2007
• Gouden Carolus Classic
• Tripple Van De Garre (draft)
• Gulden Draak (draft)
• Pannepot Reserva 2008 Oak Aged
• Orval 6-month aged
• Rochefort 10
• Inter-Pol Swartz Milk Stout
• Inter-Pol Witte
• Liefmans Goudenband
• Pannepot 2009
• Drie Fonteinen Faro (draft)
• Drie Fonteinen Lambic (draft)

Other excellent beers:

• Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze
• Drie Fonteinen Oude Kriek (draft)
• Brasserie Dupont Moinette Blonde (draft)
• Rochefort 8
• Boon Oudekriek Mariage Parfait
• Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoot
• Cantillon Kriek
• Boon Oude Kriek 2006
• Bacchus Oud Bruin
• Westvleteren Blond (draft)
• Pannepot 2010
• Orval
• La Trappe Dubbel (draft and bottle)
• La Trappe Witte (draft)
• MacChouffe Porto (draft, apertif)
• Boon Oude Geuze Mariage Parfait
• Hemel & Aarde

Good, or interesting, but not my favorites of the trip:

• Cantillon Kriek (draft)
• Cantillon Geuze (draft)
• LaChouffe (draft)
• Houblon Chouffe (draft)
• De Ranke Noir De Dottignies
• Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueze 1997
• Kwak
• Oude Kriek Hanssens Artisanaal
• Tangerlo Bruin
• Moinette Bruin
• Val-Dieu Tripel
• St Bernardus Tripel (draft and bottle)
• St Bernardus Witte
• De Witte Van Celis
• Mamelokker
• Bellegems Bruin
• Gouden Carolus Trippel
• Westmalle Dubbel
• Westmalle Tripple
• McChouffe (draft)
• La Trappe Isidor (draft)
• La Trappe Trippel (draft)
• La Trappe Quadrupel (draft)
• St Feuillien Saison
• Tilburg’s Dutch Brown Ale
• St Bernardus Prior
• Westmalle Dubbel
• Brugge Trippel
• Geuze Giradin
• De Ranke Bitter XX
• Boom Oude Gueze
• Straffe Hendrik Brugge Trippel
• De Ranke Noir De Dottignies
• Straffe Hendrik Brugge Quadrupel
• Nostradamus
• SNAB Pale Ale
• Hemel & Aarde aged in 1972 scotch barrel
• Texelse Trippel draft

My beer has a little less head than I remember Orval having.  The genuine article has a mile of dense froth that seems to last forever; mine pours with a finger of white head that dissipates down to a thin froth.  It does leave some nice Brussels lace on the way down the side of the glass, and the colour, a bright hazy orange, is pretty close.  The smell, though, is pure Orval.  The aroma is instantly recognizable as Orval – lemon, hay, grassy hops, spicy cloves, a bit of sweet malt, and just a touch of that characteristic horse blanket brett character.

On the palate the clone is medium bodied and moderately carbonated, but somehow feels full-bodied.  It tastes minerally, grassy, and tart, and finishes bone dry and bitter.  In terms of aroma and flavour, this is by far the most complex beer I have ever brewed.  I don’t know how it will stand up to Orval in a side by side tasting, but on its own it tastes a lot like the real thing.

Design Notes

• I have cleaned up the extra text and removed the wording “food.pairing” as it is quite obvious that these are food-pairing suggestions.
• Just incase it isn’t obvious I have made a larger cooler (as in refrigerator) marker that could be taped to the cooler window that would briefly explain the “food.pairing” cards.  Design coming soon.
• While I liked the key hole cut-out design from the first round, I began to realize that virtually no one would take the time to hand cut each card.  The design wouldn’t look as good with white paper surrounding the top and so it had to go.
• By removing “food.pairing” out of the “key hole” I was able to eliminate extra text and make the beer’s name more prominent.
• I got over my need to have the HOP dominate the design but I couldn’t eliminate it totally.
• I am trying to brand the place setting to be synonymous with “food.pairings” so I incorporated the HOP design into the silverware.

Special thanks to my wife, who at  5:30 am this morning after I had posted a different set in three different places (that will teach me to post designs before I show them to her ) said “Have you considered removing the spoon and “x-ing” the fork and knife?”.  Genius!

Below you will find three design samples and I would like you to choose which design you like the best.  If you are a beer customer tell me how easy it was too read, how eye catching the card is, or any suggestions you have. If you are a beer retailer, comment on the previous points but also let me know about any commercial considerations I have missed.

