Brouwerij Huyghe

Why it matters

Belgian golden strong ale is a small category dominated by one beer, and this is the other one — which matters because it is where most people outside Belgium actually meet the style. It is also a case study in presentation doing real work: the bottle is the reason it gets picked up, and the beer inside is a serious example of a difficult style.

Details

Reference beers

• Delirium Tremens8.5% ABV

  The other Belgian golden strong ale, in a painted bottle with a pink elephant, and many drinkers’ first strong Belgian beer.

BeerHQ carries only the products that anchor something. This is not the brewery’s full range.

Styles it is associated with

• Belgian golden strong ale — Pale, very dry and highly carbonated, with intense pepper and fruit and a strength its lightness completely conceals.

Traditions

• Belgian abbey and Trappist brewing — Strong, highly attenuated, bottle-conditioned ales built on expressive yeast and candi sugar, produced in or licensed by monastic communities.