brew

The non-hoppy pale ale

The wonderfall odd ball of the Pale Ale family! A nice golden orange beer gives off an earthy aroma. Sweetness dominates the flavor. The fruit aspect of it reminds be of berries. The finish only puts a mild damper on the sweetness. This certainly isn’t dry. I was surprised by the lack of bitterness but per the style guidelines there isn’t supposed to be much in the way of hops. Any spiciness comes through more so in the nose than the taste. A very tasty all around beer despite not being what I expected.

Like most of the Belgians the backbone is pilsner – just two ounces shy of nine pounds. Ten ounces of caramunich and three ounces of biscuit malt are the rest of a simple grain bill. Unlike many heavy pilsner recipes it only called for a sixty minute boil. Hopping, oddly, comes from English Kent Goldings. The British hops seem almost exclusive to British styles. One point three ounces went into the boil right at sixty minutes with another point three ounces at flameout. Yeast of choice was Anterwerp Ale WLP515.