The cards will be available in a variety of sizes but the standard size would be 2″ x 3.5″.

Card 1

Card 2

Card 3

After Durbuy, we headed further south to Orval, one of the 6 Belgian Trappist brewers.

Notre Dame d'Orval Abbey

They generally don’t allow anyone through the brewery, so we were very lucky to have been granted this opportunity. The Orval brewery, like the other Trappist breweries, all brew their beer within the walls of the Abbey, which is part of the condition of being called a trappist beer. What happens when they reach capacity? For Orval, nothing. Yet. They have been at capacity for some time now, but they will not expand their storage. This provides them with a good problem… Another famous Trappist beer, Chimay, have broken ranks to some degree, by bottling their beers outside the trappist walls. They are still technically brewing their beer within the abbey walls, however this is a moot point to the other abbeys.

Stained glass window in the Orval brewhouse

We started talking about Belgium’s microbrewers, and how they export nearly 85% of their beer. Orval on the other hand, export only about 14%. The other 86% is for the home market. Why? The fact their beer is suberb, the recipe has seen only minimal change over the last 80 or so years, and perhaps most importantly (?), the brewery donates 55% of income to charitable deeds… How could the public be swayed from supporting such a worthy product?

My memories of fresh Orval are still the same… a wonderfully intense citrus aroma initially, which then subsides to a lovely hoppy, floral aroma. The malt is there to provide some support to the hops, but the finish is still lovely and dry…absolutely divine.
We were lucky enough to stay in a hotel in Florenville (5 min. away from Orval), which actually ages a large supply of Orval. A two & a half year old bottle still had a wonderful aroma, albeit less intense, with the dryness (tart?) becoming more pronounced. A superb aperitif beer.

2 1/2 year old Orval... Just superb!

After leaving Orval, we drive around the Ardennes, visiting towns such as Rochefort, La Roche en Ardennes, Houffalize, Hamoir & Bastogne. Unfortunately, no breweries were organised for these towns, however beers were consumed & purchased. Lupulus, Rochefort 10 & La Chouffe Tripel IPA amongst others were the standout beers.

Next stop was Brussels, only for a quick visit before heading home. Having spent some time here before, and seen the inner workings of the Cantillon brewery, this trip was more about drinking the finished product from Belgium’s small brewers. One of the best places in Brussels to do so is Moeder Lambic. They have an amazing 42 taps of small Belgian brewers beers. They have one or two guest taps (from Denmark & the US). On top of this, they also have an extensive bottle list, plus artisan cheeses & breads from all over Belgium. This allowed us to sample cask poured Cantillon Gueze, Rosé de Gambrinus & Kriek, on top of Dupont Stout,and many, many more!

Sadly, it was time to leave Belgium, taking with us wonderful memories of amazing beers, fantastic people, and some great ideas. It may be another 13 years before we get back to Belgium, but I know the memories from this trip will last much longer.
What have we learnt from this tour of Belgium? Well, loads! Below is a brief listing of things learnt, with some more coming your way in the form of beers in the coming months!

Now that the trip is over, there are a number of techniques & tips that we’ll be bringing back to oz. First & foremost are quality ingredients. European malts are essential to reproduce the Belgian best. As are hop flowers for dry hopping. A specialised hop strainer for kettle & conditioning tanks will also be made up (special thanks to De Ranke). Herbs & spices used both delicately & conservatively, can be accentuated with a very gentle toasting. Hop sacks full of flowers don’t need to be weighed down. Food grade 1000L cubes make excellent & cheap conditioning vessels for lambics (just make sure they stay out of the dark). Belgian pilsner malt makes an excellent base for nearly all Belgian styles, with extra malt flavour from specialties. Dark Belgian Candi Syrup for added flavour & aroma…

Yeast. It’s pretty hardy stuff, tolerating up to 30C for some strains without any obvious bad effects. Ferment quite high to get the most flavour & character from Belgian yeast.
Experiment as often as possible; push the boundaries of style.

Small brewers are the ones who are prepared to push boundaries & be the most creative.

