What this is
A Belgian blonde that takes the New Zealand route to the style. Six malts, all but one from Gladfield, no candi sugar, and New Zealand hops — Wakatu and Riwaka rather than a noble variety.
At 8.4% it is well over the style ceiling for 25A, and it finishes at 1.004, which is bone dry. It placed at Euroclash, so the departures are working.
For the classic treatment of the same style — two German malts, candi sugar and Saaz — see Belgian Blonde. They share a BJCP code and nothing else.
Why six malts and no sugar
The conventional way to get a Belgian blonde dry and drinkable is Pilsner malt plus 5–10% sugar: the sugar ferments out completely, thinning the body and lifting the strength without adding malt character.
This does the opposite. There is no sugar at all — the dryness comes entirely from the yeast, which took 1.066 down to 1.004 on its own. What the sugar would have removed, the grist puts back: 27% wheat between the malt and the flaked form, which holds the head and the mouthfeel up so an 8.4% beer at 1.004 does not read as watery.
Two pale bases rather than one, a little Vienna for colour, and 2% rye for a spice note that only becomes legible once the beer is this dry.
The lineage
Riwaka Rascal, May 2024, is the original and the canonical version above.
Owen’s January 2025 brew is the same recipe scaled down about 7% — every one of the six malts reduced proportionally, the same Wakatu and Riwaka charges, and M31 Belgian Tripel in place of Wildling. It came out at 7.4%, which is a more sensible strength for the style and probably an easier beer to drink.
Owen’s May 2025 brew keeps that grain bill to the gram and swaps Wakatu for Pacifica. It was filed as a saison for a while, which reflects how dry the M31 was reading by then, but the grain bill is this recipe to the gram — it belongs here.
So the grain bill has moved exactly once, as a proportional scale-down, and the hops once. This is a stable recipe.
Brewing it
Ninety-minute boil. With this much Pilsner-type malt in the grist that is not optional — it drives off DMS precursors that a 60-minute boil leaves behind.
Ferment at 20°C and let it free-rise. The whole beer depends on the yeast attenuating hard and throwing the right esters, and neither happens if you hold it cool.
Watch the lauter. Nearly 12% flaked wheat with no rice hulls in the bill will stick on a fine crush.