Hello my fellow beer-friends,
Belgium is considered as one of the most important countries in the world when it comes to beer. And as such there is plenty information to find about Belgian beers on the internet. A lot of good stuff and a lot of crap.
Below a couple of sites which I personally find very interesting.
Enjoy!
Greetingz,
Koen.
The Belgian Beer Odyssey – 1 to 1000
A blog about a guy who talks about his journey, tasting 1000 belgian beers, one beer at a time. Started somewhere in the end of 2009, he is now at his 164th beer (November 29th, 2010). A real good site, giving a lot of background information about each beer he tastes. Wonderful how this guy can write. This guy is a true writer, and he sure loves beer. I can only dream of having such talent.
RateBeer - the best beers of belgium
A list with the highest rated beers brewed in Belgium as they appear in the ranks of RateBeer.com. RateBeer.com was partially responsible to make the West-Vleteren 12 trappist to be known as the best beer in the world.
Beer in Belgium - Wikipedia
Wikipedia page of beer in Belgium, giving a comprehensive overview of all things "beer" in Belgium. Ranging from history, over beer-types and other usefull background information.
Tournee Generale
Tournee Generale is a series of 10 tv-shows on Canvas (National TV channel) in which musician, biker and beerlover Jean Blaute takes his British companion, the legendary MTV-VJ Ray Cokes, on a journey through the belgian beer-landscape. Together they travel across the country in search of our unique and versatile beer culture.
In dutch, but most videos are English spoken, with dutch sub-titles.
YouTube - Belgian Beer
And endless list of videos related to belgian beer. Some of them useless, some of them fantastic. Good for hours and hours of belgian beer entertainment!
Google - Belgian Beer
If you've gone through the link above, and you want more, much more, then there's always Google ... just follow this link and you have enough information to wander around for the rest of your life ;)
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Gordon Xmas, now on tap!
Gordon Xmas is a seasonal Christmas beer with an intense flavour and a lot of body. The flavour unfolds gently but steadily from the first mouthful. The stringent woody notes combine with a sweeter base without either flavour gaining the upper hand. The sweetness lingers on the palate, the stringency remains in the throat.
Alcohol: 8,8%
Colour: Dark Rubis
Fermentation: Top
Type: Scotch Ale
Enjoy!
Greetingz,
Koen.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
A good alternative for WestVleteren 12??
Hey beergeeks,
I've got a question ...
Anyone who loves beer, knows that the WestVleteren 12 trappist is widely recognized as one of the best beers in the world. The only problem is, it's very hard to get.
To be honest, I never drank one before! And if you know me, that's actually quite a shame. I grew up in the West-Vleteren area, and more so, when I was young I went to the tavern accross the monestary each two weeks with my parents. My father loved to drink a "pater" (that's how we called the trappists back then), but I was still too young, and I only remember the sandwiches with ham, I used to eat over there.
Now I found out some time ago that the St. Bernardus Abbey in Watou, used to have a license to brew the West-Vleteren beer from somewhere in the 30's or 40's. And that license ended in 1992.
So, the brewers of St. Bernardus are the only people who actually know how to brew the West-Vleteren trappists, and have actually done it.
My question now is ... is it true that the St. Bernardus Abt 12 is almost the same beer as the West-Vleteren 12??? I've heard people telling this, but I'd like to hear it from people who actually tasted both beers?
Let me know, I'm curious, cause the St. Bernardus Abt 12 is only a fridge away :)
Greetingz,
Koen.
I've got a question ...
Anyone who loves beer, knows that the WestVleteren 12 trappist is widely recognized as one of the best beers in the world. The only problem is, it's very hard to get.
To be honest, I never drank one before! And if you know me, that's actually quite a shame. I grew up in the West-Vleteren area, and more so, when I was young I went to the tavern accross the monestary each two weeks with my parents. My father loved to drink a "pater" (that's how we called the trappists back then), but I was still too young, and I only remember the sandwiches with ham, I used to eat over there.
Now I found out some time ago that the St. Bernardus Abbey in Watou, used to have a license to brew the West-Vleteren beer from somewhere in the 30's or 40's. And that license ended in 1992.
So, the brewers of St. Bernardus are the only people who actually know how to brew the West-Vleteren trappists, and have actually done it.
My question now is ... is it true that the St. Bernardus Abt 12 is almost the same beer as the West-Vleteren 12??? I've heard people telling this, but I'd like to hear it from people who actually tasted both beers?
Let me know, I'm curious, cause the St. Bernardus Abt 12 is only a fridge away :)
Greetingz,
Koen.
Some pictures ...
