Our lineup is made up almost exclusively of Belgian style ales. We strive to make the best versions we can of these classic styles using the freshest ingredients and buying as close to home as is possible. But, hewing to the great brewing tradition of Belgium, you will also find some beers that we take down our own path in an effort to surprise and delight. Enjoy!
Le Crécerelle
(The Kestrel)
Style: Saison
ABV: 3.9-5.9%
This is our award winning petite Saison. Calling “Saison” a beer style is kind of like calling “Building” an architectural style. Saison (along with its cousin Biere de Garde) was traditionally any beer that a farm would brew to serve to field workers at lunch. There are no hard and fast rules other than it should be a refreshing to drink, lighter, lower ABV (relative to other Belgian styles) beer. Saison means season and as such we’ve elected to change our saison with the seasons.
The Spring version is light and refreshing with a touch of rye and an ABV of 5.6%, this is perfect for tackling the hard work of getting your planting beds up and running (or sitting in a chair pretending …). Summer brings an even lighter version that adds a touch of honey malt to up the refreshing ante and drops the ABV to 3.9%. Sit in the shade and watch your plants grow, or sit in a brewery and assume they are growing. Autumn comes along and our answer is a smoked version of a saison. The smoke comes from oak smoked wheat malt. It’s very subtle (think lightly smoked salmon vs mesquite brisket) with an ABV of 4.9%. Finally we side into winter, and while winter in San Diego has no real weather per se (and that’s a good thing), one does want something a little heartier. So, we leaned into the rye and created a spicy version for the cooler weather and the shorter days. And at 5.9%, it should provide a little warmth.
Le Corbeau
(The Raven)
Style: Check the board
ABV:Check the board
Le Corbeau is the label we use for our seasonal experimental styles. In the past this has included a brut IPA; a dark, strong saison; an Imperial IPA; a grisette; a dark lager; and a “Belgianized” Danish julebryg among others. If you want to see what we’re playing with, you have to come in and see. Just kidding! You can check the beer list. You might even find a recent story entry that will explain the latest offering … but you can’t taste a beer by reading on a screen.
Étoile Brillante
(Bright Star)
Style: Belgian Pils
ABV: 5.3%
Someone said that the Belgians don’t make lagers but everyone seems to forget the 19th best selling beer in the world (as of2024): Stella Artois. Stella was a big part of my adolescence as that was the beer they served in McDonald’s. The local fast food chain served Maes Pils, another fine, Belgian lager. Now McDonalds serves Jupiler, yet a third excellent example of a Belgian lager. It has to be said that pre-Inbev Stella was a much more nuanced, interesting beer. And, while we didn’t run out of Belgian animals, it seemed like a nice idea to give a nod both in flavor and in name to the old Stella. It also allows us to distinguish our lagers from the rest of the beers.
Le Faison
(The Pheasant)
Style: Biére Blanche (AKA Witbier)
ABV: 5.3%
A classic Belgian wheat beer which is the Belgian answer to the Heffewiezen of Germany or the American Wheat Beer. Once again, there is a wide latitude given to brewers of wheat beers in terms of added flavors and Belgian brewers have taken full advantage over the years. Ours sticks mostly to the traditional prototype with a grain bill of wheat and pilsner malt finishing with a hint of coriander and California Cara Cara orange peel in place of the traditional Curaçao oranges that were available to early brewers of this style.
L’Herisson
(The Hedgehog)
Style: Belgian Sour, we’ll call it “Lambic inspired”
(lambic is a protected designation and while we would have no problem living in Belgium, we don’t)
ABV: 5.5%
One of the greatest beer styles in the world is the Lambic. This is the original “champagne of beers” crisp and tart with champagne style carbonation and a head that dissipates relatively quickly, this is a super refreshing beer that takes 1 year to make. We ferment our lambics in wine and brandy barrels, the choice if barrel is determined by the style. For the fruited lambics, we use brandy barrels that will enhance the finished fruit flavor we are looking for (eg a peach lambic will ferment in a peach brandy barrel). If we cannot find a brandy barrel (nobody seems to make blueberry brandy … seems like a miss opportunity to me), we use white wine barrels. We then add fruit in a blending tank to taste. L’Herisson is offered in both seasons fruited versions and a “plain” version (also fermented in white wine barrels). The standard progression starting in spring is raspberry, blueberry, peach, and cherry. Of course, sometimes we go nuts and we throw in an extra fruited version. Maybe even two extra fruited versions … you never know, strawberry happens.
L’Herisson Immortel
(The Immortal Hedgehog)
Style: Gueuze inspired Solera
(Like lambic, Gueuze is a protected designation and we still don’t live in Belgium. Also, this is not a traditional gueuze … read on …)
ABV: 5.5%
A traditional gueuze is a blend of multiple years of lambics, usually 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years. Most if the art of making a great gueuze lies in the blending. While we sometimes indulge in blending gueuze inspired beers, this particular project involves a 6 barrel (186 gallons) foeder filled with lambic. Every year we rack off 1/3 of the lambic to be bottled, and replace that with fresh lambic. This method is called a solera. It is primarily used in the production of non vintage port wine. The advantage is that you get an effective age that hovers (in this case) around 3.5 years which is exactly where we want it to be. The disadvantage is that you run the risk of screwing up years worth of work every time you pull product. But the other advantage is that you get a unique beer every year! Fun fact: In the world of lambic beers, a year is not measured from Jan. 1 to Dec 31, but refers to how many summers the beer has spent in the barrels.
