Beer session: Cinco de Mayo 2012

[randy_byers]

Meanwhile carl, Scott, and I drank more beer last night. The Bottleworks 13th Anniversary beer was made by Stone Brewing, using 13 malts and 13 hops. Lots to chew on there. The bottle that's hiding its label was home-brewed mead by a friend of Scott's. Really nice stuff! The artwork on the beer menu is by carl. In the future I think we'll just put

Comments

[reverendjim]

I've had the Stillwater on tap over here; a damn fine beer.
And Yay! to you coming over for another visit; splendid news.

[randy_byers]

I've had three things by Stillwater (one of them a collaboration with Mikkeller), all of them saison/farmhouse and all excellent.

And yes, Belgium, ho!

[reverendjim]

I've also had three (or four) Stillwater saisons, including the Mikkeller. Seems to be the style they're getting known for, and, as you say, they've all been excellent, so making plenty of them sounds like a good idea.

So, any plans on where you want to go in Belgium? Claire mentioned that you were opting for a "Staying in Brussels with maybe trips" rather than moving bases.

[randy_byers]

Yeah, I guess my thought is that Belgium is small enough that taking day trips from Brussels might work, if we can find a nice place to stay in Brussels like we did last time. But I'm open to other ideas, for sure. Also suggestions for day trips. Another attempt at the Kulminator? Is Bruges worth a trip? Or other places? I guess the other question is, if I arrive in London on Sunday like I did last time, do we want to head to Belgium on Monday rather than Tuesday this time?

[reverendjim]

I'm quite keen to do Bruges again at some point. I was considering it a while ago but ended up not going to Belgium at all. There are some good bars, including one that lots of people rave about but was inevitably closed when I've was in town.

I did do Kulminator a few times last time I was in Belgium (and I really should write some of that up) but could definitely be persuaded again. Day trips does sound like a reasonable idea though.

I could certainly be persuaded to head to Belgium earlier, though there are plenty of fine pubs in London you've not seen, if you're interested in that. But if you're keener on getting to Brussels I think I'd be happy with that. I must try to make the Novacon pub-crawl this time, if it happens.

[randy_byers]

Okay, let's try to make Bruges part of the plan, with Antwerp or other options as a second possibility depending on other factors. Another thing on my agenda is to get as much Cantillon as I can fit into my luggage, but we don't necessarily have to go back to the brewery for that, I don't think.

Likewise, if it makes sense to crawl around London pubs on Monday, I'm certainly more than okay with that. Does any of the rest of the crew have a preference one way or the other?

Lastly, I think we can just agree that we'll do a pub crawl in Nottingham and invite others to join us if they want to. I still haven't made it to the third pub that claims to be the oldest in England, if that's worth a visit.

I'm depending on you to confer these thoughts to the brain trust, since they probably aren't following along here.