Things To Do In Fargo If You Drink Part 1

Recently, my wife Sarajo, as well as Tyrone and Annette Babione (both BJCP judges) all took a road trip up to Fargo for the Prairie Homebrewing Compainions' Hoppy Halloween competition.  This was a fantastic trip and we stopped in at a ton of breweries, beer bars, distilleries, and even a meadery!  So I'm going to do my best to remember details and write it all up.  Keep in mind that enjoyment of craft beer can be subjective, and also that these visits were a snapshot in time and may not reflect the day-to-day quality of a place.  I'm always curious what others think, so feel free to comment if you have had a similar (or different) experience at any of these places.

In my previous post HERE I mentioned stopping at Hayes' Public House on the Thursday evening on our way out of Waconia.  After that brief but fun stop, we kept driving up north and west until we reached the bustling (OK, not really) town of Fergus Falls.  My family has a cottage on Ottertail Lake fairly near Fergus and growing up, this was the closest city to us during summer trips.  I'm sure the town has changed since I was younger, but we didn't see much in the dark just driving through.  Our destination was Union Pizza and Brewing Company, where we had plans to stop for dinner.

Union opened in early 2015 and is the first brewery in Fergus Falls since well, probably Prohibition!  The place used to be a Dominoes Pizza, but has been upgraded to serve woodfired pizzas and craft beers.  Recently they've begun serving their own house-made beers in addition to a good mix of local Minnesota craft beers and ciders.  Hence our trip there!  When we arrived the place was pretty packed but we didn't have to wait for a booth, which was nice.  There was a lady performing live music in the corner of the main seating area--she was decent but the volume was way too loud for such a small place.  I believe one of the owners took a break from running the bar part way through and played guitar for a short stint as well.  We had a fun server in a wonderfully terrible Christmas sweater who walked us through the food and drink options like a pro.  They had a lot of pizzas to choose from, including a fantastic Reuben pizza with saurkraut, pickles, and spicy sauce drizzle.  We tried all three of their beers between the three of us who were drinking: Traveller is an IPA that had good citrus-orange hop aroma and flavors up front, but had a rough and astringent finish (2.5/5).  The Jeff Davis is a porter with deep dark color, but some tart/sour aromas and flavors that indicate sanitation issues (2.75).  The UPBC Cincinnati is a pale ale and was the best of the bunch, but still not quite to my liking (3).  These guys have only been open a short time and brewing even less, so I'd give them a little slack on the beers for now.  The pizza was great and the service good.  I'd go back if I was in town for sure!

From there we drove (in the dark now) the final hour or so to Fargo, and to our final destination--the Country Inn and Suites, where the Hoppy Halloween event was held.  We ended up hanging out in the world's saddest hotel bar (tiny and understocked) until it closed and then walked around the corner of the building to Green Mill...and shut it down too!  Heck of a start to the weekend!

On our next day (this would be Friday) I judged beer in the basement of the hotel with a bunch of locals and some other visitors.  They run a well-oiled and fun show at this competition!  After judging was finished for the afternoon (we split early) we were ready to go explore what Fargo had to offer.  I was suitably impressed.

1000's of colorful bras adorn this building...

 Our first stop was Wurst Bier Hall for some food.  This place is something that would be right at home in Nordeast or Uptown Minneapolis--full of metal and woods, funky murals, and wacky jackalopes.  While the name of the place sounds like it should be a classic German oompa band, lederhosen, and spetzel kinda joint, it's really more of an upscale sausage and meat emporium.  Sausages of all kinds with a plethora of toppings share the menu with burgers, porketta, and more.  They also have a very large beer (or bier) list boasting several German offerings, but mainly American craft beers from all over.  Oh, and a bacon sampler that came paired with beer samples!  Yum!  We could have stayed here eating and drinking longer but didn't want to fill up too much before more Fargo debauchery!

From Wurst we drove to an industrial warehouse area at the edge of town to try out Kilstone Brewery, who were open before all the other breweries in town.  This place is brand new.  Brand-brand new.  The website isn't up yet and even the Facebook page is pretty bare, so we were a little unsure of where we were going and if they were really open.  But we had nothing else to do so we persevered and were rewarded for our troubles.  We discovered the small brewery hidden deep among the tall metal-sided buildings at the far end of a parking lot (yes parking is easy!)  There's a large garage door that opens up to let some sun and air into the tiny taproom in nice weather, and we lucked out in getting there during a beautiful fall afternoon.  The L-shaped bar and a few small tables provide a spot to sit and sample, but the place is tiny.  A big happy labrador lolled about in the sun, and came to investigate the new visitors.  A pocket sized brew system and a few conical fermenters sit in the back of the place, nestled in with bags of malt and other brewing tools.  A mural of trees and running water provides some color behind the bar, but the place is very utilitarian overall.

While we were trying to decide on our sampler beers from a fairly sizeable collection, a lady that we initially took to be a regular started to give us some pointers.  Her name was Jan Wigen and it turns out that she was one of the owners of the brewery, (along with her husband Randy), and she introduced us to one of her two sons (Brock) who are the brewers there!  Apparently Randy was the homebrewer and has turned his sons into pro brewers to help out the family business!  Brock took us on an impromptu tour of the site and talked shop with us, and seemed very eager for feedback on the beers.  Where the basic appearance of the place was not outstanding, we all had such a great experience with the hospitality of the Wigen family that this ended up being one of our favorite stops on our whole Fargo trip!

Our sampler's were served on platters and in small jelly jars for a fun effect.  While we tasted through the entire line-up Brock explained that almost all of these beers were probably only the first or second batches of the beers and that they would be working hard to tweak recipes over time and get used to the brew system.  I'll zip through a couple of my notes from tasting here:  My favorite of the lot was between the Apple Cinnamon Brown (served with cinnamon sugar on the rim at request) and the Pac's Porter--I gave both a 4 which is pretty high praise from me!  They also had a respectable Citra IPA, and a slightly (but still good) diacetyl-ridden Ironstone Irish Red.  My least favorite was the pale ale which seemed to have a bit of plastic phenol to me, but Ty and Annette liked that one the most.  Overall the beer quality was well above all of our expectations, and if these are the first batches I think Kilstone has a good start.   Thanks for the time and hospitality Wigens!

After a favorable trip to Kilstone, we headed back across the border to Moorhead where we visited Junkyard Brewing.  I loved that place and am affording them their own blog entry to come.

