Beer Blotter: Seattle based. World focused.

Of all the beer bars and all the breweries and all the cafes and all the restaurants I went to during my trip to Europe, there is one that holds a special place in my heart. Don’t get me wrong, I have several favorites, but Paters Vaeje in Antwerp is my perfect beer bar.

Picture this. You walk down a cobble stone street past stone facades, small boutiques and cafes, in the back drop is a beautiful Gothic Cathedral with a tall, winding steeple.  700 hundred years have passed, people dress differently, store fronts change around the square, the seasons come and go, but this cathedral stands into the night sky, just as beautiful and ornate as it was at its conception.

Onze-Lieve- Vrouwekathedraal towers over the square and off to the side, next to an alley stands Paters Vaeje, know to us English speaking folk as The Monk’s Kettle. Already we are off to a good start. After walking through the square, admiring the holy structure and battling the harsh winds, we step foot into Paters Vaeje, a local beer bar. Adorned with trinkets, photos and art nouveau, mirrors and stain glass accent the back of the bar. At first attempt, we walk up a short, yet narrow spiral staircase to the second level of the bar. A small space with a balcony that over looks the lower portion, you can look down on the wood floors, the busy bartender, the bottles of beer and your fellow beer lovers. We quickly notice that the small, rickity space was encompassed by a group of boisterous, young drunks.  After retreating back down stairs, we settle next to the wooden stove, embers burning, heating the whole bar.

As I sat drinking Boon Geuze, Rochefort 8 and 10, the sky was dark and grey, the cathedral shown bright outside the window, I felt as though I had found that perfect place with the perfect lighting inside, the perfect scene outside, the perfect noise level and a beer list of bruins, lambics, geuze, blondes, triples and Trappist beers.

Toast Cannibale is raw beef on bread. Goes very well with a bruin.

Although we did a lot of beer consuming, we also stopped for some tasty delights during our trip to Belgium. Just like that tasty Toast Cannibale above, we tried a lot of local dishes.

For those Americans taking a trip to this amazing country, please note, beer bars in Belgium do not serve the array of bar snacks and platters we are accustom to having. If your lucky and we mean, REALLY lucky you might be able to get your hands on a meat and cheese plate, general salami and gouda. So just keep that in mind as you swing ‘em back on an empty stomach.

Rows of Chocolates at Brown Sugar in Bruges, Belgium

Chocolates: Its true, Belgium makes unbelievable chocolates (Brown Sugar in Bruges might be the fan favorite). Chocolate is an art form over there. You have hand painted individual chocolate delights on display in small windows on cobble stone streets. Hazel nut, violet, ginger, cappuccino, orange, coconut, caramel, dark chocolate, white chocolate, nibs, milk chocolate…its all there and its all earth shatteringly good.  During the entire trip, we carted around boxes of chocolates, to pair with beers of course! Guezes and Lambics complemented the richness of the chocolate with a dryer, tart flavor and the nutty, sometimes fruity flavors of the Briuns or Dark Ales, were emphasized alongside these treats.

Mussels Steamed in Belgium Trippel Beer

Mussels and Frites: The dish that is forever associated with Belgium.  The night we indulged in this local fare, we stopped at a restaurant (can’t remember the name) located along the side of Antwerp’s main cathedral. Here, we enjoyed Rodenbach and Corsendonk’s Bruin on tap with mussels cooked in the popular Belgium style beer, Triple.  The wheatiness, slight sweetness and citrus components of the Triple make these shellfish sing. Absolutely ‘delish. Cooking with beer, can’t go wrong!

A local dish!

Chickory (Witloof) with Ham and Melted Gruyere Cheese: Outside of Ghent, at one of our top places, De Ganes (the Goose), we ordered this dish. Unique to Belgium, this dish consists of Witloof, which is chicory, which is like an endive, a root vegetable to say the least. After this root is cooked, it is wrapped in ham and smothered in a melted Gruyere cheese sauce.  It is comfort food at its best, while presenting rich flavors and thick texture. The perfect dish to pair with almost any style of beer, and that, is what we did. At De Ganes we sampled, Cantillon Grand Cru, Crudde Bruin Bier and Buffalo Stout (among many, many, many more).

