Major Belgian beer dinner set for April 25th, during Zythos Beer Fest week

I have it on good authority that three of the world's

top beer cuisine chefs will be putting on a six course

beer dinner on Wednesday, April 25th at a soon to

be disclosed location in Flanders.

I hear it will be a Haute Cuisine affair, at a very

impressive venue.

The "Lekker Vlaanderen Dinner" will feature Belgians

Stefanie de Vos of De Bistronoom in Ostende, and

Tom De Four of De Heeren Van Liedekercke in Denderleeuw.

American Chris Lively of Ebenezer's Pub in Lovell, Maine

will round out the trio.

(Photo, above: Sefanie de Vos and Christophe Pelfrène

of De Bistronoom.)

More info here once the full details are announced...

Sounds like it's going to be a mighty fine dinner,

for sure.

You can see photos of Tom and Chris here

The Zythos Beer Fest (ZBF) will be in Leuven that

next weekend, April 29-29.

Microbrouwerij Urthel and De Hoppeschuur

(Photo, above: Hildegard van Ostaden with the

first batch of beer she brewed at her new brewery.)

In late September last year, I visited the new Microbrouwerij

Urthel in Ruiselde, West Flanders. You might have heard of

the Urthel beers, such as Hop-It, a delectable Belgian Double

IPA with about 9.5% abv. (Yum!) Another, Saisonnière, is part

wheat beer, part saison, and part golden ale. It is fine session

brew of 6% abv. Urthel's Samaranth, a dark brown strong ale

weighing in at 11.5% abv, is well suited to the winter

season that we are now in.

(Photo, above: Hildegard in the brewhouse of

Microbrouwerij Urthel.)

These beers were all created by Hildegard van Ostaden,

and are currently brewed at La Trappe (Koningshoeven)

the Dutch Trappist brewery in the Netherlands.

(Microbrouwerij Urthel and Proeflokaal/Tasting cafe.

The locale is very peaceful, right by open fields and woods.)

Hildegard was trained at the brewing school at the

Catholic University of Ghent, and met her husband,

Bas, while working at Koningshoeven.

It was during their years there that they decided to

form Brouwerij de Leyerth. While Hildegard does

the brewing, Bas handles the marketing of the Urthel

beers.

(Bas with some Urthel Hop-It, and other libations.)

"For years, I wanted to have a brewery of my own, one

where I could experiment with beers in small batches

and be as creative as I desired," Hildegard told me in

my visit, on a beautiful, sunny, 80+ degree day.

"We had an open house in July, and I brewed the first

batch of beer on August 29," Hildegard told me as we

sipped Saisonnières and toured the brewery.

The Italian-built Spadoni MBS 150 system has a batch

size of 150 liters. That’s about 39 U.S. gallons. It will be

perfect for experimentation, and is a very efficient and

easy-to-use setup. Meaning: there will probably be lots

of small batch beers brewed on site. Due to this, is hard

to say when and if any might make it stateside.

(Photo, above: fermenters in Microbrouwerij Urthel.)

Hildegard plans to offer the possibility for people or

groups to have a beer brewed on site, for events like

weddings or other happenings. There is an outside

patio for warm-weather enjoyment. Beer lovers, take note:

there are already wooden barrels in the brewery where

beer will be aged! "I will experiment with all kinds of beer

styles," Hildegard commented.

(Photo, above: Hildegard pouring a beer inside the

tasting cafe/Proeflokaal.)

De Hoppeschuur ("The Hop Barn") restaurant will

feature another of Hildegard's talents: she is an

accomplished cook, as well as being a great brewer!

She told me: "We'll generally be open on Saturday

evenings and at lunchtime on Sundays, by reservation

only. I plan to offer just two or three different dishes per

day, paired with beer of course."

(Photo, above, Hildegard outside Microbrouwerij Urthel.)

This place is sure to be a destination spot for beer

lovers from around Belgium and the world! It's just

about ten minutes driving off the E40, the main

highway from Brugge to Brussels, and it's only

about 20 minutes to Brugge. The Hop Barn

(not shown here, as was not completed yet when

I visited) should be open in the near future, and

the brewery/cafe is open Saturdays and Sundays.

The address is Krommekeerstraat 21, Ruiselde,

West Flanders.

Brasserie Orval article in Taps: The Beer Magazine

Two weeks without a post. Yeah, the holidays will do that

to you. I'll try and be more active now and in the New Year.