Hey beerlovers,
So far I haven't showed you any pictures ... so, here are there a few, taken with my phone (so quality could be better).
Enjoy ...
Greetingz,
Koen.
Some pictures of the pub:
Some pictures of our cellar:
So far I haven't showed you any pictures ... so, here are there a few, taken with my phone (so quality could be better).
Enjoy ...
Greetingz,
Koen.
Some pictures of the pub:
Some pictures of our cellar:
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Making some publicity for the best New Year's Eve Party in Antwerp!
Get your tickets now for the best New Year's Eve Party in Antwerp ... 3 parties, multiple live performances and dj's, great beers and cocktails, one location!!!
Be there (I sure will!).
Greetingz,
Koen.
Be there (I sure will!).
Greetingz,
Koen.
Leffe Christmas beer, now on tap!
Christmas-time is coming and so are all the christmas-beers ...
From now on, we have the first one (Leffe Christmas) on tap.
Click on the image below for more info about this gorgeous beer ...
I'll soon inform you about all the other christmas beers we'll be serving!
Greetingz,
Koen.
From now on, we have the first one (Leffe Christmas) on tap.
Click on the image below for more info about this gorgeous beer ...
I'll soon inform you about all the other christmas beers we'll be serving!
Greetingz,
Koen.
The Beer Hunter - The Burgundies of Belgium
Hello beer-fanatics,
If there is one person in the world that should be honored for promoting the many Belgian beers, it should be the late Michael Jackson (not the singer). Michael Jackson is probably the most famous beer-expert there has ever been. And he had a true love for all the Belgian beers and our beer-culture.
Below the episode of "The Beer Hunter"-series, dedicated to Belgium and it's rich beer-culture.
Enjoy!
Greetingz,
Koen.
If there is one person in the world that should be honored for promoting the many Belgian beers, it should be the late Michael Jackson (not the singer). Michael Jackson is probably the most famous beer-expert there has ever been. And he had a true love for all the Belgian beers and our beer-culture.
Below the episode of "The Beer Hunter"-series, dedicated to Belgium and it's rich beer-culture.
Enjoy!
Greetingz,
Koen.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Bush de Nuits ... a truly special beer one has to taste!
Hey beerlovers,
Since I started this blog, I actually haven't blogged about a specific beer I tasted. One of the reasons I'm a bit hesitant to do this, is because I don't consider myself as a beer-expert (yet). Allthough I drank quite a few different beers in my life, and even more in the last few months that I work in Bier Central, writing about beer tastings is an art of it's own.
As a waiter/bartender in a beer cafe with over 300 kinds of beer, I do live in a sort of luxury to have "easy" access to some of the best beers Belgium has to offer.
The Dubuisson "Bush de Nuits" is truly one of those specialty beers that stands out of the crowd. Everything about it is in some way special: the bottle, the color, the taste, the brewing process, ...
So where should I start? Let's start at the brewery ...
Bush de Nuits is brewed by brewery Dubuisson. Dubuisson brews the whole range of the "Bush" beers, and also Cuvee des Trolls. Bush beers are well known in Belgium for their high alcohol-percentage (ranging from 8,5 to 13%). Cuvee des Trolls is a lighter and unfiltered (and thus a naturally cloudy) blond beer with fruity aromas.
The Bush de Nuits is a relatively new creation of the Dubuisson brewery and was launched in 2008. Bush de Nuits starts out as a Bush de Noel and is then put in wooden vats that once contained the renowned Bourgogne de Nuits St Georges wine. In those vats the beer matures for 6 to 9 months.
After this "maturing" process, they bottle the beer in 75cl-bottles and place them in a hot room for a third refermentation which takes around 3 weeks. During the bottling process a small amount of sugar and yeast are added. These additions (necessary for the 3rd refermentation) give the beer, besides carbonation and conditioning, a natural cloudiness.
Now the tasting ...
When opening the bottle, the first thing that impressed me, was the carbonation ... if you don't hold on to the cork, it would pop out like a champagne-bottle cork.
Pouring the beer into a glass is in my opinion not as easy as with other bottles, due to it's shape. I prefer to pour beer into a glass without "splashing".
The beer itself has a amber/brownish color, with kind of a dirty foam-head. The smell already reveals some of the flavours in the beer and is pretty complex. I'm not good in describing all those smells and flavours, so I prefer to compare them to other beers I know.
And here I get into trouble, because, truly, I really don't know to which beer I should compare it to. Tasting the Bush de Nuits reminded me more to tasting a single malt whisky than tasting a beer. There are so much aromas, so much flavours in it!
