Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Belgian Beer no.115: Plaizierke

Well this one is a novelty, and I don't know too much about it ... except it has been brewed/ produced especially for the current Christmas seazon.
It is the official Christmas beer of the 'Plaisirs d'Hiver' 2006, our very own winter wonders.
Apparently, this beer is the actual Christmas Delirium, just wrapped in a different way.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Belgian Beer no.114: Saison 1900

We tried this beer no. 114 in one of my favorite Belgian Beer shops down town Brussels, the Delices & Caprices. The shop specializes in Belgian Beer and trust me, you won't be disappointed.
A lot of beers for me to blog from there! Tastings are also available, and there is cheese matured in beer to accompany your ... well, Belgian beers.
We tried a Saison 1900, brewed by the Brasserie Lefebvre. I tried beers from this brewery before, like the Barbar, a honey beer I really enjoy. The Saison 1900 was a little disappointing. A 5.2% an amber beer that lacked the 'wow' factor. Or maybe I am just too used to the overpowering Belgian Beer we tried so far.
Other beers brewed by the Brasserie Lefebvre are: the Barbar Brassin Winter; the Belgian Framboises (raspberry); the Belgian Kriek (cherry); the Belgian Peches (peach); the Blanche de Bruxelles; the Floreffe - which in itself includes a subgroup of 5 Belgian beers, the blond, the double, the triple, the prima melior and the blanche; the Moeder Overste; and finally the Newton.
Again did I mention I have no idea how I'll ever go through all the Belgian beers?!
Tagged with: Beer Belgian Beer Bier Biere Brussels

Friday, December 08, 2006

Belgian Beer no.113: Mont Saint-Aubert

After trying the Brunehaut from Brasserie Bruhenaut, we tried a second beer from the same brewery: the Mont Saint Aubert. A quite strong blonde beer at 8%, but I did enjoy it. In my opinion it had a slight herbal taste - but then again I might be wrong.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Belgian Beer no.112: Brunehaut

I do start to wonder if anyone, at anytime has succeeded in writing on ALL the Belgian Beers available. To me it just seems they are multiplying not diminishing. And trust me we do try hard to drink beer and write about it.
Brunehaut. An amber beer, 6.5%, brewed by the Brasserie Brunehaut. We had this beer somewhere in the south of Belgium, as I didn't come across it in Brussels. Quite bitter for my taste, but a nice beer. Different (if I remember correctly).
Other beers brewed by the Brasserie Brunehaut are the Brunehaut Villages Blonde 6.5%, the Brunehaut Tradition Amber 6.5% (the one I had), the Biere du Mont St-Aubert (to follow), the Blanche du Brunehaut bio 5%, the Belle de Pevele, the Abbaye Saint Martin Blonde 7% and the Brunehaut All Black Marasi. Talk about having your work cut out for yourself ...

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Belgian Beer no.111: Quintine

I wrote about beers brewed by the Ellezelloise Brewery before. This time around, we tried another one of their beers the Quintine Blonde (8%). The Quintine Blonde is a non filtred beer, which ferments in the bottle. Oh and by the way, I think it is a little storng but it tastes great. Then again, it keeps on giving me headaches every time I drink it ...
The name Quintine is taken from the local tradition of the village of Ellezelles, where in times passed a witch carried the name of Quintine.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Belgian Beer no.110: Bon Secours

The Bon Secours beer, a living beer as they call it. A very heavy beer, non filtered, which at 8% is quite a treat. It comes as blond, amber or dark.
The Brewery Caulier also brews the Perle Caulier (5%), the Blonde de Noel (10%), the Bon Secours Myrtille (blueberry) and Framboise (raspeberry) both at 7%. The brewery was established in 1933 by the Caulier family and it still run by them today.

Belgian Beer no.109: La Chouffe

Now this beer is a little bit puzzling. For some odd reason or the other - and here, please help me out! - this beer has developed quite a following. There are fans around the world, and people rather obssesed with this beer. Not sure why so if you have any input, reason, suggestion let me know. I'd love to hear about it.
Back to La Chouffe. I just recently tried it out and yes, it is a nice beer. Quite strong at 8% but drinkable, slightly bitter and hoppy. Nice though. Still doesn't explain the passion around it.
The beer is brewed at the Brasserie d'Achouffe which besides the traditiona La Chouffe also brewes the McChouffe and the N'Ice Chouffe (in the winter).

