This writeup describes the October '94 trip to Belgium to attend the annual Objectieve Bierproevers (OBP) 24-Hour Beer Tasting. I am planning to attend this event again in November, when it occurs on the weekend before Thanksgiving. This trip will be about two weeks of serious beerhunting and will include other events, brewery visits, and features to be determined. If anyone else is interested in joining me for the Antwerp and/or other portion of that trip, then let me know at swh@ll.mit.edu.
I left Boston in the evening, the day after returning from the Dixie Cup in Houston. There were a couple of cases of gift beer in my luggage.
The flight arrived at 6am. I waited until after 7:30 to pick up the rental car and headed out on the Ring toward Charleroi. Since it was still too early to check in at the hotel in Beersel, I took a nice nap in the car at the rest stop immediately north of Beersel on E19.
At 11:00 or so, I was off to Beersel. The weather was mild, overcast with temperatures in the upper 40's or 50's. It was perfect for a quick check in and then the sudden realization that I'm in Belgium again! It was off to Drinks Wets in a flash, one exit south on the E19.
It was just like coming home, and I loaded up on Hanssens Kriek, De Dolle Brouwers beers, Rodenbachs, and some others. I went out to the car and proceeded to pack up the beers. An hour or so later, I continued to Alsemberg to the DelHaize supermarket, for more bars of chocolate than I could carry, Chimay cheeses, and wonderful breads.
I packed up the chocolate, too, and went back to Beersel with lots of the work of this short trip all done in the first day.
Next morning was Thursday. Time to make the trip to Westvleteren and pick up some beer. I picked up a case of the ABT and two six-packs of the 6 and two of the 8. I intended to give half of the beer away at the 24-hour tasting in Antwerp but still felt a slight panic knowing more beer than could be carried home was in the back of the car.
I was back in Beersel by 3pm and headed back to DW and the DelHaize in Alsemberg, mostly just for fun.
Friday morning arrived with another wonderful breakfast in Beersel and a drive to Antwerp, a check-in in at the Hotel Cammerpoorte and the beginning of collecting chocolates, lace, and beer.
The Del Rey shop, in Appelmanstraat near the central station, is past the StadsFeestal, where the 24-hour beer tasting was scheduled to begin on Saturday. I walked to Del Rey, shopped, and headed back by way of the Leonidas shop in the Mier. The Leonidas people were happy to direct me to the StadsFeestal. It is to the left as you head out of the Leonidas shop, past the Quick hamburger place, on the right, with really tall black doors.
The chocolate was getting heavy. It was back to the hotel for a drop off, then out again, to the Cathedral and the Elisa chocolate shop and Antwerps Snoephuis. I discovered the No1 Frituur at the end of Hoogstraat, where the frites are never frozen and mayonaise is really fresh. Those frites haunt me.
I visited the bottleshop in Reynderstraat as well. There are always new beers to find, and the staff is very helpful and friendly. I spied out the Paranoia at once. The bottle is painted like Mateen. The label is pink and bright green and features a hippo. Half of the bottles have bright green crown caps, and half have pink. The pink-capped beer is brown. The green-capped is green. I did not believe the guy in the shop, and there was a delivery guy there, too, so the shopguy poured one for us. It is a pale green triple. More info on that beer and other new beers was available at the 24-hour tasting. Of course, I had to buy a couple of bottles of each of the interesting new beers.
On Saturday, the 24-hour beer tasting does not start until 2pm. I was there when the doors opened, with several other enthusiasts. A Belgian Dixieland Jazz band was playing to welcome us. It was quite festive. The sampling glasses were small brandy snifters, holding perhaps 4 ounces, and each sample was about that size. 11 sample tokens are about $9.00. The room was small, with booths in the center and tables at the sides for attendees. I saw many old friends there and made some new ones. I was ready to bail out at 7pm or so.
Breweries represented at the 24-hour tasting, listed from smallest production per year to largest: K.I.H.O., La Caracole, Jawadde, Meesters, Boelens, Kerkom, De Koo (Kelottes), Abbaye des Rocs, Piessens, La Binchoise, Domus, Nino Bacelle, Villers, De Dolle Brouwers, Ellezelloise, De Dool, Piron, Van Den Bossche, De Troch, De Rijck, Achouffe, Slaghmuylder, Sterkins-Celis, Timmermans, Van Eecke, Liefmans (Riva), Lefebvre, Orval, Bios-Van Steenberghe, Bosteels, Huyghe, Du Bocq, Rodenbach, Van Honsebrouck, Bavik, Riva, Wieze N.V. Anker, Westmalle Trappisten, Abbaye de Scourmont, De Koninck, Belle Vue (interbrew), Moortgat, St. Guibert (interbrew), De Kluis (interbrew), Interbrew.
