(no subject)
In the fine tradition of writing these up stunning late, here's part one of my trip to Antwerp last June as part of my aim to drink my way through 100 Belgian Beers To Try Before You Die. Oh, and drink some other fine beer as well. [Ha, I say stunningly late, it's now June before last so long have I had this on the go]
My last brief trip to Antwerp hadn't worked out as hoped. This was part of the "Slow Train To Immorality" tour, or whatever it's called, with a visiting fringefaan, which just happened to coincide with National Death To Clowns Day, which meant neither of the two bars I really wanted to go to was open. And that sentence may even make sense to some people.
This trip also had something to do with bars closing. The Belgian government, despite not actually existing, where bringing in new anti-smoking laws that took effect at the start of July. One of my favourite Antwerp bars, the Oud Arsenaal, was threatening to close down for good when that happened. I really fancied visiting before that happened, assuming it wasn't just an empty threat. And there was always the oasis of aged beer, the Kulminator, that called fro a repeat visit, so a few days in Antwerp seemed like a fine idea.
So, a couple of quick train journeys later pingoparkand I were ensconced in a bloody impressive B&B with a couple of De Koninck's as "welcome drinks". After settling in it was time to nip over to the Arsenaal.
I do like this place. It's fairly small, unpretentious with a decent little beer list augmented with a goodly number of varying specials, all at a remarkably decent price. It'd be a shame to see it go, even if I'm not exactly going to become a regular. My first few beer requests however were met with a shake of the head. It was all starting to get a bit cheese shop, though this did lead me to find out what was happening with the bar.
The guy who runs it was indeed planning on closing it down as a result of the impending smoking ban, and so the stock was getting run down as we were only a few days shy of the deadline. But then he'd decided he couldn't really afford to close after all (Huzzah!). But it sounded like he'd already booked a six week holiday so he was going off on that so it would indeed be closed for a little while. Oh, and on the last day smoking was going to be compulsory.
78 - Rochefort 10
Eventually I found something to drink. Admittedly I could have this in almost any Belgian bar but as I'd had the 8 as part of this project in the Arsenaal it seemed fitting to have the 10 too. And in the "almost any Belgian bar" the bottle wouldn't be aged for three years, yet would probably cost more. That, and the congeniality of the place, is why I like this bar.
So, Rochefort 10. It's a Trappist one. Leaving aside Orval, which is in a class of its own, it's possibly the best Trappist beer there is. It's hard to do a direct comparison with the Westvleterens without all the baggage they have getting in the way. So lets just say the Rochefort is a stunningly good beer and one of the very few good arguments for organised religion.
It's a very dark brown beer with a reddish hint. It's got an amazingly rounded taste with a licorice finish. There's alcohol in there but it's nowhere near as in your face as you might think from an 11.3% ale. Walnut and tobacco. A bit of spice late in the taste. Really excellent and smooth; the ageing undoubtedly adding a lot to this. Drinking this in a leather armchair in front of an open fire would be spot on, but drinking it in a fine bar at the end of a journey works for me too. Splendid stuff.
Then after food at the Witte Arend, splitting a big bottle of Saison Dupont, it was on to the rightly World-famous Kulminator. (It is famous, you'll just have to trust me on this). Where I drank the beer I'd originally thought I had the least chance of all of drinking.
79 - Westmalle Extra
Ha, you may be thinking, I've had Westmalle, what's so special about that? Well, yes, they run a close second to Chimay in being the easiest Trappist beers to get hold of. But that's their two main beers, the Dubbel and Tripel, both pretty much category defining beers. This, on the other hand...
Well lets have a few quotes from "the book"; "A couple of times a year the brewery produces a light ale for the brothers and lay staff, which sometimes finds its way out into the real world, for friends of the Order and maybe the Trappisten cafe."
Hm, doesn't exactly sound easy to get hold of, does it? In fact I'm not entirely convinced one of the authors of the book has drunk it. Certainly for the tasting notes he says, "As [the other author] is the only regular drinker of this beer not in a retreat, he could in fact write whatever he wants without much fear of contradiction."
So, I thought when I first looked at the book, this is the "Joker" then. The one beer no-one's ever going to get to try; the one that's going to stop anyone hitting the full hundred no matter how dedicated they are. Well, I'm ruling out actually taking holy orders just to get a beer. I may occasionally have done some daft things but I think even I have limits.
Except I've now had it. So maybe I can hit the hundred. Er, which means I can die. Damn. Didn't think that one through properly.
Actually I do think this has become easier to get hold of in recent years. I've heard tell of it cropping up in a couple of bars, oddly both in Antwerp, so I was hoping to track it down.
And duly did in the Kulminator. Well, it's that sort of place. Though I have to say I was slightly disappointed in the beer. It's still a very fine ale but I think the rarity of it and the expectation I'd never get to drink it slightly over-sold the actuality. It's a pale and hoppy beer and eminently drinkable, though there's a slightly iron-y taste that didn't entirely work for me. As a Belgian beer it falls somewhere between the excellent Taras Boulba from Senne and the also very obscure Trappist Achel Blonde, and would make a damn fine session beer in the unlikely event you end up in a bar selling it. Even if you do they're also likely to have lots of other stuff you want to drink as well. I did end up having his again a few days later, this time the bottle even had a label; really going commercial.