But I do have some good news for lovers of brett beers.

And Trappist beers.

I might as well tell you that I have had yet another article

published on Brasserie Orval, at l' Abbaye Notre Dame d' Orval

in Luxembourg Province, Wallonia.

(Photo, above: the stained-glass windows behind the

new brewhouse at Orval.)

The 1250+ word piece is on the cover of Taps: The Beer Magazine,

Canada's only beer mag. As far as I know, anyway.

(Photo, above: a row of secondary fermenters at Orval,

where the dry-hopping is done and brettanomyces yeasts

are added over a three week period of cold-conditioning.

These date to 1956!)

I cover the new brewhouse at Orval, updates from the brewery,

and the brewing process there. As well, I give the low-down

on Orval's excellent new cafe/restaurant/taproom, A' la Ange Gardien.

Yes, the Guardian Angel cafe.

(Photo, above: the new Petit Orval (4.5% abv) being served

on draft at A l' Ange Gardien at Orval. It's realllly good!)

(Photo, above: fine meals at the cafe.)

(Photo, above: spent grains in the secondary fermentation

room at Orval.)

(Photo, above: François de Harenne with a bag of

Hallertauer Hersbrucker whole leaf hops.)

For more photos, including inside the brewhouse, see this

earlier post: Orval

Taps is available at many Barnes and Noble stores throughout the

U.S.

You can also buy a pdf version or order issues at:

Taps

Enjoy!

www.belgianbeer.com goes to Belgian Family Brewers Association

www.belgianbeer.com goes to Belgian Family Brewers Association

One of the Internet’s most important Belgian beer domain names has been donated to the Belgian Family Brewers Association, and I’m happy to say that yours truly had a hand in it.

Volker Stewart (pictured above) co-owner of The Brewer’s Art, a brewpub/restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland, registered the domain name in 1996, the same year Brewer’s Art opened.

The Brewer’s Art crafts Belgian-inspired brews and offers fine foods in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood, at 1106 N. Charles Street.

“I got the domain because we wanted to brew beers that were influenced by the free-spirited nature of Belgian brewers,” Stewart told me. “Also, I’d like to add that as an establishment, we have always promoted the rich and diverse nature of Belgian beers. In fact, we have poured beers from every member of the BFB at some point in time over the years! I registered belgianbeer.com not only to promote my own business, but also to raise awareness of these beers at a time when they were not as well known as they are now,” he added.

He added: I realized within a few years that it was more prudent for me to use a domain name that was more business-specific, and I registered thebrewersart.com. The question remained: What to do with belgianbeer.com?”

“So, I started to think about donating the domain to a worthy Belgian trade/beer promotion organization,” Stewart told me. “that’s when I asked you who you thought would be the best choice, due to your familiarity with the beer scene in Belgium,” he continued.

After giving it some thought, I consulted Wendy Littlefield of Vanberg & DeWulf Importers for a discussion about the candidates I was thinking of recommending to Stewart.

I already had a list, but wanted to ask a few questions of someone that had been importing beer from Belgium to the U.S. for 30 years.

After out talk, I was convinced that The Belgian Family Brewers Association was the right choice, and happily, Stewart agreed.

Then, the long process of transferring the domain began, but that’s a story better told by Stewart and the head of the BFB, Charles Leclef of Brouwerij Het Anker in Mechelen.

Leclef (pictured above) told me: “As Chairman of the BFB Association, I was both proud and thankful that our group was given the domain name by Volker Stewart. He thought enough of us, and of promoting Belgian beer, to donate the important domain, rather than selling it. It was a very honest attitude on his part part.”

With the new domain comes a newly redesigned website for the BFB, including a video showing parts of the brewing process at each member.

The sixteen members of the BFB produce a lot of great beers. Truth be told, some of my favorite breweries in Belgium are in the group. They craft some great Belgian brews, such as Saison Dupont and Avec les Bons Voeux from Dupont; St. Bernardus 8 and 12; Dubuisson Bush (Scaldis) Noel; Het Anker Hopsinjoor and Classic Brown; Lefebvre Blanche de Bruxelles; Verhaeghe’s Vichtenaar, Bavik’s Petrus Aged Pale Ale; and many others.

I have visited all 16 of the member breweries, some several times.

This is from the BFB website:

“The association’s objective is to promote historic, independent family breweries which bring genuine added value to the identity and authenticity of Belgian brewing methods.”

