Brussels and Lambic

We only had a single day in Brussels on our travels, but I had been avoiding lambic and related sour beers up until this point of our trip, knowing that we'd be in the heart of lambic country in Brussels at least long enough for some fresh samples.

The plan was to hit the Cantillon brewery in downtown Brussels for a tour & tasting.  Unfortunately, we didn't account for the fact it was May 1 (May Day) - which is a public holiday in Belgium, unlike in Canada.  It's always May 1, even if it falls on a Tuesday.  So cafes were open, street festivals were on, but everything else was closed.  Including Cantillon!  The horror...

Putting a brave face on our tragic timing

Fortunately, it wasn't that far of a walk to a great Belgian beer bar featuring many (fresh) Cantillon beers: Moeder Lambic (Fontinas location).  Most Belgian beer bars seem to feature a few taps plus a long list of bottles - many of which we get in Vancouver (thanks RainCity Brands!).  Moeder Lambic Fontinas has gone the other direction and focused on taps - 46 in all, including about 6 cask engines.  That's right - fresh lambic/gueuze/etc. from a cask.  Drool.

Um, yes, I think this will do nicely

For those beer nerds who want to break out the magnifying glass, here's the tap list:

Nice bar inside, and all tap lines are limited to about 4m in length (kegs are directly underneath the bar):

One of the advantages of drinking with Mrs. Hoplog is that we get to share beers.  We had:

• Cantillon Mamouche (lambic made with Elderflowers)
• Cantillon Lambic on Cask (unblended, young lambic)
• Cuvee St. Gilloise (dry hopped lambic)
• Cantillon Rose De Gambrinus on Cask (lambic made with raspberries)
• Dupont "Monk's Stout" (stout made with decidedly wild/non-standard yeasts)
• Cuvee De Rank on Cask

Oh, that was worth the wait.

Unblended young lambic on cask, and Mamouche (w/Elderflowers), both by Cantillon

I have to admit, the first smell/taste of the young, unblended Cantillon lambic brought me right back to many beers I've judged in competitions: cheesy old hops and the weedy/vegetable taste of a beer infected with wild bacteria.  These are usually bad things, but I had to set previous notions aside as the whole point of lambics and related styles is that they're produced using only wild yeasts/bacteria.  So that "infected" aroma/flavour is expected, it's not a flaw.  With time and care (and possibly blending) the bacteria will produce a wonderfully complex drink - the vegetable taste will fade, and the bacteria will eat up the cheesy flavours of the aged hops, and woodsy, sour and earthy barnyard flavours will appear.  Really interesting to taste the early stages of that process, and this is one of the few places you can do it.

Elderflowers made for a fine beverage

Mrs. Hoplog's Rose De Gambrinus (cask) was an attention-getter - unbelievable raspberry aroma and flavour.  The freshness was a real advantage for such an aromatic beer.

Cuvee St. Gilloise (dry-hopped sour beer) and Rose De Gambrinus on cask

The standout for me was the Cuvee De Rank on cask.  I had tasted it from bottles, but this was a totally different experience.  Less sour, much more fruity.  White grape juice to begin, then quickly flavours of - no kidding - a nice Reposado margarita appear; and finally a finish of toasty wheat.  Wow.

For dessert later on in the evening, we had a bottle of Lindeman's Grand Cuvee Kriek to finish before the next day's flight, with spoonfuls of cheap Belgian chocolate fondant we picked up at the grocery store. Drool.

Thank you Belgium.  Tomorrow we're off to Dublin, and an entirely different beer culture.

Den Dyver Beer Pairing Dinner

Hi all - thought I would start posting about beer-related topics on a separate blog (separate from my wife's and my shared travel blog).  A completely off-hand summary of a nice beer-pairing dinner in Belgium is hopefully a good way to start.  (Though I'll try to keep things more succinct and less "foodie review-y" in the future.)

Den Dyer - in Bruges, Belgium - was recommended to us by a Belgian friend. (Thanks Kevin!)  While it's far from cheap, it's certainly not excessively expensive by Bruges (or Belgian) standards, and is a lovely oasis of fresh and flavourful cooking in a sea of overpriced touristy restaurants.

