Brussels Beer Adventures

Before and after our road trip part one, we spent a few nights in Brussels seeing the sights. The day we arrived, I had planned to do the Cantillon walking tour of the city, and then have a few drinks at Moeder Lambic. Cantillon was actually closed because it was Belgian National Day (see Britt's earlier post), but Moeder Lambic was open!

3 Fonteinen Straffe Winter at Moeder Lambic

There are two Moeder Lambic bars in Brussels, we went to Moeder Lambic Fontainas because it was closer to where we were when we wanted a beer. It is an awesome bar. They have 30 beers on tap, mostly locally made with some guest beers from breweries like Schneider and Mikkeller. We sat down to some snacks and a good selection of beers for a couple of hours. Finally we decided to have something special from the bottle list; a 3 Fonteinen Straffe Winter, which is a Gueuze made with dark candy sugar to raise the alcohol level a bit.

The waitress corked and poured the bottle for us expertly using the little woven cane Gueze holder pictured above. It was an awesome beer, with all the characteristics of Oude Gueuze that I love, along with a bit of an alcohol hit. Britt expertly described it as 'an old log decomposing deep in the forest with moss on it'.

The next day we went to Brasserie Cantillon, which is just a little way from downtown Brussels. They make some of my favourite sour beers and I was really looking forward to visiting.

Brasserie Cantillon from the street

It's quite a bit smaller than I expected. We were given an English pamphlet and allowed to wander all over the brewery, from the brewing room, to the coolship room in the roof where the wort is inoculated with local yeast and bacteria, and also to the barrel room and bottle storage areas.

Barrel room at Brasserie Cantillon

After the wort cools down overnight and is inoculated by the yeast and bacteria present in the cooling room and also coming in through the vents in the ceiling, it is transferred in to clean barrels for fermentation and ageing. It then ferments furiously for a few days with the barrel unbunged. The beer will then sit in the barrel room for up to three years to develop all the complex flavours that make Lambic and Gueuze so appealing.

Cobwebs are worshipped at Cantillon

Because of the open nature of the inoculation and fermentation of the beer at Cantillon, it is particularly sensitive to contamination by insects and the germs they carry. This is the main reason that there are loads of cobwebs all through the rafters of the cooling room and the barrel storage room. Spiders are left to take care of any fruity flies or other nasty insects, rather than use any insecticides.

Stitchybritt with a Cantillon Gueuze

At the end of the tour everyone gets two samples of Cantillon beer. We both tried the Gueuze, and then I had the Kriek while Britt had the Rose de Gambrinus (Lambic aged with raspberries). Yum!

For dinner one night we decided to check out Restobières on good recommendation from @drsordersbrewin. It's a restaurant that specialises in dishes cooked with beer, and also has a very extensive beer menu. This place is hilarious! Unfortunately we didn't get any photos of the owner, Alain, but he was very entertaining. He kept coming out into the restaurant with different hats and fake beards to entertain his guests.

A very dusty 3yo bottle of Orval at Restobières

We highly recommend this place to anyone visiting Brussels looking for a good meal, great beer selection and a generally entertaining night out.

Stitchybritt enjoying some Moules at Restobières

On our last morning in Brussels we walked down to the Grand Place to check out the Belgian Brewers Museum. When we turned up half an hour after opening time, we found a securely closed big wooden door and some buzzer buttons next to it. We pressed the button labelled 'Musée', and were told to wait just a few minutes for the museum to open. After a short wait the door opened and we ventured down into the basement of the Brewer's House, the guild house of brewers in Belgium.

The museum is pretty small; one room dedicated to an 18th century brewery and another with some equipment from a modern brewery. The third room was a tasting room with two taps that rotate daily. The barman couldn't tell us which beers we were tasting however, as they are not allowed to advertise one brewery over another in the guild building.

Me enjoying a dark abbey style ale in the Brewer's Museum

It was a nice way to spend an hour or so, and is definitely a nice place to sit with a beer after walking around town. Cheers!

