It was unusual having such a jam packed drinking weekend with a steady onslaught of excellent beers, the final salvo following the Liverpool Beer Expo (covered in last week’s article) was a Meet the Brewer session with Eddie Lofthouse from Cornwall’s Harbour Brewing Company. Harbour Brewing Company is a relatively small craft brewery based in the North of Cornwall. They state that they have a commitment to making contemporary styles of beer that ‘deliver an uncompromising taste experience’. During the discussion about many of their beers, Eddie was very vocal about wishing he had access to a laboratory such as that owned by other Cornish breweries. The brewery was set up in 2012 by Rhys Powell, formerly of Sharp’s Brewery and Eddie Lofthouse who apparently shared a passion for beer and surfing, whilst harbouring (no pun intended) a desire to open a brewery of their own. Rhys had already taken steps to get making beer by undertaking study of Brewing and Distilling, and having following his stint in Sharp’s Brewery teamed with Eddie; who had been running The Atlantic Hotel and Doom Bar in New Polzeath, Cornwall, for sometime. Following drinks in Padstow between the two, it seemed a good idea to name the brewery after the place the idea was conceived, and Harbour Brewing Company was born. Harbour Pilsner One of the most easy drinking and best-selling of the Harbour range, this beer has undergone two iterations, the second of which was made with an extra bag of malt in the mash, making it up to 5.5%, but the first version remains at a steady 5% abv. The most notable twist in the character is the overt sweetness and slight hint of the metallic in this pilsner; whilst it provides a very interesting and pleasant flavour pinch, the body of the pils benefits from the sweetness but the sharp hit of refreshment is lacking due to being ever so slightly unbalanced. This sweetness has apparently been derived from a brew fault; however, it is not totally unwelcome, providing a very interesting variation on a theme. Harbour IPA This IPA was the first beer brewed commercially by Harbour and is made using crystal malt, then Nugget hops for bittering with Cascade and Columbus for dry hopping. The brewery churns out some 90-barrels a week of this popular beer which is essentially a standard British IPA style beer, available in bottle, keg and cask. A very pleasant and accessible beer, drinkable and hopped to a good level, retaining a balance and lighter mouthfeel for a more session based ale. Harbour Pale Ale #5 This is the fifth variation of the Pale and again, the use of Nugget hops for bittering is present. The addition of dextrose was for a one-off ale, but the popularity of a very drinkable beer meant retention in the Harbour ranks. The Pale Ale is now one of the core range and weighs in at around 6%, this ale does convey some light citrus and slight tropical or white stone fruit in both the nose and flavour. Attempts were made at exporting this ale to Canada and Australia due to the perception that the higher abv might give it some robust travelling quality. Alas, when trying it at the point of serve, the beer was not up to the standard expected by Eddie following a 3-month period of selling their beer on the road. It was just fine here though. India Brown Ale Using American style techniques and centennial hops, this beer certainly lives up to its name. A brown ale with an amber hew and pleasant carbonation, this is a decidedly hoppy effort and the beer is actually very balanced and structured from keg. There are floral and light caramel or toffee notes in the nose, with a good slightly nutty roast finish. There is some length to the ale too, which weighs in at 4.9%. Comus A lager made in collaboration with the Wild Beer Company, which has been aged in red wine barrels and imparts some vanilla and fruit flavours to the beer. There is a very animalistic nose to the beer; perhaps from the aromas straw and farmyards sometimes gained from French Pinot Noir? There is a very tempered sweetness in this beer, which ultimately has a very dry finish, is slightly sour (in a good way!) and is a very enjoyable beer with hits of cherry brandy, some honeyed-citrus and other red fruit. Dunkel Bock The Dunkel Bock is what Eddie described as a ‘summery dark beer’ and he may have a point. The beer does carry with it, a kind of herbal freshness reminiscent of garden herbs and has quite a grassy aroma. Considering the earthiness and colour of the beer, the body of it remain rather light and lacking in the usual chewiness you would expect from such a brew. There is a restrained use of hops in this beer and it is very competent for it. Belgian Pale Finally, the Belgian Pale is a rather sweet beer, with tonnes of summer fruit on the nose and in the taste. The punch given from a first sniff in the glass is akin to that experienced from opening a new tin of baked beans, sweet, slightly acidic with a slight earthy tone. This beer was made in collaboration with Redchurch Brewery, based in East London and made in a traditional Belgian style, although the beer is similar to that of a triple IPA, Belgian yeast and the use of stella and galaxy hops give this lively (high in carbonation on this occasion!) 