Moving back across the river into Fargo we next stopped at Prairie Rose Meadery. This place is the long-time dream of world famous mead-maker Susan Ruud.  I've judged mead with her at homebrew competitions, and have had her judge my own meads--she knows what she's doing!  Sarajo and I got to try a couple of her first commercial meads at NHC in California this summer and were both very excited to see what she had planned for the meadery.  Oh, and for those who don't know meads--it's wine made of fermented honey.  Like wine, mead can be dry, semi, or sweet.  One can also add spices, fruits, juices, and more to them.  Prairie Rose is located in a small office park (like most brewing facilities) and is a little tough to find at first.  Once you enter the somewhat non-descript entrance you find yourself in a cozy little space that reminds you of an elderly family member's parlor.  I mean this in an entirely good way!  A couple of comfy couches and a small tasting bar with honeycomb shaped back-bar complete the picture.  Susan's wonderful husband Bob was tending bar and gave us the star treatment, serving us samples of all the meads and even a couple of fun mead cocktails that they've concocted.  I believe we tasted about 6 different meads (and maybe a sneak peak of a a few more) while we were there!  The Mint and the Anise were very well done--especially amazing that I liked them since I'm not a fan of either flavor.  The Cherry and the Blackberry were both very drinkable--too drinkable for safety!  My favorites were the Traditional (such a well balanced sweet honey character) and the Ginger mead (of which only Steve Piatz can give Susan a run for her money!)  We bought quite a few bottles and Bob was kind enough to bring them over to us the next day.  These are some of the best commercially available meads I've ever had.

Think this is enough for two days?  Not a chance!  Up next: Drekker, Proof, Rhombus Guys, Fargo Brewing, bison molestation, and more!  Stay tuned for Part 2!


Too much to write about!  I'll split this travelogue into two parts...

Surly Brewer's Table

Surly's Beerhall as empty as you are likely to ever see it!

I think it's time for some Food Porn on this site!  Those who follow me know that in addition to being a huge craft beer geek, I'm also a foodie.  I've already done a review of Surly's new Beerhall as of February of this year HERE and I've been back several times since for food, beer, and even made one of the cool tours over Easter Sunday.  It will be known that while I don't love every single Surly beer, I would certainly qualify as a "Surly Fan-Boy" by most people's reckoning.  Just look at the number of Surly beer reviews I've done this year!  Well, how can you make me even more excited about Surly's new digs?  You open the upstairs restaurant, that's what!

A view of the Brewer's Table

While the food down stairs at the Beerhall is still well above average brewpub quality fare, many of the dishes have a hearty and rustic bent well suited to the surroundings.  That pork shoulder is a wonder for Minnesota BBQ!  However, the seating is all first-come and "get to know you neighbor" and it gets very busy and loud down there. Coming in from almost an hour drive away, I want to know I'm going to be able to get a seat!  The Brewer's Table is Surly's answer to these issues--a smaller fine dining restaurant located on the second level of the building, aiming at the more adventurous eating crowd.    They take reservations (Yay!) and also walk-ins if you are lucky, with some additional seating at the small bar within.  The restaurant is visible from the upper level hallway through sound-damping thick glass, but you can barely tell you are in a crowded brewery once inside.



We were greeted and seated quickly at a two-top table along the outside window, with a view of the huge derelict granary building at the back of the property.  I so want Surly to paint a huge mural on that thing!  The warm spring sun was just dropping in the sky and shone through the windows onto our table with a welcoming glow.  A few more people were seated outside on the small upper patio area, overlooking the busier Beerhall patio below, but it was a bit too chilly for us to want to be out there.



Our server, Sam, came over to meet us promptly and gave us a little run-down on the menu.  The menu consists of several smaller snack plates, appetizers, and some larger meat courses.  Everything can be shared tapas style, or ordered for individuals.  There is also a pre-set 5 course Chef &Brewer Pairing Menu where each course is paired with a 4 oz beer--the only caveat is that the whole table has to order this so that all the plates come out at the same time.  This is pretty much like having your own little private beer dinner!  Sam was very knowledgeable about the food and beers, and she offered to pair any dish we wanted with a beer as well!

The beer list was impressive--with a whole separate bar and tap system for the restaurant itself.  Most of the beers listed in the Beerhall were available, as well as a couple only offered at the restaurant like the food friendly sours Pentagram and Misanthrope.  One can order 4 oz sample of anything for a slightly hefty $3 (which allows more tasting, but adds up a bit in cost), 8 or 16 oz versions of most regular beers, or 10 oz pours of the higher gravity or sour beers.  Lots of options for different drinkers!  We each ordered a different sour to taste along with the dishes, and I had to get a Todd The Axe Man since we can't find that out my direction.

We started out our epic dinner with the mysterious Beer & Bump--a secret frequently changing special from the Sous Chef paired with a mystery beer.  Roll the dice and see what you get!  We were incredibly excited by this first dish and it set the tone for the rest of the evening.  Our beer was Mole Smoke (the Mexican spiced version of Surly Smoke and one of our favorites).  This was paired with a cold fresh shrimp ceviche with a jalapeno-lime-cilantro sorbet, fried plantain chips, and bright fresh citrus.  Holy cow was this amazing!  Spice level was on the edge for your garden variety Minnesotan, but for us this was stellar.  This dish was fresh and happy, very evocative of the summer to come.

Next we shared the fried green tomato--not bad, but Sj is from The South and it didn't quite stand up to her standards.  This was probably the least favorite dish of the night, but still good.  With this we also shared the panzanella--a fried bread crumb salad with pickled grape tomatoes, olive puree, and white sardines.  The flavors and textures of this dish were very bold and unusual.

Fried green tomato and Panzanella

At Sam's suggestion we ordered the cauliflower, which I'll be honest is one of my least favorite vegetables.  But hey, live a little and try something new!  This dish was lightly fried and served over a carrot puree with Thai flavored dressing and topped with fresh chili shavings and cilantro.  The Thai fish sauce laced dressing really brought in a lot of flavor and umami to an otherwise bland vegetable, and I was suitably impressed with the dish!  I would order this again in heartbeat.

And then time for our shared main dishes.  We started with the lamb sweetbreads.  Nope, these aren't really bread.  Sweetbreads are an organ meat (usually thymus gland) and are rarely seen in restaurants that aren't high-priced and usually French.  I've never seen lamb sweetbreads before so we had to try them.  The dish was more a take on Greek flavors with a yogurt and citrus based range of flavors that really complimented the distinct lamb-iness of the dish.  While we both liked the dish a lot, we have had better treatments in the past.  This is a challenging dish for the uninitiated.

The winner of the whole shebang for me was the Pork Jowl.  Again, using an unusual cut of meat, the Chef knocked this one out of the park.  Served with faro grain, hazelnuts and picadillo, the star of the show was the pork with that perfectly crispy skin, and amazing no-need-for-a-knife tender meat.  This is one of the best dishes I've had all year and will dream of it.  You owe it to yourself to try this one.  Oh, I was so busy eating that I forgot to take pictures of the main courses so you'll have to use your imagination!

And of course we had to have dessert!  The dish sizes were not huge, so I wasn't feeling quite as full as some restaurant visits, leaving me with a bit of room the course I usually ignore.  Sj ordered the bright and fruity avocado panna cotta, while I ordered the chocolate peanut sphere.  Both showed excellent technique and presentation, appealing to the eye and creating even more enjoyment from the dish.  Both were excellent, but the best part of my dish was the pairing with a 4 oz pour of Barrel Aged Darkness.  Yes, that was a great way to top off a fantastic meal!

Tastes even better than it looks!

