Top Tastings 2009
ABV: 6.5%
Origin: Binche, Hainaut, Wallonie
Website: www.belgoobeer.be
Binche / Belgoo Luppoo
Historically, hop character hasn’t figured highly on the list of all the many and varied features of Belgian beers, which are better known for their richly malty, sweetish, sour and spicy flavours. According to lambic brewer Frank Boon, in the pre-war period high hop rates had become associated with bad brewing, as some local brewers saw hopping as an easy cheat to mask off flavours and other flaws. Over the past two or three years, however, a number of new beers have started to emerge that make hops a selling point. The trend has been driven first and foremost by the demands of the import market in the USA, where highly hopped beers are a key feature of the craft brewing scene, but there are signs that domestic consumers are also appreciating this new performance space for the resinous talents of humulus lupus.
Dry-hopped Luppoo is probably the best of these hoppy newcomers I’ve tasted in the past year. It comes from a small brewing concern that shares premises and kit with the longer established Binchoise brewery in the market town of Binche, also known as one of Belgium’s capitals of mardi gras carnival revelry. Both Belgoo and Binchoise have their own sets of recipes and do their own marketing.
The beer, which contains oats as well as barley malt and other than hops is left unspiced, pours a hazy blond with a massive just off-white head. There’s a fresh piny hop aroma with a slight detergent note and also hints of phenol and yeast. The lively palate has a complex grainy flavour and firm oily texture (the oats no doubt help here), with artichoke, salt toffee and vaniall pastry notes and a bite of hoppy lime flavours. The finish has that malty weight typical of a Belgian blond, but also lingering citric and piny hops with a pithy orange flavour. Like the other beers I’ve tried in the style, it’s nowhere near as aggressive as the IBU-busting monsters from some American craft brewers, and is one of the examples that gets the balance just right between preserving some traditional national character and giving the hop its voice.
A short piece by me about the emergence of Belgium’s new hoppy generation will appear in the next issue of Fuller’s Fine Ale Club‘s First Draught magazine. Other examples I”ve enjoyed are Chouffe Houblon, the beer that started the current trend, and Hopsinjoor, an entry from the Anker brewery of Mechelen, better known for its rich, dark Gouden Carolus.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/belgoo-luppo/98186/
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