Day trip to Brugge

Neither Tom  nor I had been to Brugge (Bruges for you Francophiles) in a while, so we decided to take a day trip. First planned stop was Erasmus, but when we got there it they were closed and it looked like some renovation was underway. So we walked down to the Mar hung a right and ended up at the little alleyway that leads to De Garre. 

They had Celis White on draft -- in glasses that said "Celis Brewery, Austin Texas" which was kind of cool. After a couple of those plus a De Garre Triple (Don't know who brews it) and a Goulden Draak we decided to split a 750ml bottle of Achel Extra. The waitress warned us it was very sweet. We decided she can't tell sweet from malty or maybe she was just a hop head :)

Finally it was 4pm -- the magical time when the Brugse Beertje opens. So we headed off there.

If you don't know the "Brugge Little Bear" you should. It is one of the great beer pubs in Belgium. I had a Vicaris Generaal and Tom a Brugse Zot from draft to start off.

Next we had a Pannepot and a Pannepøt from De Struisse Brouwers. This is the same beer, except the first is made with candy sugar and the second with cane sugar. They were very much alike, but there was a difference.

Finally, it was time to catch our train back to Antwerpen.  Long story short, there were problems on the track and with our train and it took two and half hours to get back to Antwerpen (normally 1:20) and it was so late we decided to skip the Kulminator.

Tomorrow, the Night of the Great Thurst -- the labmic festival!

Zythos Beer Festival Trip 2008

Spending too much time drinking and traveling and not much time to write. So I'll just post a few pictures...

The cheapest airfare was flying into Düsseldorf. Our plane arrived early,  so we had time to take a cab into the Altstadt to have a quick Uerige or three. This photo was taken with my Macbook Air...

Our first beer at the Kulminator. If it looks like I'm not having fun, it's because I'm holding the camera a concentrating on centering the picture...

Here is the cellar at Moeder Lambic in the St Giles district of Brussels

Back in Antwerp and the Kulminator we did a tasting of 8 different years of Stille Nacht: 2007. 2006, 2005, 2004, 1999, 1996, 1984, 1982. Leen forgot  the 2003 but we didn't miss it :)

And the beers themselves...

Thursday we're off to Brugge (Bruges) for a beer or three...

Internet Problems Again..

My WiFi stopped working over the weekend so I couldn't post. I am flying home today and will update after I am back. Thanks.

Bamberg -- Day 5 Part II

So we get to Schlesslitz and the first stop is Bart Senger. If you haven't been there before, you should go. It reminds me of sitting in somebody's living room, with a bunch of neighbors all having a good time. It is a very small place and it was almost full when we got there. We got the usual "who are these guys" sort of look you always get when strangers walk into a neighborhood kind of bar -- not hostile -- not unfriendly even -- just curious. Anyway, no pictures because it just didn't seem right. It was somebody's living room, after all :) Oh, and the beer was great, but you probably figured that. It was served from a wooden keg on the counter and was dark brown in color.  And at €1.70 for half liter glass, a very good deal. 

Next down the street to Brauerei Drei Kronen, run by the Lindner family. The place was empty (it had just opened for the evening session). The lager bier was as good as ever. For some reason this picture shows it as being fairly dark but it really is quite a bit lighter.

Then back to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Bamberg. The bus to and from Schlesslitz goes thru Memmelsdorf, so we decided to get off and have a quick beer at another Brauerei Drei Kronen, this one run by the Straub family. Herr Straub greeted us and took us to a table and told us about his Christmas beer, Balthasar. I had one of those and John had the smoked beer, the Stöffla.

The Stöffla is lightly smoked using Weyermann smoked malt. Its a good example of the "revived" smoked beers in the area, but I still like Spezial better. The Balthasar was almost a bock, unfiltered and a much hoppier than I expected.  I was good enough I had a schnitt for the road -- and we missed our bus and had to wait for the next one. But the beer was worth it.

An uneventful trip back to Bamberg, where we got off next to Spezial and of course, had to re-calibrate our palate.