We both heartily enjoyed our visit to Surly's Brewer's Table.  The setting was clean, polished, and professional.  The service quick, educated, and friendly.  The food options were somewhat adventurous and might be a little intimidating to some, but I recommend trying something even if it sounds "weird" to you--based on our experience you won't have a bad plate here!  For a little reference, I would already put this place in my top three favorite places in Minnesota for an amazing dinner with a great beer selection, along with The Happy Gnome and Butcher & the Boar.  None of these are cheap dining experiences, but they ARE true experiences and worth the money and time involved.

Beer & Loathing in St. Louis: Part 1!

Chapter 1: The Yeti; Strange Trip

I looked at my traveling companion with a sleepy eye.  Rob was a big, happy, bear-like man, perhaps hiding some Maori or Samoan blood in his family tree, and was also one of my oldest friends.  As my financial advisor and personal chef-to-the-stars, he was also indispensable for this trip.  We rode in our other friend Marty's vehicle, Rob scrunched into the back seat and making the old import list to the left and rear.  Marty navigated his heavily laden car seamlessly though the darkened streets of Suburban Minneapolis.  We called him The Yeti, as his image had never truly been caught on film, other than blurry fast-moving shots reminiscent of the Zapruder Film.  He is a survivalist, blacksmith, environmental scientist, and military man.  Our luggage nestled in the trunk with The Yeti's favorite axe.  Hey, you never know when you will need one!  While his favorite travels with him, he has a whole room full of axes in his country-side compound for unknown and unknowable uses... 

On the way to the airport I thought back to what had prompted this potentially foolhardy trip.  At a dinner of red meat and copious amounts of 5050 Eclipse Imperial Stout, Rob had convinced me to join him for what promised to be an epic trip of obscene proportions.  We would travel to St. Louis to film the release of the fabled Perennial Barrel Aged Abraxas--a white whale of a beer to rival Ahab's Moby Dick.  Having made a less than lucrative side career of such beer-travel with our other friend Ron, Rob worked hard to sell me on the deal.  I had only heard stories of their previous exploits, (and seen the footage from their Limited Release web show of course,) so I was intrigued.  Hopped up on Eclipse and copious amounts of meat, I agreed and the stars aligned to make it happen!

After arriving at the airport, unloading our luggage, and watching The Yeti screech away from the curb--avoiding unnecessary scrutiny and photographic evidence--we arrived at our gate.  Rob and I sat in the crowded airport, waiting with a mass of ragged humanity for our oversold flight from Minneapolis to St. Louis.  Hopped up on extreme amounts of coffee and lack of sleep, things took on a hazy and ominous cast.   In a quiet voice I asked him if he had managed to smuggle our needed supplies into his luggage.  This trip would require massive amounts of sustenance, but in recent years our ability to transport precious beer in carry-on baggage has been lost. 

"I was able to fit a couple bottles of Surly Darkness into my checked bag.  I just hope they don't open it up and remove the packing..." He whispered back, looking around himself surreptitiously. 

"That's all?  How are we supposed to stay properly fueled throughout this trip?  I knew we should have rented that convertible and packed the trunk full of beer!" I responded. 

Just then Rob grabbed my arm with his massive fist, looking across the gate with a paranoid look.  I turned my gaze to see what he was looking at and spotted Him.  Lurking amongst the traveling rabble was a man in an overly tight martial arts t-shirt sporting a Snidely Whiplash style goatee and twirly mustachios.  Perhaps it was nothing...but maybe Mister Mustache was studiously ignoring us.  In all great stories the protagonist needs a powerful antagonist.  An anti-hero.  A villain if you will.  Was this outrageous man with the villainous facial hair to be my nemesis?  Would he have the audacity to wear his shear evil right there on his pinched face? 

We boarded shortly, keeping a watching eye on our kung-fu villain.  We did not see any overt dangerous behavior.  I kept expecting him to pull out a monocle to polish, but if he had one, he kept it well hidden during our flight.  Our plane kept hitting pockets of wicked turbulence throwing the steward staff and some overhead roller-bags careening around the cabin like a demented pin-ball game.  I crossed my fingers and gripped my armrests until I felt they would tear free of their moorings.  I do not travel very well.  The main stewardess would periodically announce things over the loudspeaker with a subtle slur to her speech, showing evidence of either a stroke, or possibly of hitting one too many tiny bottles of booze on the flight... With a long bounce a loud rattle of plastic and metal shearing apart, we slid into St. Louis.  My villainous friend was nowhere to be seen.

Rob and I hustled our luggage into a waiting cab.  Upon hearing our destination, the cabby hesitated a beat and with dollar signs and sudden fear in his eyes he drove us far across the city.  We rode along glorious old-money boulevards and sprawling highways and byways.  We passed a huge complex of red brick buildings emblazoned with an enormous eagle.  Anheuser-Busch!  The enemy of craft beer?  Perhaps my nemesis was not to be a person at all, but a monolithic globe-spanning empire bent on winning market share and convincing people that cold is a flavor!  With AB's shadow looming over me upon the highway, this idea didn't seem far fetched.  Who else would want to silence our upcoming aria about the special release of a craft beer idol?  I would have to be cautious.

Come visit…Forever!

Passing bombed out brick buildings, razor wire with flapping beards of shredded plastic bags, junked out cars, and check cashing joints, we were nearly upon our destination.  We were dropped unceremoniously at a curb, near a large and mostly decrepit industrial building.  Thinking at first that our cab driver had refused to drive us deeper into the urban jungle and decided to dump us off quick, I made sure to grab all my bags fast.  While Rob paid our ludicrously high cab fare, I did finally spy a small sign for the Perennial tasting room upon a nearby wall.  Ah, safe indeed!  No problem other than walking through a borderline sketchy area with several thousand dollars worth of camera equipment--and rare Surly Beer!

Chapter 2: Perennial; 4 Hands



We met briefly with the staff at Perennial, all of whom were friendly and wholesome to a fault!  Ron was already there, awaiting our arrival and showing us the ropes.  We quickly learned how to dip bottles of precious Abraxas into hot wax!  A valuable skill for the future?  The brewpub is small and spare, clean and with artistic photos of the brewery upon the walls.  A small bar, one large table and several smaller ones provide limited seating.  Nestled in amongst the industrial sprawl of the building are apartments, a small salon, and the South Side Fight Club.  No one would talk about the fight club...

With a longing look back at Perennial and those unopened bottles of liquid black gold, we headed out for our next destination.  In another industrial area, past more battle-ground buildings was 4 Hands Brewing Company.  The brewery's sigil is four green clasped hands surrounded with leaves and resembling a hop cone, but eliciting a unnerving hidden Masonic message vibe when I looked very closely.

There, the three of us were greeted by a friendly bartendress and the owner, Kevin Lemp.  We were treated to high hospitality and drank many fine beers while filming segments for our magnum opus of beer journalism.  The Chocolate Milk Stout and Passion Fruit Prussian Berliner Weiss were incredible!  Behind the counter sat an ancient wooden warhammer, wrapped in iron spikes, making Thor's Mjolnir look like a children's toy.  I could barely lift this weapon, but Rob wrapped the handle with his massive paw and swung it about like a maddened atavistic Viking.  His normally placid eyes sparkled with mayhem and blood-lust.  Maybe I was wrong about his Maori blood...perhaps Old Norse?  Ron and I eased away from him and distracted him with more large beer samples.