Aside from the three foods mentioned in this post, Belgium has waffles, stews, gelato, toast cannibal (raw ground meat with herbs on toast- so good, we swear), Stoemf (potatoes and carrots) meatballs and lots of beer. Prior to traveling to Belgium, we were unaware of all the local dishes, so we made it a point to sample them all.

empty glasses of the house beer at Waterhuis aan de bierkant

We thought we would start out our bevy of reporting on our trip to Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands with a short set of our “Top 3″ in Belgium and beyond.

There were three members of BeerBlotter.com on this trip, so its impossible to come to a verdict about the ranking of the Top 3 at this point. Perhaps by the close of our two weeks of stories on the journey, we will have formed a consensus. For now we are simply providing what we believe to be the best 3 places to visit in a particular category.

Please note: we did not visit everything, we couldn’t. Though Belgium is only about 90 miles across, there are so many places to visit. Those venues are not bunched in any easily manageable way, especially the breweries of West Flanders. Thus, we will expose our limitations – we can only rank those places that we visited. Later in the week, we will be providing reviews on each establishment visited, so you will be able to get a better idea of what was visited.

Also, we are stating the names of these places in Flemish or French so that you can find them on a map/online easier.

So, here we go:

Top 3 Breweries to Visit:

1) Picobrouwerij Alvinne, Heule, Belgium

2) Brasserie Cantillon, Brussels, Belgium

3) Brouwerij De Molen, Bodegraven, Holland (Ok Ok its not in Belgium – its in the Netherlands. But its so amazing!)

***Brasserie Thiriez in Escambeq, France – very cool too, if you speak French***

Top 3 Beer Bars to Visit in Belgium:

1) Paters Vaetje, Antwerp, Belgium (Amazing atmosphere and great bartender)

2) Poatersgat, Bruges, Belgium

3) Moeder Lambic, Brussels, Belgium (new, incredible)

beers on hand pump in Belgium! Moeder Lambic has 30-some ales on draft

Top 3 Beer Bars to Visit in Holland:

1) Cafe Gollem, Amsterdam, Holland

2) ‘t Arendsnest, Amsterdam, Holland

3) Beer Temple, Amsterdam, Holland (for the variety – and if you miss the USA)

Top 3 Places to Enjoy a Beer in Belgium:

1) ‘t Waterhuis Aan De Bierkant, Ghent, Belgium

2) Picobrouwerij Alvinne’s Loft, Heune, Belgium

3) ‘t Poatersgat, Bruges, Belgium (cmon, its in a medieval cellar)

Top 3 Beer Lists in Belgium:

1) Kulminator, Antwerp, Belgium (vintages really help)

2) Cafe Cambrinus, Bruges, Belgium

3) Bier Circus, Brussels, Belgium

Top 3 Bottleshops

1) Willems, Grobbendonk, Belgium (ridiculous, go here)

2) Picobrouwerij Alvinne, Heune, Belgium (worldwide selection)

3) De Bier Temple, Bruges, Belgium

Top 3 Beer Experiences in Belgium:

1) Drinking Nuclear Penguin & Sink the Bismark with owner Davy Spiessens at Picobrouwerij Alvinne

2) Enjoying Westvleteren 12 at In De Vrede Cafe on the St. Sixtus Abbij

3) Tasting young gueuzes and special lambics at Brasserie Cantillon

***Checking out the cooling cellar at Moeder Lambic was cool too***

Top 3 Places for a Meal in Belgium (Beer Involved Venues)

1) De Gans, Huise, Belgium

2) Bier Circus, Brussels, Belgium

3)Brouwerij De Molen (Holland) & Brauerei zum Fuchschen (Germany) (again neither in Belgium, but damn good)

***We didn’t make it to Den Djiver in Bruges – we dont have 100.00 for a meal***

De Molen is a windmill brewery with a beer store, amazing food and of course, great beer.