7.2% beer a different flavour edge. All in all, a very informative and engaging evening with Eddie from Harbour; they have recently signed deals with Sainsbury’s to provide beers in their supermarkets, although this is likely to be restricted to the core range. Harbour has a number of beers that are worth further investigation and the enthusiasm for their craft was certainly evident throughout the talk. Until the next time…. Pedro. X ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Harbour Brewing Company. Trekillick, Kirland North Cornwall PL30 5BB Tel: 01208 832131 Email: [email protected] Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarbourBrewing Twenty Three Club / Clove Hitch 23 Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BQ Web: http://www.theclovehitch.com/# Twitter: https://twitter.com/TwentyThreeClub or https://twitter.com/theclovehitch Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Tel: 0151 709 6574
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The Meet the Brewer events across the UK are proving to be exceptionally popular ways to spend an evening. Twinned with the relatively rude health of the cask and craft brewing scene, social occasions with the additional spice of running shoulders with a brewer and imbibing a brewery’s best wares have given rise to the building momentum and thirst to try new brews and catch glimpses of beers that are otherwise stocked sporadically in drinking establishments. In the latest iteration of Liverpool’s Clove Hitch and 23 Club outings and following the successful Brewfist tasting in December 2013, Logan Plant, son of the erstwhile Zepellin frontman, presented six of Beavertown Brewery’s flagship beers for an eager crowd to experience. Set up in partnership with Byron Knight December 2011, the brewery began in relatively modest surroundings of a kitchen of Dukes Brew and ’Que, De Beauvoir in Hackney. Incidentally, a colloquial twisting of the location gave rise to the brewery’s name. Fast forward to March 2013 and the Beavertown boys set up new premises to grow their capacity and cement a reputation at Fish Island, with future plans to get canning. According to Logan, Beavertown’s beginnings were seeded long before 2011 and a while before his epiphany in New York and subsequent realisation. Teenage ale infatuation with a session beer, spending afternoons sinking a few beers in the beer garden was a precursor to a later moment of clarity. Whilst part of a band playing in New York, Logan was having to eat rather late and therefore experienced American style craft beers and barbecued meat, giving a push to exit stage left from gigs and the recording studio and thus into the brewery. Back to present and to Liverpool, the Monday Mersey evening air is chilly, but Logan’s passion has given rise to 6 beers that we are presented with for delectation…. First up was the proverbial ‘Neck Oil’, a veritable session beer if ever there was, weighing in at a reasonable 4.3% and bursting with citrus lemon and cut grass freshness. It is a very easy drinking, straw coloured and dry hopped number; something apparently influenced by Logan’s Grandfather who referred to an estimable drinking session at his local as the time for the ‘application of neck-oil’. A slightly stringent mouth-feel gives this beer a pleasant edge if you’re wanting to partake in a few. ‘Gamma Ray’ is the second and possibly one of the most common of Beavertown’s beers to be had. A former employee at the Kernel (another brewery in London) was the first recruit to Beavertown’s brewing team and after a couple of iterations, hit upon a dry hopping ploy with Amarillo, Calypso, Columbus and Omega hops for this tasty and light bodied American style pale ale. There is plenty of flavour, similar to the Neck Oil with citrus character, but a more coating mouth-feel and plenty of fruit. It will be the first to be canned when Beavertown roll out their new venture soon. Third up was the ‘8-Ball Rye IPA’ which was a much softer edged beer than the previous two. The initial process was using 3 grains and approximately 17% rye