Some aromas and flavours are however pretty strong ... you definately taste the wood and wine of the vats used to mature the beer. Mouthfeel has a lot of carbonation. The strong aftertaste lasts long, and I like that. And as mentioned before, 13% alcohol makes it a strong beer, so drink it with care!
A great beer, ideal for special occassions. If you ever have the chance to taste it, even with a higher price-tag than most beers, go for it. It's worth it!!!
Cheers!
Greetingz,
Koen.
Since I started this blog, I actually haven't blogged about a specific beer I tasted. One of the reasons I'm a bit hesitant to do this, is because I don't consider myself as a beer-expert (yet). Allthough I drank quite a few different beers in my life, and even more in the last few months that I work in Bier Central, writing about beer tastings is an art of it's own.
As a waiter/bartender in a beer cafe with over 300 kinds of beer, I do live in a sort of luxury to have "easy" access to some of the best beers Belgium has to offer.
So where should I start? Let's start at the brewery ...
Bush de Nuits is brewed by brewery Dubuisson. Dubuisson brews the whole range of the "Bush" beers, and also Cuvee des Trolls. Bush beers are well known in Belgium for their high alcohol-percentage (ranging from 8,5 to 13%). Cuvee des Trolls is a lighter and unfiltered (and thus a naturally cloudy) blond beer with fruity aromas.
The Bush de Nuits is a relatively new creation of the Dubuisson brewery and was launched in 2008. Bush de Nuits starts out as a Bush de Noel and is then put in wooden vats that once contained the renowned Bourgogne de Nuits St Georges wine. In those vats the beer matures for 6 to 9 months.
After this "maturing" process, they bottle the beer in 75cl-bottles and place them in a hot room for a third refermentation which takes around 3 weeks. During the bottling process a small amount of sugar and yeast are added. These additions (necessary for the 3rd refermentation) give the beer, besides carbonation and conditioning, a natural cloudiness.
Now the tasting ...
When opening the bottle, the first thing that impressed me, was the carbonation ... if you don't hold on to the cork, it would pop out like a champagne-bottle cork.
Pouring the beer into a glass is in my opinion not as easy as with other bottles, due to it's shape. I prefer to pour beer into a glass without "splashing".
The beer itself has a amber/brownish color, with kind of a dirty foam-head. The smell already reveals some of the flavours in the beer and is pretty complex. I'm not good in describing all those smells and flavours, so I prefer to compare them to other beers I know.
And here I get into trouble, because, truly, I really don't know to which beer I should compare it to. Tasting the Bush de Nuits reminded me more to tasting a single malt whisky than tasting a beer. There are so much aromas, so much flavours in it!
Some aromas and flavours are however pretty strong ... you definately taste the wood and wine of the vats used to mature the beer. Mouthfeel has a lot of carbonation. The strong aftertaste lasts long, and I like that. And as mentioned before, 13% alcohol makes it a strong beer, so drink it with care!
A great beer, ideal for special occassions. If you ever have the chance to taste it, even with a higher price-tag than most beers, go for it. It's worth it!!!
Cheers!
Greetingz,
Koen.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Beer jokes ... always good for a good laugh :)
People who love beer, love to laugh ... don't know if anyone ever made a study out of that, but I'm pretty sure that beerlovers have a good sense of humor :)
Below a few beer jokes that are worth a laugh ;)
Old man Murphy had worked down at the brewery for years, but one day , he just wasn't paying attention and he tripped on the walkway and fell over into the beer vat and drowned.
The foreman thought it should be his job to inform the widow Murphy of her old man's death. He showed up at the front door and rang the bell. When she came to the door, he said, "I'm sorry to tell you, but poor old Murphy passed away at work today when he fell into the vat and drowned."
She wept and covered her face with her apron and after a time, between sobs, she asked, "Tell me, did he suffer?"
"I don't think so," said the foreman: "He got out three times to go to the men's room.
Yesterday, government scientists suggested that men should take a look at their beer consumption, considering the results of a recent analysis that revealed the presence of female hormones in beer. The theory is that drinking beer makes men turn into women. To test the finding, 100 men were fed 6 pints of beer each. It was then observed that 100% of the men gained weight, talked excessively without making sense, became overly emotional, couldn't drive, failed to think rationally, argued over nothing, and refused to apologize when wrong. No further testing is planned.
This guy walks into a bar and tells the bartender to line up 10 glasses and start filling them up with beer. So the bartender starts filling the glasses up with beer, and the man is right behind him drinking them straight down. The bartender says, hay buddy whats your hurry? The man says if you had what I have you would do the same thing. The bartender backs up and says what do you have. The man says about 75 cents!
