Tag Archives: Brussels

The Global Aspect of Alterno-beer

Detail from a sign reading Praha, Prague, Praga, Prag.

Zak Avery’s latest blog post touches on the links between British and American brewing and how that has contributed to a ‘craft beer culture’. (The penultimate paragraph is particularly perceptive.)

Earlier this week, we set about trying to identify key turning points in the development of what we’re calling (for the moment) an ‘alterno-beer culture’ in the UK and, although we pondered the issue of cultural exchange, weren’t able to pinpoint many specifics.

Surely, though, the development of cheap trans-Atlantic flights from the seventies onwards; the opening up of Prague after the fall of Communism; and the birth of Brussels as a tourist destination with the coming of Eurostar, must all have contributed to a broadening of people’s beery horizons.

It’s certainly fascinating how many brewers, from all over the world, have official biographies which contain variations on this sentence: “Their interest in beer had originally been fired by a visit to Belgium in 1980.” (In this case, that’s beer writer Michael Jackson describing the founders of US brewery Ommegang.)

Of course, the only beer that tastes better than the free stuff is that which you drink on holiday, but isn’t it also natural to take for granted what you have around you? In our case, it took German and American beer to jolt us into really appreciating straightforward British ales, as per Zak’s Australian Chardonnay analogy.

Kerstbiers at the Poechenellekelder

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We’ve just got back from a week away in Germany. On the way out, we spent a night in Brussels checking into our hotel not long before 10.30 pm on a rainy Tuesday night. That gave us just enough time to dash to our favourite pub, the Poechenellekelder, to try a few items from their very extensive Christmas beer menu.

Tsjeeses by Struise caught our eye because of the mysterious name which became less so once we said it aloud and saw the label, which features a cartoon of a very stoned Jesus with smoke curling from his mouth and ears. Tacky branding aside, it was a perfect Belgian blonde and absurdly drinkable at 10%. Not too sweet, not too bitter, definitely spicy but nothing you could pick out. Everything was in balance. It reminded us what we love about Belgian beer.

Palm Dubbel was  less exciting, but certainly not unpleasant. It reminded us of Leffe Radieuse, with the same kind of fruit flavour which makes you wonder if cherries have been added somewhere along the way.

Zinnebier Xmas (Brasserie de la Senne) reminded us of Fuller’s London Porter but was much easier to swig — less intense and with a lighter body. Roasted grains mixed with sour-fruit aromas. Fabulous.

Forestinne Nordika from Brasserie Caracole was the last we could squeeze in as the bar emptied and bills were paid. Luckily, it was also a hit, with a powerful sweet orange-peel aroma and flavour that we loved.  There was more fruit than spice and we guessed from the colour that it had been made with something like English pale ale malt as the base.

All in all, a successful start to our trip.

Still to come: we find a brewery making stout in Cologne; catch ourselves ticking mulled drinks; and find a surprising amount of decent beer in Northern Germany.

A La Becasse, Brussels

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We’ve been to Brussels loads of times now, but never made it to A La Becasse, famous for serving sweetened lambic in earthenware jugs.

We put that right on our most recent trip to Germany — we had a quick stopover in Brussels and fancied a sour hit.  It’s a nice little place, friendly staff and very handy for the Grand Place.  The lambic comes courtesy of Timmermans, and it is indeed sweetened and served in jugs.  It tastes not unlike sweet scrumpy cider, and is very refreshing, albeit not that exciting.  The lambic blanc is more interesting than the sweet lambic, as there is definitely more spiciness.

It wasn’t enough to quench the thirst for sourness, though, so we also ordered a bottle of Iris from Cantillon for the next round.  Oh, wow.  We’ve had this before, but forgot just how wonderful it is. Because it’s dry-hopped, you get an amazing aroma, like an American IPA, at the same time as the sourness takes over your tongue, and then a complex fruity aftertaste.

We vowed to stop off at Cantillon on the way back and stock up.

Poechenellekelder, Brussels

Andreea in Belgium tipped us off to this pub a while ago. We popped in on the way out to Germany, and were utterly charmed by the place, so we stopped off for a longer session on the way home.

As Andreea says, it is right on the tourist path, and there are lots of tourists in it, but you would not describe it as a trap. Well, unless you were commenting on the narrow entrance stairs – seriously dangerous after a couple of strong belgian brews. It’s extremely cosy and welcoming, the kind of place you can while away hours. It has a couple of changing beers on tap, and an extremely long list of beer in bottles.

