100 Belgian Beers: The First (Thirst?) Of The Year
Up until a couple of weeks ago, when I ended up in Belgium for a few days on the way back from Germany, I'd only drunk three beers from the "100 Before You Die" list this year. After getting through fifty last year it seemed sensible to try to get as many of the remaining fifty down me this year. I didn't want to get too far ahead of myself on writing them up though, and I am incredibly slow at doing this. So it looks like I'm going to have to drink a lot in the second half of this year. I did manage to drink some of the rarer beers from the book on my recent travels, but first off here's some I drank in the UK.
51 - Cantillon Vigneronne
Cantillon have, along with Dupont, five beers listed in the 100 book, which is fine by me. They're one of my favourites, and also a brewery I've visited, helped by it's location near to the Eurostar terminal in Brussels. They're a lambic brewery, so again we're talking sour, "funky" beers using wild yeast and taking years to come to fruition. And talking of fruit, rather than the more traditional cherries or raspberries, this one is made using white Muscat grapes, so it ends up somewhere between wine and beer.
I don't seem to have scribbled anything down about this when I was drinking it. So, er, it was good. Obviously; it says Cantillon on the label. Perhaps not their best, but still very good, and it's always nice to try something different. Yeah, OK, not always, but was one one of the good occasions.
52 - Abbaye De Val-Dieu Grand Cru
A so-called "abbey beer" in that although no monks were harmed in the creation of this product they do get a cut of the profits for lending their name to the brewery, which in this case is at least based on a farm on the abbey grounds. There's a bit of a habit (ho ho) in Belgium brewing of just bunging a monk on the label or giving the brewery a religious name when there's no real connection at all. I don't think any of the more recent and decent breweries have been doing this though, so hopefully it'll die down a bit.
This is a dark, malty, heavily alcoholic beer (10.5%) that's really quite a winter ale. Full of liquorice, dark fruit and spices it'd be ideal for drinking in front of an open fire. The body is surprisingly thinner than it tastes but this was definitely good stuff. pingopark was a big fan of this one.
53 - Vapeur Saison De Pipaix
This brewery dates back to 1785, though when the current brewer took over in 1984 it had been derelict for some time. He and his wife lovingly restored it and they now have a fully-functioning brewery/museum powered by steam engine. Cool, eh? They have regular public brewing days that sound like they'd be well worth going to. OK, it's not quite a steampunk brewery but...
Oh, and if all that isn't enough to like them for, they put lichen in their beer. Actually I'm not sure that's a reason to like them or just think they're strange, though apparently it's following an old recipe. Or charter. Or something.
Anyway, this is a fine saison with a bit of a twist, but as I totally failed to make any notes about it that's about all I can say. I'm tempted to write, "The trouble with lichen in beer is..", but can't be arsed. So, if you drink this you might not live to 200-300, but you'll have had fine beer on the way.
51 - Cantillon Vigneronne
Cantillon have, along with Dupont, five beers listed in the 100 book, which is fine by me. They're one of my favourites, and also a brewery I've visited, helped by it's location near to the Eurostar terminal in Brussels. They're a lambic brewery, so again we're talking sour, "funky" beers using wild yeast and taking years to come to fruition. And talking of fruit, rather than the more traditional cherries or raspberries, this one is made using white Muscat grapes, so it ends up somewhere between wine and beer.
I don't seem to have scribbled anything down about this when I was drinking it. So, er, it was good. Obviously; it says Cantillon on the label. Perhaps not their best, but still very good, and it's always nice to try something different. Yeah, OK, not always, but was one one of the good occasions.
52 - Abbaye De Val-Dieu Grand Cru
A so-called "abbey beer" in that although no monks were harmed in the creation of this product they do get a cut of the profits for lending their name to the brewery, which in this case is at least based on a farm on the abbey grounds. There's a bit of a habit (ho ho) in Belgium brewing of just bunging a monk on the label or giving the brewery a religious name when there's no real connection at all. I don't think any of the more recent and decent breweries have been doing this though, so hopefully it'll die down a bit.
This is a dark, malty, heavily alcoholic beer (10.5%) that's really quite a winter ale. Full of liquorice, dark fruit and spices it'd be ideal for drinking in front of an open fire. The body is surprisingly thinner than it tastes but this was definitely good stuff. pingopark was a big fan of this one.
53 - Vapeur Saison De Pipaix
This brewery dates back to 1785, though when the current brewer took over in 1984 it had been derelict for some time. He and his wife lovingly restored it and they now have a fully-functioning brewery/museum powered by steam engine. Cool, eh? They have regular public brewing days that sound like they'd be well worth going to. OK, it's not quite a steampunk brewery but...
Oh, and if all that isn't enough to like them for, they put lichen in their beer. Actually I'm not sure that's a reason to like them or just think they're strange, though apparently it's following an old recipe. Or charter. Or something.
Anyway, this is a fine saison with a bit of a twist, but as I totally failed to make any notes about it that's about all I can say. I'm tempted to write, "The trouble with lichen in beer is..", but can't be arsed. So, if you drink this you might not live to 200-300, but you'll have had fine beer on the way.