We were given a personal tour of the back rooms and even upstairs in this old building to see the future expansion of the brewery.  With as much space as the lower level, the second floor will greatly increase their capacity for barrel aging beers.  But for now, it was a blank canvas.  A huge empty room with gaping holes in the wooden floor, daring one not to fall to a splintery death below!  They still have a bit of work to do, but this will be amazing!  Below, in the brewery, the heat and the noise was incredible.  We were able to interview the brewer Martin Toft, a good sport and a great brewer despite his suspicious lack of facial hair!  We shared a large plate of charcuterie from the world's tiniest kitchen and basked in the glory of rich food and an even richer group of beers.  Kevin, wonderful man that he is, sent us on our way with some parting words and some special beers.  Now this was how to start a beer adventure!

With that, it was time again to hop in Ron's rental car with all our gear and weave back (under the evil grinning shadow of AB) to Perennial for the release.  Ron, a professional race car driver, has a heavy lead foot and a propensity for taking turns using the hand-brake.  Arriving at the brewery, stumbling nauseously from the car, my vestibular system still spinning, I staggered past Fight Club and into the waiting tap room.  We were able to shoot past the gathering line of locals who had already received a ticket for their bottle of Abraxas.  Some were sharing mysterious bottles already--getting prepared for a beer that would blow their minds!  Rob and Ron set up their cameras, and I scurried about taking still shots of the brewery.  An air of frantic expectation abounded as staff hurried to prepare for the upcoming onslaught of beer geeks in search of their quarry. 

Ron took me aside for a quick pep talk.  "You are new to these limited release parties, and need to keep one thing in mind.  Think of this weekend as a marathon, not doing wind-sprints until you hurl!"

With those kind and true words, the flood gates opened and Perennial was flooded with beer aficionados of every stripe and color.  A hipster with curly mustachios and skinny jeans.  A couple of guys in business suits.  Girls wearing beer shirts.  Lots of larger men with varied beard styles.  Girls in summer dresses.  Babies and toddlers.  The crew of Limited Release.  After the initial burst of excitement to get a snifter of the fabled beer, things quickly relaxed and many formed an orderly line to gather up their precious bottles.  I was finally able to sneak forward to the bar and snag a glass of the elixir.  Barrel Aged Abraxas!  Deep black and viscous, like motor oil, with almost no head left on it.  The beer was sweet, alcoholic, with subtle spicing of cinnamon, chili, and chocolate.  At nearly 12% ABV this beast was dangerous and wonderful beyond mere words.  With language deserting me, I fell back to pleased grunts and coos of happiness.  This beer could mess you up.  Was this deadly beer itself my Nemesis?  Would this complex and boozy Black-Blood-of-the-Earth be the end of me?  With Ron's warning in mind, I decided that only time would tell…








Abraxas was fleeting, running dry quickly under the heavy pressure to drink it down.  I had to try some of Perennial's other beers of course.  For research.  The beers mostly had lyric and magical names like Aria, Saison de Lis, and Tart Hopfentea.  And then there was Plan B.  My tongue and mind reveled in these artisan ales, ranging from saison to sour to tea-infused.  Their IPA was aged with the remnants of Louisville Slugger bats!  Despite the promise, it did not knock me onto my buttocks. 

We interviewed patrons, all of whom were discerning and knowledgeable about the brewery and craft beer in general.  We did not unmask any potential spies and infiltrators from AB, though we asked probing questions to attempt it.  Our Abraxas sizzled minds were convinced that they were there at this crowded event, gathering data for their focus groups and marketing men to dissect, attempting to discover just what it is about "Craft Beer" that has taken the world by storm.  The shadowy fingers of the once local giant must be unwilling to release their death grip on the market.  They will forever be confused by us!

Chapter 3: Trouble!

Eventually we had to head to our hotel and get food to soak up our ingested liquid repast.  Just a short jaunt away from Perennial was the River City Casino.  With a bellow of  "We've got trouble, right here in River City!"  I entered this den of iniquity.  Arms laden with camera equipment, luggage and boxes full of beer, I flailed going through the rotating door.  My new 4 Hands coffee mug went flying in slow motion to shatter in a million jagged porcelain bits across the lobby.  But the box full of Abraxas was safe!  With an entrance like this I expected the music to stop, the lights to turn up and everyone to turn with a surprised look.  I was dead wrong.  There was nothing.  Perhaps all the denizens of this place were so jaded or deafened by the cacophonous sounds of the casino floor that they had ceased to notice the world around them! 

We headed for the fancy steak house in the casino for dinner, dropping half a Benjamin each for our overpriced meaty repast.  Not surprisingly, our waiter knew little about beer.  We all ended up getting gratuitous 50's cocktails to fit our Mad Men dinner fixings.  Rob sipped on a dainty martini, gripped like a tiny glass tea cup in his massive hand.  Ron had a gin and tonic.  I had a booze-laden Old Fashioned against my better judgement.  Rob and I each ordered the all meat sampler platter, and found both to be tough and overdone.  After sending them back in dismay, and starting to feel the Old Fashioned effects upon myself, we were entertained by our erstwhile waiter showing off video of Cher on his cell phone.  This night was just getting stranger and stranger! 

Booze in belly and cash in pocket we rolled out for the casino proper.  Eating, drinking and gambling!  Having become accustomed to smoke-free environments, the wall of cigarette smoke hit me like a tangible thing.  A haze of grey-white smoke swirled about us, enveloping us in it's carcinogenic embrace, welcomed us into the cavernous room, filled with death and despair.  The crashing, jangling, beeping babel of this place was obscene, yet strangely familiar and not entirely terrible.  We wasted some of our time and money on slot machines of lurid and strange design.  Dolly Parton sang to me sweetly as she stole my money.  The bizarre 1970's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory machine taunted me with strange throw-back images and clips from my childhood...as it stole my money.  Alongside us were plentiful obese and elderly women working hard on developing lung cancer and gambling away their life savings. 

Stepping from this dark and cacophonous place, a last twirl of evil mist clinging to our bodies, we headed upstairs to convene in Ron's room for a finish to the evening's niceties.  Ron magically produced a deck of holed cards from somewhere and began dealing out hand after hand.  Not having been sated in our desire for good beers with the limited options below, we cracked in quick succession the bomber bottles from 4 Hands.  The Cuvee Ange was an unusual mix of blackberry, raspberry and wine barrel aged beer--perhaps a bit too sweet, but wonderfully complex.  We listened to obscure Pink Floyd songs and continued our debauchery!  The next beer was Volume #1, a miraculous bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout with coffee and cocao nibs.  The labels on these beers were actually made of nearly paper thin wood!  And I lost some more at cards.  As the beer flowed and the world got shiny, we expanded our listening selections to include Steel Panther, and Rob showed us YouTube videos that we can never un-see!  We opened the appropriately named 3 Kings: a great tripel with coffee--strong and sweetish.  A celebration of We Three Kings of St. Louis!  And our final drink of the evening was the amazing Side Project Saison de Fermier--dry, tart, barnyard goodness.  

Three Kings!