We stuck to the Christmas specials. Kerstpater (9%) and Gouden Carolus Christmas (10.5%) were on tap, so we started there.  The Kerstpater was warming and boozy, although the finish reminded us of lucozade (too sweet?).  Gouden Carolus was better, with a nice cherry-chocolate aftertaste.  We thought it wasn’t really nice enough to justify the 10.5% strength, but it set us up for the afternoon, and Andreea really liked it.

“Palm Double” was next. We can’t find any reference to it on the Palm website.  Bizarrely, it tasted almost exactly like a 4% British bitter, despite being much stronger.  On to Pere Noel, by De Ranke. At 7%, this is weak for a Belgian Christmas beer, but was our favourite of the day.  It has the same “musty” hop taste as their XX bitter, of which we’re big fans.  It’s different and refreshing, while still being Christmassy.

There were various parades going on outside for St Nicholas’s day, and at one point an entire marching band, sousaphone and all, squeezed their way in for a post-march booze up.  All of which added to the cosiness.  A highly recommended pub.

Boak

Beer bars in Brussels: Chez Moeder Lambic and A La Mort Subite

Isn’t it funny how bad reviews of a place can influence you much more than good reviews? You can have a page of excellent reviews, and yet one bad review will give you serious second thoughts about whether to go.

Both Chez Moeder Lambic and A La Mort Subite seem to suffer from a few negative comments about the service. Not quite sure why, as we had a great time in both and have no complaints about service or anything else.

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First CML. This is a very small bar out in the “St Gilles” region of Brussels. It’s actually only about 5 minutes on the Metro system from Gare du Midi. Directions below, once again courtesy of Andreea. It has around 200 beers in bottles and around 7-8 on tap. No food other than several types of Belgian cheese (served with bread). We think cheese is a perfect snack to beer so we were more than satisfied.

It’s dark and cozy, and we found it very friendly. It wasn’t busy until about 10:30 (though this may be because an August weekend in Brussels is very quiet indeed!). The bar staff seemed happy to offer recommendations, and warned us about the Brussels cheese (it’s very salty and smelly).

We also loved the decor – it’s a real temple of beer, with hundreds of beer bottles, adverts etc tucked into its tiny interior. Also, less congruously, loads of mouldy comics in the windows. Fabulous place. Definitely recommended.

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A La Mort Subite is cavernous by contrast. We almost didn’t go – freshly sore from the Restobieres experience, the idea of more rudeness / bad service didn’t appeal. Plus it was very busy. However, we did go, and we loved it.

Firstly, it’s really beautifully decorated – allegedly the original 1928 decor. We couldn’t stop taking pictures (no doubt contributing to its “touristy” reputation in the meantime!)

Our waitresses were both extremely friendly and attentive, so absolutely no complaints about service.

The beer selection is not huge (probably around 30 beers?) but a lot of these are on tap and in excellent condition. I had a couple of beers here that I’d previously not been impressed by – Chimay triple and Mort Subite Geueze – both of which tasted much fresher and tastier than I’d remembered.

This isn’t the place for the serious beer geek wanting to sample Belgian obscurities. However, it’s a lovely place to hang out for a few hours drinking good quality Belgian brew.

Notes

  1. Chez Moeder Lambic is at Rue de Savoie 68, 1060 Brussels. To get there, take the Metro / Pre-Metro to Horta. (The “Pre-Metro” is an underground tram). Once at Horta, left out the station down the hill to the crossroads / roundabout, left and left again so you’re going up a road almost parallel to the one you came down. You should see a huge municipal building at the top. Cross to the right hand side of the car park, and CML is about 10 metres further on (look out for the red neon sign)
  2. A La Mort Subite is at Montagne-aux-Herbes Potagères 7, in the middle of town, around 5 minutes walk from the Grand Place. There’s a map on their website.

Cantillon at 9:30 am

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Does lambic beer taste better first thing in the morning? Or have we finally “got it” with lambic?

Having had a great long weekend in Belgium, there was time for one last trip before the Eurostar trip home. The Cantillon brewery is very handy for Gare du Midi (5 minutes away) so with luggage and rare beers stashed away in left-luggage, we set out into the Brussels rain to find out more about this lambic lark.

We knew a bit about lambics before we set out – we knew that the classic lambic beer is created from “spontaneous fermentation”, matured for several years and mixed with younger versions of itself to make Gueuze, cherries to make Krieks, raspberries to make, well, raspberry beers and so on. Little baby lambics are called “Faro” and are supposed to be less “extreme”.

I think it’s fair to say that lambic beers are an acquired taste. Long maturation and the distinctive yeasts used elimate all of the sugar so there is absolutely no sweet taste – it is overwhelmingly sour, with some bitter notes. Cantillon has a reputation of being one of the hardest “tastes” to acquire.

