Another Intetesting Swiss Brewery

Text to come, just pictures for now

Drinking Beer in Lichtenstein

According to Frank Zappa, Lichtenstein is back on the rolls of "real countries" thanks to the Lichtensteiner Brauhaus in Schaan.





I had the Hell's -- a nice well made Helles. They also brew a wheat and a Dunkel. As we drove thru Schaan there were numerous Brauhaus signs above bars and restaurants so the locals at least are liking it. But does it play in Vaduz?


A close up of the label.

Drinking Beer in Switzerland...

My hotel here in Buchs at least has Schützengarten, which is drinkable. The St Galler Klosterbräu -- which is unfiltered -- is quite nice, but the only have the Helles here. I am here to work, so it probably is good that my beer choices are limited.


Five more days to Bamberg!

Having a Bud on the train...

Budweiser Budvar, that is.


-- Post From My iPhone

Zythos Day Two (updated)

The group of us who usually travel to this fest have a tradition dating back to the predecessor event -- the 24 Hours of Belgian Beer. On the Sunday morning of the fest we drink lambics, starting off with fruitier Kreik and Framboos and as our mouth wakes up, slide on into Gueze and if we're lucky, Oude Lambic. The problem this time was all the people working the lambic booths were either more hung over than I or were walking around the fest drinking other beers -- because it was hard to get a beer from them. The 2nd Kriek was Boon Oude Kriek and I let it go at that. Lip service to the tradition, at least.

Boon Oude Kriek

Until they perfect Smell-O-Vision over the internet you'd have no way of knowing, but the following beer has some serious hops. Its the Troubador Magma and it would be at home at any IPA fest in California. My understanding is they used a high alpha Czech variety for bitterness and Simcoe to finish. A very nice beer, but not what I came to Belgium to drink. Bud I did get my hop fix, big time.

Troubador Magma

Italian Beers

Brewer of the Italian Beers

Final shot of the fest

1st Beer at Zythos Day 2

Oud Beersel Kriek. Fruity and sour -- just the thing for a Sunday morning.

Zythos Bier Festival (Updated)

For now just a few pictures, commentary later. the hall is quite dark (the only think I don't like about it) so it's hard to get a good overall picture.

The Stadsfeestzaal in Sint Niklaas

I arrived about 30 minutes after opening at the hall was already quite full. It helps to have multiple people in your group as you have to stand in three different lines: one to buy tokens, one to buy a glass and another to buy a program. Being alone I had to endure all three lines while over 200 beers were waiting just yards away. But I persevered and soon had a beer.

The crowd at the fest

Each brewery (or sometimes a pair of breweries) has a stand. One of the nice touches is each stand has a glass washer and your glass is cleaned before they serve you a beer. With such a variety of styles it makes sense. I wish more beer festivals did this.

Stand of Brouwerij De Leite

The above stand, De Leite had one of my favorites of the fest so for: Enfant Terriple. It is a triple with a good dose of hop bitterness. Some of those don't work, but this one did. Two thumbs up (both of them being mine).

Of of the more interesting beers was actually one recipe brewed by three different brewers. They all used the same ingredients and the same yeast, but the differences in their process (and I assume water) made the three beers slightly -- but noticeably -- different. The beer was called Trissen and I had one brewed by 'T Hofbrouwerlijke. The others were brewed by the Proefbrouwerij and Brouwerij De Graal.

The most unusal beer I had was "EXPRMTL Brew AD2010" from De Dolle. It was 9% abv, pale yellow in color and was brewed with no hops at all, just spices. The beer was very lemony and refreshing but fairly dry and not at all sweet. Eat your heart out Mikes Hard Lemonade!

As the day progressed, it got harder and harder to make your way around the hall to the brewery stands. I ended up drinking from only the 10 stands right in front of where I was sitting and finally left after about 5 hours. It was just too crowded.
reco
The fest opens at 11am on Sunday and I plan to be there to continue our tradition of drinking lambic beers Sunday morning. Also on the list is the highly recommended Magma from Troubador -- supposed to be the best Belgian Double IPA ever brewed. I do need some hops.

At the Zythos Beer Fest...

