GABF article in Taps: Canada's Beer magazine

I just received the Winter issue of Taps: Canada's Beer magazine, and I'm happy to say that I have a 700 word piece on the 2009 Great American Beer festival.

In addition to discussing America's great beer festival, I also mentioned some other events that occur during GABF week, such as Dr. Bill Sysak's legendary tastings at Falling Rock Taphouse.

Taps is available at: www.tapsmagazine.com.

An on-line version of the magazine is available, as well as the print version.

"Going Sour at GABF" article in Celebrator Beer News

I have an 800 word article about what I call "Sour beer Rampage

II" in the December issue of Celebrator Beer News.

I wrote about many of the great sour beers (and breweries producing

them) that were available at GABF in 2009. The breweries were

Cascade Brewing, of Portland, Or.; Upstream Brewing, of Omaha,

Neb.; Trinity Brewing, of Colorado Springs, Co.; and the always

superb Russian River, Lost Abbey and Port Brewing.

I focused on sampling sour beers at three of the four

festival sessions.

Yum. It was great!

Belgium, trip number 20

A round of Orvals at Biercafe De Kluis.



Urbain Cotteau and Carlo Grootaert at Brouwerij De Struise.



Annick De Splenter at Gent's Stadsbrouwerij Gruut.



Sofie Vanrafelghem.



Stefanie de Vos and Christophe of De Bistronoom, Oostende.


Three weeks without a post.

Eight days in Belgium, a major snowstorm, a head cold, and
two big articles with looming deadlines have sapped all my
extra time away.

I know. Excuses, excuses.

I visited Belgium for the 20th time from December 6-14.
I toured seven breweries that were new to me (really eight;
I'll explain below) as well as Westvleteren, for a (great!!!) fourth
time.

It was the first time I had visited the brewery since I got
my new digital SLR, and the photos are very good.

I visited Brouwerij Sint-Canarus in Gottem, East Flanders;
Haacht in Flemish Brabant; and Smisje in East Flanders
(the new brewery of Johan Brandt, formerly called Regenboog.)

I also went to De Struise Brouwers in Oostvleteren, at their
new brewery, "The Schoolhouse." Believe me, this is a place
you WANT to go and learn. Sit down and study brews like
Aardmonnik, Black Albert, Black Damnation, Dirty Horse,
Pannepot, Pannepeut, and more under the teutalege of Carlo,
Phil, and Urbain.

You just want might stay after class...no, you WILL want to stay
after class!!

I also went to the new location of De Vlier, which moved into a
larger building in the suburbs of Leuven. I had gone to the first
location, in Kessel-Lo, in April. As the brewery has the same name,
and same equipment as the first location, I'm only counting it as
one visit. Also on the agenda was a visit at Brouwerij St-Jozef in
Opitter, in Limburg Province. Opitter is the home of tennis star
Kim Clijsters.

Additionally, I went to Brouwerij Hof ten Dormaal, a new
farmhouse brewery with several interesting beers. The farm
is located in Tildonk, Antwerp Province, and most of the brewing
equipment comes secondhand from the U.S.A.

I also had a great time visiting Gents Stadsbrouwerij Gruut,
where no hops are used in any of the three brews crafted by
Annick De Splenter. Annick is Belgium's newest female brewmaster.
Her family used to own the now defunct Riva brewery in Dentergem.

There was a press release party for the new book "Proeven 100x
van straffe streekbieren" at Gruut on Tuesday, December 8.
Several brewmasters and many beer lovers were on hand. The
book, which covers 100 great Flemish beers and great cafes to
taste them, was co-authored by Bruno Loockx and
Sofie Vanrafelghem.

I also visited many great beery cafes on the trip, including the
new beer restaurant, De Bistronoom, as well as 't Botteltje in
Ostende; 't Brugs Beertje and Erasmus in Brugge; Aba-Jour,
Bierhuis Castel, and Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant in Ghent;
Zaandvlooi in Kruishoutem; De Molen in Bierbeek; Ons Te Huis
and Het Haasken in Diest; Demervallei in Aarschot, a great place
with 450 beers; Herberg in de Ster (aka De Boeres Krant) in
Wezemaal; Herberg Piet Konijn in Booischot; Biercafe de Kluis
in Herenthout; De Stroopop in Zoersel; Oud Arsenaal and
Bierhuis Kulminator in Antwerp; Delirium Cafe and Moeder
Lambic Fontainas (the new Moeder Lambic) and Restobieres,
all in Brussels.

