First BAB Bierfestival / Beer Festival in Brugge (Bruges), Belgium: Saturday, the 15th, and Sunday, the 16th of September, 2007.
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BAB (Brugse Autonome Bierproevers) (Bruges Autonomous Beer Tasters) (www.babbierproevers.be) is the Bruges branch of Zythos (www.zythos.be, White Beer Travels Web page), the Belgian beer consumers' organisation; it was formed in late 2006.
The inspiration for BAB's name and logo comes from a former Bruges brewery, the Brouwerei Aigle-Belgica. |
BAB is to have an inaugural beer festival (www.brugsbierfestival.be) in what is the city's most well-known building, the symbol of Bruges, the Belfry (Belfort, De Halletoren). The festival will take place, both inside and on the outer terrace of the Belfry's courtyard. On the Saturday, it is open from Noon to 10pm, and on the Sunday, from Noon until 9pm.
Over forty breweries are represented at the festival, most having their own stalls, manned by the brewer; there are over a hundred different beers, including some from the a UK brewer. In addition to the brewers, other prominent people from the beer world will be on hand to talk about beer and to answer queries. All beers cost €1 (15cl); the special festival glass costs €3. A number of top chefs have stalls, and they will actually cook beer cuisine at the festival; their dishes can be tasted. There are also special Carillon concerts during the festival. Clearly, it is a festival which should not be missed.
Gueuze Centre to Open in Linkebeek, Belgium.
A centre showcasing this style of beer that is unique to Brussels and the nearby Payottenland, is to open in Linkebeek (www.linkebeek.be), which is close to the famous Gueuze town of Beersel. It is easier to reach from Brussels, as it is on a direct train line from the city's main railway stations.
Good Beer Guide Prague
& The Czech Republic,
a Truly Must-Have Book, by Evan Rail
Specialty Beer fans should not arrive in Prague (Praha) and/or The Czech Republic (Česká republika) without the above guide: Good Beer Guide Prague & The Czech Republic, by Evan Rail, which came out in May, 2007. It is published by the UK's premier beer consumers' organisation, CAMRA, the CAMpaign for Real Ale (www.camra.org.uk) (ISBN 978-1-85249-233-5, 224 pages (134x210mm)). It is in full colour throughout, with a superb layout by Dale Tomlinson; it has a similar style to the Good Beer Guide Belgium, by Tim Webb (www.booksaboutbeer.com, White Beer Travels Web page), and Steve Thomas's Good Beer Guide Germany (www.german-breweries.com, White Beer Travels Web page). These guides can be purchased from the CAMRA website. CAMRA was a founder member of the EBCU, the European Beer Consumers' Union (www.ebcu.org); Sdružení prátel piva (SPP, Union of Friends of Beer) (www.pratelepiva.cz) is The Czech Republic's EBCU representative. The Chairman of SPP, Tomáš Erlich, has an article in the guide, entitled "A note from the front lines", which provides a very useful background to the current beer scene in The Czech Republic.
Evan covers all the breweries of the country, with places where their beers can be sampled. He also provides comprehensive coverage of pubs in Prague and in the country's second city, Brno. Prague is fairly well documented by a number of beer writers, but Evan lives in Prague, and has good and regular contact with the SPP, so even the seasoned Beer Hunter will learn of many places that are clearly essential visits, such as the SPP's 2005 Pub of the Year, Ferdinanda, corner Opletalova and Politických veznu (www.ferdinanda.cz), which has top-class beers from the Pivovar Ferdinand, in Benešov u Prahy, www.pivovarferdinand.cz. Information on a selection of other bars and beer shops covered in Evan's guide is to be found in the White Beer Travels Web page covering Prague, which can be reached by clicking here.
In Evan's guide, all the beers are star-rated, these being up to date, so some former classics, which have been dumbed down by the likes of SABMiller, get poor ratings, as do, to give further examples, the once hallowed beers from Královský pivovar Krušovice, which have been ruined by the German brewing group, Radeberger; Michael Jackson (1942-) (www.beerhunter.com), the world's most famous beer writer, and clearly, a good judge of beer, once rated their Krušovice Svetlé, the best Czech beer, so its downfall, and that of other once great Czech Beers, is something of a national tragedy. Thankfully new, five star world-classics have emerged, which Evan's guide directs you to. In the guide, there is comprehensive information on how to get to The Czech Republic and how to travel within it. There are also chapters on Beer Tourism, the History of the Czech Lands, Food and Drink, and Beer Styles. The latter includes information on new/non-tradititional styles to The Czech Republic, such as Yeast Beer (Kvasnicové pivo, Kvasničák), Wheat Beer (Pšenicné Pivo) (a former, historic Czech style that was lost), and the emerging trend for unpasteurised (Nepasterované) versions of very well-known beers.
