News: Belgian Golden Ales in the NY Times

Veteran NY Times beer correspondent Eric Asimov teams up again with Florence Fabricant and a guest--this time Resto owner Christian Pappanicholas (Resto is a Belgian focused Manhattan restaurant). Their target--to tackle Belgians and Belgian-style ales. As Asimov notes, Belgians often defy categorization, and despite trying to cast somewhat of a net around the Belgian Golden Strong Ale style, there's still quite a bit of variety in the mix.

Twenty beers, half from Belgium, nine from the US and one Canadian brew complete the spread. Interestingly, the top pick is not from the mother country, but rather from Ron Jeffries' Dexter, MI based Jolly Pumpkin. In fact, of the top four, three are American, and two are Jeffries' brews (Jeffries also brews for Leelanau).

A surprise that isn't a surprise--Duvel, the originator of the style, didn't make the top pick. Historically, I have loved this beer, but as of late, I've noticed the same freshness problem Asimov notes. Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat, what is going on?

Asimov usually accompanies his articles with a post on his blog, The Pour. Check out the post on Belgian ales and be sure to read through the comments for readers' takes.

Technorati Tags: Belgians, Belgian Golden Strong Ale, Eric Asimov, Resto, beer, craft beer, brewing, homebrew