in the malts, there was some difficulty sparging due to the finely milled particle size provided by the supplier. Upon a solution being achieved through supply chain amendments, an earthy, spicy beer with a cloudiness has been created, using a combination of US and New Zealand hops to bring out a delicious IPA at 6.2%. ‘Some Like it Hot’ was next to hit the taste-buds; a chilli and lime saison, with the addition of raspberries and apples from Chegworth Orchard, giving rise to a standard sourness, but twinned with a very interesting tart-heat in the aftertaste and mouth-feel. The acidity is finely balanced with the level of hopping, giving an intensely fruity beer which was influenced by a cocktail mixologist who recommended trying to achieve something similar to a cocktail. The dry hopping with chillies provides a clever dimension to the beer providing some depth of flavour plus the expected heat. Onto the darker stuff with a black IPA named ‘Black Betty’. A beer which allegedly came about by a happy accident in the brewery, aiming for a beer that was reminiscent of the popular and nostalgic ‘black jacks’ chewy sweets so many of us of a certain age will remember. Coming in at 7.4%, there is plenty of punch to this dark IPA along with lots of fruit from the hops and a coffee and chocolate infused depth provided by the use of 5 types and especially darker malts. The aromatics kick quite a lot of arse here, belying any indication of a heavy body and any expectancy of a greater amount of chewiness. Finally we hit the big brother to a standard Beavertown brew, the ‘Imperial Smog Rocket’, which weighed in at a hefty 10%. Using smoked malt and brewed in the imperial style popular with Catherine the Great, the Imperial Smog Rocket was built as a foil for some collaborative work performed with the Brewdog boys. They created an Imperial Stout which was named ‘Catherine’s Pony’ (do an internet search for stories surrounding Catherine the Great and horses… just don’t complain when you find out why they named the beer as such, the dirty boys), but Beavertown decided they could raise the bar from the collaboration and thus launched the rocket, creating a thrust of big chocolate and coffee oiliness. Magnum and Chinook hops sit atop a mountain of malts, drifting in and out of liquorice, with some vanilla and smoke. A must-try beer, but perhaps stick to one or two eh? An excellent evening with affable hosts as ever, Logan has promised to make some more rounds when the canning gets going, I suspect we will be seeing a lot more Beavertown if they keep the bar as high as the above beers are set.
Until the next time…. Cheers! Pedro. --------------------------------------------- Beavertown Brewery Web: http://www.beavertownbrewery.co.uk/ Follow Beavertown on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeavertownBeer Clove Hitch/23 Club: https://twitter.com/theclovehitch / https://twitter.com/TwentyThreeClub Tel: 0151 709 6574 Address: 23 Hope Street, Liverpool. L1 9BQ Having missed an opportunity to attend an earlier event - which took place in Renshaw Street’s Beer Inn Emporium, I was lucky enough for my ear to the ground and gastronomic radar to detect a chance at ale induced redemption… of sorts. There was also another event approximately a year ago too in the same venue, but again, my day job pulled rank on such frivolities. The Ship and Mitre played host to Josie Ludford, who, as regional sales co-ordinator for Brewdog in the North of England (rather an expansive area too, it sounded) provided some insight into both the company and a range of beers the company are currently showing off to the masses. The venue itself wasn’t particularly ideal for the event, with the tasting area reserved for ticket holders it might have been better suited away from the main body of the pub as ambient noise was constantly providing a challenge to Josie getting her points across; difficult enough when some people actually attending didn’t seem interested in letting other people hear either. Nevertheless the tasting continued and there were some interesting beers on offer. 1. How to Disappear Completely An interesting and very low alcohol Mild style ale at only 2.8% but with an abundance of hops including Centennial and Colombus giving the dry hopped aromas an extra punch. Possibly the most pleasant mild I have ever drunk. 