A “stamp of authenticity”, as in the case of the Belgian Family Brewers, is nothing more than a marketing strategy to promote their own self interests, rather than increase or maintain a certain quality.
Thanks to all who took the time to read our little travelogue. Hopefully you got something useful out of it. Look out for some new beers from Boatrocker in the near future!
Cheers,
Matt & Andrea

The Trappist Blend is infused with Brett, so I thought I would try to replicate the deliciously sour, funky and complex Orval.  I found a recipe for an all-grain Orval clone online somewhere.  I copied and pasted it from a forum, but now I can’t find the page again to link to it.  Anyway, it was called, strangely, “Y’all Val”, and was for a 3 gallon batch.  I based my extract recipe on it:

I steeped 3/4 lb of Caramunich malt and then added 3.25 lbs of pilsner DME and 1/3 lb of cane sugar.

The hops were 1/2 oz each of East Kent Goldings and Tettnang for bittering, 1/2 oz of Styrian Goldings for flavour, and another 1/2 oz for aroma.

The smack pack of Trappist Blend refused to inflate, even in my warm sun room.  As I had no choice with 3 gallons of wort ready to go, I pitched it anyway and stuck it in the warmest room in my house – the attic.  There was no action in the airlock after a few days, but with a small batch in a 6 gallon fermenter, I knew it could just be a case of too much head space.  I cracked the lid and saw a puffy layer of kraeusen -  it was working.  Phew!

I let the yeast work its way through primary for about two weeks and then transferred to secondary.  This is the first time I have brewed with brettanomyces, which is part of the Trappist Blend, so I was excited to note that the newly fermented beer smelled rich, kind of funky, and slightly sour.  It sat in secondary for a few weeks before I dry-hopped it with an ounce of Styrian Goldings for another week.  The uncarbonated sample I tasted was surprisingly Orval-like:  hoppy, bitter, and with that characteristic sourish funk that I never thought I could duplicate.  I can’t wait to taste the finished product!

In order for a beer to be called a Trappist ale, the beer must meet the following standards:

• The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist abbey, by or under control of Trappist monks.
• Brewery and commercial operations must be run by the monastic community.
• The economic purpose of the brewery must be directed toward assistance (monastic or community) and not toward financial profit.

Today there are seven brewing Trappist abbeys—six from Belgium (Orval, Chimay, Westvleteren, Rochefort, Westmalle and Achel), one from the Netherlands (Koningshoeven). They all belong to an association of monastic breweries.  This association has legal standing and its logo gives to the consumer some information and guarantees about the product. However, any brewery can brew a Trappist or Abbey style, not to mention a Dubble or Triple but if you are looking for an authentic Trappist product you only need to see if it carries the logo below.

Now  onto the review:

The true beauty of this beer is in its complexity.  This beers pours a beautiful amber-orange and its abundant carbonation produces rich dense head.  The carbonation also accentuates the hop bitterness and lightens the body to create a thirst quenching dry beer.  The carbonation also flushes out the citrus flower and horse blanket aromas. In addition to the floral horse blanket aromas, the yeast (brettanomyces) also produces tart fruit flavors. This beer changes over time so be sure you pick the freshest bottle (they usually have a best before date) off the shelf.  Older bottles won’t taste bad but the tart fruit flavors will be more pronounced.

This is a great beer to time test.  Buy four bottles all with the same “best before date”, enjoy one today, take notes so you will remember your experience, and store the other three.  Be sure to store the other three in a dark and cool space but not necessarily a refrigerator. A cold refrigerator will slow the aging, almost too much. If you don’t have a cool space buy a cheap styrofoam cooler and put the cooler in a room that maintains a steady temperature.   Then every four months enjoy the next bottle; take notes and compare those notes with the others.

Cheers!

• Brew - Orval Trappist Ale 6.95 ABV, 330ml
• Brewer – Brasserie d’Orval S.A.
• Style – Belgian Pale Ale
• County – Belgium
• Purchased – LCBO

I must be one of those crazy people, I just not fond of Orval.  Everyone else seems to like it!  I do like the bowling pin shaped bottle though.

About the Beer - It poured a cloudy orange colour with a big bubbly head.  The aroma was of plums, raison, sweetness, and Brett??  The flavour was all over the place with hits of medicine, herbs, dark fruit, and tartness.

Would I Drink it Again? – Oh probably since it is supposed to be one of the best in the world but I won’t rush to grab it.

The first was La Taverne de Cluny, a few blocks from our apartment in the bustling 5th arrondissement. The beer selection was limited but solid, with a handful of Belgian classics leading the way.