Top 3 Belgian Food to Eat

1) Toast Cannibale (raw beef across bread)

2) Witloof Casserole (Belgian Endive with Ham and Cheese)

3) Stoemf (potatoes, sausage, herbs and vegetables all mashed together)

Top 3 Issues with the Current State of Belgium

1) Construction in Ghent! (the entire city is under construction – kind of killing the ambience)

2) non-uniformity of business days

3) unknown/spontaneously selected opening and closing hours (its always a guessing game)

***Note: We were there during off-season, and we knew that, so the hours/days issue is partly our fault***

There is more to come. I’m sure I forgot to rank many things. We will try and wrap it together soon.

Our first two Westy 12s.....ah the memories

Enjoyed on 3/18/2010

Brewery: Brouwerij Westvleteren/Trappist Abbey of Saint Sixtus

Location: Westvleteren, Belgium

Beer: 12

Web: http://www.sintsixtus.be/

http://www.indevrede.be/

Presentation: 0.33L brown glass bottle, capped

Vintage: 2010

Style: Belgian Quadrupel

Barrel: N/A

ABV: 10.2%

IBU: N/A

Hops: N/A

Malt: N/A

Vessel: Chalice

Recommended Serving Temp: 55 degrees

Notes from the bottle: Part of me just wants to put N/A here for consistency sake, but I’ve, not surprisingly, never put N/A in this section.  The bottles that contain the three beers of Westvleteren have no label what so ever.  The only marking that can be found on the bottles themselves is the word “trappistenbier” emblazoned in the glass about ¾ of the way up the bottle.  The differentiator is in the cap.  The 12 has a yellow cap.

Food Pairings: Deep, meaty dishes with a lot of flavor, smoked things

Cheese Pairings: Brie, Gouda

Beer Advocate: A+

Rate Beer: 100 (4.49)

Timperialstout’s Notes:

I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to write a review of this beer.  It is, without a doubt, one of the hardest beers to come by in the entire world.  But, if you are familiar with Westy 12, you already knew that.  That is without a doubt a reason that 12 is consistently rated the number one beer in the world on nearly every list out there that was created for the purpose of rating individual beers.  The question that has always haunted me most is on the other side of that coin; does it taste like the best beer in the world?

When it was finally solidified that Beer Blotter was going to Belgium, it went without saying amongst us that we would find our way to St. Sixtus at all costs.  We rented a car whilst there, largely for the purpose of this portion of our trip, considering that no reasonably managed public transit system would deliver us to Westvleteren.  Please, Google Map (satellite view) the town.  You will see how remote it is.  Nestled in the heart of West Flanders, it is closer to the French border that any other major city in the country (not that that’s really saying anything, Belgium is very small).

Short aside: If you think about it, by choosing to head to West Flanders for this visit, we were making a huge time and money sacrifice to taste a beer that we only knew of in lore.  A beer that we didn’t even know was good with any definity.  Were it not for a man they called “The Beer Hunter” telling the world that this was the best beer in it, things would be ever so different.  Never the less, we trek on.

The closest town of any population is Poperinge.  Those familiar with that name are probably thinking of hops right now.  Poperinge is the hop center of Belgium, and our travels in this remote corner of the country found many a hop field.  It was truly a beautiful drive.  Thin, barely paved roads snaked through ancient European farm, one after the other.  To find a tranquil monastery out there in the countryside, well, it just seemed right.  One could get some serious meditation in out there.

Thursday, March 18^th was Beer Blotter’s West Flanders day, and we meditated together, albeit indirectly, with Trappist abbey monks, via the enjoyment of the holy product they produce.

Since the abbey itself is not accessible to the public, our consumption would be confined to the café and visitor center – In de Vrede.  This is a very modern looking building adjacent to the monastery…much, much too modern.  We could have easily been in America once we stepped through the doors.  With the exception of the abbey merchandise and a few photos on the walls of the brewing equipment, In de Vrede is a pretty sterile place to have a beer and cheese plate.  I guess it doesn’t really matter though…they serve all three Westy brews out of the bottle for a very reasonable price.  This is the only place in the world that can, or will say that.

