Coors and Heineken — Your Partners in ... - Origlio Beverage

y Lew
Bryson
American craft
brewers make
a lot of different
beers. They’ll try
almost anything, it seems.
But there’s a country where
the brewers have been doing
that for centuries, a country where
the weird and wonderful beers of yesteryear
never died out, a country
where brewers don’t say “my beer is
in such-and-such a style,” they say
“this is MY beer, it’s good, drink it!”
It’s Belgium, the “Malt Disneyland”
of Europe, and there are some very
good reasons why you should learn
more about Belgian beers, and about
the beers from American brewers
who have captured that spirit.
The first reason is easy: your
customers already love them.
Philadelphia is the country’s biggest
market for Belgian beers. Other cities
are just discovering them. Next reason:
Belgians look at beer as wine to
go with their meal. These beers pair
magically with food, and the big-bottle
format of many of them reinforces
that.
Finally, a great reason: every bottle is
an up-sell. You’re happy with a better
bottom line, your customers are
happy with a great beer for less than
a bottle of so-so wine.
Start with two classics: Chimay Red
and Duvel. Chimay Red was the beer
that old pros, like me, cut our beer
appreciation teeth on in the 1980s: a
big bottle with a cork, dark and rich,
powerful and chocolatey. This was a
beer that turned peoples’ heads.
When we found out it was brewed by
monks...we were hooked.
The Beer Guy: Get the Belgian Beat
Duvel, from the Moortgat Brewery,
was another completely different beer
experience. Duvel looked like a regular
American beer, only more so: it
was a beautiful gold color, and had a
huge white head that would billow
right out of the glass if you weren’t
careful. But the taste was amazing:
spicy, sweet and bitter at the same
time, and deceptively easy to drink at
8.5%. We soon learned why it was
named “Devil”!
These two beers probably introduced
more Americans to Belgian beers
than any others, and helped develop
a host of American brewers who
wanted nothing more than to brew
beers with that same kind of pizzazz
and exuberance. Locally, Sly Fox is
brewing up Belgian types like Saison
Vos, a crisp, spicy beer that can’t wait
to meet some cheese or steamed mussels.
Legacy brings their Midnight
Wit, a creamy, lively witbier (“white
beer,” a wheat beer made with spices
and orange peel) that’s one of the
finest refreshers around.
Speaking of witbiers, you might want
to try Allagash White from Maine, a
beer considered to be the equal of the
Belgians’ own witbiers.
Allagash brews with a Belgian disregard
for rules, making beers the way
they want, the beers they like. They
are quietly brewing some of the most
adventurous beers in America. Port
Brewing, on the other side of the
country in California, is also brewing
some very adventurous beers in a
Belgian vein. Brewer Tomme Arthur
is a celebrity in brewing circles, and
his Lost Abbey beers represent a
fusion of Belgian tradition and
American innovation.
If you’re moving in the craft beer
direction – or are already there – you
can’t miss the Belgian beat. You see it
in the new wave of sour beers – intentionally
sour! – in the “double, triple,
quadruple” big beer styles, you can
even see it in Blue Moon Belgian
White. A lot of Belgian-type beers are
very approachable for people who are
looking for an interesting trade-up
from their everyday beer, but just don’t
care for a super-bitter IPA. You may
even get the people who tell you, “I
don’t really like beer.” Try them on a
Saison Vos or a big bottle of Duvel,
and listen as they change their tune,
and start grooving on the Belgian beat.
“Every bottle is an up-sell.
You’re happy with a better
bottom line, your customers
are happy with a
great beer for less than a
bottle of so-so wine.”
HeadyTimes v.48 Origlio Beverage • www.origlio.com 15