In going through notes collected while researching Brew Like a Monk I came across a couple of thought-provoking quotes from the Everybody Eats Well in Belgium Cookbook.

I dug these out because I’m working on a presentation for the National Homebrewers Conference. There won’t be much time to talk about tradition and passion (of the Belgian brewers - the passion of American homebrewers is pretty evident) because the talk will focus more on the “how to” side.

The seminar is approved by the BJCP Continuing Education Program, meanting BJCP judges earn credit for attending. Of course they have to answer questions like this one:

For strong pale styles (like tripel) Belgian brewers often include how much sugar in the bill?
a. No sugar
b. About 5%
c. Up to 10%
d. About 15%
e. More than 25%

(Just in case you want to study in advance.)

I’ll still find a few minutes to discuss tradition because whether you think it is the actual setting or the spirit in which Trappist beers are brewed one of the things that sets these beers apart is where they are made.

Added 6.26.06: Now that the conference has passed and test sheets are handed in . . . the answer is d.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 at 3:36 pm and is filed under Tradition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.