It was a marvelous weekend in Brussels. Close friends and consummate beer lovers, Susie and Tim were visiting us. We had shown them a lot of Berlin and we had tasted many different German beers, but to broaden the beer experience we felt it was almost our duty to travel to Brussels...given that it was only an hour flight from Berlin.
It was not a kids weekend, since much of the focus was not exploring the beer culture of Belgium, and despite that the kids did well...mentioning how much they enjoyed the trip. We wandered the city, toured two different lambic breweries (one in Brussels and another in Lembeek), and visited glorious pubs/bars/restaurants that were from the Art Nouveau era. I think the kids liked sitting in the pubs eating waffles while the four of us would pass ‘round the various beers we ordered…each in their own classic and beautiful glass…all of us discussing them, and me taking notes. The quick stats were that in 3 days in Brussels we tasted/drank 47 different beers (the kids had 6 different waffles), visited 6 different pubs, and 2 breweries. The weekend was capped off by visiting a very charming old pub where we got to drink the “world’s best beer”, very difficult to find given that the monks who produce it have not stepped up production to meet the cult-like demand. Meanwhile, riot police, horses and helicopters hovered seemingly just outside the door because of protest marches by the city’s Arab population against the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Thursday night: This was like going to Disneyland…we got off the train at Brussels Centraal, walked around the corner and there in front of us was the spire of the cathedral on the Grand Place…almost like the Magic Kingdom at Disneyland. With light bags on our backs, the six of us walked through the Grand Place, our heads gazing upwards at the beautiful facades. We were hungry so we stopped at Fritesland and had fries…with mayo, of course. After being introduced to our apartment by its owner, Thierry, we took a cold walk (-6°C) back toward the Grand Place and ducked into Le Cirio, like stepping back into time. Built in 1886, this beautiful art nouveau restaurant and bar was the perfect place to start tasting some of Belgium’s finest. The adults had beer and the kids had waffles.
Duvel - Very light blonde in color. Fruity, slight DMS and almost reminiscent of a light lager. The flavor had a crisp acidity that was clean and pleasing, slightly malty with a clean bitterness.
Hoegaarden Grand Cru - Very complex but extremely inviting. Aromas of apples, home canned Bartlett pear…very ripe (but not overripe), tropical fruit, pronounced bubble gum with hints of banana and clove. The flavor was malty, warming, and sweet.
Westmalle Dubble - Deep brown. Apple, caramel candy, roasted/burnt sugar. Flavors that were caramelized with an alcoholic and roasted grain bitterness
Triple Karmeliet - Apples off the farm…barnyard at a low level that increased to a pronounced horse blanket as it warmed. Top note was a heady sweetness and overripe fruit. The flavor was sweet with notes of grape candy, tropical fruit with an herbal funkiness. Very complex, very interesting.
Back at the apartment, kids in bed…after midnight.
Grimbergen Goud Doree 8° - Very light in color. Candy top notes, slight clovey spiciness, flavor is sweet, warming…and then Gina noticed the metallic quality…a drop on the back of my hand revealed an intense iron aroma. As the beer warms up it reveals more horsiness. The beer finishes with the feeling of sucking on a penny.
Corsendonk Bruin - Very strong maltiness, malt syrup, slight sheep barnyard, ripe figs, almost Fig Newton. Flavor is very malty verging on Malt-O-Meal. This is all malt.
Friday afternoon was spent wandering the streets of Brussels with the ultimate destination being the working museum devoted to Geuze…the Le Musée Bruxellois de la Gueuze - Het Brussels Museum van de Geuze, Brasserie Cantillon Brouwerij. The place was very rustic and filled with cobwebs. Following a selfguided tour we sampled several of their products.
Cantillon Geuze - Barny, hay, goaty, sour milk, lactic, animal, cows udder(?), fruity, cheesey?, flavor is prominently acidic, almost lemony, hints of leather.
Cantillon Kriek - Horsey, slightly cheesy, but intensely cherry – cherry pie filling, candy cherry. Long inhale produces barny notes which move to oak and almost cedar. Sour, crisp, fruity, sour cherry. No acetic. Very complex
Cantillon Vigneronne - Wow! Syrupy when poured, with a thin lingering stream that is reminiscent of syrup. Yellow, thick, and mouthcoating. Very floral, honeysuckle, tropical fruit, mango, guava, Muscat. No barniness. Canned Bartlett pear syrup, Kerns nectar, old antique wood.