Head spinning with lack of sleep, wicked demon alcohol, atrocious videos, and some of St. Louis' finest craft beers, I stumbled up to my own room for bed.  Less than a full day in this city and I may have met my match!  Pacing.  Pacing.  Pacing!  Ron's cautionary words rang in my head with the sizzling fuzz of too many strong ales: must run the marathon, not wind-sprints until you hurl!  

To Be Continued in Episode 2!


Author's Note:  This write-up may take slight liberties with reality.  The author happened to be reading Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas while on this trip, and the stew of poor sleep, alcohol and this over-the-top book led to what you have read.

Zythos, Vapeur and and End to Beer Trip 2014

Days 13 and 14 of our epic Beer Trip across the Netherlands and Belgium.

Waking up with surprisingly little aftereffects of the Night of Great Thirst, we had a quick breakfast and boarded our coach.  We drove for a bit and shared some of Hassan's Westvleteren 8 bottles (so he wouldn't have to pack them and get them home).  At least by this point we had tasting glasses from La Rulles instead of plastic or paper cups! 

In a small town in the countryside, we arrived at our destination before 11 AM: La Brasserie A Vapeur.  This is an old brewery from around 1902, whose claim to fame is that it is still run by a turn of the century steam engine!  Anchor Brewing can claim the name "Steam Beer" but this place has been actually brewing with steam for over a century.  We luckily arrived just in time to catch part of the mechanized brewing process.  Our group entered the old brewery building to a whistling, hooting, ratcheting mayhem of a great old steam engine.  Pistons scraping and whooshing out clouds of billowing steam, rotating belts and wheels all across the room.  The mash rakes in the mash tun were rotating, being run by the engine.  My camera (and Sj's glasses) instantly fogged up at the steamy onslaught!  I should have worn my steam-punk outfit!

When you do beer journalism and see a ton of modern breweries, it is hard to get excited about a brewery tour, but this was a truly unique experience for me.  Other than Cantillon, this is the coolest brewery I've visited in my life!  I took many a picture in the dark and steamy environs but not too many came out well.  After a time, one of the brewers took our group up a pair of rickety and narrow stairs to the second floor brewing area.  We saw the old coolship, but they are not using it any longer, the area now home to a family of swallows.  Ancient tanks and an only slightly more modern brew system were also up above.  Our tour guide spoke a bit of English, but mostly French so I understood only about a third of what he was telling us, but he was very friendly and helpful.  With all the easy falls, loose boards, flying pistons, and whirling belts, the place is dangerous!  No way would this brewery be able to do tours (or even be open for brewing) in America. 

Across the small road was a farmhouse building where the other functions of the brewery take place.  There is a large room in front filled with benches and long tables.  In the center of the building is a small kitchen and a tiny tap room, where they poured us glasses of their beer.  Another, smaller back room hosted the tiny shop, bathrooms and miscellaneous junk storage.  Everything here exuded an air of age and long use, conjuring up memories of my grandma Ruth's old antique store.  Wonderful smells of cooking food wafted from the kitchen, making my belly rumble.

I sampled both of their beers, the saison and the Cochon while there.  At first both are interesting with heavily spiced aromas and unusual complex flavors.  However, as they warmed, both showed severe flaws--sourness, hot alcohols, and other medicinal and even enteric flavors.  So, this was one of coolest breweries I've ever been to, but not in my top for actual beers.  The label art (and some of the wall art in the brewery) were done by a local comic artist and included disturbing images of naked pigs with human "anatomy".  I want to post a pic, but don't want my blog to get tagged as pornography, so I'll leave it to your imagination! 

This is the toned down American Export version of the label!

We eventually settled down for a large lunch in the front seating room.  Our group took up one table, but the rest of the place was filled with a loud bunch of French tourists.  The brewer tried to give a presentation in French, and was trying to translate to English, but the second he stopped speaking French the large group got rowdy and needed to be shushed down before he could go on.  He ended up just giving up on the presentation all together.  Before the lunch I had seen the chef out gathering up mash and wort from the current batch being brewed.  The food was great, and nearly everything was fairly local and involved beer in the recipe.  A fantastic soup using grain from the mash started the meal.  Hearty beer bread, ham, salami, beer pate, beer marinated salmon, was all heaped upon our plates.  The place was crowded though and we really had to fight to get in line.  Since we had a deadline and lunch had already started late we may have bulled our way to the front of the line a few times to get done quicker.  Before we left they brought out an enormous cheese board with over 20 different local cheeses (yes several made with or soaked in beer!)  Being lactose intolerant is a drag sometimes. 

We escaped the crowd as quick as possible, and actually left before desert.  Last on the coach was our guide Mike, bearing soft and yummy take-away tarts for us to eat on the bus.  A good tour guide always looks after his flock! 

We arrived at Leuvin after a bit more time on the coach.  We checked into our hotel as quickly as possible and headed out for the culmination of our Belgian beer trip.  Zythos Beer Festival is Belgium's answer to the Great Taste of the Midwest or GABF, drawing an international cadre of beer geeks over its two days.  A few of our group decided to explore the city instead of going straight to the festival--leaving it to us die-hards to head out there right away!  The hotel was a very easy walk to the bus station where they had free shuttles to the Zythos Beer Festival.  When we arrived at the station however, there was a great milling centipede of a line to get on the shuttle.  Since we were already a bit late for the game, Mike turned us around and promptly found us a cab to the festival.  We took a 20 minute ride, to arrive at a large festival hall outside the city limits. 

Entry to the festival was free and the entrance was the only area not filled to bursting with people.  Like the previous beer festival, tokens were involved, but this time one token got you a uniform pour of beer at each stand.  You did have to buy the 8 oz taster glass as well, and it wasn't until later that we discovered they had given me one from last year's event.  There were over a 100 different stands pouring beers at the festival, having anywhere from 1 to 15 beers at each!  Every place had a glass rinsing and scrubbing station.  The Belgians respect their beer and do not want you pouring their beer into the dregs of an Imperial stout or a sour!  My biggest complaint about most Minnesota festivals is not enough dump or rinse stations, so these guys have us beat!  The biggest issue for me was trying not to get drunk in record time!  Even when told to just give a little pour, every station would give you a full glass.  And nearly all of these beers were between 7% to 12% ABV!  So I ended up having to waste a lot of really good Belgian ale in order to try more things. 

I didn't bring my real camera to the festival, and almost every picture I took with my iPhone turned out blurry.  Oh, well you will have to use your imagination!  Some dimly remembered highlights from the festival, in no particular order since the whole thing was crowded and chaotic:

1) Silly looking people wandering around wearing Fluffy pink Delerium Tremens elephant hats. 

2) Silly looking people wandering around wearing Chouffe gnome hats. 

3) Getting to tell the brewer at Brasserie de Blaugies about trying his 20 year old Darbyste two nights before.  It turns out he had already heard the story and was very happy that it had held up that well.  We also tried his Saison d' Epeautre--which was probably the best beer of that style I have ever had in my life!  I got to try the borderline too hoppy collaboration with Hill Farmstead--La Vermontoise --there as well.

4) The universal shout that rings out at all American beer festivals from a broken glass is apparently universal.  With the large indoor space and strange acoustics there was a very strange reverb and sussuration from this that would rotate throughout the packed hall.

