Breweries in Belgium!

Yesterday was jam-packed with adventures. We got up bright and early to catch our 8 am bus to a few cities in Flanders. Our first stop was Bosteels Brewery. They hung up the American flag outside of the house near the entrance in honor of our visit which I thought was pretty nice. Our tour guide showed us their collection of old carriages and cars that tell a little about the history of the brewery. She told us that Napoleon made a law that said carriage drivers couldn't leave their carriage and go to the bar during their deliveries, so the brewery made the special wooden holders for Kwak beer that the drivers could hold while they drove. When we got inside the brew house, they were brewing their Karmeliet beer.  This was the first brewery to actually be brewing beer during our visit which was pretty exciting. She showed us around the brewery which was pretty similar to the other ones, though it was cool to see the equipment actually working. We then went inside to have a tasting. We first tried Kwak which tasted banana-y. It kind of reminded me of Weissbier though still very distinct. I really liked it. The glass was really unique too...when you got near the end of the beer you had to drink it really slowly otherwise the air pocket may cause beer to spill in your face. Luckily that didn't happen to me :] Next we tried the Karmeliet followed by the Deus. The Deus was similar to champagne and served in very small portions. Like a lot of Belgian beers, it didn't exactly remind me of beer but I really liked it. The owner of the brewery then came to visit us and showed us the house of the original owners (who were part of his family). Apparently that's not part of the regular tour so that was a special treat. 

Next Christa, our tour guide for Belgium, took us to the town of Gent where she showed us around for about an hour. The town is made up of a bunch of different islands with rivers flowing through them. It was a very old city but really neat. We walked by a castle from the 900s! Part of it was used as a defense castle against the vikings and the rest was built later as more defense. That's unlike anything I've ever seen before. And it was right in the middle of the town! It would have been fun to stop at one of the pubs in town, but we had to make our way to our next brewery, Liefmans.

Liefmans is another fairly small brewery in Flanders. Since the beer is actually brewed somewhere else and is only fermented at that location, our tour guide showed us the old equipment that was used. It was pretty neat seeing some of the really old equipment because it was different from things we have seen before. For example, the boiling tank was bigger and deeper than anything I have seen! They also used to use an open cooling area to cool the wort, but, similar to Anker, it can't be used anymore due to sanitary reasons. The fermentation tank was really interesting as well...it was huge and without a top. For our tasting, we tried an old brown ale, another brown ale, the Kriek, and a mix of beer and juice. The two brown ales were very sour which was a bit surprising upon first taste. They are fermented with lactic acid which gives them that flavor. I've discovered that I really enjoy sour beers so I actually really liked both of them. The Kriek was delicious as well, both tart and sweet. I only had a sip of the beer/juice mix and it basically tasted like carbonated juice. Not my favorite. Our guide was nice enough to give us each a bottle of Kriek in a cool silver tin. Haven't figured out how I'll get it safely home but I'm working on it! :]

Today we got up early again and took a train to Leuven, another city in Flanders. Leuven is very much a college town which was a cool change of pace from everything else. We went to Domus Brewery, a cool little pub where I think a lot of the college kids hang out. We took a tour of their brewery which was again pretty similar to other brewery visits. The brewery brews two main beers: a student pils called Condomus and a dark beer called Nostradomus. They also brew a Christmas ale in the winter. Domus doesn't bottle any of its own beer; it sends everything directly from the tanks to the pub. After fermentation, they put the beer into plastic bags which are connected directly to the taps. That was something different from anything else I've seen before. For our tasting, we tried Condomus and the Christmas ale. The Condomus was very bitter; I think our tour guide said it was around 40 IBUs. I actually really enjoyed it though. I think bitter beers are starting to grow on me more and more. The Christmas ale was much sweeter. I thought it tasted a bit banana-y. I preferred the Condomus but both were very good. I think that would be a cool place to go in the evening to see what it's like with the college kids. After the tour, we had some free time to explore the town. Jenna, Marissa, and I wandered around for a bit. We didn't really know where to go so we just kind of strolled around and went into a few shops here and there. I think it would have been more fun to spend more time in the city to see some of the interesting and unique places. I noticed a lot of pubs around the town and I'm sure there were some good ones around there. Tomorrow we are off to Bruges for the day. It's our tour guide Christa's home town so I think it will be an interesting and fun tour of the city. Only two more days left in Belgium and then it's back to the Pacific Northwest! 

