Author: Chuck Cook

  • Belgian Family Brewers Press Trip, Day 2

    Belgian Family Brewers Press Trip, Day 2

    Back to the tale of the Belgian Family Brewers press trip, which was 6 to 10 November. Thursday, November 7th was as dreary a day as the last few had been. “Typical Belgian weather,” as all the brewers, bar owners, and locals would say. After 27 trips to Belgium, I can’t tell you how many…

  • Brouwerij Van Campenhout

    Brouwerij Van Campenhout

    The Province of Flemish Brabant has another new brewery, and it’s on the site of an old brewery. Which seems to be a trend these days. One that I approve of. Whole-heartedly. Brouwerij Van Campenhout is located in Kampenhout, which is due northeast of Brussels, on the road to Haacht. Yes, another Belgian brewery…. In…

  • MBAA (Master Brewers Association of America) glassware

    MBAA (Master Brewers Association of America) glassware

    I have some old glassware from MBAA conventions, going back to as early as 1969 in Toronto. I don’t really want these glasses anymore, so if anyone is interested, feel free to make a monetary or beer trade offer for them. higrav1 AT gmail dot com

  • Irish Pub Dubh-Linn, #1 Orval Ambassador Cafe 2013

    Irish Pub Dubh-Linn, #1 Orval Ambassador Cafe 2013

    It’s almost 2014, but there’s a great café that’s deserves some attention for its accomplishments in 2013. Irish Pub Dubh-Linn, located at a crossroads in Wolfsdonk, Flemish Brabant, between Aarschot and Diest, is the number one Orval Ambassador café for 2013. It was awarded the “Magna Cum Laude” distinction by the Trappist brewery in late…

  • Enjoying a De Cam/3 Fonteinen Millennium Geuze

    Enjoying a De Cam/3 Fonteinen Millennium Geuze

    It’s one of the “white whale” beers of the world. It’s considered by some to be one of the top lambic brews ever produced. Millennium Geuze, a collaboration beer between Willem Van Herreweghen, former owner and blender of Geuzestekerij De Cam in Gooik, and Armand Debelder of 3 Fonteinen of Beersel, is one of the…

  • De Lambikstoempers “Day of the Old Geuze” is next weekend in Halle

    De Lambikstoempers “Day of the Old Geuze” is next weekend in Halle

    De Lambikstoempers, the premier lambic beer appreciation and promotion club in Belgium’s Payottenland, is holding their eighth annual “Dag Van de Oude Geuze” or Day of the Old Geuze, next weekend. The venue is the Streekproductencentrum (Regional Products Center) in Halle, eight miles south of Brussels. Halle is linked by two to three trains an…

  • Belgian Family Brewers Press Trip, Day One

    Belgian Family Brewers Press Trip, Day One

    I was honored to be invited to attend the first ever Belgian Family Brewers Press trip, held from 6 to 10 November. We visited eight breweries, and had presentations and tastings about all 21 brouwerijen and brasseries. Among the 21 are some of the best breweries in Belgium, including several of my favorites. The Belgian…

  • Cafe De Kluis, Buizingen (Halle) a new lambic cafe

    Cafe De Kluis, Buizingen (Halle) a new lambic cafe

    The outskirts of town east of the historic city of Halle, a rail hub with 35,000 inhabitants about ten miles south of Brussels, has a new lambic beer-focused cafe. Cafe De Kluis, at Nachtegaalstraat 128, Buizingen, opened this spring. De Kluis (“The Cloister”) has a good beer list, and focuses on the lambic, geuze, and…

  • Brussels Beer Challenge: Belgium’s World-Class Beer Competition

    Brussels Beer Challenge: Belgium’s World-Class Beer Competition

    I was honored to be a Taster (Judge) at the second edition of the Brussels Beer Challenge the first weekend in November. Held at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Liege, the competition featured nearly 600 beers from 15 countries around the world, and 52 International beer judges. I was one of only four judges from…

  • Flanders Today covers Belgian Family Brewers press trip

    Flanders Today covers Belgian Family Brewers press trip

    Flanders Today, an English-language newspaper aimed at covering events in Belgium’s Dutch-speaking northern half for ex-pats and other English speakers, has covered the Belgian Family Brewers Press trip that I was a part of last week. You can read it here