After the cold walk and metro ride back to our apartment we reviewed three beers before dinner.
Grimbergen Triple 9% - Light yellow in color, malty, slight bubble gum, tropical fruit, slight banana, green grain, malty, sweet and warming
Chimay Blue 9% - Dark brown, malty, brown sugar, fruity/estery, toasted caramel, vanilla, Bourbon …Makers Mark, flavors are sweet malt, very warming.
Leffe Radieuse 8.29% - Deep amber in color, intense malty, fig, raisin, chocolate, butterscotch, DMS, roasted corn, malty flavor that is sweet with brown spice.
The kids stayed home and watched movies while the adults went out on the town. Our first stop was A la Mort Subite. It was filled with loud, happy, smoking people.
Rochefort 8° - Dark brown, malty, alcoholic! Higher alcohols.
A la Mort Subite Geuze - Barny, sour milk, sharp sour, lemony, burning campfire (but not the smoke), acidic.
Ciney Dubbel Bruin - Malty, clove, sweet.
Hapkin Blonde - Fresh peeled apple, slightly estery, malty, sweet, mild bitterness.
We left Mort Subite and walked through the Grand Place, along the Bourse and to another Art Nouveau bar we had seen earlier in the day…Greenwich. The place was much more sedate than Mort Subite, but still fun.
Rodenback - Malty, burnt sugar, lactic, caramel, flavor is sweet mixed with sharp, lactic acidity
Leffe Blonde - Bazooka bubble gum, fruity candy, slight banana, malty, very sweet.
Back at the apartment…again, after midnight. We sat around a small coffee table and talked about life, travelling, and beer…slowly sharing one beer after another…one at a time so we could dig for descriptors and discuss what we liked and disliked in each.
DeKonnick Amber, 1833 5% Caramel, vanilla, butterscotch, malty flavor, not particularly sweet, pronounced bitterness but finishes clean. Refreshing and a real pleaser.
Kasteel Brune 11% - Dark brown, Walnettos black caramel, malty, cane sugar, molasses. Intensely sweet…like over the top sweet, like the sugar left at the bottom of an Irish coffee…cloying. Tim says, “you know there was a time when I would have really enjoyed this, but I can’t recall when.”
Rochefort 8° (9.2%) - Beep brown, peaches, fruit cocktail, malty, flavor is heavily alcoholic, malty, and very warming.
Tongerlo Abbey Ale, Brune 6% - Deep brown color with foam that will not go away…sea foam, rootbeer float. Phenolic, clovey, rootbeer barrel candy, with herbal and DMS hints. Flavor is roasted ,caramel, malty, slightly sweet but not over powering.
Maredsous Triple Triple 10° (10%) - Light amber, much more toned down in aroma, light tutti fruity gum, mild clovey, fruity estery, mild sweetness, pleasant maltiness, very balanced and elegant. A sensuous beer.
Saturday we got up late and prepared for an afternoon at the Boon Brewery in Lembeek. What an experience. Frank Boon the owner and brewer spent 3.5 hours with us showing us around the brewery and tasting lambic from the various large foeders (large 100 hl oak casks). The kids were bored at first and then they took to playing by themselves, sitting on the floor of this cold cellar while the adults were in heaven. It was a beer lovers high…wandering a very cold cellar, tasting the changes in one of the world’s most icon beers…with the brewer giving us guidance and perspective.
5 day old - Sweet, citrusy, grapefruit peel, hoppy, bitter, worty
4 weeks old - Very fruity, juicy-fruit gum, clean, no acid, slightly bitter but no hop aroma, moderate wood notes.
10 months old - Starting to take on the lambic qualities, low levels of fruit, wood, malt, slight acidity and astringency.
25 month old, Brother 1 - Brettanomyces activity is becoming apparent, it is foamy, slightly horsey, barny, low acidity, fruity, winey, very complex. Frank says that these flavors can change noticeably every few weeks
25 month old Brother 2 - More pronounced notes of fruit and grape candy
25 month old Brother 3 - Less fruity, more floral and horsey. Frank discussed the importance of C4-C10 fatty acids and then resultant acetate esters and their impact on limbic aroma.