Impressions of Brussels So Far...

Brussels is so different from Germany. Parts of it feel a lot more like home. I hear a lot more people speaking English here which is nice, though not having someone fluent in French in the group can be challenging at times. It is much more ethnically diverse than Berlin or Munich. I think Brussels has a high Turkish population. Our hotel is located right in the middle of everything, so there is a lot to do nearby. One downside to Brussels is that pickpocketing is much more common. We already had someone in our group lose a chunk of money from this. It's especially scary on the metro because it gets very, very crowded and disorienting. The public transportation is not as well organized here as it was in Germany. Luckily that's not as much of an issue because everything is so close. One of my favorite part of Brussels is probably the frites. I never thought I would see myself eating mayonnaise with fries, but I have to admit, it's pretty delicious! I still need to try a waffle though :] The drinking culture feels different here as well. I have seen a lot more young people drinking to get drunk here. This could be due to the high alcohol content of many of the beers. I can imagine it would be more difficult to control alcohol consumption with such a high ABV. In Germany, I hardly saw anyone drunk; drinking was definitely more of a social thing to build community and relationships in Germany which I think I prefer. I'm excited to visit some more breweries and explore this country a little more. I can't believe we only have a few more days in Europe!

(Mis)adventures

Yesterday we met at 9:00 to take a bus to Dubuisson. After about a half hour of waiting, our bus hadn't arrived. We called the bus driver, but unfortunately he only spoke French. Amanda tried talking to him, and he insisted he was on the right street in the right place, though he obviously was not where we were. We eventually found out that the bus company sent him to a suburb about 45 minutes outside of Brussels. It wasn't anyone's fault, but it was definitely not the best way to start the morning. Our bus arrived at around 11:00 and we were off. The ride was about an hour and a half and our driver was wild! Very bumpy with a lot of sharp turns. A little scary but we made it there in one piece. When we got to Dubuisson, we were seated in a back room of the restaurant. We waited for a little while, and then the waitress came out and gave us a tasting of beer. She didn't speak English, so I wasn't sure what kind of beer it was. Then a man came in and played a video about the history of the brewery and the beer making process. Dubuisson brews beer with very high alcohol content...over 10%. They have another beer thats mascot is a troll. When the video was over, we got to taste a couple more beers. One of them was a peach beer that tasted very fruity. It definitely felt more like wine or champagne and less like beer. It was interesting, but I'm not sure exactly how I felt about it. If I was in the mood for a beer, I don't think I would order that. We decided to leave after that. We didn't get a brewery tour which was strange. I think that the language barrier posed a big problem here (even though Amanda and Marissa know some French). At least in Germany we had Gudrun to get us around.

After another hour and a half ride, we arrived at Anker Brewery. Luckily our tour guide spoke English well. He showed us a lot of the spices that they use in their beers, such as coriander, star anise, and licorice. It's really interesting to see that in contrast to Germany where spices are never used. He took us to the roof of the brewery to show us a large open tank that used to be used to cool the wort. They had to stop using it because of sanitary reasons. He talked about how Cantillon is the only place that still uses something like that and do have some legal issues because of it. Anker also brews whisky and he showed us the barrels where the whisky is stored. It needs to age for at least three years. Even though it is better if aged longer, Anker bottles after three years because they need the profit. After the tour we got to taste a couple of their beers. Brian told us that you can buy this beer at Oak and Ivy in McMinnville which I thought was pretty cool. Overall it was a very interesting day but it ended well!

Hello, Belgium!

Should have been posted Friday:

Hello from Brussels! We arrived here Thursday afternoon after a long train ride. The group went to dinner at a restaurant that brews lambic, an interesting Belgian beer. I tried the Lambic Blanc. It was very different. Not very carbonated and quite sour. It reminded me more of a champagne or wine than a beer. We stopped at a grocery store on the way back and bought a few Belgian beers for relatively cheap. I tried a couple Chouffe beers which were good. They were quite strong (8.5% ABV...a big difference from Germany!). Then a few of us went to Cafe Delirium, a bar that is very close to our hotel and popular with the locals that serves 1000 beers. There were a lot of people there. I noticed the demographic was much younger than in Germany. There were also many more females here. I tried a blonde beer that was again quite strong compared to German beers. 