Belgium Road Trip Part 1

The A'Chouffe Brewery

On Saturday we started Belgium Roadtrip Part 1.  Both very nervous about driving on the right side of the road (but Avis hired us a car, nevertheless), Sam built up the courage to drive the first length of the trip - Brussels to the A'Chouffe Brewery.  Here we had a nice lunch (apologies to the waitress who had to 'moo' so that I could undertstand what beef was on the menu - my French is poor) and then took a tour of the brewery.  Unfortunately we didn't understand much - they gave us a few photocopied sheets in English but the tour was in Dutch, however we met a nice Dutch/French couple who helped us along.

Who can go wrong with a number plate like this?

At this stage Sam had quality tested a few beers, so it was my turn to drive (our number plate - AOK - gave me some confidence).  From A'Chouffe it was only a half hour drive to Fantome, a brewery named for its apparent hauntedness.

Dany gives us a tour of Fantome brewery

Thankfully, there were no ghosts here, only Dany - the brewer, who was very kind and gave us an impromptu tour of his small brewery, despite his small grasp of English (which I note is 100 times better than my French).  Fantome make a number of good beers, including  a Green Tea beer which is also made with spinach to give it the green colour (no articificial colourants here!).  Truely worth a stop in.

From Fantome we drove onto Rochefort where we spent the night.  The next day, it was onto our next destination - Orval.

Yes!  We are on the right road!

Orval is a Trappist Monk brewery in southern Belgium.  You can visit the Abbey for a small admission fee, then sample the beers at the cafe down the road.

Sam outside the Orval Abbey

Ruins of the old church inside the Orval Abbey

The grounds of the Abbey are very beautiful and include the ancient ruins of the old church, the medicinal garden and parts of the new Abbey.  It was great to get an insight into the lives of the monks and the brewing process.

The beautiful holiday town of Bouillion

After Orval, we had a little time before we needed to be in our destination for the evening (Chimay) so we stopped in the little town of Bouillion (above).  Bouillion is a truely gorgeous town set on a river in a valley, with a castle on the high point of one side.  French and Belgian families were paddling along the river in little boats, there were many people eating ice-creams and waffles, and it generally had a very holiday-ish vibe.  Lovely.

All along we had been using the hire-car's GPS system to navigate our way around the country.  We weren't quite sure about the next surprise though - getting to our next destination meant cutting through France.  We had no idea if there was going to be toll roads, checkpoints, strip searches (ok, maybe a bit extreme but we are talking about the French here) or other border control.  The trip to Chimay (also in Belgium) through France was just over an hour, the trip around (remaining in Belgian borders) was around two hours.  So, we decided to take the chance and cut through France.  The good news is that the good old EU has no border patrols at all, in fact, I was driving for a few kms when I said to Sam "we must be in France by now".  Unless there is  sign to tell you, you probably wouldn't even know.

The view from our window at Hotel Chimay

So, onto Chimay it was.  Now, let me stop you here, before you think 'just another abbey and brewery'. As we drove into the beautiful countryside of Chimay, I immediately liked the place.  When we pulled up at the Auberge de Poteaupre (to make it easy, let's just call it Hotel Chimay, because it is owned by the Chimay brewery), this was the first point in our whole trip where I really felt that we were on holiday, where the knots in my shoulders started to unwind, and where a smile started to become a permanent fixture on my face.  We checked into the fantastic hotel/tavern (which was basically a lovely hotel at hostel prices) and looked out the window.  Can you see it?  That magnificent green field?  That happy puppy running around?  People drinking beers in the sunshine?  Yes - the sunshine.  It was the first, and possibly the last time we would see the Belgian sun.  So we made the most of it, and sat outdoors to sample some Chimay beers and cheeses ourselves.

Sam outside the hotel, in the rare Belgian sunshine

The Chimay Hotel quickly became one of those holiday spots that will remain in my mind forever.  We had a great meal and fantastic beers at the Chimay Hotel (the rouge beer being my favourite) and we only had to pop upstairs afterwards to retire.  Those green fields, they totally got me though, and Sam has some contraband film footage of me sneaking under an electric fence (possibly a little drinked) just to skip through the lush green grass after hours. Oh yes.

Tour de France?  We wish!  More like Tour de rural Belgium.