You can order a la carte, but the set menu with beer pairings is the way to go, as this is an award-winning "beer and food" restaurant.  Wine pairings are also available, but... well come on, you'd better have celiac disease if you're ordering wine here.  Most people were getting the beer pairings - including the Western region sales rep for New Belgium Brewing (a Colorado company), and a couple of decidedly Pacific Northwest-looking guys with scruffy beards and rough sweaters (just like most of the lovable beer nerds back in Vancouver) with their significant others.  Mrs. Hoplog ordered vegetarian & nut free, which the kitchen was able to accommodate.

The kitchen served amuse-bouche to begin - a pickled zucchini/mackerel combination, a shot of fresh pumpkin soup, and a salmon carpaccio with homemade potato chip.  We skipped the aperitif beers as we had already visited t'Bruges Beertje for a warm-up beer or two (a Hommel Bier amber, a Viven Porter and a Smisje Dubbel made with dates).

First course: "Sucking[sic] pig. Pork cheek. Tierenteyn mustard. Wheat, dried garlic, ginger and curry. 'Burned' cauliflower. Chutney of carrot, fennel and star aniseed.  Beer: Gruut - Stadsbrouwerij - Gent."

This was my favourite course.  The pork was nicely caramelized & was complemented perfectly by the chutney, cauliflower and incredible savoury toasted wheat.  The beer was a fairly typical (though appropriate) fruity and slightly earthy amber Belgian ale; the "Gruut" might suggest this is a "gruit" style that uses no hops, and they certainly cultivate that image by listing "herbs" rather than "hops" as a beer ingredient.  But in fact "Gruut" is a brand name of this line of beers, and they do contain hops as well as herbs.

Mrs. Hoplog also had her favourite course to start - a vegetarian lasagna with spinach and toasted tofu, served with Saison Dupont.

Cheers to the first course!

Second course: "Baked Pollack and crust of leaven and shrimps. Minced razor clam and asparagus. Artichoke mash. Clam mousse.  Beer: Enfant Terriple - Brouwerij De Leite - Ruddervoorde."

The fish was moist and slightly salty, emphasized by the briny foam applied to the dish. The potatoes and ubiquitous springtime white asparagus (spargel) provided an earthy counterpoint.  The tripel was a very refreshing, slightly peppery and hazy beer with a gentle snap of hop bitterness; it worked well with the earth and sea flavours.

Mrs. Hoplog had a mushroom risotto with grilled vegetables, paired with a Golden Carolous Ambrio, and I heard no complaints!

Mrs. Hoplog approves of this beer

For dessert: "Waffle. Strawberries. Pistachios. Mint.  Beer: Faro - Brouwerij Lindemans - Vlezenbeek."

Apparently I tend to get a few bites in before realizing I should take a photo...

The waffle and lemony ice cream were good, but the Faro beer was the standout - barnyardy lambic aromas, with sweet and sour caramel flavours.  (Faro = a lambic/gueuze with Belgian candi sugar added.)  Great dessert beer.

With the bill we were presented with miniature strawberry meringues, a nice touch.

Service was excellent, and in particular the main beer sommelier was very knowledgeable.  He provided a brief back-story for each beer poured, which added to the experience.

As much as I loved the food, and thought the beer was excellent and appropriately matched to the dishes, I can't help but think Den Dyver has it easy when pairing foods with beer.  They have an excellent kitchen and a selection of the most food-friendly beers in the world (Belgian), and most dishes will pair adequately (though probably not spectacularly) with a dubbel, a tripel or a fruit beer.  While the food and beer were excellent, the pairings were merely good and safe.  I would love to see what Den Dyver could do with more challenging pairings - perhaps featuring beers or dishes with particularly strong or unexpected flavours, or pairings whose result is greater than the sum of the (admittedly excellent) parts.  But perhaps I'm just splitting hairs - if you're anywhere near Bruges, I still think it's a must-visit.