Interesting, new beers at the 24-hour tasting:
Honey beers (honingbier): From Boelens, Bieken. "Bieken" is Flemish for honey bee and is a term of endearment for a voluptous woman. Bieken is sweetened with honey after fermentation. From La Binchoise, Le Pave de L'Ours. Honey is added to the wort at the end of the boil, and the finished beer is dry and strong (9 degrees).
Pils: From Domus, the brewpub in Leuven, Fonske, an unfiltered (Ongefilterd) beer with a light bitterness and nice hop aroma and flavor. The server indicated that the beer is very bitter. For him, perhaps. It was less bitter than the Hommelbier from Van Eecke.
Blond Special Beer: From Piessens, Sublim. The brewery, which had been in the back garage of his house, recently burned down. Luc went ahead and found another brewery to produce his beers while his brewery is rebuilt. Sublim, when tasted fresh two years ago, was superb. It was lightly sweet, very lightly acidic, and very dangerous at 8.2 degrees. A really nice classic triple. The beer served at the 24-hour tasting was noticeably sour, which is no problem, really, but that delicate, sneaky balance was gone. I hope that the old Sublim will be available again soon.
Kriek: From Liefmans, a Kriek Gluhbier, served heated with herbs, in the style of some wines. Said to be a good treatment for a cold. The glass must be washed twice before tasting another beer. There was a Kriek from Piessens, and one from Wieze. Neither is a lambic. Sadly, I did not get to taste the Piessens Kriek.
Green Beer: From Villers, Paranoia Groen. Lots of nervous-looking people who kept looking around had green beer in their glasses. 7 degrees. There is no flavor or aroma with the green color.
White Beer: From Sterkens-Celis, the White beer was wonderful, as usual. It was served from a keg. From La Caracole, Troublette, a very cloudy white beer. Also available Witbier Van Temse from Piessens, Hoegaarden Witbier, and four others that I did not get to taste.
Other Beers: There were more than 100 other beers I did not get to taste, but then I'm going back next year.
There is a very tempting waffle booth not far from the StadsFeestal. The delicate aroma haunts me. There was a slight drizzle. No problem really, and quite refreshing considering the amount of smoke in the air at the tasting. I had been assured that Sunday morning was the best time to taste the beers and talk to the brewers.
On Sunday morning, I went to the car to get the gift beers, lifted something wrong, and messed up my back for a couple of weeks. I still brought the gift beers to the StadsFeestal and tasted a bunch of beers on Sunday morning. It was not crowded, and one could still find a place to sit and talk with old friends. By about 5pm or so, I was pooped, and I headed for the Frituur in Hoogstraat. On Monday morning, it was back to Beersel. I found Armand DeBelder at Drie Fonteinen and was sharing a beer or two when another American arrived. I forget the guy's name, but he was also a beer enthusiast. Call him Hugo. Hugo is a tiler from New Hampshire. He was hoping to spend 6 months in Europe, staying in hostels and learning languages.
It had long been a plan that Armand and I do a little lambic cafe tour. There were four of us, Armand's father, Armand, Hugo, and me. We rode in Armand's Mercedes wagon. He drives fast on the little roads. I figured out right away why Armands's wife, who has serious back problems, decided not to join us.
We drove around, looking at the DeBelder family farm, where Armand was born. We arrived at a cafe known to Armand's father, who now lives not so far from the family farm.
The cafe was very small. It was warm. There were only 3 tables, so one group of guests left so that we could sit down. A fellow at another table yodels when customers depart. It must be some sort of local custom. It was delightful. We ordered a round of Gueuze, which Armand thought was from Frank Boon. Hugo almost constantly rolled cigarettes. He thought the floor tiles were at least 100 years old. Armand's father verified that the place was a bit older than that.
The man and woman who work there must own the place. They were both elderly and very short. They fit the low doorways just right. I guess most people used to be shorter than they are today. It was a distinctly transporting place to be. The man and woman both wear slippers and walk in a shuffling sort of way, very slowly, as if it is painful. It takes a while to get a beer. Some of the customers bring their empty glasses up to the bar before departing to help out.pg8.ps
About half way down our Gueuze, a group of 3 men arrived to sit at the table with the yodeler. They were dressed for farm work. It was about 4pm. I suspect that they close out every working day with a nice beer. They ordered a variety of beers. A couple at the other table departed to a long yodel. As soon as you begin to stand, he begins, and you can still hear the call after you have closed the door and are down the street.
Last Updated: 16 August, 1995
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