A Texan walks into a pub in Ireland and clears his voice to the crowd of drinkers. He says, "I hear you Irish are a bunch of hard drinkers. I'll give $500 American dollars to anybody in here who can drink 10 pints of Guinness back-to-back."
The room is quiet and no one takes up the Texan's offer. One man even leaves.
Thirty minutes later the same gentleman who left shows back up and taps the Texan on the shoulder. "Is your bet still good?" asks the Irishman. The Texan says "Yup" and asks the bartender to line up 10 pints of Guinness. Immediately the Irishman tears into all 10 of the pint glasses, drinking them all back-to-back.
The other pub patrons cheer as the Texan sits in amazement. The Texan gives the Irishman the $500 and says, "If ya don't mind me askin', where did you go for that 30 minutes you were gone?" The Irishman replies, "Oh...I had to go to the pub down the street to see if I could do it first."
There's a big conference of beer producers. At the end of the day, the presidents of all beer companies decide to have a drink in a bar.
The president of 'Budweiser' orders a Bud, the president of 'Miller' orders a Miller Lite, Adolph Coors orders a Coors, and the list goes on. Then the waitress asks Arthur Guinness what he wants to drink, and much to everybody's amazement, Mr. Guinness orders a Coke!
"Why don't you order a Guinness?" his colleagues ask.
"Naah. If you guys won't drink beer, then neither will I."
HOW TO IMPRESS A WOMAN
Compliment her, cuddle her, kiss her, caress her, love her, stroke her, comfort her, protect her, hug her, wine and dine her, buy gifts for her, listen to her, respect her, stand by her, support her, go to the ends of the earth for her.
HOW TO IMPRESS A MAN
Arrive naked ... with beer.
This guy walks into a bar and has a drink. And then he looks in his pocket and orders another drink, looks in his pocket and has another drink, looks in his pocket and has another drink, and so on. Finally the bartender says, "What are you doing? What's in your pocket?" And the guy says, "It's a picture of my wife. When she starts looking good to me, I know it's time to go home."
Below a few beer jokes that are worth a laugh ;)
Old man Murphy had worked down at the brewery for years, but one day , he just wasn't paying attention and he tripped on the walkway and fell over into the beer vat and drowned.
The foreman thought it should be his job to inform the widow Murphy of her old man's death. He showed up at the front door and rang the bell. When she came to the door, he said, "I'm sorry to tell you, but poor old Murphy passed away at work today when he fell into the vat and drowned."
She wept and covered her face with her apron and after a time, between sobs, she asked, "Tell me, did he suffer?"
"I don't think so," said the foreman: "He got out three times to go to the men's room.
Yesterday, government scientists suggested that men should take a look at their beer consumption, considering the results of a recent analysis that revealed the presence of female hormones in beer. The theory is that drinking beer makes men turn into women. To test the finding, 100 men were fed 6 pints of beer each. It was then observed that 100% of the men gained weight, talked excessively without making sense, became overly emotional, couldn't drive, failed to think rationally, argued over nothing, and refused to apologize when wrong. No further testing is planned.
This guy walks into a bar and tells the bartender to line up 10 glasses and start filling them up with beer. So the bartender starts filling the glasses up with beer, and the man is right behind him drinking them straight down. The bartender says, hay buddy whats your hurry? The man says if you had what I have you would do the same thing. The bartender backs up and says what do you have. The man says about 75 cents!
A Texan walks into a pub in Ireland and clears his voice to the crowd of drinkers. He says, "I hear you Irish are a bunch of hard drinkers. I'll give $500 American dollars to anybody in here who can drink 10 pints of Guinness back-to-back."
The room is quiet and no one takes up the Texan's offer. One man even leaves.
Thirty minutes later the same gentleman who left shows back up and taps the Texan on the shoulder. "Is your bet still good?" asks the Irishman. The Texan says "Yup" and asks the bartender to line up 10 pints of Guinness. Immediately the Irishman tears into all 10 of the pint glasses, drinking them all back-to-back.
The other pub patrons cheer as the Texan sits in amazement. The Texan gives the Irishman the $500 and says, "If ya don't mind me askin', where did you go for that 30 minutes you were gone?" The Irishman replies, "Oh...I had to go to the pub down the street to see if I could do it first."
There's a big conference of beer producers. At the end of the day, the presidents of all beer companies decide to have a drink in a bar.
The president of 'Budweiser' orders a Bud, the president of 'Miller' orders a Miller Lite, Adolph Coors orders a Coors, and the list goes on. Then the waitress asks Arthur Guinness what he wants to drink, and much to everybody's amazement, Mr. Guinness orders a Coke!
"Why don't you order a Guinness?" his colleagues ask.
"Naah. If you guys won't drink beer, then neither will I."