"Belgium: The World's Beer Country" article in Beer Connoisseur magazine

The Inaugural issue of Beer Connoisseur magazine has arrived.
I'm very happy to say that I have a 2,500 word feature article,
"Belgium: The World's Beer Country" in this, the first issue of
what I think is a great new publication.

I am very pleased about the high production value of the magazine.
Beer Connoisseur uses very high quality, glossy paper stock, with
numerous high-resolution images within. I think beer lovers will
find it is very polished, especially considering it is a first issue!

My article is an overview of many of the great breweries and cafes
in "The Beer Country."

Quite a few of my photos are used with the article. You'll notice
a number of images of well-known personalities in the Belgian beer
world.

Many thanks to Founder/Publisher Lynn Davis and Editor Nick Kaye
for publishing my article, and for helping to promote Belgium's
beers, breweries and cafes.

Beer Connoisseur will be available in many Barnes and Noble and
Borders stores beginning Tuesday, December 8.

Subscriptions can be purchased here:

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

Cheers!

Belgian article in "Beer & Brewer Australia & New Zealand"

I'm happy to say that I just had my first article published in the
beer magazine "Beer & Brewer Australia & New Zealand."

It's a 1,500 word piece called "A Beer Lovers Guide to Belgium."

I cover some of the country's top beer spots, such as 't Brugs Beertje
in Brugge, Brasserie Cantillon and Moeder Lambic in Brussels, and
Bierhuis Kulminator in Antwerp.

Beer & Brewer can be found at some Barnes and Noble bookstores and
other bookstores with International selections in the U.S.

Copies can be ordered on-line at: http://www.beerandbrewer.com.au

I'll report back in a few weeks about yet another Belgian article in
a new beer magazine!

Van Twee: the De Proefbrouwerij/Bell's collaboration beer

Photo: Dirk Naudts of De Proefbrouwerij, with a glass of Van Twee

On the 27th of April, I visited De Proefbrouwerij in Lochristi, East Flanders. I interviewed Brewmaster/Owner Dirk Naudts for several hours, as we toured his state of the art brewery.


Photo: the main brewhouse at De Proefbrouwerij


While there, Dirk suggested that we taste his latest collaboration beer, called Van Twee (meaning “From Two” in Flemish.)

“John Mallet of Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan and we here at De Proefbrouwerij brewed this beer when he visited in early March, 2009” Dirk told me as we sipped the dark, rich brew. “It’s kind a Porter, but also sort of a Belgian Dubbel as well” Dirk explained. “We added fresh cherry juice pressed from sour Michigan cherries. This gives a dark, fruity character to the beer. Also, the bottling conditioning sugar comes from Michigan sugar beets” Dirk remarked.

“We added Brettanomyces yeasts in the primary fermentation” he mentioned. “The end result: I think Van Twee is a very interesting beer, and it was a very interesting collaboration with Bell’s.”

As we savored the Van Twee, which, at 7.5% abv, is remarkably easy to drink, my friend Carl Kins of Kortrijk said: “It’s like Irish coffee. There are three layers!”

I found the beer very much like a Dubbel/Porter combination, with a relatively medium bodied Dubbel-like mouthfeel, and pleasing funky character. I look forward to getting a bottle and seeing how it has developed over the six months since I tasted it at the brewery.

Photo: Dirk Naudts of De Proefbrouwerij pouring a glass of Van Twee

Van Twee is the third beer in the SBS Imports “Brewmaster’s Collaboration” series, following Signature Ale and Les Deux Brasseurs.

"Each year it is my pleasure to invite a noted American brewer to participate in the Collaboration Series,” noted SBS Founder Alan Shapiro. "I am thrilled with the beer that John & Dirk have designed and believe specialty beer enthusiasts will find it a unique and rewarding experience."

90 hectoliters (about 77 U.S. barrels) of Van Twee were produced, with 80 hl being filled into 75 cl corked bottles, and 10 hl being filled into kegs.

Get it while you can!

Ghent article in Taps: Canada's Beer magazine

Well, more breaking news: my first article in Canada's beer

magazine, Taps, was just published in the Autumn issue.

It's a 1,500 word piece on Ghent's beery locales, with a

sidebar about the legend of the Gulden Draak

(The Golden Dragon) by Art Director Cary Hyodo.

I am very pleased with the professional look and layout

of the article.

Cary and Editor Karla Dudley did a fine job with it.

I look forward to reading the rest of the issue as well.

Six of the dozen photos used with the article are mine.

Taps is available in both print and on-line versions.

See: http://www.tapsmagazine.com/

In the next few months, there are more articles due out in

magazines that I have never written for before!

Cheers,

Chuck