Day 5 -- Bamberg. Part I

John thought we should go for a walk -- to Bischberg and Brauerei Sonne. Walk? Ride a bike or take the bus -- yes, but walk? "Come on, it will be good for you" he said. So we walked -- and walked, and walked. It took less than a hour, so it can't have been too far. It did make the Zwickelbier taste very good when arrived. It tastes good when you take the bus so I don't give all the credit to the walk.

John wanted to take the bus to Schesslitz to visit the two breweries there, so we did take the bus back to Bamberg. We got off at Deutsches Haus which was the closest this bus went to the train station (where most of the buses to the country side depart). Deutches Haus is also a major bus stop and it turned out the Schesslitz bus stopped there and the next one left in about 45 minutes. Did I mention that Deutches Haus is two doors up from Brauerei Spezial? So you can guess where we spent the time. We split an U and a bottle of Bock. The U was a delightful as ever, fresh and refreshing. The bock was also good, but showed a little sign of oxidation -- but you had to really look for it. It was smoked, but the malt flavor dominated.

Day 4 -- Düsseldorf to Bamberg

We had a quick beer at the Uerige stand in the Carsch Haus (where rumour has it, may close when the lease is up next year) before catching the subway and then the train. Trip was uneventful -- which is a good thing. We hit 304 kph at one stretch, which may be a record for me :)

John being young and an outdoor-sy type, thought we should walk to where we are staying -- Frank Wetzel's rental apartment on Schrottenberggasse. I agree, so long as it wasn't raining (it wasn't). On the way we stopped at Fässla and dropped off a couple bottles of Sticke for Roland Kalb (son of the owner). He had heard talk of it but never had tasted it. We got a couple glass of Gold-Pils in return. A fair trade for me, but John carried the bottles! The beer was very nice and fairly clean -- Occasionally Fässa has some problems with diacetyl but none this time.

Being fairminded as we are, in was our duty, having drunk in Fässa to also drink a beer across the street at Spezial. So we did. It was great as usual. They still had signs up for their bock beer, but had run out of draft just last week and had only bottles. So the bock waits for another day.

After dropping our luggage at the apartment, if was down the street to Schlenkerla for a couple. (They two still had Bock in bottles). John called it a night after that but I went down to Der Pekikan for a Huppendorfer (from Brauerei Grasser). This usually is a beer I liked, but this one was off -- a burnt raisin-y note that made the beer hard to finish. I did, but it was work.

No pictures -- didn't take any on Thursday.

Day 3 Wednesday -- A Venloosch Excursion

Wednesday morning we got a peek at the new Uerige building. We were told no pictures but I can tell you everything was gorgeous - especially the four new fermenters.

Our original plan was to make a day trip to Cologne. But Tom Perera suggested we go over the Dutch border to Venlo to a pub there, De Roeëje Lieuw (Red Lion). Venlo is in one the the two Dutch Liuburg provinces and he only serves beer from those and the Belgian Limburg province.

Venlo is about an hour and fifteen minutes from Düsseldorf on a direct train. I had had the Venloosch Alt before in Amsterdam, so I knew there would be at least one beer to drink.

After we arrived and walked in to the Market Square, we found the Red Lion but it was closed. So we stopped in down the street at In den Dorstigen Haen for lunch a couple of beers: Gouveneur Brune, Gouveneur Blonde and Lindenboom Herfstbock. All were good and clearly Dutch.

After lunch we went back to the Red Lion and now there was somebody in there. We knocked on the door and the proprietor, Louis, came out and told us he openned at 6pm! We explained we were weary beer travelers so he invited us in for a beer. After a nice conversation and a Venloosch Alt, it was clear Louis had word to do so we said our goodbyes and headed back to the train station. But John pointed out a cafe that had Hertog Jan Grand Prestige on draft, so we made a stop. This is a beer I like when I've had it in bottles in Amsterdam. It holds up well to the strong, dark Belgian Abbey beers. However, we were no so impressed with the draft version. There was definite acetone aroma that got stronger as it warmed up. We finished it, but didn't feel the need for another.

Tomorrow (Thursday) Bamberg!

Day 2. Sticke and Stickum

First of all, it is a cold and wet day. When I got to Uerige for our afternoon session at about 3:30pm there was nobody standing outside. I don't think I've ever seen that!