Sadly, we did have to leave Chimay, though we did make time to visit the Abbey the next morning.  As we headed back to Brussels, we were confused to see people standing on the sides of the roads in the little towns, watching the roads intently.  Were they waiting for us to come through?  Apparently not - we were stopped by police cars and non-English speaking volunteers along the way, indicating that there was something else going on (conversation with mature male volunteer "Is it ok to drive to Charleroi this way?" "Charleroi blah blah blah... [5 mins of talking in French]" "But is it ok for us to take this road?" "Charleroi blah blah blah... [10 mins of talking in French]" etc).  Eventually we were stopped and then, suddenly, a procession of maybe 100 cyclists came racing down the main street.  Was it the Tour de France?  No, it was a local tour, obviously of equal standing to local communities, as it held up the traffic  for a good half hour to let the cyclists and promotional cars through.

Later that afternoon, we made it safely back to Brussels, ready for a bit of a rest before Belgiam Road Trip Part 2.

Belgium National Day

This is what happens when you arrive in Brussels on Belgian National Day...

The streets are full of festive peeps and Belgian flags...

there are African drummers making awesome music...

there are comics painted on houses and buildings (ok, so this is normal for Brussels)...

and the sky erupts with fireworks.

So, how did we celebrate?

Sam went to 'pray' at his kind of temple...

and I indulged in some mussels, which one must do when in Brussels.

I was kinda hoping they might hand Belgian chocolates out at the border, but no such luck : P

Cologne Cathedral

Ok, I admit it: I showed up in Cologne knowing absolutely nothing about the city.  I'm such a relaxed traveller these days that I tend to arrive in cities without a clue of what I'm going to be doing there, figuring that I'll wander about and find some interesting things.  Well.  When we arrived in Cologne, we went from the S-bahn (main railway) to the U-bahn (local subway) and, with only a glance outside, I saw one of the most impressive things I've seen in my entire life. "Holy crap!" I said to Sam, "look at that!".  I was, of course, looking at the Cologne Cathedral.

Cologne Cathedral at night

If you're a seasoned traveller, especially to Europe, you probably think you've seen churches.  But let me tell you - you haven't seen anything until you've seen this.  Cologne Cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Europe, standing at 157 metres tall (as a point of comparison, Sydney Harbour Bridge is 134 metres from the water to the top of the bridge).  None of my photos do it justice - it is so huge that it is impossible to get it all in one photo.

The interior - incredibly high ceiling

The Cathedral is covered in medieval carvings and relics of incredible detail, even right at the top.  It started being built in 1248 and took a mere 632 years to complete.  632 years!  Even in 1880, being a craftsman at the top of that building must have been incredibly scary. We climbed the 533 step spiral staircase to the top belfry, and I can tell you that my legs were jiggling.  But this thing is solid.  It was hit by aerial bombs 70 times during WWII, but never collapsed.

Huge stained-glass windows

Inside the cathedral is equally impressive (but perhaps not so fear-inducing).  It is filled with artworks, statues, a crypt and very, very tall stained-glass windows.

So much detail - even at the very top

Cologne itself is a bigger city than I expected, a bit arty, very pretty, well worth a visit.  And the Cathedral, of course, is absolutely breathtaking.

Nuremberg and Bamberg

Bamberg and Nuremberg are both cities within Franconian Bavaria, in the lower half of Germany.  This area is famous for its sausages, smoked beer, and many other delicious delicacies.

The quaint, cute little streets of Nuremberg

Nuremberg is a very pretty walled city with gorgeous old-fashioned houses, many still standing from the 15th century or earlier (though much of the city was bombed during the war, so some parts are re-built).  It's a relatively small city centre that you can easily walk around, and the old castle still stands at the top of the hill.

To the left of Sam, Albrecht Durer's house (famous painter), to the right, the city walls

View from the castle - could easily be mistaken for a medieval skyline 

Although the city's history is all around you as you walk through the city, we took two tours to gain a better understanding of what the Nuremberg is all about.  One tour took us through the city centre and up to the castle, then out to the once-was Nazi party rally grounds (medieval history meets modern history).  The other tour we took was of subterranean Nuremberg, taking us through the city's cellars which were used to store the 500L of beer per person per year which was the normal allowance in the 1400s, and also the spots that were used as bunkers during the war.

The cellars underneath the city

On Saturday we visited Bamberg (with our gracious hosts, Karin and Tim) as the annual Bamberg Magic Festival was on.  Massive crowds swamped the streets to see street performers, market stalls and live music throughout the city centre.