We went straight for the 12, without a single care for what it may do to our pallets, as if we just may up and have a heart attack in the next 15 minutes and not be able to taste it before death.  The much-heralded elixir was poured right from the yellow-capped bottle (no kegs exist) into the official Westvleteren chalice.  The time had finally arrived.  Fear stuck me.  What if it was bad?  All my hopes and dreams would be spoiled in one sip.  Ok, maybe I’m being a little too dramatic…

The fluid is a deep mahogany brown, allowing just the slightest bit of light to pass through it, mostly near the edges.  A fluffy, off-white, near tan head arose from the pour and stuck around for a while, eventually diminishing to a wisp and ring where the beer met the glass.

The nose was somewhat challenging to decipher at first.  The beer was chilled unnecessarily, but understandably.  Also, a major malfunction of the chalice as a serving vessel: yes, it looks cool and is no doubt the quintessential Belgian presentation, but it offers no collection of scents.  I definitely stuck my nose into the fluid on several occasions trying to gather in the smells.  Patience and a lot of swirling brought a wonderful, deep malty sweetness and a substantial dose of that near omnipresent yeast fruitiness in Belgian ales.  Dark, rich breads, stone fruit and spices came to mind.

The mouthfeel was undeniably smooth and slick.  Good body for a Belgian, but carbonation was present as well, though subdued.  Intriguing.  A bitter smack to the pallet brought hops temporarily to the mind, but make no mistake, this is a malt bomb!  A distinct burnt brown sugar flavor is most present.  Molasses and chocolate are sensed as well.  The spices are hard to pinpoint amongst the intense sweetness, but they are there.  Complex is for sure.  The carbonation, slick mouthfeel and rich sugars lend a cola like aspect to the beer.

The 10.2% isn’t completely hidden, but is by no means overpowering or boozy.  The aftertaste is very lasting, thankfully.  There is a slight dryness and the carbonation wilts away with time.  Rochefort 10 was the abbey beer to beat for us.  It’s close, but I’d give 12 the upper hand.

Beer Blotter can now answer that looming question…does 12 taste like the best beer in the world?  Well…have we had a better tasting beer in our time?  Yes, BUT…this beer is really, really good.  It’s a hearty, unique, complex quad with a lot of history and a great story.  Have we had a beer more rare?  No.  If you combine the taste and the rarity, do you get the best beer in the world?  Quite possibly.  Was it worth the trip?  A resounding YES!

2 interesting things we learned about Westy along the way, from the Belgians that know it best:

All the hoops that have been set up by the abbey to limit the ability to obtain the beer is really annoying…to everyone, hence the extreme mark-ups found in all the bars and bottle shops that sell it and the large number of bars that now refuse to sell it, either out of frustration or simple inability to get it.

If you ever order a Westy at a bar (other than In de Vrede of course), make sure you ask your bartender or waiter to let you watch them open the bottle in front of you.  As it turns out, it is a growing trend to keep an empty Westy bottle around in the back of the bar.  Then, when one is ordered, the bartender will fill it with St. Bernardus Abt. 12 and serve it as if it were the ordered beer.  This method working more times than not since most have never tasted said Westy, and saving the bar some serious dough along the way.  There are probably worse scams in the world since Abt. 12 is a damn good beer, but a scam none-the-less.

If you like 12, you should try…

St. Bernardus Abt. 12; Trappistes Rocheford 10; and Allagash Four

Disclaimer: This beer was purchased at the only place in the world that it can be procured at a reasonable price, as the monks intended – the abbey itself.  Get jealous.

bartender......another 12 please.

Oh how we miss these wonderful Belgians - but we hope to find some gems around the US of A.

Well we just got back two days ago. We are in the process of writing a full gamut of articles about our Belgium experience. The time table is incomplete, but please expect some Top Places lists and Beer Tour Maps in the next week.

For the time being, we are having a hard time walking away from our magical beer experience abroad. I think that we are having a bit of Belgium withdrawal.