Friday, November 24, 2006

Belgian Beer no.108: La Waterlootoise

Now this is a beer we did not try. Why you'll ask? Well because 4 bottles came to almost 20euro. Which if you know the prices of Belgian beers is just a little too much.

However I could not walk by without taking a picture of it. La Waterlootoise. A wild guess where we came across this beer? By the way it is brewed at the same place as Belgian Beer no. 107.
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Belgian Beer no.107: Gentse Tripel

Ok... photos getting blurry now. Still in the same bar in Ghent. Continuing with the Ghent beer road, we tried the Gentse Tripel. This beer is apparently brewed by the Van Steenberge Brewery the same brewery as for Belgian Beer no. 80.

Not much more I can tell you about the Gentse tripel except it is quite strong.
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Belgian Beer no.106: Jan van Gent

I apologize for the quality of the photo. Sometimes Belgian bar lights are not very flattering for a passionate blogger.

Jan van Gent. Many will tell you this is their favorite beer. I heard a lot about it before I even saw/ tasted the beer. Just to make sure we 'fit it', we had Jan van Gent in ... you guessed it, Ghent.

A nice beer, easy to drink at 5.5%. Brewed by Liefmans Brewery.
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Belgian Beer no.105: Valeir

We tried this beer as part of our visit to Gent. The bar advertised it as 'the beer of the month', we never heard of it so what else to do then try it out? Valeir is brewed by Contreras a brewery I never heard of.

Apparently the beer was launched in June 2004. Good thing as I really liked it. Quite a heavy beer, slighly bitter, tasting of hop and at 6.5% just about drinkable.
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Belgian Beer no.104: Vieux Temps

Vieux temps, or the good old days. This beer is brewed by InBev, and at 5.2% is a very light beer. Not my favorite though as it somehow lacked personality.
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Belgian Beer no.103: Napoleon

There is not a lot I can tell you about this beer. Except that it is called Napoleon and we drank it in Waterloo. Talk about location, location, location :)
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Beer Bar in Brussels - De Skieven Architek

An institution in Brussels if you ever get the chance to visit it. De skieven architek is located in the Marolles, the old part of Brussels. Serving their own beer as well, worth a visit. Although be prepared for what I call 'no service'!
De Skieven Architek: Place du Jeu de Balle 50, 1000 Brussels, Tel: +32/2/514 43 69
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Friday, November 10, 2006

Belgian Beer no.102: De Skieven Architek

We had this beer in a Brussels 'institution', the 'De Skieven Architek'. This bar is located in the Marolles, an old and authentic region of Brussels.

The bar, located in an old fire station, brews its own beers namely De Skieven Architek Blond and Dark. There is little to none information on the bottles on the composition, alcohol content but I can tell you there were heavy and strong :)
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Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Belgian Beer no.101: Druide

... and the Belgian Beer saga continues. Here is to another 100 beers.

The next one up, the Druide beer. We discovered this one at the Franco-Belgian beer festival. Very interesting, a small Brewery Druide. Even a little hippy I would say. We tried the Druide Blond, a light beer, slightly fruity at 6.5%. The Druide Bruijn (dark) was there only on show as the beer is not available yet. The brewery also brews another beer, the Overleieneire, at 6.5% which we didn't try (or see) though. Cheers!
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Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Belgian Beer no.100: Queue de Charrue

Another new Belgian Beer: the Queue de Charrue. Brewed by the Brasserie Vanuxeem this beer belongs to what looks like a very big, important brewery. Funny I never heard of it ...
At the Franco-Belgian Beer Festival I tried the Queue de Charrue blonde, a very strong beer at 9%. a very nice blonde beer, fermentation still taking place in the bottle. The brewery also produces the Queue de Charrue brown 5.4%, and amber 5.6%.
And please note it is the Belgian Beer no.100! To celebrate, additionally a recipe: quail with Queue de Charrue blonde.
Quail with Queue de Charrue (serves 4)
4 quails
1 bottle of Queue de Charrue blonde
1/4l chicken stock
1/8l cream
150gr wild mushroom
125gr minced meat
salt and pepper
Brown the quails and the minced mint in a little oil.
Pour the beer over.
Leave to cook for 35min, then add the wild mushrooms.
Add the cream. Reduce.
Season. Serve with potato croquettes
(recipe from the Vanuxeem website)

