Robin Shepard
Giant Jones co-owner and brewmaster Jessica Jones.
Giant Jones co-owner and brewmaster Jessica Jones pours her Belgian-style single.
A wave of Belgians greets beer lovers this month. Among them is a new beer from Giant Jones Brewing Company. Brewmaster Jessica Jones decided to mark the brewery’s seventh year in business with a Belgian single, a style inspired by the sessionable table beers traditionally enjoyed by European monks. Jones loves to recreate these tastes of history, researching historical styles but using modern ingredients and processes, and keeping it all organic. One modern twist is the choice of Adeena hops — lemony, herbal and spicy, they stand out in a Belgian single. At 6.6% ABV, Jones’ Belgian single is a bit strong for the style, but because it finishes clean and dry, it seems much lighter ($8/bottle).
Peter Schroder, brewmaster at Starkweather Brewing, always has a Belgian or two on tap. The latest installment is called Anders, a 5.2% ABV Belgian blonde ale made with spruce tips and fermented with two types of yeast, one for sourness and the other for soft floral sweetness. The spruce is what stands out, yet there is firm Belgian yeast character, with bubblegum sweetness to tartness in the background. This is a beer with layers of flavor that make it among the most interesting beers of August ($8/pint and $17/crowler).
New Glarus Brewing Company brought back its Belgian blonde, Stone Soup, for the summer. It’s similar to a Belgian single, only slightly sweeter. Stone Soup has a lot going into it, hence the allusion to the stone soup parable. It’s made with Wisconsin barley, German and English hops and Belgian yeast. Bottle fermentation leaves it very effervescent, with the signature Belgian yeast personality — light floral fruity sweetness, with a hint of clove and spice. It tastes a little like a hefeweizen, in a good way. This is a very easy drinking summer beer at 5.3% ABV ($10/six-pack).
Robin Shepard
New Glarus and Giant Jones Belgian abbey beers.
New Glarus and Giant Jones feature Belgian abbey beers this month.
Among the many good locally brewed Belgians is a saison collaboration between Full Mile Beer Company and Kitchen in Sun Prairie and Sunshine Brewing Company in Lake Mills. The two just released Day & Age, modeled after the classic Saison Dupont. “We stuck as close to the traditional process as we could, using the same Dupont yeast to bring out all of the remarkable spicy and peppery notes that are hallmarks of the style,” says Sunshine’s Caleb Meinke. It finishes at 7.3% ABV. It’s sold at both breweries ($7-$8/pint).
Raised Grain Brewing Company co-owner Nick Reistad was a member of the U.S. National Cycling Team in the early 2000s and while competing in cycling races through Belgium he discovered Hoegaarden wit, the benchmark beer for the style and the model for the Waukesha brewery’s White Fox wit. It has bubbly character, light haze, and the traditional yeasty signature of light floral sweetness. It’s made with orange blossom honey that gives it a touch more body and very subtle honey sweetness. It finishes at just 5.3% ABV ($14/four-pack).
Vintage Brewing Company’s new variant of Dedication, its award-winning dubbel, is aged for nine months in rye whiskey barrels from Dancing Goat Distillery of Cambridge. Dedication is a full-bodied, bronze-colored dubbel with dark fruity flavors of raisin and plum. It’s on tap at all Vintage locations, except the campus Vintage Spirits and Grill ($9.50/10-ounce glass or 22-ounce bomber/$20).
Note: Likely nearing the end of its run, and worth picking up if you see it, is Young Blood Beer Company’s I Thought You Said Fantasy Futbol, a Belgian IPA.