38 month old (brewed 11.11.05) - Slightly horsey, fruity, slight lactic notes, sour grapefruit juice, clean
By the time the tour was done, we were all very cold. We walked through the cold night with a near full moon overhead and snow in the fields…a half a kilometer into the tiny town of Lembeek where we had dinner at a local brasserie.
Boon Oude Geuze - Familiar flavors of what we had tasted in the foeders back at the brewery – light maltiness, fruity, horsey, low acidity, complex
Boon Mariage Parfait (Vintage 2004) 8% - Grapefruit, slight barny and horsey, slight acit, clean
Boon Kriek - Intense cherry aroma that works with the fruity and slightly phenolic character of the geuze. Noticeably sweet.
Vieux-Temps - Deep brown in color, malty, brown sugar, slight bubble gum, estery.
Witbier Haacht - Very light in color, low levels of clove and spice, lemony
Whitbread Pale Ale - Very malty, sweet and alcoholic
We left our rather cold restaurant, shivered in the cold waiting for our train back to Brussels, and then warmed up on the 30 minute trainride back into town. The kids were hungry for waffles and we had fallen in love with Il Cirio, so back in we went.
St. Feullien Blonde 7% - Another delicious blonde! Amber yellow in color, light malt, tutti-frutti, candy fruit flavors, hints of rootbeer, and taffy, biscuity light malt flavor, mildly alcoholic and warming, sweet.
Westmalle Triple 9.5% - Amber yellow, pineapple, fruity, pears and ethanol aroma. Malty, sweet, very alcoholic in the mouth.
Rochefort 10° (11.3%)- Dark brown, dark chocolate, deeply roasted malt but not burnt, hints of coffee, solventy, Bourbon whiskey, woody? vanilla, flavors of hot (Irish) chocolate, very sweet, warming and alcoholic, slight bitterness
Affligem Blonde (5%) - Fresh cut pears, candied fruit, slight Circus Peanut, lightly malty, crisp.
Gina took the kids home and Susie, Tim and I headed to the Delerium Tremens Bar – a very large two floor establishment that was filled with 20 somethings…nearly all of whom were smoking. The beer list at the DT bar was incredible…2004 different beers!
Delerium Tremens Blonde - Sweet syrupy, fruity with slightly sulphidic vegetative qualities. Cloying,
Delerium Tremens Christmas Beer - Amber color, malty, fruit, sweet and alcoholic.
Poperings Hommelbier - Very fruity, estery but also very hoppy
Vieux-Temps - Deep brown in color, malty, brown sugar, slight bubble gum, estery.
St. Bernardu Abt 12 Deep brown, malty, alcoholic, sweet
On Sunday, we wandered the city…in search of Manequin Pis. Susie and Tim had found a very charming and old bar tucked away down a narrow alley…Au Bon Vieux Temps. It was a classic scene…Susie sitting at a table with the owner, a local priest and a local police detective…very local.
Westvleteren 12 - This trappist ale is currently considered to be “La meilleure bière du monde.”…the best beer in the world. Brewed in limited quantites by the monks at Westvleteren monastery, people are not supposed to resell this beer. But here in this very charming and old pub nestled down a very small alley in the heart of Brussels we have found it. What a fitting way to end our brief trip to Brussels.
Deep brown, malty, hints of higher alcohols – fruity/solventy, chocolate, slight rootbeer/herbal, vanilla, Bourbon barrel. The flavor is malty, sweet, slightly alcoholic but not cloying.
Corsendonk Blonde - Light amber in color. Fruity, slight pineapple, candy fruity, but clean. Flavor is malty, slightly alcoholic, only moderately sweet, slight crispness, not warming. It has a long finish that is clean, complex and still refreshing.
Back at our apartment we quickly ate dinner while the sounds of helicopters and sirens reminded us of the other world going on outside. By the time we had to leave all of the protests had gone and only the heavy equipment from the police force remained. A short walk, short train ride, and even a short plane flight and we were back home in Berlin.
The world watched as Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America...and so did we from our apartment in Berlin. I walked the door just as things were starting up, 5:30 PM our time, and with hardly a delay we were watching Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman playing music in the cold morning air of Washington D.C. It wasn't long before Barack was speaking proud, challenging and uplifting words..."We will restore science to its rightful place"..."we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals"..."We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers." Wow! We tried to eat dinner as the event unfolded, but tears kept getting in the way. It was a moment both Gina and I could hardly believe was happening.