2. Electric India A saison beer with heady tropical fruit notes including mango, some additional hops have been introduced to bridge the tropical flavours and the hoppy flavours. There is plenty of depth to this beer, which is a 7.2% smack in the mouth and also possibly a great introduction to those who have had difficulty with saison beers in the past. The addition of orange zest and black peppercorns gives a fresh kick in an already interesting brew. 3. Hello, my name is Mette Marit The Censored beer (in Norway at least) so named after a tearaway Princess-to-be-Queen who’s past scandals include domestic family issues, raving, drug taking and having a child from a prior relationship to that of the one with the Crown Prince (*cough* allegedly). The beer is much better behaved than that; the first taste was from an off-pump effort after another Brewdog event, of which the beer was clearly not handled well at all following the event. This 8.2% strength beer does not convey its strength in the flavour or indeed, mouthfeel, with strong toffee flavours and a double IPA basis using amongst others - Citra hops, Nelson Sauvin and lingonberries to provide some additional flavour and acidity to balance out what would normally be quite cloying. 4. Mixtape 8 Mixtape 8 is an intriguing beer that lends itself to be a dessert accompaniment if ever there was one. A deep and complex set of flavours which is a blend of two styles aged before bottling; a dry hopped triple IPA and a Belgian tripel, both of which are aged in oak whisky casks. The two-blend hit gives dried apricots, muscovado, dates and slight figgy flavours whilst the phenolic and earthy tripel element gives dryness to the balance of flavours. A treacly and fine companion for a steamed toffee or treacle pudding, made from 4 malts and 4 different hops. Mixtape 8 weighs in at a more than respectable 14.5% 5. Cocoa Psycho As the name suggests, this is an intense exercise in cramming as much chocolate into a beer as I have possibly experienced. This imperial stout weighs in at 10% with coffee and chocolate notes and flavours in abundance, the dryness also oddly imparts a strange heat to the stout giving an impression of the inclusion of chilli – not the case, however. Oats, cocoa nibs and coffee beans have been added to the brew to impart their flavours to augment that already naturally present in the beer. Again, as with the Mixtape 8, this is definitely suited to being used alongside a cocoa based dessert. 6. Tactical Nuclear Penguin The former world record holder which started a beer arms-race with German competitors. A burgeoning 32% imperial stout style beer that has since been surpassed, has heavy treacle flavours and some undercurrent of industrial spirits held within a noose of toasty muscovado sugar. As with the other heavyweights tasted, this is best paired with a dessert, something along the lines of a gypsy tart would be ideal. The high ABV was achieved by the process of freeze distilling following an aging process to give distinct flavours and an interestingly coating mouth feel. All in all a good event, the promising news is that Liverpool is also going to get a Brewdog bar which is currently targeted for the Manolis Yard area near to Maya/Lucha Libre, FACT and Mojo. Good tidings indeed for fans of the proclaimed Scottish punk brewery. The fact that one half of the Brewdog creators spent time working at another ElectroKemistry favourite, Thornbridge Brewery, is testament to the skills learned to make these interesting brews. Until next time mis amigos! Pedro. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can find out more about Brewdog here: http://www.brewdog.com/ You can follow Brewdog on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/brewdog You can follow Josie on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/Brewdogupnorth British Bank Holiday weekends are invariably washed out affairs, much more suited to sitting wistfully on a window ledge staring outside at the rain trickling down the pane. Luckily, the last two Bank Holiday weekends in May of 2013 have been gloriously bright affairs. That type of weather definitely lends itself to sitting out with friends in a Beer garden, having a picnic and a few cold drinks in the park with the family or even better, attending a beer festival. There have been a few of late and there are a few more to come in Liverpool over the next few months. I spent the first May bank holiday at the Eagle and Child beer festival in Bispham Green (near Parbold/Mawdelsey). Typically, this festival experiences excellent dry weather and is generally superbly run and friendly affair. The addition of hand pumps to a few of the cask ales on offer this year is a definite improvement and a step upward from the usual high standards in the grounds of the pub owned by the Ainscoughs (of Racquet Club fame). The most recent Bank Holiday weekend was also spent investigating a slightly smaller scale beer