Around Bruges in 80 Beers,
an Essential Book
by Chris (Podge) Pollard & Siobhan McGinn,
is on Sale.
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Bruges (Brugge), the capital of the Belgian Province of West Flanders (West-Vlaanderen) is a world-class tourist venue, which also happens to be a real Mecca for the Specialty Beer fan. And who better to cover this aspect of it than Podge and his partner, Siobhan. This truly wonderful book covers eighty pubs (well seventy-nine bars/restaurants/hotels/shops and a boat) in Bruges, and as you may guess from its title, there is a different beer recommendation in each of them, to give, er, eighty different beers to try, these all featuring on the book's front cover. Of course, with the book's pedigree, these are all beers of the highest order, with, of course, none from that load of Bankers, InBev. In addition to the book's main theme, there are sections on beer styles, Belgian bar (café) cuisine (with a very useful translation/explanation of the most usually menu items encountered), and a map of the city, which pinpoints all the entries in the book. It is lavishly illustrated, and has the top class layout that is the hallmark of Dale Tomlinson. |
The main entries are in alphabetic order, so you would not expect to need a list of them at the front, but there is, and its very useful, since it is categorised into"Beer Shops", "Hotels and Hostels", "Restaurants", "Specials", "Family Pubs", and "Cafés with Great Beer Lists". The latter includes classics, such a 't Brugs Beertje (www.brugsbeertje.be, White Beer Travels Web page), and Cambrinus (www.cambrinus.eu), this 400 beer bar/restaurant only opening in March, 2006, only a few weeks before the book was published, which testifies to the up-to-date nature of the book, and the research used to produce it. This truly is a book that you should not enter Bruges without! Well done and thanks, Podge and Siobhan. Around Bruges in 80 Beers (Cogan & Mater Limited, 2006, ISBN 0-9547789-1-X, £7.99/€10,95) can be purchased from Tim Webb's "books about beer" website, www.booksaboutbeer.com. One can also purchase the book using a UK sterling cheque. Podge is the contact for this and can thus provide you with full details of this option and also tell you about discounts for bulk orders. Podge can be contacted by e-mail by clicking on the following:
Podge is also working on similar format books covering Merseyside and London, in England. Further information on Podge, a fellow Beer Hunt organiser, is provided in the White Beer Travels Contacts page, which can be reached by clicking here. For information on LambicLand LambikLand, a book, co-authored by Podge, covering the Lambic Beer style, and the best places to drink it, click here.
In September, 2006, the Hoegaarden Brewery, in Hoegaarden, Belgium, was scheduled to be closed by that Load of Bankers, InBev
In late November, 2005, that load of Bankers, InBev, declared that they were to cease brewing Hoegaarden Wit (Hoegaarden White or Wheat [Beer]) in Hoegaarden, in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, and brew it instead in Jupille-sur-Meuse, near Liège, in the French-speaking part of the country. This It was announced that this would happen in September, 2006. Naturally, there was a demonstration against these actions; Zythos, Belgium's premier beer
consumers' organisation, (www.zythos.be and White Beer Travels Web page), were involved in the demonstration; click here to see the open letter that Zythos sent to InBev.
Note that before the announcement of the closure of the Hoegaarden Brewery, in Hoegaarden, the beer was already being manufactured elsewhere, i.e. from April, 2005, their affiliate in Russia, SUN Interbrew (САН Интербрю), www.suninterbrew.ru, commenced manufacturing Hoegaarden (Хугарден). There is even a rumour that when the Hoegaarden Brewery is closed, that the manufacture of Hoegaarden destined for Western Europe, will not take place in Jupille, but in an InBev (ИнБев) factory in Russia. Apparantly, saleable beer is not being manufactured in Jupille, which has delayed the scheduled September, 2006 closure of the brewery in Hoegaarden: it is too dark in colour!