... having my first beer: Maneblusser from Het Anker (of Gouden Carolus fame)




-- Post From My iPhone

Friday Afternoon at the Kulminator

Being self employed has it's advantages, as I get to travel more than if I had a traditional 9to5 sort of job. But the downside is I'm rarely completely "off duty" and so had to work on some client's problems in the morning. I had thought of heading to Brussels for the day but by the time the work was finished, it was a bit too late, so I decided to head down to the Kulminator and spend a peaceful Friday afternoon.

There were about a half dozen other patrons. The classical music was playing and the sun was shining (albeit somewhat half heartedly) thru the window. I ordered an DuPont Avex Les Bons Voeux and started reading my book ( The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson). All was well with the world.)

Another Avec Les Bons Voeux -- man, I love this beer.

A couple of chapters later it was time for another beer and I went with another draft choice, N'ice Choufee -- the winter seasonal from LaChouffe.

N'ice Choufee was very nice.

On the table was a tent card for Oud Beersel's triple, Bersalis Triple. Hey, advertising sometime works, so I ordered one. It was a nice triple, very drinkable but nothing earth shattering. Worth drinking of you come across it but not worth (in my mind) making a special effort to seek it out.

Oud Beersel Bersalis Triple

That got me thinking of triples, so next I had one of my favorites, St. Feuillien Triple. It lived up to it's memory.

St Feuillien Triple

By now the crowd had started to pick up and others joined me at the table so I stopped reading. I also stopped taking pictures. Deciding to go with something a little aged, I went with a Chimay Blue from 2000. Across the table from me, Mark from Pittsburg went with a 1995. While both were good, I liked the 2000 better. I think they tend to peak at 10 to 12 years, so if any of you are hoarding 2000 Chimay, you might want to invite me over to help you start clearing out your stash.mas

Deciding to take a detour back to draft beers I next had the Carolus Christmas from Het Anker in Mechelen. A wonderful beer, too good to be just for Christmas.

I decided I should probably think about leaving. The dilemma was what to choose for the last beer? After much mental to-ing and fro-ing I ended up back where I started -- Avec Les Bons Voueux. Still delicious after all these beers.

However, I was undone when my seat neighbor Frank (from near St. Niklaas) offered to share a 750 bottle of something. I asked him to choose and he came back with a Vicarus Generaal from "Brouwerij" Dilewyns (but acually brewed at de Proefbrouwerij in Lochristi). It was dark and rich and in the Abbey Double style I think it has a bit more alcohol than is typical for the style. All in all a good end to a great day.

Tomorrow it's off to the beer festival!

First Beer of the Day.

Around the corner from my hotel was a corner pub serving DeKoninck. I had to stop in for a Bolleke.


It was lunch time and was filled will regulars. I got the usual "Who the hell is the guy" look from the staff and patrons, but I'm used to that.


The beer hit the spot, as DeKoninck usually does.

Antwerpen

The high speed lines are all in, so now the Thalys train takes less than an hour from Amsterdam Airport (Schiphol) to Antwerp Central Station. Not long ago that trip took nearly two hours. We need to get us trains like that! Antwerpen Centraal is one of the most beautiful train stations I've been in (LA's Union Station is also quite nice which is why it's a shame that almost nobody ever sees it). The facade you can make out in the back of the following picture is actually the wallpaper for my laptop. Anyway, the long distance trains arrive at the lowest level and I just had to take this picture and share it with you...

Deep down in Antwerpen Centraal Station

I am staying at a new hotel -- both new for me and newly opened -- The Etap Antwerp Central. Etap is Accor's (Ibis, Novitel, Motel 6) budget chain. In all the years I've been in Antwerpen Centraal I've never walked the length of it. It turns out there is a quite modern second entrance at the far end and the Etap is right around the corner.

Modern South Entrance to Antwerpen Centraal Station

The hotel rooms are quite basic but serviceable. My only complaint is they want €2o per day for internet access. That is about half the cost of the room, which in my mind is crazy. So this is being typed at McDonalds with free WiFi.