Belgian Beer no.99: Charmette

Oh la la ... how better to celebrate 100-1 Belgian Beers than with a Charmette? A charming Belgian Beer. Brewed by the Silenrieux Brasserie this is a new beer, sporting a very girly new label. Not to put guys off the beer, no worries. At 7% it is more than a strong beer, both blond and amber. I had the amber one, didn't like it so much (quite herby for my taste) ... still have to try the blonde one out.
Corrections: after reading some of the comments made on TBX, corrections are in order. Indeed it was the blond Charmette. The amber beer is expected end of this year. Very interesting as well, the name 'Charmette' was given based on the freedom to vote given to women in 1960.
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Belgian Beer no.96, no.97 and no.98: La Joseph, Le Pavé de l'Ours, La Sara

We enter the world of the Franco-Belgian Beer Festival. A new brewery, new beers. The first one we stopped at was the Silenrieux Brasserie.
As I never heard of this one before, it was also the first brewery we went to. All Belgian Beers we didn't know: the Joseph 5.4%, the Pavé de l'Ours 8.9%, the Sara 6% and four others I didn't take pictures of. They are the Pagoda beer, the 150th (the actual name of the beer), the Georgina, the Lions, and the Kolendienne. Oh and there is one more, to follow as Belgian Beer no.99.
At the Franco-Belgian Beer Festival I tried the Sara - a girly beer for a girl. A buckwheat beer. I should have tried the Pavé de l'Ours as it is a honey beer, but so many beers ... so little time.

Franco-Belgian Beer Festival

Another weekend, another Belgian Beer Festival. This time around we stopped at the Franco-Belgian Beer Festival. I didn't even know there is such a thing as a Franco-Belgian beer festival in Belgium.
Of course we tasted French beers as well. Yet for the purpose of the Belgian Beer Blog I will only focus on the Belgian Beers (new ones !!!) tried with this occasion. There were an equal number of French and Belgian brewers.
What was interesting to discover though is that given the location of the festival (south of Belgium) we came across Belgian breweries I never heard of ... so more beer, coming close to 100 Belgian Beers!

Belgian Beer no.94 and no.95: Taras Boulba and Stouterik

Staying with the Zinnebir Brewery, two more beers brewed by them - which we got to taste at the Bruxellensis Festival: the Taras Boulba and the Stouterik.
The first an extra bitter ale, the second a stout.
Other Zinnebir beers include the signature beer, Belgian Beer no.34 and the Japanese Owa- Belgian Beer no. 93.
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Belgian Beer no.93: Owa

I can hear you say 'oh, a Japanese beer on a Belgian Beer site. She got it all wrong'. Well, ahem, actually I didn't :). Although I have to admit my first reaction was the same: they got it all wrong at the Bruxellensis Festival if now they are bringing Japanese beers to the Belgian Beer festivals.
What to do? We went to take a closer look, of course. And surprise, surprise Owa Japanese Beer is brewed in Belgium by Zinnebir. I mentioned Zinnebir when writing about Belgian Beer no.34. Now we got to try their exotic Japanese beer as well. All you expect from a Japanese beer: light, refreshing, Japanese.
Now this was a nice discovery indeed. I doubt you can find the beer in the shops though. So a visit to Zinnebir is in order!
2009-04-27
Update: as you can see in the comments, the Owa beer has slightly progressed from its unknown little status. It is now a regular on specialist beer shop/ beer bars lists and indeed plenty of Japanese restaurants offer it. I even received a while ago a request from a quite unique and high end Spanish restaurant who wanted to put this beer on its menu. I understand that is the case in the meantime, so all good in Owa-Land.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Bier-Mania and Beer Tourism


During the Bruxellensis Festival, we met Andy. You will wonder Andy who? Andy was present at the Bruxellensis Festival representing Bier-Mania. At first I thought that might be a beer bar somewhere. Yet, as we were to discover, Bier-Mania is a all about beer tours in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

I live in Belgium for over 9 years now. And I never came across anyone or any tour operator organizing beer tours. Finally a good initiative long missed in Belgium. It still remains a mystery to me how a country with SO much beer and SO many breweries (list on the right) doesn't have organized beer tours. France lives off wine tours ... Belgium could easily live off beer tours.

