"1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die"

Amazon and some other sites are now taking pre-orders for the book I contributed to this Spring.

I wrote 30 Belgian beer and brewery reviews for "1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die"

which is due out March 23, 2010.

Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/1001-Beers-Must-Taste-Before/dp/0789320258

The book is part of the 1001 Series of publications by Quintessence of London.

http://www.1001beforeyoudie.com/

Should be ready just in time for Spring!

Cheers,

Chuck

Farewell, Cafe 't Jagershof

One of Belgium's great country/roadside cafes, 't Jagershof ("The Hunter's Lodge") will close for good this Sunday, September 6.

It's not due to a bad economy. No, the reason is that owners Martine and her husband are retiring after running their pub for many years. Their well-earned retirement is nevertheless a sad loss to beer lovers, especially those of us that enjoy Trappist brews.

My friend, Trappist beer lover Danny Van Tricht, first took me to the pub in 2005. I made two subsequent visits, in 2006 and 2008.

I wish there had been many more.

Jagershof, located in Waanrode in the Province of Flemish Brabant, opened in 1958.

Trappist beers became a specialty in the 1980's. You could often find the monk's table beers-Chimay Doree, Orval Green, and Westmalle Extra-here, if you asked.
Such brews were on a menu with 75+ beers.

Trappist cheeses were usually available as well.

't Jagershof was a great place to drink and enjoy the Belgian lifestyle. It will be missed.

If you are in Belgium, you have a last few days to get to this atmospheric cafe to enjoy a few Trappist brews. I wish I could be there.

More photos are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/belgianbeerspecialist/sets/72157605560921599

Oh so busy.....

Hi everyone,

Sorry about the lack of posts of late.

I have been incredibly busy with several articles, plus summer beer
fests. The Ommegang fest was a great time, as was another camping
beer fest.

I recently finished two 1500 word articles about Belgium and beer, as
well as a 900 word piece. Both the 1500 word articles are for beer
magazines located outside the USA. I'll keep you posted as to when
these are due out.

Also, I've written several articles for the Beer Connoisseur website.

I'm headed up to Brooklyn for a Belgian-inspired beer tasting tomorrow.

There will be over 150 different beers there. Wish me luck....

Cheers,

Chuck

Beer Connoisseur magazine: please subscribe!

America's next great beer magazine is just a few months away from
its first issue.
Beer Connoisseur, the creation of Lynn Davis of Atlanta, is currently
a fine website with a very diverse beer content.
I have already penned three articles for the website, all on the
subject of Belgium.
I have the privilege of being the Belgian beer blogger for the site.
Here's my latest article, about the great lambic cafe, In de
Verzekering Tegen de Grote Dorst:

http://www.beerconnoisseur.com/Belgiums-Best-Lambic-Cafe

The magazine will be a high-quality quarterly publication.

Here's a word from Lynn:

http://www.beerconnoisseur.com/The-Beer-Connoisseur-Magazine

If you enjoy my writings about Belgian beer, please consider subscribing. If you do, please use my invitation code: FBC-0101. The more people that subscribe and support Beer Connoisseur, the more Belgian beer articles you will see in the magazine!

Cheers,

Chuck

Sad news: Beers of the World magazine to cease production

I received sad news from Beers of the World Magazine Editor
Sally Toms one week ago: the magazine will cease production after
issue 26. It will live on as a website: http://tastingbeers.com.
Beers of the World, based in the U.K. but also available in the U.S.,
was one of my favorite beer mags. It offered great coverage of the
world beer scene!
I had five articles over the years in the magazine. I covered Antwerp's
Bierhuis Kulminator in issue 11; beery Brussels in issue 14; Belgium's
female brewmasters in issue 15; Belgian breweries in issue 16; and
great Belgian cafes in issue 22.

Links are here, except for issue 22, was was never put on the
Internet.
Only the first few hundred words of the articles are on-line:

http://www.beers-of-the-world.com/magazine/author/charles_d_cook.html

Cheers to four years of great articles in Beers of the World, and all
the best to the staff in future endeavors.
Hopefully the new Beer Connoisseur magazine will fill the void that
BOTW leaves.

Cheers,

Charles aka Chuck Cook

"Belgium Comes to Cooperstown" is this weekend!

Photo: Captain Lawrence brewer/owner Scott Vaccaro, with his lady at last year's beer fest.
I'm hoping Scott will be bringing some of the newest batch of Cuvee de Castleton this weekend.
Fingers crossed...