I started with a bottle of a French beer I’d never heard of. Well, it’s probably fair to say that I haven’t heard of most French beers, and that there aren’t all that many. But I was intrigued by the bottle of Anosteke from the Brasserie du Pays Flamand, which was advertised as a hoppy seasonal ale. I assumed that this meant “hoppy” in the European sense, which proved to be the case, as it was a bright, saison-ish pale ale with a small but nice hoppy bite.

Anosteke 1

Anosteke 2

There weren’t any more interesting French beers on offer, so I stuck with the refreshing theme and opted for a bottle of Orval, the classic Trappist/wild ale. I’ve had both good and bad Orval (with the bad being so wild/funky that I find it nearly undrinkable), but this was a very good one: bright and thirst-quenching, certainly Bretty but not too much so, with just enough of a hoppy bite.

Orval

That reminds me that I noticed a couple of different places on this trip had two different listings of Orval on their menu: standard Orval, and Orval that was at least 6 months old. I was tempted by the latter, to see what kind of tricks the yeast plays when it’s had some time to age, but I never got around to ordering it. I’ll put it near the top of my list for the next trip.

The next day, we took a break from our sightseeing to get a couple of drinks at Le Sous-Bock, another beer-friendly restaurant/bar, this one in the 1st district, east of the Louvre. Their beer menu was long but relatively uninspiring, with plenty of basic European macro-lagers and even Budweiser (the US one) and Corona.

The one interesting thing on the French page was Oldarki (Biere au Patxaran), a beer from the French Basque country brewed with Patxaran, the traditional Basque plum liqueur. I’ve had Patxaran many times (my family’s Spanish roots include some Basque strains) and it’s quite tasty.

Sadly, this beer wasn’t. It tasted like any number of beers out there that have some sort of artificial additive mixed in with a mediocre base beer. It wasn’t undrinkable, just uninteresting and relatively unappealing. Seemed like a waste of a decent idea. Then again, there are plenty of great beers that feature really nice plum flavors, without having to resort to any post-brewing additions.

Oldarki 1

Oldarki 2

After that letdown, I opted to go back to a reliable favorite: St. Bernardus Abt 12, a classic quad and one of my favorites. It quickly and emphatically washed away the previous beer.

St. Bernardus Abt 12

The question itself is a little enigmatic. Pick the best five beers on Earth? Pick your favorite five beers? What’s the best approach? We all agreed that the point was to pick five beers to satisfy all of your beerly needs. Based on that caveat, the question requires some careful thought. You need a variety of styles and flavors. You need everyday brews and special occasion brews. You need dark and light…hoppy and malty…and everything in between. Whittling down the hundreds (thousands?) of beers I’ve sampled over the years to a mere five is a seemingly impossible task. But I think I’ve come up with a reasonable response:

1. Orval: Perhaps my all-time favorite brew, this Belgian Pale Ale is the five-tool player of the beer world. It’s as refreshing and hoppy as a great IPA (the only Trappist that is dry-hopped), but still has the classic Belgian farmhouse funk and slightly “wild” flavors I love. An everyday beer AND a special occasion beer. Perfect.
2. Ballast Point Sculpin IPA: Doc and I “reviewed” this beer a few weeks back. It’s the quintessential American IPA with a bold, gorgeous hop profile and unlimited drinkability. I’m not selecting any true “hop-bombs” on my list, so this is going to be the brew I reach for when I need some humulus lupulus in my diet.
3. Deschutes The Abyss: I clearly need a massive Imperial Stout in my “Five”, but selecting just one was maddening. At the end of the day, The Abyss has a slight edge (for me) over the equally ridiculous KBS, Hunahpu, Speedway Stout and Dark Lord for its epic smoothness and sublime nose.
4. Cigar City Guava Grove: I wanted a “sour” on this list since I’ve loved beers in that vein ever since I cracked into my first Monk’s Cafe so many years ago. The Monk’s is a good choice as is the Duchesse de Bourgogne, but the Guava Grove is a near-perfect example from one of the great American ale factories that Wifey and I both absolutely loved. Super-complex and mouth-puckering, this is a wholly refreshing “big” beer.
5. Rochefort 10: I’ll just go ahead and say it…this might be the best beer on Earth.

Alehead Nation, the ball is now in your court. Pick five beers.

