Tasting the Late Summer Patersbier

I'm pretty happy with the way the Patersbier I brewed a few weeks ago turned out.  Because it does well at higher temps, and I don't have fermentation control, this is one of my go-to later summer brews.  It's also pretty popular among both beer geeks (lots of Belgian phenols) and non beer geeks (it's not dark or otherwise intimidating, and it looks nice in a tall glass on a hot day).  I took a keg to a family get together for Labor Day, and we put a solid dent in it.

Beer by me, venue by my father-in-law.

Fermentation ended up happening at 81F, which is really just crazy, and one of the reasons I don't brew so much in late summer.  I'm comforting myself by thinking of this as a recreation of Westvleteren 4, the no-longer-brewed, monks-only beer from the St. Sixtus brewery.  Brew like a monk mentions that Westvleteren lets the 12 get up into the 80s using yeast from Westmalle, which I've done here, if not on purpose. 

I need not have worried, although spicier than normal (and more than I'd prefer), this ended up at only 4.7%, and I really babied the yeast with a big pitch and a dose of O2, so there's not a fusel character.  It has great head retention, and, although the picture above shows it a bit cloudy, which it was after the keg bounced up to Maryland, the version in the keg at home cleared brilliantly.  The aroma is spice (yeast-derived ginger and hop-derived, uh, spicy hop aroma?) and pears, which come through in the flavor too, with a crackery flavor in the aftertaste that's somewhere between saltines and ritz.  Although it has a dry finish, the addition of carapils gives this a round mouthfeel that I enjoy (previous versions have been good, if a bit watery), and probably has a lot to do with the great head retention.  The version at home with kaffir lime leaves tossed in the cold keg had no noticeable difference in flavor or aroma.  I think the leaves may need more time at higher temps (like dry hopping, which is a slow process at kegerator temps).  

As much as I liked this batch, I think I'd back down on the fermentation temps (which amounts to waiting another month for cooler weather), and bring the abv below 4.5% by knocking off a pound or two of grain.  The addition of the carapils give this a body and mouthfeel that should allow the lower starting gravity without the final beer coming off as watery.  I'd also consider adding a larger flavor and aroma charge of hops, or even try dry hopping with a German noble variety or one of the American derivatives.