In Flanders Fields

This week I was in Belgium having been invited to present a lecture at Denis DeKeukeleire's swansong meeting. It was the 2nd ISHS International Symposium on Humulus (that's genus for hops), and it was held in Ghent, Belgium. Denis was the organizer of the event, and the star. He retires on October 1 and this meeting gave him the chance to go out with a bang. The two pictures below are from Poperinge - Belgium's hop growing region. It is a stone's throw from France and was the site of intense battles in WWI.


My talk on hop components and beer quality was the lead off for Friday's session on hops and beer - it was well received. The previous four days had focused on breeding, agronomics, and health. The meeting concluded at 1:30 and from that point onwards, the rest of the day was about beer. We drank beer with hors d’ouevres for the early afternoon, congratulating each other on a good meeting. Alcoholic beers on a empty stomach with light hors d’ouevres...you’d think the Belgians would have the foundational, drinking meal down as part of the culture…but not on Friday. Then we went to Brussels – toured a bit and then went to the 10th Belgian Beer Weekend - 40 or more breweries and nearly 150 different beers. Denis’s right hand man, Arne, who is a young 30-something friendly, affable scientist was my personal beer drinking guide. And this is where the experience reached the “just pinch me” state. We first toured the site with Arne giving me history and personal perspective on each of the breweries. Then we dove in. First is was the DeKonnick… a very drinkable, lower alcohol amber beer. Almost like an amber lager. Drank this while chatting with the DeKonnick’s…yes, some of the family members. Then onto Belgium’s best Geuze producer (in Arne’s opinion)…Boon. We first had a Lambic…much better than the one’s I had in Oregon. Next, Arne tapped Frank Boon on the shoulder and he turned away from the crowd who was engaging him and he spent 20 minutes talking with the two of us…principally, me. We talked like chemists, microbiologists, brewers about Brettanomyces, reductive versus oxidative states during aging, fruity esters…something this man proclaimed he cannot do with tourists. We drank his Geuze, which was wonderful. Frank made it in 2003 and bottled in 2007, this was a very intriguing beer. Not as sour as the Lambic and much more carbonated. It was fruity, slightly malty, complex. The entire experience was a complete high. Here I was at the epicenter of Belgian brewing…the town after which the yeast Brettanomyces bruxellensis was named… drinking one of the nation’s iconic beers on the Grande Place with the man who brews the best of them…and surrounded by brewers. We capped off the festival with a Kwak – a big, alcoholic brown beer.

The first picture below if of Arne Heyerick, myself and Frank Boon. The second if of the Grand Place in Brussels and the site of the Belgian Beer Weekend...a belgian beer festival.



We strolled through Brussels back to the bus and back to Ghent for Denis’s party – which was somewhat like a wedding, that is, there were nearly 200 people there (of whom I knew litte), lots of beer…this time with food…and even a 20 minute long fireworks show (a gift from a brewer).

That's me and Denis...and Denis adorned in hops.


I made it back to my room early on Saturday morning (1:00ish) and woke later in the day feeling only mildly hung over – no headache or nausea, just a spinning head. A stroll through very charming Ghent cured that...and then it was off to Louvain-la-Neuve for the Jean DeClerck Chair meeting.

These are of the old part of Ghent.