Friday we got up early and began our tour of Brussels. All of the buildings we saw were so old! The streets here are very narrow and the buildings are very close together. We walked to the center of Brussels which is right inside the City Hall. I learned that all of the buildings in the city center were once destroyed and the king said the guilds had only four years to rebuild all of the buildings. That's why 1697 is written on all of the buildings in that area; to represent the four years they had. Each guild had their own building and their own church. We also got to see some of the old wall that surrounded Brussels. Our tour guide then took us to the cafe at the top of the art museum where we had a coffee and looked at an amazing view of Brussels. We were at the top of a mountain at the highest point in Brussels. It feels so different here than in Germany. It is much more ethnically diverse and feels much older. 

After a lunch consisting of pommes frites (french fries...healthy, I know :] ) we took the metro to Cantillon, a very old brewery in Brussels. All of the equipment used was very old...very different from what I saw at any other brewery. I believe they have been around since 1900. This brewery specializes in lambic beer. They concentrate on the sourness of the beer...not sweetness or bitterness. They use spontaneous fermentation in wooden barrels and bacteria that lives in the barrels contributes to the beer's sour flavor. The beer is fermented for three years and it is only brewed in the winter when it is cold. After the tour, we got to taste lambic, gueze (a mixture of young, 1 year old lambic with 3 year old lambic), and kriek. The lambic was hardly carbonated at all. It was light and reminded me a lot like wine. It was very sour and hit the sides of my tongue. It was so different from anything I had tasted and did not seem at all like beer. The gueze was a bit darker and more carbonated. It seemed more sour than the lambic. The kriek smelled and tasted like cherry pie. Again, it was very sour and didn't seem like beer. The brewery was unlike anything we have seen so far. Belgium doesn't have a purity law like Germany, so they are able to add more interesting ingredients to their beers. In just two days I can already tell that the beer here is very, very unique. I can't wait to try more!

Goodbye, Germany!

The internet in Brussels is difficult to access so I am a bit behind on my blog posts. This was meant to be posted on Wednesday.

Yesterday morning was free, so Jenna, Lindsey, Keith and I walked to the Münchner Stadtmuseum. The exhibit "Typically Munich!" went over the history of Munich. There were a lot of old paintings which were interesting to see. The only problem was all of the signs explaining the pieces were in German. We had a book in English but only some of the information was included so I didn't know what a lot of the pieces were for. That was probably one of the worst language barriers that I have experienced so far; normally it hasn't been bad at all. Nevertheless, it was a cool exhibit. We then went to an exhibit on puppets which was really creepy but cool. There was one life size clown doll that moved and laughed when someone walked in front of it. Probably one of the most terrifying moments ever!! The four of us then went to a little restaurant in the market and had delicious house-made Gluhwein. I felt like I could have drank cup after cup, but that would not have been smart :] We also had a delicious ham and cheese sandwich on toasted bread that tasted amazing...there were like four different kinds of cheese on the sandwich! We then picked up some bread, meat, and cheese at the market to have for dinner. 

In the afternoon the group walked to Paulaner Brauhaus for a tour of the brewery. Paulaner used to be a monastic brewery which was interesting because we visited a monastic brewery today (more about that later). Our tour guide was a brewing student at the brewing school in Munich which is the rival of the VLB, the school we visited in Berlin. I was surprised to learn that only 15% of the brewing students are German. He offered us each a glass of beer during the tour; I had the weisse beer. It was very banana-y which I think is starting to grow on me. It was probably the best weisse beer that I have had during this trip so far. Overall it was a great tour and a cool brewery. If I ever make it back to Munich I would definitely stop in again!

We walked back through the park where Oktoberfest is held. It was cool to imagine all of the tents set up...maybe some day I will get to experience Oktoberfest myself! When we got back to the hotel, Gudrun talked about monks and printing and Keith did his presentation on monastic brewing. I learned that centuries ago, monks had the advantage of owning their own land and therefore were able to grow the crops that they wanted rather than do what the king said. This made it easier to grow the crops needed for brewing beer. Beer also came in handy when the monks fasted for 40 days during Lent; they made the beers stronger to take the place of food. Keith brought a few beers from monasteries in for us to try. We paired the beers with gruyer cheese which was delicious. The beers were all fairly dark but pretty easy to drink. Later that evening, most of us went to Augustiner and had a mas while enjoying each other's company. Overall a good day.