We were still comparative newbies to lambics. You know: the stage where you drink one and say “hmm, very interesting; isn’t it sour” and then choose something else next round. We’d enjoyed a couple of Gueuzes from other breweries, but our only brush with Cantillon was a “Rose de Gambrinus” (Cantillon’s raspberry lambic) at the Great British Beer Festival. It had tasted rather like a raspberry vinegar that my dad used to make. However, we were not put off by this – many beers are not at their best in that kind of environment – and were determined to give them another go. And where better than at the brewery itself?

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Despite knowing the theory of lambic production, it’s only when you see the equipment used (and particularly the rows and rows of maturing barrels and bottles throughout the brewery) that you can picture the production process. (NB – you can probably go one better if you visit between October and April. Brewing stops during the summer months)

You get an introductory spiel (possibly from the head brewer, Jean van Roy himself) and an informative leaflet to guide yourself around. We learnt a number of interesting things. We learnt that large amounts of hops are added for their preservative / antiseptic quality – but they’re aged for three years first to cut out the bitterness. We’d both assumed before we went that the beer was open to the elements for a long period of time, but actually the window for “spontaneous fermentation” is very small — only overnight, while the beer cools. Yet it (almost) always works. This is down to the apparently unique natural yeasts in the Brussels region.

The cooling room is really atmospheric – an enormous (but shallow) square copper dish in a dark attic, with shutters to control the heat and light. Apparently the roof tiles are original, re-installed after the roof itself was replaced to preserve the “micro-organic equilibrium”. Someone should write a ghost story set in a room like that.

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We got to the end of the tour with some trepidation about the tasting session to come. Tasting one of the world’s sourest beers at 9:30 in the morning? (8:30 UK time!)

We were given some Gueuze, and it was a revelation. For a start, we could taste much more than just sourness — a real full and fruity flavour with a subtle bitterness at the end which we’ve never really got with other lambics. I don’t know if this revelation was due to us slowly becoming accustomed to lambics (in the same way that we only recently “got Koelsch“); the fact that Cantillon is “better”; or just perhaps that our tastebuds were more alive at such an early hour. Whatever it was, it left us keen to try more.

They gave us a glass of Rose de Gambrinus, which was also delightful. Whereas before we could only really taste sour, the fruitiness really came out and left a lovely aftertaste.

We left with as many bottles as we could carry, some glasses and a t-shirt. We’re converted.

I wonder what wild yeasts in the London area are like…

Notes

The Cantillon brewery is 5 minutes walk from Gare du Midi Station (where Eurostar comes in), assuming you go the right way out of the station. Come out at Horta Place (entrance/exit nearest the Eurostar arrivals with the taxi rank), go up the street you can see with the bus / tram stops, straight across the roundabout (Baraplein) up Limnander-Straat, then over the road at the top into Rue de Gheude. It’s at number 56.

It’s open 8.30am-5pm Mon-Fri, and 10am-5pm on Saturdays. At 4E, including two small glasses of beer, it’s well worth a visit. They also run various public brewing days. The next one’s on 10th November 2007.

L’Ultime Atome

caveoftrolls.jpg Andreea recommended this place which we checked out at lunchtime today. We had a few nibbles and tried three beers each, all of which were good, and a couple of which were great.

The photo is of Cuvee de Trolls — the 20th beer Andreea ever reviewed, back in February 2006. It looks great, and has a lovely glass (frosted, like the one Babar comes in). The beer itself was decent, if not mindblowing.

The highlight of the session was “Poperings Hommelbier”. Poperinge is the Belgian hop growing region, and “hommel” is the local word for hops. And how. Like the little guide to Belgian beer we picked up says, “this beer has about twice the bitterness of other Belgian beers”. The first thing we were reminded of was an English IPA.

  • Ale? Check.
  • Pale? Check.
  • Bitter? Check.
  • Strong? 7.5%.

For all that, though, it’s not quite in the same territory. For a start, there’s the distinct sugar taste and aroma which you get in a lot of Belgian beer. There’s also not much in the way of flowery hop aroma, which you’d expect in an IPA. Nonetheless, an interesting and refreshingly bitter beer which we’d recommend heartily.

We also tried Hoegaarden Grand Cru, Ara Bier and Moinette Blonde.

Had a slight hangover by 5pm. Urgh.

PS – Spotted some “bootleg” Westvleteren in one of the main touristy beer shops in the centre of town.  They weren’t making a big show of it but it wasn’t hidden either.  6.25EUR a bottle. Didn’t have the 12 though.

Notes

L’Ultime Atome is at 14 Rue Saint-Boniface, Brussels 1050. There are a number of interesting bars and restaurants in that area, including lots of African places. We may do a Google Map when we get back if we can be bothered.