Westy Ho! Day 6 Beertrip

Continuing the epic Beertrip across Belgium and the Netherlands!

Day 6 of our trip began with a slow moving breakfast in the hotel.  Trying to shake off the cobwebs from the previous night's festivities took much time and many cups of cappuccino.  The low pressure water from our shower was less than helpful with this process. 

All too soon we met up with our large motor coach for the first leg of our trip.  Our group of 8 travelers all piled into this enormous road boat, equipped with cooler and a gnome sized bathroom.  Our driver was Johann, a fun and talkative local whom some of us had met on our previous Beertrip to Belgium. 

After about 30 minutes of driving we arrived at our first destination: the Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren.  This is one of the fabled monk run Trappist breweries that Belgium is so famous for.  In fact, their Westvleteren 12 is renowned as one of the best beers in the world.  Despite its popularity, the brewery only makes a certain amount of the beer and sells it only at the brewery.  One can call and reserve a case to be picked up once a month, or one can often find 6 packs in the restaurant and shop just across the road from the Abbey.  Part of the beer's popularity is this mysterious and limited distribution.  We arrived at the restaurant fairly early and they were still selling some 6 packs of Westy 8, so both Hassan and I got in line and bought one each.  Prices were reasonable, and these same beers would sell for three times as much elsewhere in Belgium and up to 10 times as much in America. 

We were seated quickly and our group promptly ordered beers and continued to work on some lunch orders.  I ended up with a tasty pate made from mystery meat and Westy beer.  One of our traveling companions ended up with a texturally disturbing head cheese of some kind, but he was a trooper and ran with it.  It was a beautiful sight looking at all those Westvleteren beers lined up in front of us.  But how were they?  Did they stand up to the hype?  In a word: yes!

Heaven in a glass?  Three glasses?

The Westy blonde beer was lighter, crisp and dry.  There was a definite hop bitterness and flavor to the beer, but noble floral hops, not citrus hops.  This was refreshing and slightly fruity.  I would drink this any day and every day if I could.

The Westy 8 is a brown ale, more in line with a Belgian Dubbel.  There is some carmelized sugar character and some fruity aroma and flavor from the Belgian yeasts.  Very dry and easy to drink, with hints of dark fruit on the finish.

The Westy 12 is the big gun of the batch.  Higher in alcohol, and darker in color, this one has a depth of character that belies its simple recipe.  The combination of esters, dark sugar and alcohol warming seems to work in amazing harmony in this excellent beer.  I would love to try an aged version of this, since I can only imagine that the dark fruit flavors would intensify with some time.

Mike looking very pleased with himself!

After our light lunch and overdose of fine Trappist ales, we took some pictures in front of the Abbey entrance and headed back to the bus.  I would have loved an opportunity to see the Abbey itself but that is just not in the cards for tourists anymore.

Spoils of Westvleteren!

You too will feel happy after visiting this brewery...

A much more talkative coach ride later we ended up at De Dolles Brouers, in the small village of Esen.  They opened up in 1980, taking over an 1800's  brewery and distillery that had gone out of business.  Much like the early craft breweries in the USA, these guys were one of first new and craft oriented breweries to open in Belgium.  Starting with the Oerbier, they pioneered a hoppier version of blonde ale than had been popular, really taking some risks for the time.  This is still a small family run business and we were able to get a relaxed tour of the brewery and grounds for our group.  We sampled most of their beers during this trip, and like most of the breweries in Belgium, they do not like to give small samples.  It is full glass or nothing for these guys!  The Oerbier was mentioned above and was actually too hoppy for Kevin, Carol and Sj to really enjoy.  I really liked the Boskeun--a light colored, malty and strong alcohol Easter beer named after a rabbit.  The tap for this beer was hooked up to a battery operated drumming rabbit that went off loudly each time the beer was poured.  Pretty funny! 

Easter in Belgium!

Another of their popular beers is the Dulles Teve (or Mad Bitch in English) which is a strong tripel.  They mention not aging this beer on their website, but last trip to Belgium we had a 10 year old version that was amazing.  Hassan also managed to finagle a single bottle of the Reserva--an aged strong dark ale from 2012 that was one of my favorites from the trip.