Of course, being InBev, they will not do the decent thing, i.e. Hoegaarden Wit will not be renamed Jupille Blanche (Jupille White or Wheat). A biography, by Raymond Billen, of Hoegaarden's founder, Pierre Celis, was published in June, 2005: Brouwers Verkopen Plezier - Pierre Celis, My Life (ISBN 9-053-7301-41, MMC-Bierpassie Magazine (www.beerpassion.com)). It is available in both Dutch and English; the latter version is simply called Pierre Celis, My Life (ISBN 9-053-73015-X), i.e. the "Brewers Sell Pleasure" of the Dutch title is not included. It has some marvellous archive photos supplied by Miel Mattheus, who worked with Pierre in Hoegaarden. There are also photos taken in 2005 in an outbuilding next to Pierre's house, at Vroentestraat 1, Hoegaarden. In one, Pierre is standing alongside the original 1965 experimental brew kettle used to produce Oud Hoegaards (later renamed Hoegaarden). In another, Pierre is standing alongside the twenty-five hectolitre mash tun he acquired from the Smeets Brewery in Zolder, in Belgian Limburg, in which, in 1966, the first commercial brews of Hoegaarden were brewed. In both photos, Pierre is with Achouffe's Chris Bauweraerts; Pierre brewed La Célisette, in Achouffe's Brew Pub, Les 3 Fourquets, (www.les3fourquets.be), in 2005. Following the announcement of the closure by InBev of his creation, the Hoegaarden Brewery, Pierre Celis declared that InBev are not brewers, but bankers. When Pierre brewed Hoegaarden, there was Oats as well as Wheat and Malt in the mash, but InBev's predecessors, Interbrew, removed the Oats; the Hops, originally Saaz (Žatec) from The Czech Republic (Česká republika) and Goldings from Kent, England, were changed; they did away with the 45/55/73oC temperature régime in the mash tun; they significantly reduced the lagering (secondary fermentation) time; and they introduced high-gravity brewing, i.e. brewing to a strength of 10% and diluting down to 4.9%, the strength that Pierre originally brewed the beer at conventionally. In other words, InBev produce a different beer, but with the same name; amazingly the name of a town that has lasted for hundreds of years, Hoegaarden, is now an InBev registered trademark. Such disgraceful quality-reducing antics greatly contributed to Pierre and Interbrew parting company, Pierre then recreating his original beer in the USA, as Celis White, in his own brewery in Austin, Texas, a beer that is now also brewed in Belgium. After the closure of his brewery in Austin, Celis White is now produced in the USA by the Michigan Brewing Company, in Webberville (www.michiganbrewing.com). In 2006, Pierre will again brew a Wheat Beer, "Brussels White", in the USA: watch this space! users.pandora.be/hoegaarden is an excellent, unofficial website, produced by Bert Haentjens, which has lots of information on the history of Hoegaarden Wheat Beer.
Oud Beersel Brewery, in Beersel, Belgium, Reopens
Oud Beersel, in Beersel, Belgium (Laarheidestraat 230), was one of only a handful of traditional Lambic brewers and blenders, when it tragically closed in late 2002. Next door was a marvellously atmospheric bar.
Thankfully, after nearly three years of doubt as to its future, Oud Beersel has been acquired by Gert Christiaens and Roland de Bus, who, in 2006, will be brewing Lambic again in Oud Beersel and to produce Gueuze and Kriek from the Lambic, see the new place's website, www.oudbeersel.com. Ironically, this truly wonderful news was announced just one day before InBev declared that they were going to close the Hoegaarden Brewery, see the previous item.
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The photo, above left (© YDS), shows Gert and Roland (from left to right) celebrating the launch of Bersalis, in November, 2005. To finance the operation, Gert and Roland initially produced a non-Lambic beer called Bersalis (9.5%), which they brew themselves at Huyghe (www.delirium.be). This is an excellent, unfiltered Tripel. Seek this out and not only will you be sampling a great beer, but and you will also be helping the return of Oud Beersel Gueuze and Oud Beersel Kriek; on the Bersalis label is the slogan "Bringing Life to the Brew!". Bersalis (Latin for Beersel) was available at the Zythos Beer Festival (ZBF) (www.zbf.be, White Beer Travels Web page), that took place in March, 2006. Naturally, there was a White Beer Travels group Beer Hunt featuring this top-class event; click here for more details. In the photo, above right, which was taken by John White, in March, 2006, at the ZBF, Gert and Roland can be seen on the Oud Beersel stand.