I managed to get a couple of the last bottles of the first batch of Stickum and Stiickum Plus

From the labels:

Stickum 42%, distilled from Uerige Sticke. Bottle 13 of 60 (350ml)
Stuckum Plus, 45%, distilled from Doppelsticke, aged in oak barrels. Bottle 9 of 46 (200ml)

Haven't tasted it yet -- will report back when I do. On Wednesday we have a tour of the new facility, but with the condition that there be no photographs. Sorry about that.

Sticke -- First Impressions

It is alcoholic (6.9%) and malty -- so much that it covers any hop flavor and much of the bitterness. Very drinkable -- before we realized it we had drunk 4 each.




So we decided to take a break and ended up walking by the Pilsner Urquell Brauerei Ausshank and I noticed they had U Fleku back on the menu. So we went in and discovered they also had another dark Czech beer -- Kozel Černý from Velkopopovický (Which is owned by Pilsner Urquell). The U Fleku was as good as I remembered, but the Kozel didn't have a lot of flavor and had that aftertaste I associate with color beer (e.g. SINAMAR from Weyermann), They also had ads for Budvar Dark but didn't actually carry it.

Day 1. Monday January 14

I arrived in Düsseldorf after a un-eventful (but long) flight. After dropping my stuff at the hotel, it was off to Uerige.

I was glad to see the following -- that I did have the correct day:



After a quick beer, poured in the traditional manner from a gravity fed wooden barrel...


...I popped next door to check out the new Stickum pub. This is were they sell the schapps made from Sticke and Doppelsticke. Well, it turns out at this point it is only open Friday and Saturday. But I am hoping that I can score a taste of them anyway.

Thru the window you can see a gleaming copper still and in the back the new bottling line.




John from Boulder arrived and we proceeded to make the rounds of the brewpubs. When we got to zum Schlüssel, there was a curious sight:

Had the Hessians invaded Düsseldorf? No, it turns out that Easter is very early this year and that means the Carnival celebrations start early and this was a get together of one of the Carnival Clubs.


Tomorow -- Sticke day!

Update: For those of you who didn't view our webcam appearance, you didn't miss much. Courtesy of Ray C, here is what we looked like (I'm the one with the light colored pants)

Sticke Warriors Trip -- January 2008

Hello to all five of my readers!

Last fall's diary of the 10 Annual Sticke Warriors trip was a disaster (the diary, not the trip). I ended up without regular internet access for most of the time in Antwerp, Düsseldorf and Bamberg. And Regensburg and Salzburg weren't much better -- I had to buy access from T-Mobile at exorbitant rates . So I gave up.

Well, I'm off to drink at the January Sticke for the first time, with a follow on visit to Bamberg (also a first for me in January). I will try again to post daily updates and pictures.

Apologies

Internet access has been harder to find this trip than I expected. I have now learned that "Wireless Internet" in a hotel description doesn't mean "Free" -- I don't want to pay T-Mobile €/hr to update this!

When I am back home I will upload a day by day description and photos.

Thanks,

Fred.

The Internet Gods are against me...

We are in Düsseldorf and all is well, but at our hotel the internet service is down! Somebody up there doesn't like me, I guess.

To bring you up to date... Saturday we spent the day in Brussels. First up was A la Becasse, home of the White Lambic and Lambic Doux. These are served in stoneware pitcher, the size depending on how many at the table order each (i.e. its a communal pitcher). Luis had the draft Kriek which had an intense cherry flavor. I like the beers and especially the pub, but I'd like it better without the saccharine aftertaste (I mean this literally -- it is sweetened with saccharine)

Next up was the Delirium Cafe. I have a love/hate feeling about this place. With 2000+ beers on the menu there are beers I've never seen anywhere else. But the places has little or no atmosphere and seems always full of teenagers looking for either the strongest of sweetest beer they can find. And the service can be terrible -- but not always the fault of the server -- it can take many minutes for them to find the beer you want, only to come back and say they couldn't find it. I like to drink beers from Brittany (Bretagne ) there but it can take 20 minutes to find one in stock :(

The last stop was Chez Moeder Lambic in St Giles. This is a my new favorite place to drink in Brussels. A nice selection of draft (including Cantillon on a beer engine) and a fairly extensive (and improving) beer list. A short taxi or tram ride from Brussel Zuid train station (a/k/a Midi) it should be on your list when you visit Brussels.

