Another Kölsch experience

Well, I am definitely not a picky guest and always open for new stuff. Being invited for a friend's birthday party, there was an option of having wine or beer from Cologne. As the reader might imagine, Michael and Kölsch doesn't fit together.
But I gave it a try, because it was an organic one from a micro brewery in Cologne I did not know.



Heller is a small brasserie in the south of Cologne. Without any serious prejudices, I had two bottles and was positively surprised: unlike the thin taste of regular Kölsch, this one has a decent character, spicy and a little hoppy. Due to the fact, I had to be the family chauffeur, I switched over to water later the evening. Otherwise I would have stayed with the beer much longer.
But what always happened with Michael and Kölsch, also happened with Hellers the next morning: waking up, I felt like having drunken 10 bottles of the stuff, not just two. This curiosity happens anytime I give Kölsch a try. I won't complain, pointing out the "bad" quality of brewing tradition in Cologne. My explanation: being from Düsseldorf, my body just developed special defence shields for a beer from Kölle ;-)

A surprise

Innocently, I drove to my favourite beer store today for getting some bottles for tonites board game evening with friends.
I was happy to find some new brews of my most liked German brasseries (Meister and Unertl; tasting notes later), but the most astonoshing thing happened, when I went towards the cashier. It was a beer bottle, designed like the Belgian ones. And the label said that it is an IPA, brewed in Germany, Bonn. What happened? My favorite beer, brewed by a brasserie in my small home town???? I gabbed of course on bottle and asked the boss, whether he might give me some background notes.

That's what he told me: Fritz is a Bonn-based expert on Belgian beer and he is close with a well-known Belgian beer sommelier. After tasting so many beers, both decided to brew some favorite beers themselves. The first one was an IPA, followed by a Stout. He rents some space in a brewery in Cologne and in the monastery in Siegburg for brewing and storing in barrels. This sounds more than interesting!! I did not taste the IPA so far, but will do it very soon. My tasting notes will follow soon.

This is, for the beginning, the website of the Belgian-Bonn brewery: www.fritzale.de

Düsseldorf's brewing innovations

Picking up ou new US student at Düsseldorf airport, I found some time (his flight was 4 hours late) to drive to my favourite beer grocery in Ddorf for buying some new Schlüssel Alt, which is my favourite summer Alt, because of its light jasmine flavour.

But hey, this shop has more to give away than the nice fluid of Ddorf's Alt.

At first, I found a rare bottle, I was desparately searching for a whole year now: Uerige, my other favourite, decided last year to brew a lemonade, using malt, hops and elder flower. Not only my minor daughter was more than happy about our discovery.




It is not sweet at all, has a slight taste of caramel with a decent note of the natural elder flower that is used to brew the lemonade. A little bit, it reminds me of the German malt beer, but not as sweet as it. So it's a refreshing summer lemonade, but brewed and it has a nise foam as well :-)

The other discovery was a new brew by Füchschen, which is in fact my third favourite micro brewery in my hometown. They decided to "go to Bavaria", by brewering a Hefeweizen (yeast wheat beer) and guess what: it's delicious!!!

Most of the original Bavarian Weissbier is too sweet, or too boring for me. But this one is different. It can not hide its family background from Ddorf with the bitter, hoppy note. It definitely has its unique character, which most of the Bavarian beers don't have :-) Even my friend Peter, who I could never convince to become a fan of Alt beer, loved the Silber Füchschen.




—-- Written on iPad

De Garre

Even without any summer vacation this year, the family decided to do a day trip to Bruges and the coast at De Haan. Finally, our Stroehlein friends invited us for dinner in Bruxelles, so we had a very convenient and delicious stop on our way back home.

Before going to Flandres, I already informed myself about possible micro-breweries in the city and found one on a blog. The authors mentioned that it has even no address and would be difficult to locate because it is located not in a street or a lane, more in a backyard between two houses near the main place of Bruges.

I don't know, but without any direction I found the "lane". Looked like being transfered from one of the Harry Potter stories.