We had a fantastic and relaxing visit to this brewery, taking a good amount of the afternoon to get through all those beers.  At one point while we were messing around trying to take pictures of the cool shadows from the beer glasses on the table top, we discovered that poor Sj had fallen asleep!  Perhaps we took too long and had too many beers...Nah!  It is a beer trip after all!  I was impressed with this newer brewery that respects the traditions of Belgian brewing (they still use a coolship!) while still pushing the boundaries of Belgian beer styles. 

Once we returned to Ghent, mostly all napping on the coach all the way home, we were in dire need of some sustenance.  We ended up venturing forth to possibly the world's slowest Thai restaurant where we were again placed upstairs away from the "normals".  Despite the endless wait and poor beer selection the food was incredible.  We shared many dishes including a spicy Ostrich laarb and Kangaroo in sweet sauce.  Not sure why there were so many unusual options but we ran with it!  That kangaroo was amazingly tender and flavorful.  At the end of this fairly expensive meal, we discovered that they did not take credit cards (common at many restaurants and pubs in Belgium) and had to pool our Euros to get out of there without having to wash dishes.

For a post dinner digestive Sj, Chris, Hassan and I ended up back at the tiny 't Galgen Huisje just across the square.  The inside was bustling and we ended up sitting outside at a table.  The weather was damp and had started to get chilly now that the sun was down, so we didn't tarry too long.  I tried a mellow but less than exciting Tangerlo brown ale there.  Strangely the streets were bustling with drunken young fellows garbed in poorly fitting super hero outfits.  We saw several groups of these masked vigilantes stagger by over the time we lingered, including a disturbingly furry Wonder Woman.  Yup, time to go to bed!

To Ghent! Day 5 of Beertrip 2014

Day 5 of our fabulous trip took us from Brussels to join the rest of our organized tour through Beertrips.com in Ghent. 

We awoke this fine day to a return of sun and pleasant weather in the mid-60's.  We didn't have a lot of time left in my new favorite city, but were able to wander the cobbled streets and take in a bit more of the town.  We poked our heads into a few bottle shops and had some perfectly crispy frites right across from the Bell Fort. 

Back to the hotel for a quick pack and to catch our minivan cab to the train station.  Our cabby was quite the jokester and in straight dead-pan told us that without chocolate he would not drive us to the station.  Later Chris discovered some wrapped dark chocolate in back of the cab and handed it to a somewhat surprised cabby!  The next 10 minutes literally flew by in a mad spinning and drifting hell-ride through the narrow cobble stoned streets of an ancient city.  The whitened and widened eyes of horrified pedestrians flashed past us.  Horses drawing carriages reared in terror.  Bladders clenched.  Prayers were quickly said.   It was white knuckles, brown trousers time!  With an insane Tokyo Drift and squealing of tortured tires on stone, we pulled up inches from the curb at the train station.  Our cabby (who had possibly been watching too many Fast and Furious movies) commented, "I can't get you all the way into the station..."

After blood flow to our clenched hands recovered, we quickly bought tickets and made our train with only minutes to spare.  We would have missed this particular train if the Belgian Vin Diesel hadn't rampaged the streets for us, so hats off good sir!

Is this so wrong?

The trip was only about 30 minutes, but Hassan produced paper Starbucks cups that he had impossibly received while we were all hustling our luggage to the platform.  He apparated a Rochefort 8 and a Fort Lapin Quad and we all cheered our Bruges cab driver and the upcoming city of Ghent!

Photo from the canal by Sj

Our formal tour began at the Waterhuis aan de Bierkant, a large canal-side restaurant and pub with an incredible array of great beer selections.  There, our foursome met up with Carol and Kevin (friends of ours from Happy Gnome beer dinners back in Minnesota), Arthur (an adventurous fellow from New York), and Mike Saxton (our illustrious tour guide and owner of Beertrips.com.)  I ordered a Hercule Stout--a roasty but mild stout with some Belgian yeast character.  With a raucous group toast our tour had officially begun!  After sharing sips of our various beers, with Sj swigging Cantillon out of the bottle like a heathen, we walked a few blocks down the canal to board a canal boat for a welcome tour of Ghent.

