Belgian beer question

[CHAPPERS]

I've got 6 assorted bottled Belgian beers at home that have best before end dates of nearly two years ago. Now BBE dates don't normally mean shit but in this case will my beer have 'aged' and got stronger yet?

I'm mostly thinking of the 10.5% Gulden Draak.

Cheers!

 

[British Bulldog]

I've got 6 assorted bottled Belgian beers at home that have best before end dates of nearly two years ago. Now BBE dates don't normally mean shit but in this case will my beer have 'aged' and got stronger yet?

I'm mostly thinking of the 10.5% Gulden Draak.

Cheers!

It's probably reached old age by now! You can leave it as long as you like but i'm afraid it will never get stronger.

 

[CHAPPERS]

DAMN! Best drink it anyway.

 

[British Bulldog]

DAMN! Best drink it anyway.

Would be a shame to waste it!

 

[CHAPPERS]

Hooray for Beer and double horay for beer brewed by Monks*.


*excluding Buckfast, I'm not Scottish.

 

[The Large One]

Wow! 10.5% - assuming that's a half-pint bottle, that's almost 3 units of alcohol. Three bottles of that stuff and you will be officially 'binge' drinking. Go get 'em Floyd.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Wow! 10.5% - assuming that's a half-pint bottle, that's almost 3 units of alcohol. Three bottles of that stuff and you will be officially 'binge' drinking. Go get 'em Floyd.

My name isn't Floyd.

 

[The Large One]

My name isn't Floyd.

I know.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Oh right.

 

[Hungry Joe]

There's a wickerd one with loads of fat drunk monks on the label that's about 13%. If you've got that one Chappers drink it first.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Leffe Blond.

 

[The Large One]

Oerbier on sale in the Duke of Wellington in Shoreham. 9.5% - tastes like Leffe Blond but gets you blasted in half the time.

 

[Gully]

Why can't we have a pre-season tour to Belgium, some superb beer, great food and really friendly people...plus the best chocolate in the whole wide World for people to bring back as pressies to those they left behind at home.

 

[The Large One]

Why can't we have a pre-season tour to Belgium, some superb beer, great food and really friendly people...plus the best chocolate in the whole wide World for people to bring back as pressies to those they left behind at home.

Good shout. Ask Insider.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Belgium and the Netherlands?


Beer, chocolate, ganja and hookers.

 

[Hungry Joe]

That's my autobiography title.

 

[Northstander]

Leffe

 

[Gully]

Might ask insider about a Belgian/Dutch tour, could base it in the south of the Netherlands near to the Belgian border, loads of choice of opposition from all different levels, plenty of different places to stay. There is a Dutch town about 10 miles from Maastricht called Valkenberg, it hosts football tournaments all the time and would be a superb place for the club to be based. Within 20/30 miles you have a couple of dozen possible opponents, possibly a few more if you ventured as far as Alemania Aachen in Germany.

When I lived out there the nearest Premier division team, JC Roda, played a friendly against Charlton, so the odd British team does venture out there.

 

[Trufflehound]

Oerbier on sale in the Duke of Wellington in Shoreham. 9.5% - tastes like Leffe Blond but gets you blasted in half the time.

The makers of Oerbier - the Dolle Brouwers ("Mad Brewers") - do a dark Xmas beer called Stille Nacht ("Silent Night"). That's well worth checking out if you ever see it - and it clocks in at around 12%.

 

[Trufflehound]

I've got 6 assorted bottled Belgian beers at home that have best before end dates of nearly two years ago. Now BBE dates don't normally mean shit but in this case will my beer have 'aged' and got stronger yet?

I'm mostly thinking of the 10.5% Gulden Draak.

Cheers!

The Belgians are forced to put BBE dates on the beers under EU law. There is a strong lobby in the industry trying to get them an exemption because, as you rightly say, the date doesn't mean shit.

Most decent Belgian beers carry a date brewed (sometimes just the year), which is more significant, like a good wine.

If you leave them for a while the flavour might get more depth and improve, particularly if it has yeast in it (the white sediment in some bottles). I can especially vouch for the 75cl Blue Chimay bottles (the "Grand Reserve") on that score, which get immeasurably better if you leave them for a couple of years.

It's unlikely to get stronger in ABV though as you need yeast AND sugar for that to happen, and the sugar will already have been brewed out.

Incidentally, there is a theoretical maximum strength of beer that lies around 13.5%. Above this the alcohol "kills" the yeast and the fermentation stops...