Buen amigo Hermógenes, para maridar con esta semana de tópicos, películas repetidas, sentimiento religioso, le aconsejo que el viernes y en ayunas como manda la tradición se beba de manera consecutiva una Rochefort 8, una Westmalle Tripel, una Orval y una Rochefort 10. Están elaboradas por monjes por lo que tienen todo el sentimiento necesario y además al tomarlas en ayunas tal vez entre en éxtasis, como Santa Teresa.

Doctor, como usted sabe es tiempo de torrijas y para acompañar este dulce me gustaría que me aconsejase alguna cerveza que pueda ser buen complemento. Mi vecino Policarpo siempre está cuestionando mis maridajes y debo hacerme notar en el pueblo como sea. Dionisio, desde Viñegra de Moraña, Ávila.

Dionisio, para el postre (durante y no después): stout, porter o lambic. Por ejemplo, una Montmirá Tombatossals o una estupenda Taddy Porter.

My first train beer blog and although it wasn’t everything people played it up to be, it was still a great beer. I’ve had a shiiiit week, so I saved this one because I new I’d need a beer that was (a) tasty and (b) put-back-able. This beer certainly covered both criteria, but, considering the price and rare-itude, I might not go out of my way to get it in the future, but that is no real slight against what is an excellent beer. The nose had that hint of Orval yeast (to be expected) but also the slightly more surprising scent of bubblegum on the end. The taste was a burst of citrus grapefruit and Juicyfruit, made slightly more sharp and lively by the fine champagne-burst of the high carbonation. It lost a little of its magic if  left for too long, I found (thank the lord for short journeys) because the carbonation is really what makes this lttle fella come alive and dance around your mouth. If you find this, then it’s more than worth a try, however I wouldn’t move heaven and earth to find another, despite my undying devotion to the magic that Monsieur Rock produces at Orval.

De la Brasserie d’Orval, en Valonia, nos llega la Orval, quizá de las menos conocidas para el gran público (pero bueno, tampoco conoce tanto el gran público) pero no por ello menos importante, una cerveza aromática e intensa, con buena dosis de lúpulo para los amantes de las emociones fuertes.

De la Brouwerij de Westmalle, en Flandes, traemos la Westmalle Tripel, que es otra bomba de relojería andante, intensísima.

Y de la Brasserie Rochefort, dos joyas como la Rochefort 8 y, sobretodo, la Rochefort 10. Podemos decir sin miedo ninguno que hablamos de una de las mejores cervezas del mundo. Un sabor potente, un aroma maravilloso, una cerveza para degustar y disfrutar. Bueno, y las otras también, ¿no?

Todas todas todas en http://www.lupuloamansalva.com. Claro

Con menestra se me ocurren muchas mezclas y todas buenas. Quizá tirando hacia Bélgica, una Orval , si su menestra es potente, de estas que se le añade un poco de jamón bueno y suelta su jugo. Me muero de pensarlo. Para una menestra que lleve una pizca de pimentón, una 5am saint de Brewdog. Y para una estandar, se me ocurren una Santa Margarida Rubia o una Domus Regia.

Querido doctor, no podía esperar la semana para ver si podía resolver mi duda. ¿Qué cerveza es la que mejor puede maridar con un vino rosado “Palacio de Sada”?. Metodio, de Miguelturra, Ciudad Real

Estimado Metodio, tu pregunta me parece muy interesante y mi respuesta va a ser breve: DeDues Andante. Creo que es la mejor cerveza para maridar con vinos rosados, blancos, cavas y espumosos varios. Pruebe y verá.

Abbey beers use traditional recipes for brewing beer and may or may not be associated with an actual Abbey. In Belgium there are some marketing devices in place to help one determine if the beer is actually from an Abbey. The ones that aren’t typical brew the beer of a past abbey under license as the abbey may have ceased brewing sometime in the past.

The types of beer I am interested in discussing are Trappist beers. There are three strict conditions to be considered a Trappist beer:

• the beer must be brewed within a Trappist Abbey;
• the brewing must occur under the supervision and responsibility of Cistercian monks; and
• the majority of the revenue must be dedicated to charitable work.

This, to me, is a very intriguing list. Pair that with the fact that any beer geek can tell you that authentic Trappist beer are consistently some of the absolute best brews attainable…anywhere, and you have a very interesting conversation.

Take another read through that list and answer me something: how many other beer producers you know have any rules even remotely similar to this? All three of these points are going to have a pervasive effect on the beer brewed.