View of Ghent from the canal

Our boat had overly foamy bottles of Gentse Tripel waiting for us to spill all over ourselves upon opening.  Plates of local cheeses were provided for our consumption whilst drinking, and pitchers of orange juice glistened in the waning sunlight.  Other tour boats and pedestrians alike looked on in jealous appreciation of our beer-laden boat!  A few minutes into our tour the rains began.  Diluting the beer only slightly, but not bothering most of us, the rains continued through much of our tour.  Suddenly the bottom dropped out, with heavy fat raindrops spattering upon us, and several large umbrellas were passed around.  Sj's umbrella caught some wind and that full pitcher of orange juice tipped as if in slow motion toward my waiting crotch.  With nowhere to dodge to I took the spray and laughed it off.  I had beer in my hand and was on a wet boat in Belgium!  Soggy groin be damned!  At least no beer was wasted!  I know Sj felt terrible about it, but hey, stuff happens, and at least it was me and not one of our traveling companions.  Seconds after the boat docked the sun returned to spite us.  We took a quick detour back to the hotel for fresh pants and then headed back out to explore the city!

Drinking foamy beer on a canal!  (Beware the OJ!)

The next stop (after dry pants of course) was to 't Galgen Huisje, a tiny pub located at the end of the Groot Vleeshuis (midievil meat market building).  This place had space for about 12 people on the ground floor and an even smaller upstairs seating area.  A small bar provided a decent but not stellar mix of Belgian ales, a few on tap.  Our group of 8 had to be split up due to size, a few at a small booth, a few happily chatting with some locals, and two of us standing.  I do have to say that from the time I walked in to having a dripping full glass of Kaiser Karel Blonde was under 60 seconds.  I was still standing by the doorway while my compatriots were getting situated!  This was the quickest I was served a beer in all of Belgium.  The beer was light, slightly hoppy and very refreshing, and served in its very own glass of course!  This little side trip helped us kill time before dinner and get out of the cool drizzle that had started up again.

None of my pics of this place turned out so you can look at my beer instead!

Next was another short walk back to the same building where we had originally met up with our tour group.  Dinner was in the attached Chez Liontine, which luckily had the same impressive beer list as at the outdoor pub.  We were seated in a warm and crowded upstairs dining room.  I ended up ordering a Flemish stew with pig cheeks, braised in Trappist ale.  It was fantastically flavored and the pork was beyond tender, and went amazingly well with a Rochefort 10.  We then had a Kriek-Off between a few of us, comparing several of the local cherry sours.  Carol had the Beersel Kriek--I gave it a 3/5 because it was back sweetened too much.  Sj had the Girardin Kriek--I gave it a 4, but it had a little skunky aroma I didn't love.  And I won this round with the Hanssens Oude Kriek rated at 4.5--almost no carbonation, but so tart and puckering!  By this time we were all full, happy, slightly tipsy and perhaps drove out the other upper floor residents with our American boisterous activities.

An amazing beer!  

Our three new tour mates had all just arrived in Belgium early that day and all three decided to stumble home to bed.  Chris, Hassan, Sj, Mike and I all still had a bit of energy left to spend on the day.  We walked along the moonlit canal.  Large spotlights embedded in the walkways shone up upon the looming stone walls of buildings that had been built before America had even been imagined.  Gargoyles, ornate crosses and various other intricate stonework designs were brought up in stark detail and shadowed contrast by this treatment, giving the city a truly ancient and dreamlike quality.

Ghent by night!

We ended up at Herberg de Dulle Griet, an old beer bar in the heart of the city, not far from Mad Meg the enormous red painted cannon that is a city landmark.  They had a beer list of over 250 options and were open late!  They had a lot of sours and I ended up trying the Boon Marriage Parfait Geueze which was quite tart and refreshing--and lower in alcohol.  A large group of folks from Bristol, UK were crammed into the booth next to us and we talked a bit about beers (of course!)  We watched each of them get the special house beer Max of the House, served in a yard glass (think Kwak glass but three times bigger).  Since so many of these glasses used to go missing the bar takes one of your shoes as collateral for missing or broken glasses.  So watching a rowdy group of Brits all wearing one shoe and trying not to spill from these tall glasses was quite a treat!  After this most of us were too tired and full for more beers so we shambled back to our hotel for a much needed rest.

Blurry?  Now you know how I felt!

Coming Up:  A travel day and more time in Ghent!