Simple isn't the necessarily the same as easy. Uncluttered sparseness is kinda scary in an era of big, bombastic, over the top beers that we now know as the "craft" beer market.
The challenge, I believe, is knowing when to stand aside and allow that segment of the market to do whatevr it does best. The monk brewers of some of the Trappist monasteries make what are, in my mind, some of the most jaw-dropping beers on the planet from elementally simple formulations. They achieve great complexity through great simplicity; they pick good ingredients, treat them well, and then get out of the way.
Inspired by that ideal of brewhouse austerity, I'm making a Dubbel based simply on the grain/hops bill of an earlier belgian recipe based on simplicity, yet so complex in flavors:
12lbs Belgian Pilsner malt
1lb D2 Belgian Candi Syrup
1lb Belgian Beet Sugar Dark
1 oz Tradition @ 60 minutes
0.5 oz Saaz @ 15 minutes
Wyeast 3787 Trappist- yeastcake from the Pauper
Again, like the Pauper, basically just pils malt, some light hops, a great yeast, and time, with suger added for color and fermentable sugar. At 11 months old, the 9% or so abv is entirely hidden, the body is chocolaty and malty (not knowing the grist you'd swear there was lots of Munich malt in it), the finish dry and spicy with fresh dark-fruit aromatics despite the beer's age.
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