I could go real in depth but let me just highlight a few observations I immediately draw from this:

Restricting the brewing to within the boundaries of the Abbey inherently restricts the space available for the brewing efforts. This is going to have an immediate effect on the max brewing capacity. In fact, some of the Trappist beers are easily the most difficult to obtain in the world. I’ll touch on that more later.

Requiring the brewing to be supervised by and the responsibility of monks ensures that there is consistency in the brewing efforts and that traditional recipes and methods are adhered to.

No macro-brewers will lay their filthy hands on this process and wrench the authenticity out for profits. These are beers in which the producers take great pride. Often marketing is slim to none – the quality and reputation of the product sells itself.

The majority of the profits have to go to charitable work? That has to be the most surprising point. You have the sales of alcohol supporting charitable work. This is an immediate and immense difference from the motivations of typical beer producers.

Typically they are prohibited from producing and selling beer for a profit – so the production is limited to only enough to satisfy their financial needs and charitable work. This translates into a lower supply without affecting the demand.

The price these beers command is immediately higher and the difficulty of obtaining them is also increased. Most of these Trappist beers could easily setup more extensive distribution networks and jack up production and continue to sell every drop they produce. But they don’t.

Trappist beers are consistently rated as some of the best beers in the world. Part of this is because they have been brewing for centuries and no one has every subjected them to Purity Laws in brewing. The result of this is that these beers (and most Belgium) are not trying to adhere to any strict externally-imposed rules but are utilizing more creativity in their brewing. The result is excellent beer.

I started this to be a brief “in-depth” look but have written more than I anticipated.

To end it off, let me provide you with a few beers of the style you can try and seek out:

• Rochefort Trappistes 10
• Westvleteren 12
• Westmalle Tripel
• Westmalle Dubel
• Orval

I’ll leave you to your own research devices to dig up the names of the 7 breweries allowed to use the Trappist name. Here is a clue:

You will see on that list “Westvletern 12″ also known as “Westy 12″. Good luck with that one. It is produced in the Abbey in Belgium in a somewhat remote locale and that is the only place you can find it a reasonable price. It is pretty much the only place you can find it for retail sale. Period. A supposedly amazing beer I hope to try one day. If you get the chance, savor it – most beer nerds will never get there.

Someone was asking me about alcohol content of beers in Mississippi, specifically if standard beers like Budweiser are more alcoholic in other states. What ya know about this?

Matt

To give a little background on the question, Mississippi has many archaic blue laws. Here are some of the ones I have experienced in Oxford, Mississippi: no alcohol sales on Sunday; no sale of beer and liquor in the same store (I have also heard it stated as being illegal to sell liquor and wine at the grocery – either way, this amounts to beer in gas stations and groceries, and liquor and wine have their own stores); and no sale of cold beer (this law was circumvented by the local “beer barn.” They kept their beer outside in a drive-through barn, and so during the winter the beer would have been naturally cold without refrigeration). Different versions of these laws may be present in different counties in MS, and some of them may be statewide.

Most pertinently, though, the entire state forbids sale of beer over 5% ABW (alcohol by weight). ABW is an archaic term for measuring the alcohol content of something. It differs from ABV (alcohol by volume – this is what you always see on modern beer labels) because while the specific gravity of water is 1 gram per milliliter (g/mL – specific gravity is the density of a liquid relative to water, so water is 1), the specific gravity of ethanol (drinking alcohol) is 0.79. What this means is that a pint of water and a pint of alcohol will have different weights (16oz versus 12.8oz) even though they are the same volume. So to convert from ABW to ABV, we divide ABW by 0.79. Thus, (5% ABW)/(0.79) = 6.33% ABV.

What this boils down to is that a lot of the world’s beers are illegal to sell in Mississippi (I don’t know if it is technically illegal to possess them, and I don’t care to find out). If you are interested in getting this foolish law overturned and letting Mississippi join the other 49 states in enjoying higher-gravity beers, direct yourself towards Raise Your Pints. RYP is an advocacy group out of Mississippi that is determined to have more reasonable beer laws in place. They also hold special tasting events and hosted the state’s first beer festival last Summer. They are good people, like all craft beer drinkers.

So after my initial rambling, back to Matt’s question:

Someone was asking me about alcohol content of beers in Mississippi, specifically if standard beers like Budweiser are more alcoholic in other states. What ya know about this?