Today we took a trip to Kloster Andechs, a monastic brewery. The drive up was beautiful...you could see a lot of the countryside. I learned that the top of the hill is a place of pilgrimage. There are six monks who live there, though the other 200 employees are not monks. It was much bigger than I expected...they bottle about 20,000 beers every hour! After the tour we sat on the top of the hill and looked over the countryside. The sun was shining and we could see the Alps in the background. So beautiful. It was even pretty warm. I could have sat up there for hours. We left Andechs at noon and came back to the hotel. Jenna and I had döner for lunch...it's some kind of meat but we have no idea what it is. It was delicious though! We walked around a bit to pick up some last minute Munich souvenirs. I will be sad to leave this place but am excited to see what Brussels has to offer. 

Things I've Learned.

Brewing Process:

This trip I have learned a lot about the brewing process. Beer is essentially made of barley, hops, and water. The first step in the process is malting, in which barley is soaked in water which allows the grain to germinate. This creates enzymes such as alpha- and beta-amylase which convert the released starches into sugar. The grain is then dried in a kiln and roasted; this results in color compounds and aroma compounds that will flavor the beer. 

The next step in the process is mashing, in which hot water is mixed with crushed grains. During this process, the alpha- and beta-amylase convert starches into fermentable sugars. That is, starches (which are large chains of carbohydrates) are broken down into mono- and disaccharides. This occurs in an apparatus called a mash tun which has a false bottom that allows the resulting sweet liquor (called wort) to run out. 

The wort is then boiled with hops. This step sanitizes the wort to decrease the change of undesirable flavors, stops enzyme action, volatilizes compounds, and provides energy for the isomerization of hops (which creates bitterness). The wort is then cooled in preparation for fermentation. This is because yeast is unable to grow at high temperatures. Once cooled, the wort enters the fermentation tank. Here, yeast are added to begin the fermentation process in which sugars are converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The beer is often filtered after fermentation to remove yeast and any other solids. During bottling, sugar is added to the bottles for carbonation. And that's how beer is made!

Tasting Beer:

For my comparison of beers, I tasted the Aringer Kellerbier and the Augustiner Helles. The Kellerbier is an unfiltered helles so I thought it would be interesting to compare a filtered helles with an unfiltered one. I tasted the Kellerbier at the restaurant in Ayinger where we had lunch. This is a bottom fermented beer.

Appearance: The Kellerbier was a light yellow color though very cloudy because of the yeast. I would say the color rating was around a 3-4. It was definitely lighter than a cloudy wheat beer; I haven't really seen a beer that looked like this before.

Aroma: It smelled a bit off to me, like corn which could be due to dimethyl sulfide. The aroma also smelled slightly sour. 

Flavor and Mouthfeel: Taking a sip, the beer did not feel like it coated my mouth too heavily; it was mostly on the back of my tongue where the beer lingered. While it didn't necessarily coat my tongue, the weight of the beer in my mouth felt a bit heavier than I am used to with lighter beers. Again, I believe this is due to the yeast in the beer. The beer tasted slightly sour, but not overpowering. While there was a slight bitterness at the end, I believe that the IBUs were still fairly low. The beer was fairly carbonated but not extremely overpowering. 

Overall Impression: The beer was very refreshing and, while it was a bit heavier than the unfiltered helles that I am used to, it was still light. There didn't seem to be one characteristic of the beer that stood out or overpowered my senses. 

I tasted the Augustiner Helles at the Augustiner restaurant near our hotel (not where we had dinner...the restaurant down the opposite direction). This is a bottom fermented beer.

Appearance: The beer was very clear and a light yellow color. Similar to the Kellerbier, I would rate it around a 3-4 SRM. I could see through it and I could also see the bubbles float to the top. 

Aroma: The first aroma that I picked out was cooked corn, similar to the Kellerbier. Although I have had Augustiner Helles on other occasions, this one seemed to have a much stronger smell of DMS. 