HOW TO IMPRESS A WOMAN
Compliment her, cuddle her, kiss her, caress her, love her, stroke her, comfort her, protect her, hug her, wine and dine her, buy gifts for her, listen to her, respect her, stand by her, support her, go to the ends of the earth for her.
HOW TO IMPRESS A MAN
Arrive naked ... with beer.
This guy walks into a bar and has a drink. And then he looks in his pocket and orders another drink, looks in his pocket and has another drink, looks in his pocket and has another drink, and so on. Finally the bartender says, "What are you doing? What's in your pocket?" And the guy says, "It's a picture of my wife. When she starts looking good to me, I know it's time to go home."
Friday, November 12, 2010
Belgian beers get awarded gold, silver and bronze in international beer-contest ...
At the yearly European Beer Star Awards in Nurnberg (Germany), Belgian beers again proved their quality, by winning gold, silver and bronze in various categories.
See: Belgische bieren internationaal bekroond
As a belgian I feel proud again :p
O, and of course, most of those beers are served in our pub ;) So, come over and taste why those beers are liquid gold ;)
Greetingz,
Koen.
See: Belgische bieren internationaal bekroond
As a belgian I feel proud again :p
O, and of course, most of those beers are served in our pub ;) So, come over and taste why those beers are liquid gold ;)
Greetingz,
Koen.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Tasting 101 ... (or at least how I see it :)
I'm far from a beer expert, but I do love beer a lot. And when you taste a lot of beer, you have to make some sort of classification for yourself, to know which beer you love, and which you don't and how you can compare the beers you tasted with each other.
I always get sort of frustrated when I see descriptions of beers. You always get to see so many descriptions with words that mean nothing (at least to me, I'm sure for a lot of people it does make sense).
Let's take such a description as an example: the Rochefort 10 trappist.
In our beer menu, you'll find the following description:
dark trappist | top-fermantation
deep red-brown, honey evolving to very fruity (pears, bananas, raisins) with touches of fondant chocolate, long-lasting aftertaste
Alc.: 10,3%
Ok, it is a good description (been written by somebody who has far more experience than I will ever have), but to me there are too much things in it I just don't see/taste.
Off course I already drank that Rochefort 10, and it is a great beer, one of the trappists you really need to drink whenever you get the chance! But "honey evolving to very fruity (pears, bananas, raisins) with touches of fondant chocolate" ???
Honestly, I don't taste that ... really ... none of the above. That doesn't mean it isn't like that, it just means "I" don't taste that. To me it is "deep red-brown beer with a very rich bouquet of flavors, which I can't define, and a long-lasting aftertaste (which I like)". And I would add the following: for me it's much better than f.e. the Westmalle Dubbel, but I prefer the La Trappe Quadruple just a tiny bit more. However, I will drink it again :). One of the stronger beers when it comes to alcohol percentage, and thus to be drunk with care.
So, what it the difference between those 2 descriptions? And which one is better?
Most obviously, the first one is written by an expert, and gives a rather objective description of the beer. A description that sounds exotic and would help somebody who knows all the underlying tastes, and who knows a lot about beer. To me, it gives me to much information I don't get, and thus in many ways useless.
The second one (mine) is very personal, and thus rather subjective. A description which is good for me, but probably not good for you, as you might have a complete different taste of what is good and not, than my taste.
Which description is better? In this case, I'd have more information from the second, but is pretty useless if you've never tasted the 2 other beers (Westmalle Dubbel and La Trappe Quadruple) used in the comparison.
So, to make sense of the 300+ beers we serve, I'm working on my own classification system which hopefully will make more sense to people, who are just like me, far from as experienced as the people who write those objective descriptions.
How will it look like? Well, it's still in development and far from done. But I do want to share it with you and would be very happy to hear how you people make distinctions between all the beers.
First I make a distinction between color: blond, amber or dark. For me, this is in most cases already a big indication how taste will be (there are off course many exceptions).
Next: strong or light (in alcohol) ... light being beers with alcohol-percentages ranging from 3 to 6%. Strong being everyting above 7%.
Next: sweet, saur or bitter. This is probably (for me) the most important distinction. Those 3 tastes are usually easy to classify as they are tasted by 3 different regions on your tongue. Sweet is tasted by the tip of your tongue, sour are tasted at the sides of your tongue in the back part of your mouth, and bitter is tasted at the back of your tongue.
To make things easy, you first take some "reference" beers. Beers you've drunk more than average, and to which you can compare new beers you taste. For example a few beers I use as reference beers: normal lager beer, Duvel, Westmalle Tripel, Rodenbach, and some others in specific categories (like Kriek and Gueuze).