Matt

I have heard this rumor perpetuated regarding several states and several beers before. The answer is: not with beers like Budweiser, no. There are some (very few) beers that will ship with two different alcohol contents, but that is usually the exception, not the rule. I can’t even give you an example of one that does, but it is theoretically possible. I think that practice may officially be dead. At 4.2% ABV, Bud Lite doesn’t come close to breaching MS law, nor does regular Budweiser at 5.0% ABV. Off the top of my head, the only beer that Anheuser-Busch InBev brews that does violate the MS law is Wild Blue, which has an ABV of 8% and an unnatural blue tint. From personal experience, I assure you MS is not missing anything.

Anyway, the Bud brewed in FL is the same as the Bud brewed in MO is the same as the Bud brewed in CA. Today, for a mega corporation like Anheuser-Busch InBev, it would be fiscally irresponsible to brew a special beer just for a blue state. It’s also worth noting that if Mississippi were to, say, lower the legal alcohol by volume to 3.9% (Budweiser is 5%, Bud Lite is 4.2%, Michelob Ultra is 4%), AB-IB has the money and power to get that fixed real quick. AB-IB accounts for roughly 45-50% of all beer sales nationwide. Yes, one in every two beers purchased is an Anheuser-Busch InBev product. Miller-Coors is less than that, and I think “everybody else” aka microbrew is 5-10%, but that may be an overestimate for them. As it stands, AB-IB actually has a vested interest in keeping the blue laws on the books because it doesn’t limit any of their products (except Wild Blue) but it keeps over 2/3 of the overall competing beers out there off the shelves in MS. An interesting (though clearly biased) documentary on the subject is Beer Wars.

Over the past century there were more laws on the books limiting the alcohol content in beer (as usual, MS is the last to hold on to tradition… AL and WV were the other last states to have these laws, but they dropped them last year), and so some breweries were brewing different beers for different states. The technology of the day was also something that permitted this because lack of refrigeration was the most limiting factor for most of the past 150 years, so you basically had to brew what you could sell locally. (The ice-harvesting business for transporting beer was actually a significant national employer at one point… I can’t remember the number but it was unbelievable that so many people were harvesting natural ice.) Canning also did not exist for a long time, which was a big help in keeping beer from spoiling over long distances.

As recently as the 1970s, laws and geography were major players in beer distribution. The film Smokey and the Bandit is actually about smuggling a truck full of Coors east of the Mississippi River and into Georgia, where it was illegal. I am wholeheartedly willing to consider it a documentary for this reason.

So a few weeks later I was reading Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey, and Strong Belgian Ales and How to Brew Them and I learned something interesting. There may be instances where you can find a beer that has a different labeled ABV% in the US versus other countries. One (delicious) example is the Trappist beer Orval, brewed by Orval Abbey in Belgium. It lists a 6.9% ABV in the US, but a 6.2% ABV in Belgium.

The devil? you say.

It has to do with laws regarding label accuracy. In the US, a beer has to be within 0.3% of its listed ABV, but in Belgium, it only has to be within 1%. Due to the way Orval is made and when it is consumed/tested, it may have an unusually varying ABV. It is bottled with Brettanomyces yeast, which is not exactly normal brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae – remember the Spanish word cerveza). The S. cerevisiae has eaten all of the sugars it cares to and so it has gone to secondary and tertiary metabolisms by this time (cleaning up diacetyl and other ‘off’ flavors). The Brettanomyces, however, has a slightly different diet, and will continue to ferment certain sugars into alcohol in the bottle. The additional time it takes to get the beer to the US may mean that it will have a higher ABV than the more recently brewed Orval sold in Belgium. The environment of the bottles may also affect the Brett fermentation, but it is very unlikely that the bottles will encounter extreme heat or cold to the point where it affects fermentation.

Brettanomyces is used as the primary brewer’s yeast in a couple of more esoteric styles – lambics (e.g. framboise), gueuze, kriek, and oud bruin (Flemish Old Brown Ale). The yeast produces a markedly different flavor profile compared to S. cerevisiae. It is noted for its sour fruity flavors due to the production of lactic acid by lactobacillus (bacteria often included with Brett for making these beers) and from Brett. And pediococcus species produce something or another as well. And if you remember the sense of taste, as the prototypical salty taste is sodium chloride, the prototypical sour taste is hydrochloric acid. In the very old days of chemistry, when they were identifying unknown compounds, they would actually dip a finger in and taste it (no joke!) and if it was sour, it was acidic.

So there you go. One beer. I found one beer that has different alcohol labeling. An answer to a yes-or-no question in under 1500 words.