After get situated it was off to the Kulminator. I already posted my first beer. The second was Kasteel Cuvee de Chateaux -- a 13% blend of 10 year old Kasteel with young Kasteel

Kasteel Cuvee de Chateaux

I should know better to drink 13% abv beer when severely jet-lagged and on not much food. But it looked so good I had to try it. I was fading fast, but I decided to go for one more: La Trappe Quercus Quadruple. At 10%, this oak aged beer was a step down but still packed a punch. I'm not usually a big fan of "wood aged" beers but I think this one worked. You could definitely taste the oak but it did smooth the beer out.

LaTrappe Quercus Quadruple

The quad was the nail in the coffin, so it was back to the hotel for 12 hours of sleep. More tomorrow...

The First Beer

Avec Les Bons Voeux at the Kulminator in Antwerp. Yum.


-- Post From My iPhone

On the plane to Amsterdam...

No good beer in the Minneapolis Delta (née NW) lounge :(

-- Post From My iPhone

First Beer of the Trip ...

Red Hook Slim Chance at the Delta Sky Club LAX. Not a great beer but a cut above the usual airport lounge fare around here.


-- Post From My iPhone

I'm Still Here and I'm Still Drinking Beer...

... only I've been doing at home, not traveling.

Well, that is about to change. In the morning I'm off on a business trip to Switzerland (Buchs SG to be precise) but since I have to fly near Belgium, I'm going to stop off and visit the largest Belgian Beer Festival, the Zythos Bier Festival. Over a hundred and fifty Belgian beers and only two short days to try them. It's tough work and I'll punish my liver so you don't have to. Just keep that in mind if I need a piece of healthy liver in the future :)

After Switzerland hopefully I will spend a couple of days in Bamberg and will have some beer reports there.

Sorry for the lack of posting...

...but I've come down with a bug and haven't taken many photos or done much.

I will update after I'm back in LA.

Thanks for reading...

A visit to Westmalle

Just the cafe across the from the abbey, not the actual monastery and brewery. But first, a shot of the Antwerp Cathedral.

Antwerp Cathederal

We stopped for pre trip freshener at Oud Arsenaal. A bolleke of DeKonnick, of course.

The gang at Oud Arsenaal

There was an ad for a beer called Hopus so we had to try it. Not only did it have a cool glass, there was a separate shot glass for the yeast.

Hopus, with the yeast shot.

Drew downing the yeast shot

We walked to the bus station and caught the 417 bus to Westmalle.

Cafe Trappisten, across from the Abbey of Westmalle

Double and Triple (of course), No Westmalle Extra (the monk's single) though

For desert -- Trappist Ice Cream. Heavenly.

The front gate to the grounds.

Trappist cows?

What you can see of the abbey from the road.

Off for one last session at the Kulminator.

Day trip to Ghent...

or Gent or Gand. Confusing for a city to have three different spellings. But now matter how you spell it, it was picked as the best beer city in Belgium by Tim Webb in his latest "Good Beer Guide to Belgium." If I wasn't so fond of the Kulminator, it might become my hub city for Belgium. It was Sunday, so a few places weren't open and they are a late starting bunch in Ghent -- most pubs don't open until 3:00 or 4:00pm. First stop was the Waterhuis aan de Bierkant (or just the Bierhuis for short).

Waterhuis ann de Bierkant

The gang waiting for our first beer

Round 1. We mostly had one of the 3 house beers.

One of the two giant bowls of frites that came with our Gentse Stoverij (beef stew)

Some wanted to sight see, so Tom and I went to the next place, Dulle Greive on the Frijdagmarkt (Friday Market Square)

Dulle Greive

St Bernardus Prior (8) and The Dulle Greive Blond (house beer)

The Dulle Greive Blond, Dulle Teve and aged (1 year) Orval.

After we got tired of waiting for the other group, we went on to Aba Jour and had a Moinette Blonde (brewed by DuPont)

Moinette Blonde

We finally got a call from the Lost Boys -- they had gotten lost but found a pub, the Trollekelder (Troll Cave) so we met them there.

Trollekelder

The gang at the Trollekelder

I'll leave you with some pictures of Ghent. It is a very pretty city and there is much to do for both the beer drinker and non-beer drinker. So go check it out next time you are in Belgium.