Flavor and Mouthfeel: The first flavor that I detected when I tasted the beer was sour. It wasn't particularly appealing (at least compared to previous helles or the Kellerbier). It had a distinct metallically flavor. While it didn't seem to coat my tongue, I could feel it most in the back and sides of my tongue. At the very end, it seemed to have a slightly bitter flavor. Similar to the Kellerbier, I would say that the IBU was fairly low. Unlike the Kellerbier, I was able to taste the cooked corn aroma (rather than just smell it) which was not particularly appealing. It was pretty carbonated...more so than the Kellerbier. After I swallowed, it left my tongue a little dry. 

Overall Impression: The DMS was pretty overpowering in this beer which did not make it particularly pleasing to drink. Because I have had this beer at other locations and liked it, I was a bit surprised that it was not very good. The sour and metallic taste was not very refreshing or appealing. I definitely preferred the Kellerbier over this one. I think it may have been beneficial to try the Augustiner Helles at a different location as perhaps it was just this restaurant that served the beer like this.

Culture:

In addition to the chemistry of the beer, I have learned a lot about culture in Germany. First of all, Berlin and Munich are very different cities. Berlin seemed to be very connected to its history; what has happened in that city has really shaped what it is today. It was an interesting mix of modern and traditional. It definitely felt busy and the city felt alive at all times. Where we stayed, there didn't seem to be many local pubs nearby. While we did see some big breweries, I didn't really feel that traditional beer culture that I was expecting. Munich, on the other hand, was definitely more like what I was picturing in regard to beer. The long tables and big beer steins at Augustiner and Hofbrauhaus in particular stood out to me. Drinking here is definitely a cultural thing designed to bring people together. The buildings in Munich seem much more traditional than in Berlin. Our tour guide mentioned how some older people disliked recent buildings because they are too modern. I thought that was interesting. Munich also feels much more ethnically diverse than Berlin. I feel that it is a bit more laid back, though still quite busy. At this point in time, I think I like the vibes of Munich better, though both cities are incredible in their own ways. 

I think it is interesting that both cities are located on waterways. Because water is used in brewing, easy access probably has been in part responsible for the popularity of brewing. Furthermore, water makes trade easier, which could impact the diversity of beer ingredients (perhaps different grains and hops could be exported). Also, importing and exporting different beers may occur more easily which could lead to changes in tastes among the people of the cities. Looking at a map of Berlin, I definitely think that the number of people in the city (over three million) compared to its size accounts for the fact that it played a major role in both of the World Wars. I think this may also be the reason why we see so many tall buildings; they need to build from the ground-up in order to accommodate all of the people. Looking at a map of Berlin, I can also see East and West Berlin which played a major role in the history of Berlin. When I look at a map of Munich, it looks like streets surround the inner city in a circle. I think this is where the wall was built to keep people out of the main city. The streets within the main part of the city look much more jumbled than the outer city, which is in more of a grid shape. 

Exploring Munich

Jenna and me with our "mas" beers!

Guten tag! First of all, let me say that I love Munich! It feels very different than Berlin but I'm loving the culture so far. We have had some down time the last few days which has been a really great way to explore the city. Friday we had a group dinner at Augustiner. The brewery was a big hall with lots of long tables, kind of like what I picture Oktoberfest to be like. The place was packed and the mood felt so lively. This is what I picture when I think of German beer culture. I felt like I HAD to order a helles beer "mas" which came in a one liter beer stein! So much beer but I felt like it was worth it. :] Dinner was good, we had soup, pork and spaetzle, and apple strudel for dessert. Afterwards, a few of us went to a Mexican restaurant called La Cucaracha and enjoyed each others' company. 

Coopers' Dancers!

Saturday morning we had a walking tour of Munich. I was really happy to see the city, but it was so cold... unfortunately I was a little preoccupied with how freezing I was for a portion of the tour! We went to one church that was very beautiful! The tour guide told us a story about how the builder made a deal with the devil to not put windows in the church. However the builder did put windows in the church, but positioned the pillars in a certain way so that when the devil stood in a certain spot, it looks like there aren't any windows. I thought that was pretty interesting. We also went to the Hofbrauhaus, a famous brewery in Munich. There is a room near the entrance with a bunch of lockers for regulars to keep their beer steins in. Our tour guide told us that the lockers are often passed down through generations, and it takes a regular 10 to 15 years to get one of the lockers. I also learned that every seven years, a group of men perform the Coopers' Dance in the street. And it happened to be that day! There were a lot of people so it was kind of hard to see, but it was still great! 