Each time I drink a new beer, I try to classify them using my first rules, and then I compare them to my reference beers.
It is maybe a less advanced way of tasting than the real experts, and I guess over time my method will eventually evolve to the more "objective" way of tasting. But for now, I find it personally more satisfying and makes my beer-tastings more enjoyable.
Now I'd be happy to hear how you do it? How do you make your tastings as enjoyable as possible?
Greetingz,
Koen.
I always get sort of frustrated when I see descriptions of beers. You always get to see so many descriptions with words that mean nothing (at least to me, I'm sure for a lot of people it does make sense).
Let's take such a description as an example: the Rochefort 10 trappist.
In our beer menu, you'll find the following description:
dark trappist | top-fermantation
deep red-brown, honey evolving to very fruity (pears, bananas, raisins) with touches of fondant chocolate, long-lasting aftertaste
Alc.: 10,3%
Ok, it is a good description (been written by somebody who has far more experience than I will ever have), but to me there are too much things in it I just don't see/taste.
Off course I already drank that Rochefort 10, and it is a great beer, one of the trappists you really need to drink whenever you get the chance! But "honey evolving to very fruity (pears, bananas, raisins) with touches of fondant chocolate" ???
Honestly, I don't taste that ... really ... none of the above. That doesn't mean it isn't like that, it just means "I" don't taste that. To me it is "deep red-brown beer with a very rich bouquet of flavors, which I can't define, and a long-lasting aftertaste (which I like)". And I would add the following: for me it's much better than f.e. the Westmalle Dubbel, but I prefer the La Trappe Quadruple just a tiny bit more. However, I will drink it again :). One of the stronger beers when it comes to alcohol percentage, and thus to be drunk with care.
So, what it the difference between those 2 descriptions? And which one is better?
Most obviously, the first one is written by an expert, and gives a rather objective description of the beer. A description that sounds exotic and would help somebody who knows all the underlying tastes, and who knows a lot about beer. To me, it gives me to much information I don't get, and thus in many ways useless.
The second one (mine) is very personal, and thus rather subjective. A description which is good for me, but probably not good for you, as you might have a complete different taste of what is good and not, than my taste.
Which description is better? In this case, I'd have more information from the second, but is pretty useless if you've never tasted the 2 other beers (Westmalle Dubbel and La Trappe Quadruple) used in the comparison.
So, to make sense of the 300+ beers we serve, I'm working on my own classification system which hopefully will make more sense to people, who are just like me, far from as experienced as the people who write those objective descriptions.
How will it look like? Well, it's still in development and far from done. But I do want to share it with you and would be very happy to hear how you people make distinctions between all the beers.
First I make a distinction between color: blond, amber or dark. For me, this is in most cases already a big indication how taste will be (there are off course many exceptions).
Next: strong or light (in alcohol) ... light being beers with alcohol-percentages ranging from 3 to 6%. Strong being everyting above 7%.
Next: sweet, saur or bitter. This is probably (for me) the most important distinction. Those 3 tastes are usually easy to classify as they are tasted by 3 different regions on your tongue. Sweet is tasted by the tip of your tongue, sour are tasted at the sides of your tongue in the back part of your mouth, and bitter is tasted at the back of your tongue.
To make things easy, you first take some "reference" beers. Beers you've drunk more than average, and to which you can compare new beers you taste. For example a few beers I use as reference beers: normal lager beer, Duvel, Westmalle Tripel, Rodenbach, and some others in specific categories (like Kriek and Gueuze).
Each time I drink a new beer, I try to classify them using my first rules, and then I compare them to my reference beers.
It is maybe a less advanced way of tasting than the real experts, and I guess over time my method will eventually evolve to the more "objective" way of tasting. But for now, I find it personally more satisfying and makes my beer-tastings more enjoyable.
Now I'd be happy to hear how you do it? How do you make your tastings as enjoyable as possible?
Greetingz,
Koen.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
A little more about our beers ...
In my first post I talked a little about the concept of BierCentral, being an experience and not just a beer pub. But to be 'not just a beer pub', it does need a lot of beers in the first place.
So what beers are we talking about?
Bier Central is about Belgian beers. Belgium has a rich and long tradition when it comes to brewing beer. More so, Belgian beers are seen as the standard and reference worldwide when it comes to brewing high quality beers (see this article for example).
Having that in mind, Bier Central choose to focus just on beers brewed in Belgium. With over 750 different kinds of beer (probably even more actually) it's not easy to make a good selection of what to serve and what not (ideally we'd like to have them all of course). To make a clear overview of all the beers we serve, we categorized all our beers into categories.
