Breweries

  • Trappistes Rochefort, Part 2: Abbey, Church, Library

    Trappistes Rochefort, Part 2: Abbey, Church, Library

    Well, it’s been awhile since I posted Part I of this Rochefort series. Here is part 2, finally: A look behind the scenes in the Abbey, Church, and library at the Trappist ‘l Abbaye Notre Dame de St-Remy, and its Brasserie Rochefort. This April 2013 tour was given by Frère Pierre, the monk in charge…

  • Beer of the Day: Alvinne Niks Meer Nodig

    Beer of the Day: Alvinne Niks Meer Nodig

    I was fortunate enough to visit the great Nüetnigenough in Brussels twice last month, and enjoy the great food, beers, and hospitality of co-owner Olivier Desmet. Olivier is a huge beer lover, as anyone that visits his superb establishment will discover. He poured me and Stijn Van Houdt of Visit Flanders a very special dessert…

  • Beer of the Day: Bockor Cuvee de Jacobins Rouge

    Beer of the Day: Bockor Cuvee de Jacobins Rouge

    A fine, delicious Flemish Red Brown beer from Brouwerij Bockor in Bellegem, West Flanders. The brewery is now renamed as Brouwerij Omer Vander Ghinste. Cuvee de Jacobins Rouge is based on a beer with 100% spontaneous fermentation. There is a huge coolship on the top floor of the brewery, and the Red Brown (Rood Bruin) is aged…

  • 1975 Cantillon Kriek

    1975 Cantillon Kriek

    On a nice spring day in Belgium, Sunday, April 20th, I had the chance to taste a very special vintage beer. It’s not too often that you get to drink a nearly 40-year old brew, and I was excited at the news that friends Andre Van Gansen, Danny Van Tricht, and I would be opening…

  • Brouwerij St. Bernardus: “new” Extra 4

    Brouwerij St. Bernardus: “new” Extra 4

    One of Belgium’s great breweries is not resting on the laurels of its already superb lineup of beers. St. Bernardus, of Watou, West Flanders, perhaps best-known for its dark, rich, malty, Abt 12, has just added a fine warm weather session beer to its portfolio. I had the pleasure of visiting the brewery (for the…

  • Cantillon’s Bomb Shelter Beer Cellar

    Cantillon’s Bomb Shelter Beer Cellar

    The much-beloved Brasserie Cantillon has a new long-term storage project where tens of thousands of bottles of lambic, Oude Gueuze, and other beers will be stored for up to thirty years. I had the great pleasure of visiting the “Bomb Shelter Beer Cellar” with Cantillon brewmaster Jean Van Roy on Thursday, April 24. Jean told me,…