festival, this time by the banks of the River Mersey in Otterspool at the Otter’s Café at Active Adventures. Having ventured down on the Saturday and Sunday, the clientele was mixed to say the least, with a market having brought some people out and the remainder either those wandering along the promenade for a walk and an ice cream or those specifically for the beer festival. There was even room for a Hen do oddly enough! Rather than a pub or association running this event, the crowds were treated to some local brews organised by the Mad Hatter Brewing Company. The Mad Hatters Brewing Company is the newest addition to Liverpool’s ever-increasing craft beer and real ale scene with Head Brewer Gaz and partner in crime Sue, initially taking things a little more seriously in 2007. With the burgeoning interest in Liverpool (as with the rest of the UK) in food and more pertinently, drink, driving the demand for fashionable food and beers with character, there is certainly room. The latter of these demanded items is something that the Mad Hatter is able to provide in abundance. This is more than evident, with some 16 different styles of beer lined up at the brewery, perhaps more once confidence has grown – and a range of brewing techniques not generally used in the UK. Some departure from academia up in Lancaster, I am sure most would agree, but a brave and highly welcome decision for a lot of us. At the festival, there were a few ales on offer from some of the usual suspects on the Liverpool Beer scene in the shape of Liverpool Organic Brewery, Liverpool Craft Brewery, Wapping, Brimstage Brewery from Wirral and another newcomer in the shape of the promising Melwood Brewing Company. The undoubted stars of the show at this festival were the beers on offer from the Mad Hatter Brewery. The unusually potent ales conceived by the Mad Hatter himself were present in fridges, which were stocked full as to be curiouser and curiouser; leporine artwork by Emily Warren of Stealthy Rabbit adorning a variety of exciting bottles promising much. Emily's thoughts are given in a bit more detail than I can divulge right now over on: [http://thestealthyrabbit.blogspot.co.uk/]. Over the course of the weekend, I made it my duty to try and characterise as much of the wonderland made real by the brewery as possible. However, with an ABV of usually over 7%, care must be taken – an easy task it was not!! The brewery was keen to provide something as an alternative to the usual session beers on the market, offering viable alternatives for food pairings to the usual fallback of a bottle of wine. Here are a few of the tasting notes I made whilst I was able to stave off falling down the rabbit hole:
2. Imperial IPA: Using Simcoe hops, the pine notes in this beer are deeply embedded and very obvious, at 7.3% it packs quite a punch and has quite a sharp edge with some good acidity. Very, very hoppy!
That’s your lot for what magnificence I tried on offer at the Beer Festival, but your extra reading after this blog is to go and check out the Mad Hatter Brewing Company website (conveniently located here: [http://madhatbrew.co.uk/] and for more up to date information, search facebook for Mad Hatter Brewing Company, or follow them on twitter, @MadHatBrew] with a run down of their beers and details should you need to contact them. Their beers will be available from the following outlets: Beers are available in Liverpool from: Stamps Too, (CAMRA pub of the year, Liverpool) The Dispensary, Renshaw St The Ship and Mitre And also soon from: 23 Club, below the Clove Hitch Pod, Allerton Road Manchester: Pie & Ale, Northern Quarter, The Port St Beer House, Northern Quarter And also soon from: Joshua Brooks, Oxford Road The Magnet, Stockport (CAMRA pub of the year, Greater Manchester) Unfortunately, you can’t buy from the Brewery direct at the moment, so you’ll have to go hunt down these bad boys from one of the outlets above if you’re feeling impatient!! A tip of the (mad) hat should also go to the guys down at the Otters Café for putting on the mini market and beer festival. They have an aerial assault course in the vein of Go Ape! there alongside a maze and the café and lovely riverside views. The coffee and cakes is pretty good there too! Full details of the venue are just a click away: [http://www.activeadventuresliverpool.co.uk/]. Until next time guys, I’ll see you through the looking glass! Pedro x Take twelve curious (in every sense of the word in some cases) people, contain within a single room and apply a generous dose of various wheat beers from around Europe; you’ll end up with the first live ElectroKemist Cuisine event, with in retrospect, pleasing results. The wheat beers selected for the tasting were (in order) as follows:
