Every year for the last thirteen years, myself and a group of five other men travel to a remote part of Ireland in West Donegal where we celebrate our friendship through the medium of beer.
This year, we facilitated a Belgian beer tasting as one of our weekend activities, something met with a sense of competitive purpose.
THE PARTICIPANTS
While all five participants (each of whom has 30 years plus to their name) are experienced beer drinkers, none are beer geeks.
THE BELGIAN BEER TASTING SET-UP
The structure of the tasting was simple. With a tasting sheet for guidance, we made our way through the six beers, noting name, style and alcohol by volume, appearance, aroma, flavour, aftertaste and general comments. The journey was as close in order as was possible to beer from light to dark and from lowest in alcohol to highest. We chose a diverse set of Belgian beers, including beers which are quite iconic in their style.
Each beer in the Belgian beer tasting was then marked by each participant out of 100. The scores you see below are the average scores of the group (i.e. totaled and divided by five). Discussion was lively and honest. There were lots of questions. All the beers were appreciated. Some surprised.
BLIND TASTING TEST
The evening ended with a blind tasting, where the participants were presented with a range of beers which they had tasted and some which they had not, and faced with naming each of the beers in the unmarked glasses in front of them.
Despite the huge variety in beer styles and the fact that they had experienced each beer only moments before, the task of identifying beers proved to be a challenging one. Of ten beers set out in unmarked glasses for the blind tasting (six of which were Belgian and four of which were not), the highest scoring participant guessed only four of these correctly.
Perhaps this challenge was made all the more difficult by the introduction of four Irish beers which they had never tried before. Or perhaps the initial Belgian beers clouded their judgment sufficiently to thwart an accurate analysis. Who knows? It supposed to be fun.
THE AVERAGE SCORES
Below are the average scores for each of the beers in reverse order from lowest to highest scoring.
I did not take part in the Belgian beer tasting. This is a report of the opinions of the group who were experiencing these beers for the first time. My role was to pour the beers, answer questions and facilitate discussion. The quotes were randomly selected from the tasting notes of the participants.
6th PLACE: SAISON DUPONT (6.5% a.b.v.) – Average Score: 59/100
“A bitter refreshing one for farm workers.”
Even though the Saison came out with the lowest score after tasting, it was still very well received. They liked the story of it originating on Belgian farms as much as they liked its dryness and pleasant bitterness.
5th PLACE: WESTMALLE TRIPEL (9.5% a.b.v.) – Average Score: 59/100
“Tasty. Hearty. Strong”.
This was the only beer on the list that some of the group had tried before. They liked the complex banana and vanilla notes. And they loved the boozy sweetness.
4th Place: BOON GEUZE MARIAGE PARFAIT (8.0% a.b.v.) – Average Score: 65/100
“Fizzy Sour. Champagne Sharp.”
This is a blend which is spontaneously fermented with wild yeasts and natural bacteria and which has spent several years maturing in oak casks. They embraced the sourness like five children in a sweet shop. Other descriptions used were ‘Wow. A taste sensation. Almost cidery. Or a bit like flavoured sherbet’. Amen brother.
3rd PLACE: OMER TRADITIONAL BLOND (8.0%) – Average Score: 66/100
“Really blond. Really cloudy. Really good.”
This beer was guessed most correctly of any beer during the blind tasting. Brewed with three varieties of aromatic hops, the boys were quick to point out that they thought this one was very ‘Belgian’. Whatever that means.
2nd PLACE: RODENBACH GRAND CRU (6.0% a.b.v) – Average Score: 77/100
“Very different. Very sour. Very tart”.
Straight in there enjoying the red berry fruitiness and the sour sweet taste, this beer came out as the favourite of the group in the blind tasting at the end of the night.
1st PLACE: ROCHEFORT 10 (11.3% a.b.v.) – Average Score: 78/100
“Compressed dark berries. Alcohol. Top of the Pops. A completely perfect aftertaste”
Topping the list was one of the most famous dark brown Belgian strong ales, Rochefort Trappistes 10. The group liked its dark murky colour and off-white head and its raisin and plum dried fruit character. They also noticed a little bit of spiciness. And the warming effect of the alcohol.
THE FINDINGS
What can we conclude from such a completely unscientific experiment? Eh, nothing. But the boys did enjoy their beers. There was only a 19% margin between all the beers in final scoring and marks across the board were high (between 59 and 78 out of 100).
Maybe we should do it again in the future?
Have you tried a Belgian beer tasting in your country?