Le Phoque du Port
(The Harbor Seal)
Style: Patersbier/Abbey Single
ABV: 5.8%
In the world of abbey beers, the patersbier or single was the red headed stepchild. Rarely packaged for consumption outside the monasteries, this was the monks’ “lawnmower beer”. While the heavier, stronger beers were sold outside the abbey to bring in the cash, the monks couldn’t be guzzling 11% beers all day so they would brew these light beers they could drink with meals and still be able to function. Our interpretation throws in a bit of rye to give it a flavor kick and replaces the traditional beet sugar syrup with cherry blossom honey.
Le Géant de Flandres
(The Flemish Giant)
Style: Belgian Pale Ale
ABV: 5.9%
Le Géant de Flandres is inspired by a recipe created by Bob Tupper, my cousin, back in the mid 1990s. Tupper’s Hop Pocket Ale was one of the O.G. craft beers from the Washington, D.C. area. It was brewed at Old Dominion Brewing from a recipe created by Bob. At the time, it was considered to be grotesquely over-hopped at 90IBUs though by today’s standards it is positively balanced. Sadly, the brewery was bought out by one of the mega beer companies and production ceased. When I started brewing, this was one of the recipes on my wish list. I tried to cajole my cousin into giving me their recipe but he was not giving it up even though there was no commercial version in the world anymore. After nearly a decade, I had pretty much given up hope when I found the recipe in a reprinted volume of clone beer recipes from the 1990s. Our version is a slight departure from Bob’s. We use a clean fermenting Belgian strain and we’ve replaced the Cascade with a newer USDA hop called Newport. We have an excellent, slightly bitter (though not in an arrogant way) beer to go with a cheesy burger.
Le Genet
(The Genet)
Style: White IPA
ABV: 6.8%
The white IPA is the Belgian answer to the hazy IPA. Essentially, it is a stronger witbier that’s been dry hopped and while many white IPAs lean into the same tropical fruit hop derived flavors as American hazy IPAs use, we chose to stay a little more traditional and bring out the orange notes one expects from a witbier. To whit, we dry hop with Bergamot hops to push the orange notes forward.
Le Minon Américain
(The American Mink)
Style: Belgian IPA
ABV: 7.2%
Of course there’s a Belgian IPA. If there’s a new beer style, Belgians will put a spin on it. And, since Belgium is the original west coast of beer, our Belgian IPA is a nod to the old school west coast IPA. That is nonsense, but it makes sense to us. We push the bitterness up to a respectable 92IBU and then throw some old school C hops in for the dry hop. It’s so late 1990s that you’ll be pulling out your flannel shirts and dusting off those old Pearl Jam and Nirvana CDs.
Le Renard
(The Fox)
Style: Belgian Blonde Ale
ABV: 7.2%
The Belgian blonde is classic golden Belgian ale of moderate strength. Often confused with the Trappist single, it is a lighter, golden ale showcasing all of the yeast character that is the hallmark of Belgian beers unattenuated by the addition of any kind of spice or fruit flavors and without the extreme yeast esters of an abbey ale. This is a beer drinker’s beer. It makes an excellent companion for roast chicken and mashed potatoes with leeks.
Le Blaireau
(The Badger)
Style: Trappist Dubbel
ABV: 7.2%
This is our award winning Belgian Trappist dubbel style ale brewed with California avocado honey instead of beet syrup. The longer sugar chains in the honey push the yeast to work longer and harder giving this beer exceptional esters with hints of banana, bubblegum, and blueberries that play with the chocolate notes from the dark roasted malts. Le Blaireau plays very nicely with Moules mariniere, with the acidity of the tomato sauce playing off of the malt character and accentuating the fruity esters.
Le Cerf Rouge
(The Red Deer)
Style: Trappist Tripel
ABV: 9.3%
A deceptively smooth drinking, light colored ale that punches above its apparent weight with a 9.3% ABV, Le Cerf Rouge was created with an eye toward pairing with with hearty meals like roasted chicken but goes surprisingly well with mussels and spinach. The Tripel abbey style ale often confused with the strong golden. The primary difference between the two is that the Tripel is expected to have a more yeast forward flavor profile. The malt bill for the Tripel is also slightly more complex with oats and wheat that the strong golden lacks.
Le Petit Hibou
(The Little Owl)
Style: Belgian Strong GOlden Ale
ABV: 9.6%
A Belgian Strong Golden Ale is supposed to have some reference to Satan in it’s name/artwork but that would break with the theme of using Belgian fauna. The best we could do was the owl. Owls played a prominent role in European culture as harbingers of doom and omens of impending death from pre-Christian times (owls allegedly foretold the impending deaths of many a Roman emperor including Julius Casear) and through the works of Shakespeare (in both the aforementioned story of Julius Caesar and The Scottish Play).
In truth, an owl is a perfect representation of a Strong Golden Ale, quiet and smooth, but it packs a punch and brings pain and suffering to those who do not respect its power.
Beware the little owl …
Le Sanglier
(The Boar)
Style: Trappist Quad
ABV: 11.8%
Belgian Strong Dark Ale, or a Belgian Quad? “What’s in a name? … A rose by any other name would smell as sweet …” (Sorry, Bill…) Two names for the same style. Suffice to say, this is the big boy. Don’t let the creamy head and berry notes lull you into complacency. At the same time, have no fear, this is an ale you’ll want to savor. And keep your eye out for the periodic releases of barrel aged Le Sanglier.