5) The De Struisse folks had over 20 beers on taps and could have supported their own festival!  Many were barrel aged, sours and crazy American styles.  The Gentleman Sour and the Beer Geek Wedding stood out for me above others.  They were already out of Blackberry Albert.  These guys are the Surly of Belgium! 



Seriously… look at all those beers!

6) The beers of Brasserie de Cazeau were so well balanced and perfect that they really stood out to me.  Tourney Noire was a beautiful Belgian Stout, and the elderflower saison was remarkable.

7) They charge 1.50 Euro to use the bathrooms!  At a beer festival!  Since men are by nature, cheap, this resulted in a horde of drunken dudes urinating all over outside the building.  While waiting for the bus home later I counted no less than 5 guys urinating in one large hedge at once.

8) I got a chance to try the Kriekenlambic (unblended but fruited lambic) from Girardin that had been snaked away from me at the Night of Great Thirst.  Not bad, but not sour enough!

9) Some brewers were absent--I didn't see Kerkom, and some of the lambic producers were not there.

10) Watching the complete emptiness and lack of a line at the In-bev booth was somewhat rewarding in a schadenfreude sort of way.

11) Hof Ten Dormaal was a surprise gem.  They had a peated whiskey barrel aged blonde ale that was extreme!  That one left behind smoke and tartness for ages...luckily this was one of the last beers I had in the evening!

All of our group did eventually make it to the festival, but we ended up leaving long before the end, mainly because our group had not had dinner yet!  Overall the festival was quite fun, especially once we figured out how everything worked.  I was sad that we were not able to stay another day for the Sunday session and try all the beers we missed the first day! 

After we arrived at our hotel, we were in desperate need of food to soak up all that fine Belgian beer.  We walked to Domus, a large brewpub specializing in creating mainly lager beers.   The place had several levels and like the Tardis, seemed bigger on the inside!  They had a very huge food menu, including a three course beer pairing menu made specially for the Zythos festival goers.  This was our final group event and all of the group made it to the dinner--some of us barely made it there in time due to missing the shuttle back to the hotel.  We ended up on the upper level, and poor Arthur had been there for quite a while already.  At least he had a head start on the beers!  I ordered the tasting menu--of course!  The food was excellent and the beers were surprisingly well made.  I would recommend this place wholeheartedly.  With some hugging and final tour toasts, we ended this fine evening and our official Beertrip was finished. 

The next day Chris, Hassan, Sj and I all travelled back home, but not before a couple of Belgian ales in the airport in a farewell toast to that amazing land of beer!

Thanks Mike Saxton for running a great tour and showing us all a wonderful mix of things on this trip.  For those who enjoyed these write-ups, the reality of doing these things is far, far more impressive!  Please check out Beertrips.com for details of Mike's other trips--he does trips to Germany, Czech Republic, even Spain and Italy! 

Cantillon and The Night of Great Thirst: Beertrip Day 12

Day 12 of our Beertrip.  Getting close to the finish line here, but we still have some craziness in store!

Due to our previous late night of a Grand Sour Tasting at Moeder Lambic, Sj and I had a late start to the day.  After a somewhat leisurely breakfast and several well-needed cups of coffee, we headed out to wander the streets of Brussels.  We had been here about 2 years ago and had by no means seen all the sights.  So did we go to more museums and see more churches today?  Do not be ridiculous my friends!  No we had bigger game in our sights!

Brussels is known for it's comics (Tintin anyone?) and surprises abound around the city

Not to be sated after the previous night's sours we were headed for the Grand Daddy of all sour beer breweries--Cantillion!  The brewery is a fairly easy walk from the city center, through a predominantly middle eastern neighborhood, of less than beautiful architectural detail.  We arrived before noon at the brewery.  From the outside this is just a yellow painted building with a large barely marked warehouse door.  A smaller door opens into the brewery itself.  Contrary to the popular imaginary picture of lambic breweries opening their ceiling louvres to let in the wild yeast from a bucolic Belgian countryside, this place is smack dab in the middle of an urban neighborhood!  These guys have been brewing sour beers here since around 1900, using the same methods of open spontaneaous fermentation and barrel aging.  They have tried some unusual ingredients over time as well, but the process is very traditional. 

The Night of Great Thirst, a sour beer festival, was to occur this evening and many sour-heads from across the globe had travelled to the area to take part in that.  Like me, these folks wanted to get to Cantillon before hand!  The place was crowded and bustling with beer geeks of all nationalities, while poor brewery workers struggled to wheel palates of bottles past the throng.  They've made some changes in set up since our last trip out and now have a small tasting bar near the entrance where you can sample beers or order full bottles of the rare stuff.  We saw our favorite beer from them (possibly favorite beer ever), the Lou Pepe Kriek, up on the board.  We ordered the bottle and it came to us unlabeled and coated in a fine layer of dust, uncorked and lying at an angle in a long wicker basket. 

Beer geek heaven...

The place was packed and the small seating area was beyond full.  We managed to find one free stool near an old bartop in back, and set up Sj and the beer there.  We met Cody and Angela, some fellow sour-heads from Texas, while sitting there.  They were drinking a bottle of the Rhubarb Zwanse and we ended up doing a mini bottle share with them.  Later, on our way out, we ran into Mark, a fun guy from Chicago who knows more about beer than I ever will!  We had met him on our previous trip (also at Cantillon) and of course he was headed to the festival later that day as well.  This was a busy, but entertaining trip to visit the holy land of sour beer production.  Most of the rare beers for sale at the shop were long gone by the time we showed up, but we did end up getting a few bottles of the Kriek, Geueze and Rose de Gambrinus for smuggling back home in our luggage.  We'll always have Belgium, my Lou Pepe Kriek...

Moeder Lambic!

The route back home conveniently took us past Moeder Lambic's second location and we stopped there for a not-so-quick lunch of quiche for Sj and a meat and bread plate for me.  There I tried the Band of Brothers, a hoppy Belgian style IPA made by Brasserie de la Senne in collaboration with Moeder Lambic.  This was a very hoppy beer that I liked, since I hadn't had a really hoppy beer in almost 2 weeks, but may have pushed the limits for me.  Since it took a while to get our check, I ended up ordering a second beer, the Cantillion Iris Grand Cru on tap, which was much more mellow than the regular version.  I love this beer bar!

2 Cantillon twins at Moeder Lambic

Next we walked briskly back to the hotel to meet up with our tour group again before the festival.  We took a quick tour of Delerium Cafe, where three levels and uncountable beers waited for thirsty tourists.  Mike bought us a couple of cool beers including a bottle of Deus--the Champagne of Beer.

It was really dark down in the basement, but I was able to lighten up the picture a bit

We gathered all the ducklings in tow and ended up exactly where we had just left from: Moeder Lambic.  Oh the horror!  Back to the best beer bar in Brussels, oh no!  What were we to do?  Why order another beer of course!  Most of our group ordered food, but since Sj and I had just had a very late lunch we didn't need much more.  Mike shared a rare bottle of Italian IPA that was as good as most anything in the USA.  I was conserving my strength at this point, and just trying other people's beers.  Drinking a ton of beers just prior to a beer festival is a recipe for hurling later.  I may speak from past experience.