So Andy and Bier-Mania will offer you 6 custom made beer tours across Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, and on the way offer their expertise and enthusiasm on the beers on offer. As a Belgian Beer lover, I would of course advise at first the 'Tour 2 - Ardennes Special'. But then there is also the Pick'n'Mix tour ... so everyone is happy. Cheers!

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Belgian Beer no.92: Bink

Just look at that happy chap! It's Bink, Bink, Bink. I didn't take a picture of the beer as I think this one speaks so much better of the Bink beer and the Kerkom Brewery.
Bink is a beer with tradition, dating back to 1878. The first beer brewed by the Kerkdom Brewery was the Bink Blonde 5.5%. A very fresh beer indeed, I liked its hoppy taste. You should have seen my smile after tasting Bink :)
The Kerkdom Brewery (one in 6 of the 127 breweries in Limburg to be still active today) also produces the Bink Brown 5.5%, the best known of the Bink series; the Bloesem Bink (blossom) 7.1% - sorry but I don't get the 0.1 here ...; the Winterkoninkse (winter) 8.3%; and finally the Aderladus 7%.

Belgian Beer no.91: Darbyste

During the Bruxellensis Festival, we got the chance to enlarge our Belgian Beer knowledge and taste some more of the beer available in this country. Coming close to 100 Belgian Beers I wonder if the journey was not too ambitious.
At the Bruxellensis Festival we started with a Darbyste beer, brewed by the Brasserie de Blaugies.
And I thought I knew most of the Belgian Beers. Never heard of this one! At the Bruxellensis Festival I tried the traditional Darbyste beer, a 5.8% blonde made by adding figs juice. Nice, fruity, interesting.
Other beers brewed by the Brasserie de Blaugies are the Moneuse 8%, the Saison d'Epeautre 6% (a lager type beer) and the Special Noel 8% (the Christmas beer).

Bruxellensis Festival

The last beer festival we went to was Bruxellensis. A must for every real Belgian Beer lover. The concept of Bruxellensis is to make smaller, artisan breweries known . The main aim of Bruxellensis (as stated on their website) is to support ‘those who have turned their back to the easy commercial gain’, and thus produce lesser known, specialized beers. You can read more on Bruxellensis, beer and food here.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Belgian Beer no.88, no.89, no.90: Keyte, Wittoen, Dikke Mathile

Three Belgian Beers in one go. All brewed by the same brewery, the Brouwerij Strubbe. First one in the picture (from left to right) is the Keyte. This beer was brewed by the Brouwerij Strubbe to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the end of the siege of Ostende (1601 - 1604). Especially ordered for that occasion, the brewery continues to produce Keyte and we got to try it at the Belgian Beer Weekend. At 7.5% quite a strong beer.
On to the second one, the Wittoen. Again some history lesson to lear: the name comes from the Knight Jan Wittoen (1417). This is an amber, tripler beer at 8%, slight yeasty and herby taste.
The last one, the Dikke Mathile (aka Fat Mathile). the name comes form a statue to be found on the Belgian coast, the Dikke Mathile. They are still legally debating the copyright issues here! Back to the beer, an amber beer at 6%, fermentation in the bottle.
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Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Belgian Beer no.87: Sloeber

The last in the series of Belgian Beers tried from the Roman Brewery, the Sloeber beer. It does look slightly pink, and fruity, yet it is a blonde beer. A high yeast content, fermentation still takes place in the bottle. 7.5%.
Other Belgian Beers from the Roman Brewery include the Romy Pils, the Adriaen Brouwer (beer no. 86), the Mater Blanche (beer no. 81), the Special Roman, the Ename, and the Black Hole (beer no.79).
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Belgian Beer no.86: Adriaen Brouwer

Another one of the Belgian Beers tried at the Belgian Beer Weekend was the Adriaen Brouwer. Brewed by the Roman Brewery, it was a dark, quite bitter and slight caramel flavored beer. At just 5% a light Belgian Beer, yet quite rich so the sensation is that of drinking a heavy beer.