The crowd (in reflection) watches a magic pirate (with hamster friend)

We were also in town to visit some of Bamberg's famous brewpubs.  The Schlenkerla Brauhaus (brew house) is possibly the most well-known brew pub, famous for its Rauchbier (smoked beer).  The date that the brewery was built is unknown, but it was mentioned as early as 1405 and the beer is still tapped in the traditional way from wooden barrels.

Come try a rauchbier at Schlenkerla!

The curved, ornate ceilings of Schlenkerla behind us

Rauchbier from the barrel

Of course we had to sample some of the other brew pubs in town.  One of the interesting discoveries we made was Beer Schnapps - basically distilled beer that makes for a tasty liquor!

Demijohns of different types of schnapps

Bamberg is another beautiful ye olde city worth a visit.  It also features a fantastic castle on the hill, quaint car-free streets to explore and great food to sample.

Bamberg's old City Hall (perched precariously on the river Regnitz)

Next stop: Cologne

Climbing Devil's Mountain

On our last full day in Berlin, we decided to take a bus to Grunewald forest, which is the largest green area in Berlin. It's really an amazingly large area, 3,000 hectares! We spent a few hours walking around the numerous lakes in the forest, and visited an old hunting lodge (Jagdschloss Grunewald) that was used by Prussian royalty as a base to hunt deer and wild boar.

Anne and I walking through Grunewald forest

Jagdschloss Grunewald

In the north of the forest is Teufelsberg (Devil's Mountain). Before the mountain was there, it was a Nazi military-technical college. After the war, the Allies tried to destroy the college with explosives, but this didn't work because it was too well built. As there was a lot of rubble left over from the bombing of Berlin during the war, they decided to pile it all up on top of the college to create a man made mountain. It's estimated that the rubble of over 400,000 buildings was used to create the mountain. The mountain soon became infested with ZOMBIES that escaped from the old Nazi military college!!

Actually, the US built a sophisticated (for the time) listening station on top of the mountain, which was operated by the NSA during the cold war. The listening station is still there, but has been abandoned since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

NSA listening station

As we were walking past the three barbed-wire topped fences that surround the listening station, we spotted a guy climbing out from a small hole in the fence. He told us that the station is not guarded anymore, so we decided to take a look.

Squeezing through the hole in the fence

We spent the next couple of hours exploring the listening station, and it was amazing! The old antennae and buildings were spectacular. Much of the station has been vandalised or burnt, and there is a lot of graffiti, but from the top of the large centre tower you will find the best view in Berlin.

In the listening station, the biggest antenna in the background

Anne holding up one of the antennae

Plants growing out of the walls. Does anyone know what kind of plant it is?

After venturing into one of the unlit buildings, we found some very dark stairs and bravely climbed up about seven floors to the top of the tower. The view from the level just under the antenna was fantastic. Some of the handrails had been removed or had fallen off, so we stayed away from the edges. Up at the very top inside the antenna was cool too.

There was also an interesting area at ground level where some people had put together some pretty cool sculptures from bits and pieces of metal.

A winged, metal beast

It was an awesome experience, and I recommend checking it out if you are in Berlin. I should say that the area has not been made safe for the public. There is lots of sharp, rusty metal, broken glass, lack of hand rails and an open elevator shaft. It is VERY dangerous so explore at your own risk.

After our hike we settled into a beer garden near the zoo in the city for a well earned beverage.

Cheers!

Berlin Beer Adventures

While we were in Berlin I was lucky enough to be able to talk Britt and Anne into visiting a few beer related venues around town. We managed to fit a lot of sightseeing in while we were in Berlin, and sightseeing is thirsty work!

Brauhaus Mitte

First we visited Brauhaus Mitte which is located close to the TV tower in the city centre. It is part of a large shopping mall and has seats for a couple of hundred people. We sat down for a quick refreshment and a bite to eat. There weren't many people there when we visited, and the table service was quite quick. I just had a tasting board, which came out with their three standard beers and their seasonal, complete with a little bowl of malt.

Tasting board at Brauhaus Mitte

From left to right are the Zwickel (which I later found out is like a Kellerbier), Dunkel, Pils and Hefe. All of the beers were very nice. The brewhouse itself was inside but wasn't operational when we visited.