On a BMW motorcycle!

After the tour, we all had lunch at the Hofbrauhaus. It was good, but definitely felt touristy! Jenna and I then grabbed coffee and took the U bahn to BMW World. We felt like we were on the Amazing Race trying to figure out the route to get there! We eventually made it and met up with some of the others who left a little before we did. It was pretty cool; it felt very modern. We took some pictures on the motorcycles! We then walked around the Olympic Stadium which was awesome. The architecture was really interesting and I bet it was considered very, very modern when it was built in 1972. 

Sunday was a free day so I got to sleep in a bit which was nice. Jenna and I got breakfast at Starbucks (not very German but oh well!) and then headed to the Dachau concentration camp memorial. This was the first Nazi concentration camp that served as a model for the subsequent camps. It was a weird feeling stepping through the gate onto the camp. It is definitely a different experience to see something like this as opposed to just reading about it. The large open area was where they did roll call, in which the prisoners were forced to stand motionless for hours. The memorial had reconstructed two of the 34 barracks; it was interesting (and sad) to see where the prisoners slept. The museum within the memorial told a lot about the history of the camp. Walking through the museum was like taking the path that incoming prisoners took when they entered the camp; it went through the areas where the prisoners were first admitted and where they were showered and shaved. The camp was created to house political prisoners, though other groups of people were taken there as well, including not only Jews but "asocials," Jehovas Witnesses, and homosexuals. Each group was marked by a certain color of fabric on their clothing. One thing I learned that really struck me was the medical experimentations that were performed on the prisoners, such as testing to see how the body reacts to extreme, sudden changes in pressure or what hypothermia does to the body. Many died from these experiments. It is really scary to think about how the Nazi ideology was developed and how that extreme level of dehumanization was legitimated and justified. I think it is important that we learn about this in order to make sure it doesn't happen again. We walked through the prison which was very eery and haunting. There were far fewer signs of information in this building which made it seem very real. I am very glad that we visited this memorial. While it felt a little touristy, I felt that I learned a lot about the history of the camp and of Nazi Germany. I would be interested in visiting more of these camps around Germany. 

Kellerbier

Today we first took a tour of the BMW factory. I was a bit skeptical about this tour since I have never been that interested in cars, but it was actually really great. It was very interesting to see how cars are made. Much of the process is done with robots which were so fun to watch. It's amazing what people can do with technology. I think my favorite part was watching the robots paint the cars. Afterwards, we drove to Aying to visit Ayinger Brewery. We got there a little early so we had lunch at a cute little restaurant near the brewery. I had Liebhard's Kellerbier, which was an unfiltered helles. I had never tried anything quite like it before but I really enjoyed it. It was a bit sour and not very overpowering. While it felt a bit heavier in my mouth than a normal helles (probably because of all the yeast) it still felt pretty light. 

Bottling!

We then made our way to Ayinger where we began our tour. I learned that Ayinger is a family owned business that began over 100 years ago.  We got to see the bottling room near the beginning of the tour; it was like a smaller version of the big plants but we actually got to go on the floor and see it rather than looking at it from above. We then went into another room where he talked about the water that they use for brewing. The water is really soft; he let us try it and it was so delicious! Most of the water I have had in Germany has been extremely hard and not very good which definitely makes me appreciate the water back home. Our tour guide walked us through all of the usual steps of the beer making process and then we got to try some beer! We tasted beer straight out of the fermentor. The beer was in its conditioning period so it was young beer. They don't bottle that beer unfiltered so that was probably the only time I would get to try it like that! We then went upstairs to a tasting room to try a couple varieties. I first tried the Ur-Weisse which was pretty fruity. I realized today that I don't really see wheat beers like this back home, though these banana-y beers seem to be all over Germany. I then tried the Jahrhundert which was the filtered version of the one from before. He served it alongside some house made bread, made from the spent grades from brewing. Yum! Our guide was nice enough to give us all bottle openers and a bunch of us bought six packs of a variety of their beers. It was a really great tour. 

Unfiltered beer.

Ur-Weisse!