A little bit of a synopsis was given at the start for the origins of wheat beer and the German Reinheitsgebot, then a brief description of each beer with a word on each for mouth feel, taste and nose. The tasting panel was then left to cast opinions and invited to write some comments on each beer, giving it a relative rating within the selection of beers available. All the beers were well received apart from two, which were clearly rated below the others, rather surprisingly so too. The two beers that ranked lowest were in my opinion still very pleasant and slightly complex beers, perhaps more so than the other selection. Final standings (2pts – best, 1pt – runner up and -1pt – last place): 8th place – Titanic Iceberg (Titanic Brewery, Staffordshire): -9 points This heavily hopped beer is very light at only 4.1% abv, but this was not to the liking of the bulk of the tasting panel. Common complaints were that it was slightly metallic, dry and too bitter, with the nose being slightly medicinal and almost like cannabis. It was by far the most diverse of the beers on offer, being much dryer compared to the sweet and fruity beers around it. 7th place – Franziskaner (Bavaria, Germany): -1 point The current form of this beer was first brewed in 1974, heavy notes of cloves and bananas with a slightly spiced finish and some vanilla notes proved a little on the heavy side for some of the panel. 6th place – Paulaner (Bavaria, German): 0 points A sweeter brew than many of the others, with yeasty hints proved to be very neutral with the tasting panel, it scored no points negatively or positively. 5th place – Hoegaarden (Hoegaarden, Belgium): 1 point One of the most famous wheat beers in Europe with very floral and citrus notes, mostly coming from the inclusion of orange curacao peel proved to be fairly popular with the panel, but not overwhelmingly so. Many comments were positive, but not enough impact was made to lift it above a single point from a runner up spot. 4th place – Schneider Weisse Tap 7 Unser Original (Bavaria, Germany): 3 points Possibly the heaviest of the beers in terms of colour, having a sepia-brown tinge in the usually yellow brew, fairly heavy also in terms of sweetness and flavour. A very complex wheat beer with spicy notes of clove, nutmeg and ripened banana, which lie over the top of a slightly ‘chewier’ body than the other beers. The panel gave a mostly generous review of this beer noting that it was softer and fruitier on the palette than the colour and body would note. It would be interesting to see how Schneider Aventinus (Tap 9) would have fared here! 3rd place – Erdinger (Bavaria, Germany): 4 points Another very famous brew and available on draft in many pubs these days and in bottles from most supermarkets, it received a single vote as the best of the selection and two runner up spots, placing it high in people’s ranking. A benchmark wheat beer with a balance of spice, dry and sweet notes with citrus notes throughout, Erdinger proved a popular choice with the panel with no negative comments aside from a couple of people noting a neutrality in the beer compared to some of the others, labelling it as ‘inoffensive’. 2nd place Runner up – Weihenstephaner Kristalweiss (Bavaria, Germany): 7 points The filtered wheat beer proved a very popular and well-balanced beer, slightly sweet with an abundance of fruity and crisp notes according to some tasting notes. Generally very positive feedback from the panel on this brew, although the question was asked of them, is it a psychological aspect of the beer being clear which means people are regarding it as lighter considering its relatively strong flavours and spiciness? The yeast would definitely add some body, but the fact remains this was the most frequent runner up and occasional winner for the panel. 1st place Winner – Estrella Inedit (Barcelona, Spain): 16 points The beer brewed by Estrella and developed in tandem with Ferran Adria’s famous El Bulli restaurant (now closed alas) in Barcelona. This proved a winner in most panel member’s eyes, with a complex set of flavours ranging from citrus to liquorice and stages between, the demand following the formal portion of the tasting for this was almost insatiable. Sherbet, bergamot, perfume, rose water and Turkish delight notes were all noted in the tasting comments. This beer was actually developed mindful of pairing with food, but on the evidence of this event, it stood up to be drunk on its own. Many thanks to all those who participated, particularly to Jon for the photography and Luke for venue hire.