After doing a little more research, I decided on a couple of other places to visit during our stay. Privatbrauerei am Rollberg was at the top of my list based on location and reviews I found on Beeradvocate. It's located in the middle of an industrial block next to an art gallery, go-kart track and paintball centre and was quite hard to find. After we found it, we grabbed a seat outside and asked the waitress if they had tasting glasses. She said 'yes' and then wandered inside, emerging a little while later with a small glass of each of the five beers they had on offer.

From left to right, Winterbock, Maibock, Hefe, Rot (red) and Hell.

Despite the industrial surroundings, it was a really nice place to sit for a couple of drinks and had a nice atmosphere. It seemed like a popular place for locals, a few of who rocked up while we were there and took advantage of the BBQ.

The terrace and BBQ at Privatbrauerei am Rollberg

After tasting all the beers I settled on a Rot, Britt on a Maibock and Anne on a Hell.

We also talked our way into getting a quick tour of the brewery. It's located in the basement of the old Berliner Kindl brewery which isn't operational anymore. Some of the old vessels still stick down through the ceiling, contrasting with the rows of smaller shiny fermentation and layering vessels.

The Rollberg brauhaus in the background. The bottom of the gaint old Berliner Kindl kettle sticking down from the roof.

Shiny fermentation and lagering vessels.

Later on that day in a beer garden, I tried my first 'proper' Berliner Weisse. Anne was kind enough to have put a few interesting beers in the fridge for me at home, which included a couple of bottles of Berliner Weisse which I had straight, but this was the first time I had it with syrup as the locals do. I had woodruff syrup, and it kind of tasted like rhubarb. The sweetness of the syrup almost totally hid the nice lactic sourness of the beer. It was quite refreshing, but a bit too sweet for my taste.

Berliner Weisse with woodruff

A keen German homebrewer that we met at Privatbrauerei am Rollberg had told me about a brewery nearby that claimed to be the smallest brewery in Germany. I wrote down the name of it and we decided to visit it a couple of days later.

Brauhaus Coepenick

Brauhaus Coepenick is a little glass structure in the middle of an old square in Koepnick, a suburb of Berlin. I'm not sure if it really is the smallest brewery in Germany, but it's pretty small, only producing 150 litre batches! The brewer said he brews two batches a day, usually finishing at around midnight! While we were there he finished the boiled of the first batch, and Anne and I were lucky enough to help him mash in the second batch! I'm lucky Anne was there to kindly translate for me as the brewer spoke no English at all.

Mashing in

The brewery makes a range of different beers in addition to the standard Hell and Dunkel. When we visited, they had a Buchweizen (buckwheat beer), Rauch-bock (strong smoked lager), Kirsch-chili (cherry / chilli) and also a beer inspired by the ancient brews of Babylonia. There was a list of other seasonals on the menu, which included Chicha! I tried all the beers and they were all pretty tasty, the Rauch-bock being my and Britt's pick of the bunch.

The tap range at Brauhaus Coepenick

From left to right, Kirsch-chili bier, Rauch-bock and Hell.

We had a great afternoon in the beer garden. They weren't serving food when we visited, but they said we were more than welcome to purchase food elsewhere and eat it in the beer garden, which we gladly did.

Another brewpub we visited was Brauhaus Südstern near Südstern station. It's a much larger place compared to Brauhaus Coepenick, with seats for a few hundred people and batch sizes of about 1000 litres. They had the usual Hell, Dunkel and Hefe on offer as well as a Kirsch (cherry) beer. The one from the menu I had to try was their XXL Bier, a 27.6% Eisbock. It was served in a shot glass ice cold. I let it warm up a bit and interestingly couldn't detect much alcohol in it at all. It tasted like lots of dark fruit and was quite nice.

XXL Bier at Brauhaus Sudstern

Overall I was pretty impressed with the micro brewed beers we had in Berlin. It would be nice to have a bit more of a variety of styles, but there are definitely some interesting breweries around!

P.S. We also brought home a few bottles of Gurkin Radler from Spreewald (see Britt's earlier post). It poured a clear, bright green and tasted very cucumbery! Not something I'd drink everyday but would definitely be refreshing quaffed cold on a hot, humid day.

Gurkin Radler