A very worthy goal, and one to support.

(Photo, above: Hugues Dubuisson, Founder, Belgian Family Brewers Association.)

Mid-Atlantic Holiday Beer Fest is this Saturday

One of Baltimore's best holiday beer events is just two days away.

The Mid-Atlantic Holiday Beer Fest, formerly held at

The Brewer's Art, is now a joint venture between that

establishment and Pratt Street Alehouse.



The event will be held at Pratt Street, as it is a much larger

venue than The Brewer's Art and can accommodate more

beer lovers.



"We could only sell about a hundred tickets to the event at

our place," Brewer's Art co-owner Volker Stewart told me.

"And there was far more demand for tickets than supply. So

the new venue should alleviate that problem."

The event has always featured a buffet with fine eats and this

year should be no different.

The following brews will be poured:

Brewer's Alley - Scotch Ale
Brewers Art St. Festivus
DOG -Very Berry Tart
DuClaw -Devil's Milk Bourbon-Aged Porter
Evolution - Secret Spot Ale
Heavy Seas Winter Storm
Red Brick Station - Murphy's Porter
Troeg's - JavaHead, Troegenator and Mad Elf
Victory -Yakima Glory
Weyerbacher - Winter Ale
Flying Dog - Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout & K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale

Pratt Street will have several firkins on tap as well, including

two new collaboration beers.

The $40 admisison includes unlimited food and all beer

sampling.

Tickets are available at Pratt Street Alehouse and here:

Orval Trappist article in Celebrator Beer News-online now

(Photo, above: the new brewhouse at Orval, with

stained-glass windows in the background.)

Sorry for my absence lately. It's been a very busy few

weeks.

I'm happy to say that I have a 1,000 word feature article about

Orval, one of the seven Trappist Abbeys that brew beer,

in the December issue of Celebrator Beer News.

I'm even happier to say that you can read the entire issue

on-line now, for free, here. Enjoy!

(Photos, above: The new Guardian Angel Cafe, and the new

Petit Orval on draft there.)

You do have to have Adobe Flash player installed.

Simply click on the page image to zoom in and read.

(Photo, above: a very old enamel plate in the Orval

brewery offices.)

Coast to Coast Toast is in one week

Vanberg and DeWulf's Coast to Coast Toast is just one

week away.

OK, so just what is this event? Well, it's a celebration of

importing Belgian brews into the USA for 30 years.

Don Feinberg and Wendy Littlefield, the husband

and wife duo that are Vanberg and DeWulf, first started

importing Belgian beers stateside in 1982.

They were the first to import Duvel, Rodenbach, and

many other hallowed beers from "The Beer Country"

to our shores.

Currently, Don and Wendy import several beers from Brasserie

Dubuisson, which are labeled as Scaldis in the USA, and Bush in

much of Europe. It's just about time for Scaldis Noel, and Scaldis

Prestige and Prestige de Nuits always hit the spot. Scaldis,

Scaldis Triple and Scadis Refermetee are also fine brews.

They also import the Witkap beers of Brouwerij Slaghmuylder,

as well as several from the new Brouwerij Dilewyns of Dendermonde.

Several other special brews, such as Lambrucha, Hop Ruiter

and Lambickx are also brought in.

Their best known brewery, though, is certainly Brasserie Dupont

of Tourpes, in Hainaut Province. With a dozen world-class Dupont

brews on their import list, including Saison Dupont, Moinette,

Cervesia, and Avec les Bons Voeux, Don and Wendy have an incredible

portfolio from this world-renowned brewery.

As mentioned in the previous post, here, I have produced a movie

and article about the brewery, which publicans can download

and show attendees next week.

In fact, I will be at The Brewer's Art in Baltimore next Tuesday,

where we will show the Dupont movie. And enjoy a few beers,

I expect. Max's Taphouse and Hudson Street Stackhouse are other

local spots for the Coast to Coast Toast (C2CT) here in Charm

City.

There are already about 350 bars, restaurants, and shops across

the USA signed up to be hosts for the event.

and....a trip to Belgium will be given away to some lucky (pair)

of beer lovers! You heard right. Untappd, Vanberg and DeWulf,

and the Belgian Tourist Office and Delta Airlines have teamed

up on this.

See: Belgian trip

For more details on the C2CT event, see the Eventbrite and

Vanberg & DeWulf websites....and enjoy!!