Friday, March 14, 2008

Ale Street News and Belgium

I have been writing for U.S.A. “brewspaper” Ale Street News for several years. ASN has a circulation of 90,000 copies every issue, six times a year. Ale Street is based in the New York City area, and has regional and International coverage on a variety of beery subjects.
Editor Tony Forder leads a group of stalwart beer lovers to Belgium every year, for a tour based around the Zythos beer fest in early March. Hence, the February/March issue is always a special one, with lots of Belgian coverage.

Tony and co-editor Jack Babin also organize a very special beer tasting event in Manhattan every year in the Spring. I attended the first “Ultimate Belgian Tasting” in 2006, and had a great time! I recommend this event.

The next “UBT” will be held Thursday April 10. Here is more info:

http://alestreetonline.com/content/view/41/45/

I wrote a two part story on the Belgian Trappist Abbey breweries in 2005-2006, which are on-line here:

http://www.alestreetnews.com/articles/14_6_16.htm

http://www.alestreetnews.com/articles/15_1_14.htm

I have also written about beer cafes and breweries in Brugge and Brussels, small Belgian breweries, the Zythos Beer Fest, and more.

I am happy to say that Tony asked me to start writing a Belgian news column, called Belgian Babble, for every issue of ASN, beginning with the February/March 2008 edition.
I wrote about Brouwerij Liefmans, the OBER Christmas beer fest, Chez Moeder Lambic, Cantillon and Brasserie de la Senne in this issue.

I also have a feature on Amsterdam’s breweries and cafes, on-line here:

http://alestreetonline.com/content/view/26/45/

I will cover an even greater range of Belgian and Belgian-inspired breweries and cafes in the April/May issue.

Kudos to Tony Forder and the Ale Street News team for their appreciation and promotion of Belgium’s artisanal beers and beer culture, and Belgian-inspired brews, breweries and beer bars in the USA and elsewhere.

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