[Right, most of that was written months and months ago and I thought it was late then. Perhaps I'll try a few short catch-up posts. Then I can get back to drinking beer.]
My last brief trip to Antwerp hadn't worked out as hoped. This was part of the "Slow Train To Immorality" tour, or whatever it's called, with a visiting fringefaan, which just happened to coincide with National Death To Clowns Day, which meant neither of the two bars I really wanted to go to was open. And that sentence may even make sense to some people.
This trip also had something to do with bars closing. The Belgian government, despite not actually existing, where bringing in new anti-smoking laws that took effect at the start of July. One of my favourite Antwerp bars, the Oud Arsenaal, was threatening to close down for good when that happened. I really fancied visiting before that happened, assuming it wasn't just an empty threat. And there was always the oasis of aged beer, the Kulminator, that called fro a repeat visit, so a few days in Antwerp seemed like a fine idea.
So, a couple of quick train journeys later pingoparkand I were ensconced in a bloody impressive B&B with a couple of De Koninck's as "welcome drinks". After settling in it was time to nip over to the Arsenaal.
I do like this place. It's fairly small, unpretentious with a decent little beer list augmented with a goodly number of varying specials, all at a remarkably decent price. It'd be a shame to see it go, even if I'm not exactly going to become a regular. My first few beer requests however were met with a shake of the head. It was all starting to get a bit cheese shop, though this did lead me to find out what was happening with the bar.
The guy who runs it was indeed planning on closing it down as a result of the impending smoking ban, and so the stock was getting run down as we were only a few days shy of the deadline. But then he'd decided he couldn't really afford to close after all (Huzzah!). But it sounded like he'd already booked a six week holiday so he was going off on that so it would indeed be closed for a little while. Oh, and on the last day smoking was going to be compulsory.
78 - Rochefort 10
Eventually I found something to drink. Admittedly I could have this in almost any Belgian bar but as I'd had the 8 as part of this project in the Arsenaal it seemed fitting to have the 10 too. And in the "almost any Belgian bar" the bottle wouldn't be aged for three years, yet would probably cost more. That, and the congeniality of the place, is why I like this bar.
So, Rochefort 10. It's a Trappist one. Leaving aside Orval, which is in a class of its own, it's possibly the best Trappist beer there is. It's hard to do a direct comparison with the Westvleterens without all the baggage they have getting in the way. So lets just say the Rochefort is a stunningly good beer and one of the very few good arguments for organised religion.
It's a very dark brown beer with a reddish hint. It's got an amazingly rounded taste with a licorice finish. There's alcohol in there but it's nowhere near as in your face as you might think from an 11.3% ale. Walnut and tobacco. A bit of spice late in the taste. Really excellent and smooth; the ageing undoubtedly adding a lot to this. Drinking this in a leather armchair in front of an open fire would be spot on, but drinking it in a fine bar at the end of a journey works for me too. Splendid stuff.
Then after food at the Witte Arend, splitting a big bottle of Saison Dupont, it was on to the rightly World-famous Kulminator. (It is famous, you'll just have to trust me on this). Where I drank the beer I'd originally thought I had the least chance of all of drinking.
79 - Westmalle Extra
Ha, you may be thinking, I've had Westmalle, what's so special about that? Well, yes, they run a close second to Chimay in being the easiest Trappist beers to get hold of. But that's their two main beers, the Dubbel and Tripel, both pretty much category defining beers. This, on the other hand...
Well lets have a few quotes from "the book"; "A couple of times a year the brewery produces a light ale for the brothers and lay staff, which sometimes finds its way out into the real world, for friends of the Order and maybe the Trappisten cafe."
Hm, doesn't exactly sound easy to get hold of, does it? In fact I'm not entirely convinced one of the authors of the book has drunk it. Certainly for the tasting notes he says, "As [the other author] is the only regular drinker of this beer not in a retreat, he could in fact write whatever he wants without much fear of contradiction."
So, I thought when I first looked at the book, this is the "Joker" then. The one beer no-one's ever going to get to try; the one that's going to stop anyone hitting the full hundred no matter how dedicated they are. Well, I'm ruling out actually taking holy orders just to get a beer. I may occasionally have done some daft things but I think even I have limits.
Except I've now had it. So maybe I can hit the hundred. Er, which means I can die. Damn. Didn't think that one through properly.
Actually I do think this has become easier to get hold of in recent years. I've heard tell of it cropping up in a couple of bars, oddly both in Antwerp, so I was hoping to track it down.
And duly did in the Kulminator. Well, it's that sort of place. Though I have to say I was slightly disappointed in the beer. It's still a very fine ale but I think the rarity of it and the expectation I'd never get to drink it slightly over-sold the actuality. It's a pale and hoppy beer and eminently drinkable, though there's a slightly iron-y taste that didn't entirely work for me. As a Belgian beer it falls somewhere between the excellent Taras Boulba from Senne and the also very obscure Trappist Achel Blonde, and would make a damn fine session beer in the unlikely event you end up in a bar selling it. Even if you do they're also likely to have lots of other stuff you want to drink as well. I did end up having his again a few days later, this time the bottle even had a label; really going commercial.
[Right, most of that was written months and months ago and I thought it was late then. Perhaps I'll try a few short catch-up posts. Then I can get back to drinking beer.]