Richard in the Dirt

Origin Story

Originally brewed for the first time in April of 2011, Richard in the Dirt was one of the first true Belgium beer styles that we brewed at Short's. Through the persistence of our head brewer in Bellaire, Ryan Hale, who is an avid fan of many Belgium beer styles, Richard in the Dirt was the first of many more to come. Since it's original release in 2011, Richard in the Dirt came back as a pub exclusive tap offering in August of 2013, and now again for it's third appearance at the pub. Fitting for a beer that stylistically referred to as a Tripel. The origin of the term Tripel is unknown, though a main theory is that it indicated strength and was a correlation to how casks used to be marked with a series of crosses to indicate weakest to strongest beer. One X for theweakest strength, XX for the medium strength, and XXX for the strongest beer available. Traditionally brewed by Trappist breweries (breweries ran by Trappist monks), the style has varied greatly over the years. In 1956, theTrappist brewery, Westmalle, used the name for the strongest beer in their range and this version is what most modern brewers base their style guidelines off of. Beers from Belgium tend to have some noticeable differences, most of which derive directly from the yeast that is used to create them. Yeast is the DNA of a beer. Just like hops will have characteristics that define them andthe region of the world that they are from, yeast can have similar comparisons. Belgian yeast strains tend to give off soft sweet fruity esters followed by a varying degree of spiciness. That spiciness found in the aroma can permeate throughout the beer, leading brewers to rely less on hops to contrast the sweetness of the malt, and utilize the spicy quality provided by the yeast to offset sweeter flavors. Another unique difference is the use of candy sugar by Belgium brewers to lighten the perception of higher gravity beers, by masking the warming alcohol presence with a heightened sweetness. Candy sugar can also contribute color and, for the darker version, some residual caramel flavors. We have experimented with Belgium candy sugar in both the hard "rock" form, as well as the more commonly used syrup form. For this version of the Richard in the Dirt, we are trying out a "blonde" version of the hard crushed rock candy.