The Philosophy of Enough

Here's Rudi Ghequire, brewmaster for famed Belgian brewery Rodenbach:

You have to have a philosophy to make beer. <...> My personal philosophy is to make beers with a lot of taste and flavor but without too much alcohol. It’s not too difficult to make a complex high-alcohol beer, and those beers are popular in Belgium.

To be fair, Ghequire is referring to beers of 7-8% alcohol by volume as being "without too much alcohol."

But his point is well taken. A beer of satiating flavor does not have to be one of high alcohol. If that were not so, we'd all be guzzling Everclear.

Read more of beer writer Chuck Cook's tour of Rodenbach, and his interview with Mr. Ghequire, at Celebrator Beer Magazine on-line edition. It includes a brief but fascinating discussion of Rodenbach's use of wooden foeders (large aging vats).

Chuck also reports --on his blog Belgian beer and travel-- that Rodenbach will soon be again available in the US. A firm named Latis Import Brands has secured the import rights.