Sunday we took the train to Düsseldorf and managed to drink quite a few beers at Uerige. After dinner at Füchschen and it night cap at Im Goldener Kessel (Schumacher) it was time to call it a night.

Anyway tomorrow (Tuesday) is Sticke Day and hopefully my internet connection will be back up!

Antwerp Update

Still limited internet access :( Will get better on Monday. We had a morning session at Oud Arsenaal, an afternoon session at the Kulminator, a nice dinner at De Grotte Witte Arend and and evening session at the K. Life is good. Off to Brussels for the day to drink there.

Internet problems!

Well, we made it to Antwerp but the internet access at the B&B doesn't work so I will only be able to do limited postings until Düsseldorf on Monday,

To bring you up to date, we had good sessions with Simon at the Wildeman and Robin at 't Arendsnest on Wednesday. Met up with Ron Pattinson of www.europeanbeerguide.net fame.

First stop in Antwerp (after a quick lunch) was the Kulminator and nothing much had changed. The beer menu hasn't been updated, but the good news there is the prices haven't either. We met up with Andy Change at the train station (he had flown in from LAX on Thursday) and he was impressed with the K and could spend a couple weeks there :)

Day one (in Europe)

After a long, but uneventful couple of flights, we arrived in Düsseldorf. But we are really starting the beer trip in Amsterdam so its off to the train station at the airport to catch a train to Amsterdam

Luis, Tom and Fred waiting for the train to Amsterdam.

But wait, the travel gets even more multi-modal: Once in Amsterdam we had to take the #17 tram out to Osdorp (the 'burbs) where our hotel is. Of course, it was the start of rush hour and it took 45+ minutes. After checking in and dropping our bags it was back to the tram stop to catch it back into the old town (where the beer) is. Since we where going against traffic it was a bit quicker: only 30 minutes. A short walk to In de Wildeman and we were ready for our first beer.


They are (in no particular order) Oijen Kluytmans, De Lekere Speciaal Bio and Drei Ringen Cor Deux. the Oijen was very spicy -- almost too much spice. We decided the Speciaal Bio was the best. Round two was Bavaria Hooge Bock (its Bock time in the Netherlands), Generaal Pardon Stout (billed as a "Belgian Imperial Stout") and Hellergoms Dubblel.

We need some food so we took a quick break for a sandwich and then headed over to 't Arendsnest. Our friend Robin wasn't but Maurits was and he did a find job of bringing us beer. We had the IJsbock from 't IJ brewery, Jopen Four Grain Bock and SNAP Pale Ale which was really an IPA and quite nice -- lots of cascade but that Belgian/Dutch yeast character. As a night cap we had Brand Dubblebock and the Ezelenbock.

We started to feel the beer and lack of sleep so it was back to the good old tram #17 and the hotel and sleep.

10 Annual Sticke Warriors Tour Underway...

This morning the first group of us are off on our 10th annual trip to drink the brewed twice a year "Sticke" beer at Brauerei zum Uerige in Düsseldorf.

In 1998 myself and four friends took off to Düsseldorf pretty much on a whim. I had some Frequent Flyer miles that were going to expire and the others said "What the hey..." and tagged along. The cities we visited on that first trip -- Amsterdam, Antwerp, Düsseldorf and Cologne -- is still pretty much the backbone of our schedule. There have been few changes -- Cologne was be relegated to a day trip from Düsseldorf and that first year Antwerp was a day trip from Amsterdam where now we spend 2 or 3 days there. In 2000 we added Bamberg as a regular stop. We also try and visit somewhere new each year, if even as a day trip. One year it was Münster, another Salzburg. This year our new (for me) city is Regensburg but we'll also return to Salzburg for the Bier IG (the Austrian beer consumers group) fest.

I don't know how well this blog will work as a "trip" report -- assuming we have a decent internet connection I will try to write something each day and upload some pictures.

So welcome, and I hope you enjoy this virtual (for you) beer trip.