We finished our quick second lunch and beers and headed to the bus stop just a block away.  We caught a very crowded bus with no AC and were all shortly roasting in our own juices. Mark from Cantillon was with us on this trip and pointed out various functional and defunct Belgian breweries as we passed them.  The festival itself was held quite a bit outside town, about 30-45 minutes by sweltering bus-ride.  We actually ended up missing our stop and overshooting a bit.  Surprisingly this is the only time such a thing happened on the entire trip so I can't complain too much.  A few of our group were possibly a bit cranky about it, but we all rolled with it as best we could.  Other than Mark, I was probably the most excited about the sour beers, but hey stuff happens.  We waited on the other side of the highway about 35 minutes before the next bus going back picked us up and shortly dropped us at our missed stop. 

The Nacht van de Grote Dorst, or Night of Great Thirst, is a beer festival focusing entirely on sour beers, specifically traditional lambic, geueze, kriek, and other fruited lambics.  12 beer producers bring several of their beers, and they will usually host 1-3 foreign sour beer producers as well.  This festival is run very differently to any I have been to in the states so here is a little info I wish I had had prior to going.  Entrance to the festival is free, so there are no tickets, etc.  This results in a large amount of people showing up and no great way to limit attendance.  The place was a zoo!  They sell tokens for the beers at a separate area, as well as the tasting glass for sampling the beers.  Unlike most beer festivals, you actually buy a whole bottle of beer (instead of a small sample) with your tokens and take it out of the main tent.  The bottle cost ran from 14 tokens (Cantillon Fou Foune 750 ml) to 2 tokens (Timmermans Retro Kriek 10 oz).  So if you have fancy tastes you will burn through your tokens fast and end up with only two beers...as I did.  The party was in full swing by the time we arrived and some beers were already sold out (see above Fou Foune).  Sorry... I teared up a little bit there.  Ideally, for this type of event you have a big group of folks together and each get a couple bottles to share.

After our mishap getting to the fest and finding it a bit confusing and crowded three of our group decided they were over it and just wanted to head back to explore Brussels.  The extreme sour beer tasting we had the previous night may have been enough for them!  As a result we ended up with a smaller group than expected for our bottle sharing.  There were not many tables available, so we wandered around wielding our full bottles of beer for a while until we managed to take over a corner of a larger table.  Another, quite large, tour group had staked out that table for themselves and had quite a spread of bottles there already.  We ended up sharing our beers with a few of them, especially a nice couple from California.   

Festival goers before things got really crowded...

Later I learned that most of the breweries were serving small pours of unblended lambics and Krieks for 1 token, so Hassan and I went foraging for some of those.  While the results were not as amazing or complex as the finished products, this was a rare chance to taste the "young" versions of these famous beers.  Interestingly, the Lindemans and Timmermans versions were quite tart and sour--way better than the back sweetened cloyingly sweet final beers they sell.  By the time we figured out about these little gems, the main tent was packed wall to wall with increasingly boisterous folks.  Entering at the same time, Hassan and I were swept away from each other in the merciless tide of humanity like flotsam from a wrecked ship caught in a tidal wave.  In line in front of me to try the pours of Girardin Kriekenlambic were a duo of big drunk guys in Italian rugby jerseys.  When it was my turn to get a pour, a third--even bigger and drunker--guy pushed me out of the way and snaked the last pour.  I was angry, but not about to lose teeth in a fight with most of an Italian rugby team!

Eventually the Belgian Beer Me tour group had to leave and left several partially full bottles behind at our shared table.  So we Beertrips.com folk took over and tried them.  Thanks guys!  We invited a really pleasant couple from Sweden to share in our ill-gotten spoils as well and hung out a while longer. 

Honestly, we tried probably 30 sour beers that night.  Everything by Cantillion was amazing.  Most of the beers from Boon, 3 Fontainen, Hanssens, De Cam, and Girardin were very good.  Newcomer Tilquin was very popular and they had a special beer made with plums that was impressive.  Some of the breweries were not as impressive, but when we were low on tokens we were able to get more bottles of these for cheap: Timmermans, Lindemans, De Troch, Mort Subite.  Most of the ones we didn't like were overly back sweetened--maybe more popular internationally, but not at a sour beer festival!  I was very excited to get to try Allagash Coolship Red and Cerise at this event.  It took me going to another country to get to try one of America's finest sour breweries!  Both of those were on a par with almost anything at the festival. 

We eventually ran out of tokens and most of the beers were gone, so it was time to head home on a crowded bus full of drunk folk.  A large group of guys boarded after us, their bags full of unopened bottles clinking with motion.  Probably all full of my treasured Fou Foune.  I really enjoyed this festival, but I think they may be getting to popular (big) to keep running it in quite the same way.  They could certainly not allow folks to take home bottles to avoid all of the stands selling out of the cool stuff so early.  I actually preferred the bottle sharing method of events back home such as Where The Wild Beers Are where you donate one or more rare sour beers to gain entry to the event and get first crack at tasting the beer you brought when they open it. 

Kerkom, Jandrain-Jandrenouille, Brussels! Beertrip Day 11

Day 11 of our epic beer filled journey across The Netherlands and Belgium:

We awoke early in the morning after a long night of debauchery the evening prior.  We were on the motorcoach by 10 AM and on our way out of Maastricht and back to Belgium. 

Our first stop this morning was the Brouwerij Kerkom.  This is one of the few places that we visited this trip and our visit two years ago.  It was a high point of both trips!  The brewery itself is located in an old coaching inn, and the stone watering troughs for horses still hug the walls of the inner courtyard.  The site used to be a brewery in the past, but because it has not been continually run, it does not qualify for grandfathering out of modern brewery specifications.  Some old family run breweries like Cantillon and Vapeur are able to continue functioning without upgrading all of their equipment.  Mark at Kerkom has been in a battle to get clearance to run a brewery out of this building complex for many years.  He has an unused stainless steel brew system and fermentation tanks sitting in his ancient brick building, just waiting for the go-ahead to get fired up.  For now he has his beers brewed at another nearby brewery under contract. 

Brand new brewhouse gathering dust...

This visit we met with Mark and his wonderful wife in the cozy tasting room.  A large group of bikers arrived around the same time so things were a little busy for the couple.  The bikers stayed out in the courtyard and mostly drank Cokes (really?) so they didn't interfere with our beer enjoyment!  We started with a large stemware glass of Bink Blonde: and amazingly balanced hoppy Belgian pale ale.  This is one of my all time favorite Belgian ales and I sincerely wish we could get it in Minnesota.  We moved on with smaller glasses of all their other Bink beers: Bink Brown, the Spring seasonal Bink Blossom (made with honey and pear syrup), Kerkomse Tripel.  All were fantastic!  They also brew the dry and slightly herbal Adelardus Double, an Abbey style beer brewed with hops, candi sugar and gruit spice mixture.  The Adelardus Tripel was the overall fan favorite from our group, also made with gruit.  We also discovered a new Hop Verdomme (hops be damned!) a hoppy Belgian IPA, made as a better balanced response to American IPA's.  We finished with a wonderfully strong and flavorful "Christmas" beer the Winterkoninkske Grand Cru.  I  have a bottle of this at home waiting for a special occasion! 