The name is that of Adriaen Brouwer, a Flemish painter.
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Monday, September 11, 2006

Belgian Beer no.85: Wittekerke

Belgian Beer no. 64 was brewed at the same brewery as Wittekerke - the Brasserie Bavik.

At the Belgian Beer Weekend I tried the Wittekerke. You might have figured it out, I was on a white beer trail. Wittekerke is a very refreshing white beer. At only 5% it makes for a perfect summer beer.

A little bit of trivia: Wittekerke beer was 'invented' by Bavik together with VTM, a major Flemish TV station. Why you might ask? Well, because VTM runs a very popular Flemish soap, Wittekerke. And what better advertising than inveting a beer to go with it?

I am not going to go through the beers brewed by Bavik ... as there are too many.

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Sunday, September 10, 2006

Belgian Beer no.84: Super des Fagnes

Another new beer, as I have never before heard of the Super des Fagnes. Brewed at the Brasserie des Fagnes, this was a rich dark beer at 7.5%. Maybe a little sweet for my taste.

They also brew the blond version, 7.5%. And I get the impression this is a very recent brewery. In any case, if you plan a visit every second weekend in July, the Brasserie des Fagnes is open for the public.

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Belgian Beer no.83: Postel

More monks, more beer. Postel is brewed at the Postel Abbey. This is a little bit confusing, as at the Belgian Beer Weekend, Postel was sold at the Affligem stand.

Confusion sorted out, the beer figures at both abbeys. Postel Dubbel (pictured) is a soft brown beer, quite caramelized at 7%. Further Postel beers are the Blond 7%, and the Tripel 8.5%.
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Friday, September 08, 2006

Belgian Beer no.82: Leute Bokbier

The Happy Goat? We are still at the Van Steenberge stand. This Belgian Beer was first brewed in 1927, yet production stopped and was only restarted in 1997. It is a dark red colored beer, I didn’t personally try out.
Yet I was told it had hints of caramel, quite sweet and rich. What I found to be just great about the Leute Bokbier, was the glass though. I have never before seen a beer glass comes with its very own wooden support. Chic.
And as we are still in the beer and food world, another recipe from the website of the Van Steenberge brewery. This time around, game.
Rabbit with Leuke Bokbier
1 rabbit
2 chopped apples
1 finely sliced strip of smoked bacon
1 finely shredded onion
1 slice of brown bread
33 cl Leute Bokbier
water, natural butter, mustard, thyme, sugar, pepper & salt
Cut the rabbit in pieces and brown well in butter and sugar. Add all remaining ingredients and leave it on a low flame (for approximately 45 min.) until done. Add a slice of bread spread with mustard at the beginning of the preparation. This will thicken the sauce.
Serve with potatoes.

Belgian Beer no.81: Mater Blanche

Back to the first stand, we tried the Mater Blanche from the Roman Brewery. All a little bit confusing, I can understand that. Wait till we get more into the whole Belgian Beer Weekend.
I tried this one and really liked it. A very nice and balanced white beer. A little bitter, but a good summer beer at 5,0%.

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Belgian Beer no.80: Celis Blanche

The next stand we went for was that of the Brewery Van Steenberge. Same dedicated approach, here we started with a Celis White beer. There is something of a complicated history on the website, but this white beer stays a very pleasant and refreshing beer at 5.0%. A summer beer, with hints of herbs and fruit.

And given that the website seems to be pretty well done, here is a recipe as well using the Celis White.

Asparagus with Celis White mousseline sauce
2 crowns of asparagus
3 egg yolks
juice of 1 lemon
10 cl Celis White
100 g butter
pepper & salt
Peel the asparagus thoroughly and boil for 20 to 30 minutes in lightly salted water.Remove from water and keep warm. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks, lemon juice, Celis White, pepper & salt togetherin a saucepan to a creamy consistency.Place the saucepan on a very low flame, making sure that the mixture doesn't boil!Whisk the mixture until it has doubled in volume. Carefully stir in the melted butter.
(recipe taken form the Brewery Van Steenberge website)

Belgian Beer no.79: Black Hole

The first stand we hit with our jetons (that’s the ‘currency’ during the Belgian Beer Weekend – chips instead of money) was the Roman Brewery. Four of us, we divided the tasks and started to go through their beer offers.

