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!