The Gueuze from the Cantillon Brewery in Brussels is now produced from 100% Organic Materials
Saturday Open Brew Days:
10th of November, 2007 & 1st of March, 2008
The beer in the glasses in the photo, above left, is Cantillon's 100% Organic Gueuze. Its bottle labelled is reproduced, above right. The "Biogarantie" (Guaranteed Organic) logo in the bottom right of the label of this truly great beer is issued by Ecocert (www.ecocert.com), a Control and Certification Organisation for organic products. It guarantees that the beer's ingredients (malt, wheat and hops) are organic. From left to right in the photo are: John White, Roger Protz (1939-), the editor of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide and then Chairman of the British Guild of Beer Writers (www.beerwriters.co.uk) (John is on the Guild's committee); and Cantillon's Jean-Pierre Van Roy and his son, Jean, the brewer. It was taken with John's camera by Magali Van Roy, the daughter of Jean-Pierre and Claude Cantillon, in May, 2003. Roger and John were visiting Cantillon (www.cantillon.be and White Beer Travels Web page) to find out more about such an interesting beer from this great brewery.
In 2003, Cantillon announced that its Gueuze was produced from Lambics that were 100% organic. In 2000 Cantillon began producing Lambics from Malt, Wheat and Hops, all of which were organic. Since Gueuze is a blend of Lambics of different years, 2003 was the first year that Cantillon could produce a wholly organic Gueuze. Of course, given its pedigree, it was no surprise that the beer turned out to be superb.
The March Cantillon Open Brew Day coincides with the first day of Belgium's premier beer festival, the Zythos Beer Festival (www.zythos.be, www.zbf.be, White Beer Travels Web page). Cantillon Open Brew Days commence at 6.30am.
Twice Yearly Collectors' Fairs and Belgian Beer Festival, Musée des Bières Belges (Belgian Beer Museum)
19, rue de la Gare, Lustin
(N947 Road, Kilometre Post 11.2)
www.museebieresbelges.centerall.com
Next one: Sunday, the 7th of October, 2007
This beer museum is one of the real shrines of the Belgian Speciality/Craft/Specialty Beer world, a visit being essential at some point (or more) in the life of all lovers of good beer. The museum, which is run under the presidentship of Christian Lejeune, has over 13,500 bottles and around 2,500 glasses. Its bar has a selection of over 600 bottled beers to choose from, plus a good number on draught, one reason for visiting the place at any time, but for those interested in Breweriana, the twice yearly collectors' fairs (Brocante et bourse d'échanges) and Belgian Beer Festival (Festival de Bières Belges) are not to be missed. The place is less than 200 yards (metres) from Lustin railway station, which is regularly served by trains from nearby Namur and Dinant and beyond. Details of a White Beer Travels visit to the museum, which includes a photo, can be obtained by clicking here.
The Collectors' Fairs run within and around the museum, from 8am to 5pm. Breakfast is available from 8am to 10am, and a beer cuisine lunch from 11.30am to 2pm, the cost being described as being "démocratique"! Should one wish to take beer home with you, it is recommended that this be ordered in advance. Members and affiliates (EBCU (www.ebcu.org) members, for example CAMRA or Zythos members) of the Guilde des tâte-bière (Guild of Beer Tasters), which is associated with the museum, get a substantial discount.
On all my visits, the Manageress (Gestionnaire du Musée) of the museum, Madame Thérèse Abeels, has served up the beers; click here for a photo of her behind the bar, taken by John White, this photo also appearing in Tim Webb's Good Beer Guide Belgium, on page 275 (www.booksaboutbeer.com, White Beer Travels Web page). With much regret, I can report that Madame Abeels passed away in February, 2006; the place is now fronted by her son, Christian Lejeune, who is President of the associated La Guilde des tâte-bière (Beer Tasting Guild) and the Editor of its superb magazine, Le Tâte Bière. Should you be planning a visit at any time, it is advisable to check that the museum is open by ringing +32 (0)81 41 11 02.