To cure this problematic dilemma, we have selected a few Belgium styled North American beers to try and water our burning desire for more Belgium! After drowning our livers in Belgium beer for 11 days straight, we think we finally have the refined flavors down – bruin, blonde, trippel, gueuze, and lambic.

There are good ones and there are not so good ones. For instance, our good bruins finished full of fruit and cocoa, while our bad ones finished with a metallic aftertaste.

So, we are turning to a few wondrous beers from the Western Hemisphere.

• Flying Dog Raging Bitch Belgian IPA

First, Flying Dog Raging Bitch Belgian IPA (i know, i know – they don’t make IPAs in Belgium). Raging Bitch is a 8.3% ABV brewed with a Belgian yeast called “Diablo” and dry-hopped with Amarillo hops.

I have no problem drinking this beer – its damn good. But, its not a Belgian beer. In fact, I am kind of bothered by the American trend of adding Belgian yeast to an American beer and calling it “Belgian.” But, I know that this is a harmless trend – a melding of the best of America (its hops) and the best of Belgium (its yeast).

With that all being said, the beer is very good. But the Belgium flavoring only survives the first few sips. After that – its all Amarillo hops. I would drink this beer any day – but not after 11 days of Belgians. It just cannot cut the mustard.

• Unibruoe Trois Pistoles

Next up – Unibroue’s Trois Pistoles. UTP (as I affectionately call it) is one of the greatest Belgian styled beers to ever be brewed on the continent. I have no problem saying that because no one knows how to match the classic Belgian taste like Unibroue. After enjoying countless exceptional Belgian brown ales, I now better understand and appreciate UTP.

Unibroue masterfully blends the body of a cola, the scent of overly ripe fruit and the bursting tart boozy flavor of a wonderfully concocted Belgian bruin ale. The color is dark, the pour is soft and the aftertaste is pleasant and diverse, changing with each swish. When you leave the booze in the glass it becomes sour, just another surprise for the drinker.

This one is a can’t miss for any beer drinker. Luckily – its easy to find.

• Russian River Temptation

Last up is our attempt to find a Belgian styled sour ale. Russian River typically takes the cake for the best sour ales in the Western Hemisphere. The Santa Rosa, CA brewer is only met by US brewers Avery and Jolly Pumpkin when it comes to sours. But in the end, Russian River reins supreme.

For our evening we selected Russian River’s Temptation, which we thought might best match the Belgian gueuze styling. The gueuze is a blend of old and young lambics. This type of beer is seriously unmatched in the USA. There simply are no lambic producers of note. But, Temptation is a blonde styled ale, light in color, body and maltiness – allowing us to best mimic the lambic styling.

Russian River Temptation is a RateBeer Top 50 and a 100 overall. People like this beer. It has all the makings of a highly regarded beer – unique, complex, aged in wood, and a cult-like following.

We have enjoyed Temptation on many different occasions, on tap and from the bottle. This particular bottle comes from the first batch of 2009, which we obtained from Full Throttle bottleshop in Georgetown, Seattle this past summer. The beer has been resting well down in our cellar, where the active yeasts have now settled to the bottom of the bottle.

Temptation is brewed during a complex process. First, the beer is brewed and fermented in French Oak Chardonnay barrels over a period of 12 months. During that time, Brettanomyces (a wild strain of Belgian yeast) is added and allowed to do its worst to the beer. Finally, the beer is refermented in the bottle – allowing it to attain its soft carbonation.

This beer is the most wine-like of the series of sour ales that Russian River produces. In fact, the beer is almost that of a champagne bitterness, with a very sharp finish. The sour flavor does not dissipate quickly, leaving the drinker with much to savor over the life of the bottle.

We love Temptation – we do. But, we still prefer the red and brown ales of Consecration and Deviation much more. The heavy fruity and malty beers do very well with the sour Brett flavor. Blonde and lambics tend to be entirely one-sided.

Well, its a great experiment. In some instances it bettered our appreciation of North American beer – in some cases it worsened it. We hope to find some better Belgian lookalikes soon.