Given the choice, Henry Nguyen will choose possibility over certainty. Definitive answers create boundaries to exploration and a false sense of permanence in a world of ever-shifting experiences. Still, there are moments that shape the directions we take, and it can be useful to consider the impact those have on us.
For Nguyen, it was the flavor possibilities of Belgian and Belgian-inspired beers that made a deep and lasting impact on the direction of his brewing career. Today, the common thread connecting Monkish's hazy IPAs (which the Torrance, California, brewery is best known for) with the mixed-culture saisons (which Nguyen loves) is their mutual embrace of the potential of yeast. But which specific beers are responsible for those pivotal and enduring moments in his beer history?
Leffe Blond
(Dinant, Belgium)
“I think the first beer that marked me was Leffe Blond. Having consumed a lot of early craft-beer imports early on, I then went to Cambridge and lived there in 2005. I got over pints of English cask ales pretty quickly but wanted to keep trying new beers even though I was getting bored with the flavor. One of the students I was studying with asked, ‘Have you ever had a Belgian beer before?’ I said, ‘No,’ and she replied, ‘You’ve got to try one. The flavor is amazing.’