Brewery Ommegang's superb beer fest, "Belgium Comes to Cooperstown (N.Y.) is this weekend.
I'll be there. Yes, a "Beer Research" weekend is ahead!

Here's an article about last year's fest.


“The Big Lebrewski”: Belgium Comes to Cooperstown, 2008

“We have over 250 beers at the fest this year!” Larry Bennett, Marketing manager for Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY, told me as I entered one of the best Belgian beer fests in all the U.S.A. on Saturday, August 2nd. “There are about 50 Belgian beers and 200 Belgian-style brews” Larry continued. What a lineup it was!
The weekend began with a multiple-course VIP beer dinner on the Friday night, featuring a variety of fine foods, such as mussels, duck, frites, cheeses, and a plethora of brews from the Duvel/Moortgat/Ommegang “family.” These included Duvel, several Maredsous and Achouffe beers, as well as the entire Ommegang lineup. A new brew that impressed me was the Ommegang Rouge, brewed in conjunction with Brouwerij Bockor in Bellegem, West Flanders. I toured Bockor and sampled several very tart and refreshing brews from their wooden foeders in 2007, and the new Rouge is a fine Red Flanders ale, in the style of Rodenbach.
The weather was nearly perfect for the weekend, despite some morning rain showers, with temps in the upper 70’s and low humidity. The beer fest on the Saturday was another top-notch event, with about 50 breweries in attendance. Boulevard Brewing of Kansas City pleased beer lovers with their Saison Brett 07; Brewer’s Art, of my hometown of Baltimore, had Seven Beauties, a country rye style ale, and other brews; Bullfrog Brewing of PA offered several tasty Saisons; Russian River drew a large crowd for its superb Beatification and Supplication; Iron Hill with its Heywood sour brett ale and Saison Extra, and many others; Ithaca Brewing had their excellent Brute, a golden sour ale aged in French oak, with Brettanomyces added, and finished with a champagne yeast; Southampton offered the fine Cuvee de Fleurs, brewed with lavender, dried flowers and spices; Cambridge Brewing wowed with its always-tasty Cerise Cassee and Weekapaug Gruit; Captain Lawrence Brewer Scott Vaccaro really impressed with his excellent Cuvee de Castleton, which is brewed with wild yeasts, muscat grapes, and is aged in French oak wine barrels. Yum!
The theme of the 2008 fest was “The Big Lebrewski” and tickets-200 for the Friday night beer dinner, and about 1,000 for the Saturday beer fest-sold out the same day! See ommegang.com for more info.

Gunther Bensch...anyone stateside looking for a Belgian brewer? Plus Girardin and Bienvenue a Montaigu

Gunther Bensch, 32, knows a thing or two about lambic beers. He represents the lambic brewery, Girardin, at several Belgian beer festivals throughout the year. The Girardin Oude Gueuze 1882 is one of the great lambic beers of Belgium. “My mother used to give me a table beer from Brouwerij Haacht, instead of cola, when I was very young” Gunther told me, as we talked after our tour of Girardin in April 2009. “She said beer was healthier than a sweet cola” he continued. Table beer is typically about 1 to 2 percent alcohol by volume; a good training wheels beer.
“Later, I drank Horse ale when I was about 14, and then someone shared a bottle of the Girardin with me when I was 16. By then, I knew I really liked beer. I worked at an Interbrew plant for three summers, beginning when I was 16. I became a disc jockey when I was around 20, and spent a few years doing that. When I was 26, I enrolled in brewing courses at CLT in Ghent. I also joined beer appreciation clubs and started homebrewing. Then in 2004, I first visited Girardin. I really like lambic beers” Gunther said, smiling. “In 2006, I created the world’s first Tripel Gueuze. It was a blend of Girardin White Label Gueuze, and Dilewyn’s Vicaris Tripel, which is brewed at De Proefbrouwerij. Nowadays, my beer is Bienvenue a Montaigu, which I have brewed to my recipe at ‘t Hofbrouwerijke in Beerzel. It has 7.5% abv, and uses some wheat in its recipe. So, it has more body than a normal Tripel, yet is a little lighter in alcohol. You can have two of these in an evening.”
Gunther’s future plans? “I really like the USA. I would like to get a job as a brewer somewhere there, and stay and build a life.” Anybody need a Belgian brewer? Shoot me an e-mail. Seriously.