There will be more tastings in the pipeline, both for beer and wine, so anyone with an idea or preference, please leave a suggestion below on this blog site, on my Facebook page or on my Twitter feed. Stay tuned folks! Pedro. x Apart from learning a dubious word for a rather rude word, allegedly Dutch in origin, much was learnt from a recent trip over to Brussels, especially about the glut of styles, flavours and histories of their excellent beers. The only real regret about the trip is that one’s liver, kidneys and belly can only take a certain amount of punishment before they decide that you’ve had enough and starting screaming at you… (well, your stomach tends to do it first!) so you can only try a finite amount of the drinks on offer in the various establishments around the city. After an initial snoop around some randomly chosen establishments and taking in some amber and blonde beers (including those which were brewed in-house at a more expensive gaff on grand place – still good, but overpriced) and then some bottled beers of varying styles at the Poechenellekelder [http://www.brusselspictures.com/2008/04/20/the-poechenellekelder/] (which happens to be right next to “Mannekin Pis”). We did return to this place on our final day, however if you visit be prepared to face a lot of creepy puppets adorning the walls and ceilings. There doesn’t seem to be a website for this bar, there are very mixed reviews floating around the internet; however and some are not very generous unfortunately. Our experience was very pleasant, although the server was a bit aloof and cold, his knowledge of the beers was spot on and the service was efficient. The beer menu was also very clear and categorised into amongst others Blond, Amber, Gueze/Lambics and Trappiste beers (as it was in many other places we visited it has to be said). I’d proffer that it is worth a visit to make your own mind up about the place, but in our trip the overall experience was a positive one. The most time spent in one bar was for the tourist trap that is the Delirium Café [http://www.deliriumcafe.be/]. The very long beer list which was standing at 2,004 different brands in January 2004 (as recorded in the The Guinness Book of Records – there’s a certificate on the wall down in the basement café) is rather remarkable. Over 60 countries are represented on the menu in there, including plenty of Belgian beers. The bar is in the small alley called Impasse de la Fidélité/Getrouwheidsgang just off Rue Des Bouchers. Délirium Café has been expanding internationally recently too, opening franchises in Rio De Janeiro (2010) and in Japan (2011). Even though the bar is incredibly busy later on in the evenings, especially at weekends, it is well worth a visit. The atmosphere was great and the different beers on offer provided a perfect foil for what was a slightly more lively venue compared to some of the other cafes and bars in Brussels. Upon receiving a text whilst meandering about some bars in the city on the Saturday afternoon, I was informed that I was needed across town in a bar called La Coq at 3pm. Finding it was a bit of an issue initially, but upon entering, our group were sat down and welcomed to our Beer Tour [http://www.localbrusselsbeertours.com/#features] by a gentleman by the name of Oscar. For the following 3 hours, we were taken to 3 different bars that we would have never ventured into had it not been part of our tour, but we were immensely glad that we did. Over the course of the afternoon, we tried no less than 8 beers (smaller measures, as I am sure you understand full bottles would have left us destroyed at 6% abv and counting up to 12%), including many I would have usually avoided based on their content and colour. Sticking to my own personal preferences for a beer wasn’t really an option, but I did however learn that ‘Tripel’ beers are usually of a lighter nature than ‘Doppel’ although with a higher alcohol content, some of the trappiste (beers brewed at Abbeys and sometimes tended by Monks or sponsored by them) beers with higher alcohol contents take on remarkable fruit characterists in their flavour. Halfway through the tour, some exceedingly pungent and ripe cheeses were wheeled out in front of us, tasty… but I couldn’t really abide the aroma of one or two of them. I can’t really recommend undertaking one of these tours enough, you’ll see a bit more of the city than you otherwise would and you’ll certainly get to know some new bars and new beers better than being left to your own devices. The tour guide (Oscar) even stayed behind when we offered to buy him a drink as we enjoyed our tour so much. At Є35-40 some people might think it a bit on the steep side, but for 3 hours of someone’s time who will definitely provide you with an education and some tasty drinks and cheese; it really is rather good! Ethiopian restaurant (Kokob) [http://www.kokob.be/] was a pitstop for a Sunday afternoon spot of lunch (or more accurately, brunch, due to our revelry the night before taking a relatively heavy toll). Have eaten this cuisine before, I was still pleasantly surprised at the quality on offer. The style of service is highly unusual, from a complimentary amuseé bouche of spiced lemon rice to the platter brought to us with the base Injera (Millet bread – similar if you can imagine a very large Staffordshire oatcake you get in British supermarkets?) onto which all the lentil, lamb, cheese and spinach dishes were placed. If you ever have the opportunity to try Ethiopian cuisine I would recommend it; it is a very sociable way to have your dinner! Make sure you follow up with a traditional coffee too, you might be bouncing around a little afterwards but it definitely was an added positive to a great experience.
In your face (as they say in Brussels apparently, I forget the Flemish phrases exactly – it’s a direct translation, trust me). Pedro. x |
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