We started with the Black Hole. A cool bottle, a cool glass. The beer is pleasant, refreshing blonde. At 5.6% a good start to the Belgian Beer Weekend.

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Thursday, September 07, 2006

Brussels Beer Festival 2006

1-2-3. The first weekend of September was under the sign of Belgian Beer. 48 breweries, big and small, famous and not, served Belgian Beer to the willing and thirsty.
Starting Friday and ending Sunday, we made our way through some of the Belgian Beers on offer. Our attitude was pragmatic and very ‘blogger’ friendly: we will only try out beer we don’t know or which can’t be found in you every day shop/ beer bar.
So bear (beer?) with me while I am taking you through the Belgian Beer Weekend and the beers we tried. Some are very vivid in my memory, others less, but overall the weekend scores a 10 out of 10.
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Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Belgian Beer no.78: Haacht Blanche

Summer, the heat of the city around what better way to relax than a white beer on a terrace? This time around I tried the Haacht Blanche, a white beer brewed by Primus and at 4.80% almost like juice, no?

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Belgian Beer no.77: Belgian Beer Paradise

If you will ever make it to Brussels, finally past the Belgian Beer bars, then you might pay a visit to the Belgian Beer Museum. The beers they serve are very much your 'standard' beers. The idea behind these beers is to take you through the different types of Belgian Beers.

Never short of a Belgian Beer we are!

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Saturday, August 19, 2006

Belgian Beer no.76: Witkap Stimulo

I already mentioned the brewery visit. Besides the (known) Witkap series – the Stimulo, the Dubbele and the Tripel, we discovered some more beers … but no, didn’t try them all out. There is a limit, even in Belgium.

However just to take you trough the range of the beers available at the Slagmuylder Brewery: the three Witkaps (they can all be seen in the picture). Furthermore, there is the Greut Lawauitj, the Slag (a lager beer), the Helles (again pictured), the Tafel Hell, the Oud Bier, the Paasbier (Eastern beer), and the Christmas beer. We promised ourselves we’ll go back to buy one of each, so eventually I’mm sure they’ll grace the pages of this blog.

Cheers!

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Friday, August 18, 2006

Belgian Beer no.75: Passendale

Passendale. Another Belgian Beer to add to the list.
Last weekend was spent at the Fiesta Latina and the cheese festival in Passendale. Our attitude was: whilst in Passendale, do like the Passandalianists. Eat their cheese, drink their beer.
The Passendale beer is a pale ale style of beer, your straight forward blond beer. There is also the Passendale dark, which we did not try out. I know people will say it is an average beer, which does not live up to the reputation of Belgian Beers. However, in the middle of Passendale, eating their local cheese this beer was just great.

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Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Brewery Visit: Slaghmuylder

Remember Belgian Beer no.54, Witkap Tripel? Well if not you can always check it out again. The interesting thing though is that whilst writing about it, I came across their ‘Open Day’ announcement. So guess where we spent the 13 August? At the Slaghmuylder Brewery. A family affair, the brewery is usually not open for visits … but then they have the Open Days.
There was a brewery visit and the explanation of the actual process. There was a beer tasting. And there was a BBQ. Pure Sunday bliss.
What you will find is that many breweries around Belgium are organizing Open Days, or visits to their brewery. A list of breweries can be found under my ‘Breweries’ link, on the right. When you come to Belgium, try to find out which brewery is open, as trust me, they are most definitely worth a visit. And you just can’t beat the tasting prices, which are at 1,50euro a beer!
PS: Glibbidy, hope you enjoy this one!
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Belgian Beer no.74: de Koninck

On our recent two day trip to Antwerp all we did was hide from the rain, eat good food and try the local Belgian Beer. A popular amongst the Antwerpists (?), de Koninck is a great Belgian Beer. The website reads ‘De Koninck. A taste of Antwerp’. Very much their own local beer which I can certify, they absolutely love (in Antwerp). And a great beer it is too. Very refreshing, very clean.

The De Koninck Brewery brews only three beers: the brown, the blonde and the winter de Koninck. So if ever in Antwerp make sue to try some out. You won’t be disappointed. And if you really want to impress, then you'll ask for a 'bolleke' which means the shape of the glass in Flemish but has become synomymous with the de Koninck beer ... so everyone will understand you.