For any of you, who wanna go there, I will try to give you a hint where you might find it. It's called De Garre and beside brewing beer, they have a very small pub, too (the entrance is the one with the steps). Inside, you feel like in reformation times, the ground floor has probably six tables, the first floor not more :-)





They have about 100 different Belgian beers in bottle, and the home-brewed De Garre on tap. Obviously, we tried this one and, for the record, during one visit you are not allowed to order more than 2 glasses of it. We didn't try it, but being there at lunch time without any food in our stomach, two glasses were enough :-)





And you should really try it, it is delicious. It's a triple beer, with probably 11% alcohol, sweet at the start, then fruity with some melon tastes, the finish is a decent bitter note. It was really fun to look for that place and try its beer.

After leaving the place, it was difficult following the girls on their shopping safari, but finally I found a good place:

New July draughts @ Moeder Lambic

After my return to Brussels, and before going to bed at my hotel near the Midi station, it was time again to visit Moeder Lambic at Place Fontainas and try some of the guest draughts.

My first was a new one from Brasserie Rulles, the Meilleurs Voeux:

Compared to other beers from Rulles, I was quite disappointed. It is slightly sour, with a finish of different herbs. But all together, it is not well balanced and to some extend flat and boring.

As I knew, that the Moeder Lambic team would not let me leave without a positive surprise, I ordered a Plat Mixte with the georgious Belgian cheese and sausages, to neutralize the Rulles flavour a bit, and tried the next one.

I chose an IPA from Viven, a brasserie I did not know before. The beer is called "Viven Imperial IPA" and guess what: it was a blast. I probably don't remember having a better IPA than this one.

Viven is a small brasserie, founded in the late 90's, located in Sisjele, a small Flemish village. The first taste was a very fruity one, a mix between melon and peach; for an IPA surprising enough. After the fruity start, the IPA-like bitterness reaches mouth and nose, combined with a very hoppy note. All those tastes together results in a tremendous good beer, definitely on of my top ten. For my next visits in Belgium, I will try to find some more beers from this smal brewery.

As a dessert, one should not order chocolate, cake or someting else at Moeder, but a beer again. So I did :-) I was happy to read on the board, that they have a Trappiste beer on draught, a St. Bernardus 12. As it is quite difficult to find Bernardus beer outside of the region, where it is brewed, I had to give it a try. And I was lucky: Having a dessert to eat, one won't find so many different tastes and smells like having this one.

The first feeling you have when drinking it is like biting into a bar of very good marzipan. After the almond taste leaves your tasting nerves, roasted malt start to blow, together with a very decent note of hop. Though I have to admit, that this one might not be a beer for the summer, I made the right choice, especially because the temperature that evening wasn't too high.

The St. Pancras International Heaven

Yes, I know: it took months until a new post here. I will promise to be a bit more stable in writing!

Although Andrew the Beer Pope told me already about the good variety of English beers in a shop at St. Pancras, I never found the time to look out for it. Yesterday, I took the chance to walk around, because I had still an hour to go for my Eurostar (uncomfortable as ever, by the way) and at Tesco, I did not find any new stuff.

And there it was: Sourced Market, a deli place, located at Kings Cross, not at International. And I found a good variety of English Ales and Lager I did not know before. Additionally, I bought a bottle of an American IPA.











You dear reader will be informed about my tasting notes later :-)

With a very heavy bag, I returned to Bruxelles, where I spent the night. And yes, I made a stop at Moeder Lambic, because they have some good new "guest beers" announced and I wanted to give them a try. Those notes will follow soon.

Probably the most bitter beer I had so far

As many of my readers might know, I love deep flavoured beers, especially the bitter ones.
Therefore, I was more than happy to have found a Belgian beer, called XX Bitter. Unfortunately, that was already the last bottle from my recent trip to Brussels, so I am happy to return next week for some political meetings, adding some shopping of course.

XX Bitter really surprised me, positively of course. It comes from a small micro brewery in Welvegem, called De Ranke. The colour is bright golden, with a close dazzling yellow nuance. In addition, it is not clear but milky, because the beer is an unfiltered one. The bottom of the bottle is opaque with yeast.
The first smell is not a bitter one, but filled with citrus and sweetness. That's also the basis for the first taste, together with some spicy undertones. At that moment I was wondering, why De Ranke called this stuff XX Bitter. But then it happened: After the beer left the tongue and went down slowly, it smashed me with a really hard bang of bitterness. Then I was convinced that it is extra bitter.
The alcohol is not too strong with 6.2%, but more than enough for an Indian Pale Ale (IPA). So in total a very good beer.