The 2005 edition of the museum's Bières et Brasseries Belges/Belgische Bieren en Brouwerijen (Belgian Beers and Breweries) is now available
Bières et Brasseries Belges/Belgische Bieren en Brouwerijen (Belgian Beers and Breweries), a truly essential book, which is produced by Dutchman, Loek Klasen, the Vice-President of the Guilde des tâte-bière, is now available, priced €15. It is a most useful directory of Belgian Breweries, past and present, and their beers, 18,300 being covered. It can be purchased at the museum and at major beer festivals in Belgium. Note that between editons, updates to this book are provided in the Guild's magazine, Le Tâte Bière. Sadly, Loek passed away in July, 2006.
White Beer Travels Website
In 2006 there were 204,360 visits.
i.e. 33% up on the 2005 number!
The White Beer Travels website
was launched on the 24th of March, 2002, see the Archives page of the site. Note that the oft-quoted "Hits" number
is a very misleading figure, i.e. it is a measure of the number of files that go to make up a page, for example, if a page has ten images on it,
these alone give the page ten hits, whether they are looked at or not, when on the page; the White Beer Travels site has an average of twenty-three hits per page; in June, 2007, the site had over 750,000 hits! Clearly, a more meaningful measures of a site's popularity are
the number of visits and the number of unique visitors. Information on how the statistics are obtained is given in the
Website Build Info page.
The 2005
figures were over double those achieved in 2004,
these, in turn being over double the 2003 ones, these numbers attesting to the site's increasing popularity. The 2007 target is 230,000 visits. The site typically has record figures each month; June, 2007
being no exception with 21,852 visits, from 17,498 unique visitors.
Another test of how well the White Beer Travels website is doing is how high up it is in Google Search Engine (www.google.com) searches. With a string of words that are very specific to the site, such as "white beer travels belgian beer" it is, as one would expect, number one, although it is also very high with just "white beer" (Number 2 place at the end of June, 2007, and fourth with its reviver, "pierre celis"). Clearly, a more valid test is with a string such as "belgian beer", this being a big feature of the site. At the same time, using this string it was doing very well, i.e. it was in 22nd position of "about 1,480,000 [Web pages] for belgian beer", the latter number of pages being the quote from the header at the top of the search results for "belgian beer". The target is to get on page one of the search results, i.e. in the top ten sites covering Belgian Beer. Other results at this time include: third place with "john white"; in third place with "schlenkerla"; eighth place with "speciality beer"; third place with "brugs beertje"; fourth place with "moon under water"; fifth place with "italian beer"; second place with "thornbridge brewery"; fifth with "trappist beer"; third with "authentic trappist product"; and second with "orval trappist" (and similar positions with rochefort (second position), sixtus (first position), and chimay (second position)). With just "beer", the site was in position 131 of around 107,000,000 sites, at the end of June, 2007, when its Google PageRank was 5 (the highest ranked Beer websites in the World, such as www.ratebeer.com, have a PageRank of 6)!
At the end
of June, 2007, the site consisted of a hundred and six separate Web pages, equivalent
to over 650 pages of A4/Letter, when printed.
Beer News
on the Internet
The websites of national beer consumers'
organisations such as CAMRA (www.camra.org.uk),
in the UK, PINT (www.pint.nl), in The Netherlands
and Zythos (www.zythos.be and White Beer Travels Web page), in Belgium, see above, are very
good sources of News on Beer, CAMRA, of course being the source of news on Real
Ale. Renowned general news sites, such as the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)
one (www.bbc.co.uk), are also excellent sources
for beer news in the UK and elsewhere. For example, put "real ale" in
the Search box on the site and one gets a lot of recent UK stories on the subject;
put "beer" in and one get beers stories from around the globe. Of course,
the BBC website is one of the world's biggest and best; it is an indispensable
resource that offers far more than just news.
Another excellent facility is Google Alerts, news.google.com/alerts. With this, for example, one can get immediate information Web pages (from on-line News sites, such as the on-line versions of national and regional newspapers and radio and TV companies, and new Web pages) on a topic of your choice. You can also register to get daily e-mails, listing websites covering your chosen topic. For example, in August, 2005, search topic "trappist" proved invaluable for tracking down items on the somewhat inaccurate "story" that the St.-Sixtus Trappist Brewery, in Westvleteren, in Belgium, had run out of beer; click here for more details of this.
John White (1945-), 
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