Such a great tour group!

For an early lunch we were served gargantuan slices of soft dark bread, cheeses and pates all made with Kerkom beers.  Simple fare but so fulfilling!  Having learned our lessons last trip, we paced ourselves better this visit and did not leave the place reeling drunk!  I love the hospitality, rustic feel and amazing beers at Kerkom.

Can you say "really old farm?"

Our next visit via coach was another farm house brewery, but a much more recent arrival on the scene: Brasserie de Jandrain-Jandrenouille.  This was a walled defensible farmhouse, surrounded by fields and pastures.  Alexandre the brewer was kind enough to meet with us and take us on an extensive tour of his 2006 modern brewhouse.  He actually is an importer of hops into Belgium from the US as his day job, so this jump to brewing on his own wasn't a surprising one!  He does use a fair amount of American hops in his beer, but also uses traditional European varieties.  He was very engaging and full of technical knowledge that made me very happy (and perhaps some of my tour mates to glaze over).

Farmhouse dog looking over his domain

A great brewer shows us around his brewery!

We finished the tour with a tasting of several of his bottled beers in a second story room overlooking the courtyard.  Most of the beers are named after Roman numerals and have very artistic labels from a local painter.  Unsurprisingly all are variations on the Saison/Farmhouse styles.  The wit was much hoppier than I expected, but still quite good.  The others were also all bright, refreshing and very dry.  I was a happy camper after visiting this little gem of a brewery.  I know they are just hitting their stride as a brewery, but I think once the American market catches on to them, they will be very popular...if anyone here can figure out how to pronounce the name…

After the amazing hospitality of two farmhouse breweries in the hinterlands of Belgium we were off the bustling city of Brussels.  We booked into our NH hotel and quickly hit the busy streets to find sustenance.  The hotel is very close to the city center and most of the touristy sites are an easy walk from there.  Some of our group ended up at a streetside mediteranean place for quick pitas.  We met back up shortly after disbanding and headed ended up catching two cabs to our post-dinner appointment with Jean at Moeder Lambic in another region of the city.

Moeder Lambic has been a beer bar for 25 years, changing hands a few times over the years.  Currently it is owned by Jean Hummler and since 2006 has been increasingly devoted to craft beers and lambics in particular.  Jean has close ties with many of the local craft and small brewers, even with some brewers in Italy, Spain and the US.  Last time we were there, Jean Van Roy from Cantillon stopped by with a hand delivered shipment.  This is THE place to be for serious beer geeks in Brussels.  They have a newer separate location near the city center as well.  We ended up in the brick and old wood lined basement for this tasting.  There is a large oaken table and bench style chairs in the center of this dimly lit cave.  The walls around you are lined with hundreds of well organized bottles of mostly Belgian beers.  No Stella here my friends!  The dripping of distant water, the flap of cobwebs in the limited breeze, all added to the ambiance of something unique and special we were to embark upon.

This evening we had possibly the most epic and impressive sour beer tasting I have ever taken part in (except for Quintessence at Cantillon last time we were in Brussels.)  Our group was adventurous but many had never really had much experience with sours and this was a serious "throw them into the deep end and see if they sink or swim" type of experience.  For me this was a true Beer Nirvana.  Jean is incredibly passionate about beer, and especially the local lambics and sour beers.  In between beers he was able to lecture and discuss the history and mechanics of sour beer production, local politics, brewer anecdotes, and much more.  He is a treasure trove of knowledge. 

We had some stinky cheeses and meats to pair with our beers, but I am very glad we had wolfed down some real food prior to coming--something we learned the hard way last time we did this!  Our tasting started around 7 PM and I think we left the place after midnight. Epic!

We started out with Biere Darbyste from Brasserie de Blaugies.  This is a lower alcohol beer brewed with figs.  We first tried the 1 year old version that was bright and saison-like with a distinct mild fig flavor to it.   Then we tried the 20 year old bottle that Jean had discovered, making us guinea pigs of sorts.  The first beer was one of the best I had tried so far this trip, but the 1994 version was insane!  It had definite brettanomyces funk to it, and the fruit had faded quite a bit, but the complexity in such a light beer was astounding!  This was similar to trying young and old Orval, but much more impressive.  That and trying a beer from before I was legal to drink was a feat in itself!

We tried a couple of Oud Bruins and Flanders reds to ease us into the more sour beers to come.  The Brouwers Verzet is a newer brewery putting out that style of beer and the taste was great, but much of our bottles foamed all over the place!  The Rodenbach Caractere Rouge Batch 1 was a crazy sour Flanders Red with cherry and cranberries and well worth a try.  I was excited to try the Rodenbach Vin de Cereal 2004 but it was like a sour barleywine with way too hot of an alcohol burn.  We all dumped that it.  To give Jean credit, he didn't want to serve that one to us, but we wanted to try it anyway! 

We moved to Tilquin Geueze for a newer classic style Brussels sour, and that was very pleasant.  I will be looking for this one! 

Next we did an amazing side by side tasting of three Krieks.  The 3 Fontainen Intense Red from 2012 was (as expected) intense with the cherry flavor, but sweeter and not as tart as some.  This is actually made with regular cherries, but in massive amounts.  The 3 Fontainen Shaerbeekse Kriek is made with only the rare tart cherries from Belgium and was very tart and well rounded with a strong sourness.  To finish this trio was the Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek from 2008.  This is also made with the Shaerbeekse cherries and is one of the most sought after sour beers in the world.  And rightly so!  This one blew our minds, taking the sourness and incredible cherry flavor to new levels.  The undisputed winner by far.  Prior to our tasting Jean had already done two other beer events and wasn't really drinking along with us, just making sure the beer was good before serving to us.  The Lou Pepe, however, he served to himself as well.  No one is going miss tasting that beer!  One of my top 5 beers of all time for sure.

Kriek Trifecta!

By this time my cohorts were starting to get soured out.  And sleepy.  But Jean had pulled out a couple other rare beers and I was NOT going to home without tasting those crazy treats!  We tried herbal and tart wonder that is elderflower infused Cantillion Mamouche.  We marched boldy on and sampled the remarkable Cantillion Zwanze 2012 which is fermented with rhubarb.  And our final beer on this forced march to sour beer Mecca was Cantillon 50 Degrees N - 4 Degrees E.  This is a very unusual beer from Cantillon in that it is aged in a cognac barrel.  There is a lemony note to it up front, and pretty mellow compared to some of the sours they do, but has an interesting boozy finish that is subtle.  We actually took this bottle upstairs to the main bar with us to wait for cabs home.  Hassan and I finished it off while the rest of our crew took naps.  We ran into the young brewer for Tilquin at that point and knowing he would appreciate it I made sure he got a sample of our beer.

We were back at our hotel by 1 AM.  This was an amazing night that shall remain in my memory for years to come.  And if I forget I can read this post again!

Up Next:  Cantillon and the Night of Great Thirst!