Here are the categories as used in our "Bier Encyclopedie" (our beer menu):
Trappist beers
There are seven Trappist breweries in the world, 6 in Belgium, one in the Netherlands. We serve all but one (but, if you read my previous post, that may change in the future :).
Abbey beers
Abbey beer is a term associated with beer brewed by non-monastic types, frequently under such a license. These beers cannot be clled "Trappist", but usually derive their name from shrine or some other religious icon. It is typical for abbey beers to mimic the styles of Trappist beer. Doubles and triples, such as appear in Westmalle's line, are very popular.
Gueuze and Lambic beers
Lambic is one of the oldest beer styles in the world, only to be found in Belgium. Lambic requires several years to come of age.
Kriek beers
Kriek is a style of Belgian beer, made by fermenting lambic with sour Morello cherries (with the pits).
Fruit beers
Fruit beers combine the character of gueuze with fresh fruits and pit aromas, most of which are extra flavoured with syrups.
Speciale Belges (amber ales)
Speciale Belges or amber ales are mostly pleasant easy drinking beers, not particularly high in alcohol and are not at all sour.
Flemish Brown beers
A Flemish Brown - or Oud Bruin - can boast the same boldly lactic character of the lambic family but generally without the horsey character.
Belgian golden ale beers
Belgian golden ale is characterised by a very high ABV, around 9%. It resembles to the abbey style tripel, but has several significant differences. tripels are frequently cloudy where for example Duvel is quite clear. It has a cleaner taste, revealing malt and hops.
White beers
White beer is made of pale malts and unmalted wheat and lacks filtration.
Bière brut beers
Bière brut, one of the newest styles, is a top-shelf crossover beer. The few Bière brut beers, all brewed in the same city, typically undergo a lenghty maturation. Typical features are: high in alcohol, highly carbonated and sometimes spiced.
Saison beers
Saison is referred to as "country beer", designed to be medium in alcohol and refreshing and strongh enough to survive the winter when there were no fridges or cooling systems.
Specialty beers
Beers with a specific, pronounced taste or extraordinary brewing process that can't be put inside a different category.
Seasonal beers
There are a number of 'seasonal' beers that are best enjoyed and sold at the appropriate time of the year, as an ideal accompaniment to the weather mood and fare of the season.
As you can see the list of categories is already quite long. In future posts I'll go deeper into some of these categories and actually sum up some of the actual beers.
Greetingz,
Koen.
So what beers are we talking about?
Bier Central is about Belgian beers. Belgium has a rich and long tradition when it comes to brewing beer. More so, Belgian beers are seen as the standard and reference worldwide when it comes to brewing high quality beers (see this article for example).
Having that in mind, Bier Central choose to focus just on beers brewed in Belgium. With over 750 different kinds of beer (probably even more actually) it's not easy to make a good selection of what to serve and what not (ideally we'd like to have them all of course). To make a clear overview of all the beers we serve, we categorized all our beers into categories.
Here are the categories as used in our "Bier Encyclopedie" (our beer menu):
- Beers on tap
- Large bottles
- Trappist beers
- Abbey beers
- Gueuze and Lambic beers
- Kriek beers
- Fruit beers
- Special Belges or amber ales
- Flemish Browns
- Belgian golden ales
- White beers
- Bière brut
- 'Saison' beers
- Specialty beers
- Seasonal beers and beers that are hard to get
Trappist beers
There are seven Trappist breweries in the world, 6 in Belgium, one in the Netherlands. We serve all but one (but, if you read my previous post, that may change in the future :).
Abbey beers
Abbey beer is a term associated with beer brewed by non-monastic types, frequently under such a license. These beers cannot be clled "Trappist", but usually derive their name from shrine or some other religious icon. It is typical for abbey beers to mimic the styles of Trappist beer. Doubles and triples, such as appear in Westmalle's line, are very popular.
Gueuze and Lambic beers
Lambic is one of the oldest beer styles in the world, only to be found in Belgium. Lambic requires several years to come of age.
Kriek beers
Kriek is a style of Belgian beer, made by fermenting lambic with sour Morello cherries (with the pits).
Fruit beers
Fruit beers combine the character of gueuze with fresh fruits and pit aromas, most of which are extra flavoured with syrups.
Speciale Belges (amber ales)
Speciale Belges or amber ales are mostly pleasant easy drinking beers, not particularly high in alcohol and are not at all sour.
Flemish Brown beers
A Flemish Brown - or Oud Bruin - can boast the same boldly lactic character of the lambic family but generally without the horsey character.
