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JORIS’ CELLAR BLOG
18 February
IT OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN BRUSSELS BIS
I have been whining about it before: once the Kerstbierfestival over, there are just not enough festivals around to keep a man from thirsting. Or rather more accurate (I am given to certain exaggerations…), those around are just not thŕt special enough to go to all the trouble for visiting them, and finding out (most importantly), how to get there, without ending up in the weekend statistics - meaning by public transport.
So, when other possibilities pop up, I gladly grab them. Out of the blue, or rather, from Beer Advocate, a certain Southern Carolinian (is that grammatically correct?), contacted me, enquiring if I could be interested in a meeting with a fellow beerlover, and maybe exchange some beers? I told the good man that that kind of thing might indeed be of some interest to my fathers' son, so we arranged to meet at Delirium Café, immediately after him and his MIO set foot on Belgian soil. Talk about taking things seriously.
This meet-up was arranged for Sunday, 17th of February. However, a few weeks before that significant date, on "the other site" - i.c. Ratebeer, where yours truly is pretty active - my fellow Ratebeerians were talking about a meet-up (which the organiser, babbler Joe-in-Uccle-who-lives-not-in-Uccle-actually-but-almost-so, dubbed facetiously "laid-back Brussels Tasting"), with some visiting American beertasters, as well as some Europeans coming from the near and further surroundings.
If I at first baulked at the idea of two weekends' tastings in a row, (not to mention my wife's reaction!), gradually this boy began to sway. As some master torturer, Joe started sending me mails mentioning some of the goodies that would be consumed on the (his) premises. And then others chimed in… Let me show you what eventually turned out to be the carrot in front of my asinine nose…
Russian River Beatification Batch 001
Russian River Beatification Batch 001-PH1
Ommegang Ommegeddon
Friedel Zentbechhofen Bock
Fantôme Black Ghost vintage '97
Plank Weizenbock Dunkel
Plank Bavarian Dunkler Weizenbock
Springfield Mueller Hop Lobster
Lagunitas Kill Ugly Radio (Double IPA)
Goose Island Imperial IPA
Schlafly Barleywine
Hair of the Dog Fred from the Wood
Pizza Port Cuvee de Tomme
Lost Abbey (Angels Share)
Surly Darkness
Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva
AleSmith Barrel Aged Old Numbskull
AleSmith Barrel Aged Wee Heavy
North Coast 10th Anniversary Barrel-Aged Old Rasputin
North Coast Old Stock Cellar Reserve Brandy
Southampton 10th Anniversary Old Ale
Řlfabrikken Dekadence 2005
Nřgne Ř IPA or #100 or Herslev Pale Ale
Hoppin Frog Mean Manalishi Double IPA
Russian River Damnation Batch 23
Town Hall Masala Mama IPA (64 ounce growler)
Stone Double Bastard Ale
Port Brewing Old Viscosity
Port Brewing Older Viscosity
Deschutes The Abyss vintage 2006
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
Captain Lawrence Smoke from the Oak (Bourbon Barrel)
Kate the Great RIS
Hoppin Frog BORIS The Crusher
New Glarus Belgian Red
Kuhnhenn Tenacious Cassis
Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock
Stop drooling like that! It's an ugly sight! Look at your keyboard - looks nearly as bad as mine did… And would you believe I consented to come, since they insisted so hard…?
WELL, THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT TO DO! There was just one snatch. Called old age, Alzheimer, bloodymindedness, or however you want it spelled. For some unfathomable reason this d*ckhead had assumed this Aladdins' Cave would play Sesame on the Sunday before my first planned outing. Only, just a figment of my imagination ever came up with that. All others had read, quite sensibly, that Joe was having people (OK, geeks) in on SATURDAY. Which I discovered, eventually, one and a half hour before this road to Beerwana was going to open…It's that I have 3 kids of tender age, because, otherwise, the verbal abuse I'd uttered, would have put my fellow countryman Captain Haddock to shame.
That Sunday, those lucky b*st*rds kept posting tauntings about how tedious it all turned out to be: so much to taste, over and over again. By Jove, this is truly the first tasting in history that gave an ulcer to somebody that actually didn't participate.
OK, that still left E. with his exchange. So, a fateful Sunday later, I dragged (biked, to be precise) myself to Aalter station, then to the Big Smoke, where I found that old watering hole called Delirium. I had to console myself with something, didn't I? On the premises, I delighted in:
Les 3 Fourquets Lupulus
Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber ale
Rick's Bier (De Proef)
Millevertus l'Amarante
Strubbes Chocolat
Glazen Toren Nette
All in all a bit meagre, isn't it, compared to the above one? Then again, were else would one find this, but at Impasse de la Fidelité? Oh, yes, A. & E. appeared (actually were sitting next to me for 15 mins, before either of us realised the neighbours were the interested party). At least he had some balm on him, in liquid form of RR. Pliny the Younger, and Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch ale. And now I'm going to concentrate upon those delights. Time for study.
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JORIS’ CELLAR BLOG ARCHIVE: 2008
19 January - January is a rather sad month for the beertaster.
3 February - The pains of failures and take-overs
18 February - IT OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN BRUSSELS BIS
4 March - THE BREWERY VISIT PARADOX
25 March - MEMORIES OF A FESTIVAL
21 April - The truth about Isabelle Proximus or how a big brewery can be very small indeed
28 April - SoCal MUSINGS: Part 1
1 May - SoCal MUSINGS: Part 2
1 May - SoCal MUSINGS: Part 3
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