Customer Reviews

Belgian Ale (Classic Beer Style Ser)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a homebrewer for five years. I have read a lot of brewing literature. I own eight of the "Classic Beer Styles Series" and have read several others. I will be frank: the Series' quality is not consistent.

Pierre Rajotte's Belgian Ale is one of the best in the series. I have brewed five of the recipes in the book and all have turned out well. When brewing other Belgian recipes I always use the mashing program found on page 83 in the valuable chapter four, "Brewing with a Belgian Brewmaster."

If you are contemplating brewing a Belgian, (not spontaneously fermented that is found in the book "Lambic" of the Series) then get your hands on this book, particularly if you are going to attempt a high gravity Belgian.

I am a big fan of all of the Styles Series books, but this is by far my favorite. Nearly every brewing book covers British ales and continental lagers in detail, yet offer only the briefest of comments on Belgian ales.

Pierre Rajotte did extensive research for this highly readable book and he covers the history, styles and brewing techniques in just the right level of detail. Of particular value are his tips for working with high gravity beers.

If you brew and you love Belgian ales, I highly recommend this book.

Rajotte's book may not be the ideal book for the beginning homebrewer, but I don't believe it's intended to be. For that, check out Palmer and many others. Rajotte's book gave me insight into what makes up these enigmatic brews. I brewed his saison recipe and was very pleased with the results, in fact, the beer was very favorably reviewed at a competition as being representative of the style. All in all, this book is a valued part of my brewing library.

A good book for its time, and still a source of helpful bits of information here or there. Its biggest problem is that it has rapidly become outdated given advances in American knowledge of Belgian beers, ingredients, and brewing processes over the last twelve years. The discussion of saison in this book is especially disappointing - very little information on flavor profiles, brewing techniques, and not even a mention of Saison Dupont under classic examples (though to be fair, this now classic example of the style was not widely available outside of Belgium at the time of publishing). This book is worth looking at for serious brewers, but for those who want more up-to-date and thorough information, I would recommend the newer _Farmhouse Ales_ and _Brew Like a Monk_, both from Brewers Publications.

I thought this was a fairly decent, and above-average offering, from the Classic Beer Style Series. My problem is not so much with the author, or the book, as it is with the somewhat underambitious slant of the series as a whole ... it aimed (back when it was first published) a bit lower than it could have.

Although a bit too brief, the author of this particular volume (book 6 of the aforementioned series) does overview the basic elements of the region: the history of abbey brewing, the primary yeast & microflora strains, specialty ingredients (candi sugar), the role of temperature in stimulating the production of esters and phenols, etc. The author also includes some information on certain advanced techniques: such as dual-strain use (1 for fermentation, one for bottling) for high gravity styles, as well as helpful appendices including a glossary of technical terms, a series of basic no-frills recipes for each of the major Belgian sub-styles, and brief survey of commercial examples.

It's a good, if unspectacular, book.

[Addendum]

I read this book back around 1996, and I've made more than a handful of Belgian sub-styles so far ... none of them taken directly from this book, but I definitely relied on it for some general guidance when constructing my recipes (in accordance with stylistic parameters), and also in controling my fermentation temperatures.

For those who want a book that contains almost everything one needs to know about Belgian Ales look no further. Pierre Rajotte is a master of Belgian beer and gives the reader a unique insight into this style. In addition to the extensive history of Belgian Ales, the author goes into great detail explaining the different styles as well as the individual requirements for each style and the ingredients they usually contain. Pierre Rajotte helps the reader make sense of the dizzying array of Belgian Ale styles and lists a few commercial examples at the end. The author is also a brewer and presents detailed information about mash schedules, ingredients, brewery equipment and re-fermentation techniques (adding a dose of fresh yeast along with sugar at bottling). Despite the fact that the recipe section of this book is quite limited, the author does such an excellent job of outlining each style and individual ingredient that it is possible for the homebrewer to use this book as a starting point when writing their own Belgian inspired recipes. This book goes into great detail regarding Belgian Ale yeast, but the author has written another book that goes into yeast culturing in greater detail. See "First Steps In Yeast Culture" by Pierre Rajotte for another excellent work by this author if you are interested in culturing your own yeast.

Also worthy of note: this is not a guide to all Belgian beers, only ales. Since Belgian Ales are my primary interest I was not at all disappointed and commend Pierre Rajotte wholeheartedly for his excellent work. For those seeking information regarding Belgian lagers do not write negative reviews about this book, instead simply look at the title and realize that they were not meant to be included since lagers have entirely different requirements when they are brewed.

Well written, packed with info, this book has everything you need to make great Belgian ales at home. You may not perfect a Chimay clone on your first try, but you will probably produce a very drinkable beverage in the style!

AS a home brewer with 20 years experience, I found the book very useful when I decided to delve into the mysteries of brewing Belgian Ale styles. I think this book and others in the series need to be periodically updated. Since returning from college in Europe in 1976, the number of European beer styles available in the US has increased dare I say, 1000 fold. In 1976 you were lucky if you could find a Lowenbrau (Germany's Budweiser at the time), St. Pauli Girl or a Becks. Now the number of beers imported is virtually uncountable.

The section in the book near the end giving us commercial examples of the types of beer, as well as offering up the author's opinion on commercially available varieties, "if you can find them" and giving us is horribly out of date. Today the number of Belgian ales avaiable at any good liquor store is mind boggling. The increase in the availability of this incredibly diverse beverage needs to be reflected.

I recommend the book to any would be belgian ale brewer. I found it particularly helpful in cloning some of my favorite belgian ales. The process for doing that could also be added to any update of the text.

This book is insightful and helpful withthe Belgian beer style. It is a good guide to get you started in make Belgian beers. Gives you a little history and geographically info then gets into the design of the beers.

Pierre Rajotte wrore a book on how to handle, grow and preserve yeast. I found that book extremely valuable as a learning aid. This belgian ale tells a lot about belgian ale but really not enough about how to related items. I just wanted something else.