Belgian golden ale beers
Belgian golden ale is characterised by a very high ABV, around 9%. It resembles to the abbey style tripel, but has several significant differences. tripels are frequently cloudy where for example Duvel is quite clear. It has a cleaner taste, revealing malt and hops.
White beers
White beer is made of pale malts and unmalted wheat and lacks filtration.
Bière brut beers
Bière brut, one of the newest styles, is a top-shelf crossover beer. The few Bière brut beers, all brewed in the same city, typically undergo a lenghty maturation. Typical features are: high in alcohol, highly carbonated and sometimes spiced.
Saison beers
Saison is referred to as "country beer", designed to be medium in alcohol and refreshing and strongh enough to survive the winter when there were no fridges or cooling systems.
Specialty beers
Beers with a specific, pronounced taste or extraordinary brewing process that can't be put inside a different category.
Seasonal beers
There are a number of 'seasonal' beers that are best enjoyed and sold at the appropriate time of the year, as an ideal accompaniment to the weather mood and fare of the season.
As you can see the list of categories is already quite long. In future posts I'll go deeper into some of these categories and actually sum up some of the actual beers.
Greetingz,
Koen.
West-Vleteren goes public?
Before going any deeper into the various beers we have in our pub, I have to put a comment on a recent news-fact about West-Vleteren Trappist beers. One of the most asked questions I get as a waiter in our pub is "Do you have West-Vleteren?" ... The answer always has been "NO" ... as it is not allowed to sell West-Vleteren on a commercial basis.
But now apparantly the monks over in West-Vleteren seem to revise their selling-strategy and are seriously thinking about selling more of their delicious beer. (see Article in De Standaard, Nieuwsblad and a comment in De Standaard)
But the way they're planning to do it is again a surprise to many people. As it looks now (but then again, it just only "talk"), they're only going to sell through one chain of supermarket-stores. Colruyt seems to be the lucky one.
And you might have guessed it ... this drops in as a bomb in beer-land. And personally I do have my doubts about it too.
What will happen if they effectively going to sell it through that one store-chain?
The idea is (probably) to let normal consumers buy West-Vleteren trappist in a shop closer to their homes. But what will probably happen is that once the beer will appear on the shelves, about any pub-owner will be there as first, buying as much as they can, leaving no beer for the normal consumers. As I'm working in a beer-pub, professionaly I hope this will happen, however being also a "normal" beer-consumer, I hope this won't happen, as you'll be obliged to go to a pub to drink a West-Vleteren trappist.
It is quite an odd selling-mechanism they are setting up. Which will definetely lead to some strange situations in the first few weeks/months. Actually I don't understand the reason behind it. Well actually I do ... those monks just need a bit more money to rebuild their monestary and they're looking for a quick and temporary way to sell some of their beer. Once they have enough, they might just go back to the way they used to sell it.
And that is probably the main reason why they're not setting up a more traditional line of selling through the usual beer-movers who eventually sell their beer to pubs and grocery-stores as most of the other beer-brands.
What do you think? If they're going to sell it, should they do it the "normal" way, or is the way they're planning it right now a better one?
Greetingz,
Koen.
But now apparantly the monks over in West-Vleteren seem to revise their selling-strategy and are seriously thinking about selling more of their delicious beer. (see Article in De Standaard, Nieuwsblad and a comment in De Standaard)
But the way they're planning to do it is again a surprise to many people. As it looks now (but then again, it just only "talk"), they're only going to sell through one chain of supermarket-stores. Colruyt seems to be the lucky one.
And you might have guessed it ... this drops in as a bomb in beer-land. And personally I do have my doubts about it too.
What will happen if they effectively going to sell it through that one store-chain?
The idea is (probably) to let normal consumers buy West-Vleteren trappist in a shop closer to their homes. But what will probably happen is that once the beer will appear on the shelves, about any pub-owner will be there as first, buying as much as they can, leaving no beer for the normal consumers. As I'm working in a beer-pub, professionaly I hope this will happen, however being also a "normal" beer-consumer, I hope this won't happen, as you'll be obliged to go to a pub to drink a West-Vleteren trappist.
It is quite an odd selling-mechanism they are setting up. Which will definetely lead to some strange situations in the first few weeks/months. Actually I don't understand the reason behind it. Well actually I do ... those monks just need a bit more money to rebuild their monestary and they're looking for a quick and temporary way to sell some of their beer. Once they have enough, they might just go back to the way they used to sell it.
And that is probably the main reason why they're not setting up a more traditional line of selling through the usual beer-movers who eventually sell their beer to pubs and grocery-stores as most of the other beer-brands.
What do you think? If they're going to sell it, should they do it the "normal" way, or is the way they're planning it right now a better one?
Greetingz,
Koen.
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