And something of a tradition, I didn’t repeat since Belgian Beer no. 56, the usual recipe to go with the beer.

Chicken liver in sour-sweet de Koninck (serves 4)
500gr chicken liver
1/2dl red wine vinegar
1dl boiled down de Koninck blond
20gr chives
50gr wild rice
50gr honey
2dl demi glace
40gr butter
50gr rice
Salt and pepper

Allow the honey to caramelize slightly, extinguish with red wine vinegar.
Add demi glace and the beer.
Prepare the sauce for use with butter.
Boil the wild rice separately from the white rice; after sufficient boiling time, add a bit of pepper, salt and olive oil.
Cut up the chives very fine.
Fry the chicken liver rosé and flavor with salt and pepper.
Press the rice into a timbale and pour it down onto a hot plate, coat underneath the sauce and arrange the degreased chicken liver, sprinkle the whole with chives.
(recipe taken from de Koninck website)
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Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Belgian Beer no.73: Pere Abbe

A typical brown beer, malty and with hints of burned toast ( ?). Brewed by the De Bocq Brewery, just like the following ones: Applebocq (as the name says it an apple beer. I got to try this one out at the last Belgian Beer Festival and it was great. Will try it again this year and write about it as well).
Furthermore, the Blanche de Namur, the Saison Regal, the St. Benoit, the Triple Moine, the Deugniet, the La Galoise (love the glass for this one), and the Regal Christmas.

I am just surprised I haven’t tried any of these yet!
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Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Belgian Beer no.72: Cantillon

This is one of those beers you have to try, but I doubt you’ll like it. I didn’t. A cross between wine and beer, the Grand Cru Bruocsella is a lambic beer. This means a different process, the beer being kept in oak barrels for 3 years. Almost like wine, but not wine. And trust me you can taste this difference.
It can be kept for years, and is considered to be an aristocratic beer. Very Brussels beer – so indeed give it a try when here. The experience is worth it because it is very different from what you expect of Belgian Beers.

Other beers brewed by the Cantillon Brewery are the Gueuze, the Kriek, the Rosé de Ganbrinus, the Iris, the Vigneronne, the St. Lamvinus, the Fou Foune and the Lou Pepe. Prhaps a visit to the brewery will be in order to try all these beers out.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Belgian Beer no.71: Loterbol

I am not sure I remember this one ... but it was white beer, quite heavy. I remember when and where we tried it out: during a white beer marathon at the Bier Circus.
The Loterbol is brewed by the Loterbol Brewery, there is the draught blond 6%, the bottle blond 8% and the bottle dark 8%.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Belgian Beer no.70: Grisette

Moving on to the next beer in my personal quest for Belgian Beer. All see is Belgian Beer. All I drink is Belgian Beer. All I write about is Belgian Beer. All I dream about is Belgian Beer. When will it all end?
The next (and it is only number 70!) is the Grisette Blanche. In Belgian terms this is considered a special Belgian Beer, because of its low alcohol content at only 5%. Advertised as a very fresh summer beer, I have to admit I liked it less than other white Belgian Beers. Then again my Belgian Beer of choice at the moment with the heat and all is a very fresh Hoegaarden with a slice of lemon. Chic.

Already mentioned under Beer no.56, the Grisette Blanche is produced by the Brasserie Friart, together with the Grisette Blonde 5%, the Grisette Amber 4.5%, the Grisette Fruit 3.5%. And of course the whole range of St. Feuillien range of Belgian Beers.


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Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Belgian Beer no.69: Gouyasse, or Goliath

Another Belgian Beer tried out at the Bier Circus. This time around my ordering criteria were very simple: a white beer I don't know. This is how I came across the Gouyasse.
Apparently the name is a sweet diminutive (?) given to Goliath, tradition and history which repeat itself every year in Ath, the region where this beer comes from.
I really enjoyed this Belgian Beer. A little on the bitter side, it was a refreshing white beer at 6%. Very much your classic white beer, tastes of hops and malt.
Brewed by the Brasserie des Geants, in translation the Giants, you can imagine that the Gouyasse is not the only Belgian Beer they brew. Others are the Gouyasse Triple 9%, the Saison Voisin 5%, the Urchon 7.5%, the Ducassis 5.7%.

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