It’s that time of year again when the Belgian breweries start producing their winter ales. And The Met has an offer on at the moment for Tongerlo Christmas.
Copper-coloured beer of pure spring barley, with a touch of vanilla in the aroma, a fruity and complex flavour and a smooth aftertaste.
It’s quite nice, too.
Since moving to Belgium I have really started to develop a taste for Flemish Red beers, such as Ichtegem’s Gran Cru from the Brouwerij Strubbe.
It’s quite light for a dark beer, not too strong, but very drinkable.
I shall sleep well tonight…
A while ago, I mentioned that one of of the restaurants near me is part of a ‘beer of the month’ scheme which allows me to steadily work my way through the range of Belgian beers without having to go too far.
This month, the beer of the month is Bersalis which is intended to help relaunch the Oud Beersel lambic brewery.
The beer itself is okay, if nothing special, but at 9.5% it’s strong. Almost too strong because, after a while, the alcohol was pretty much all I could taste.
We were in Antwerp yesterday and, on stopping at a rather nice bar across from a French restaurant to which we later went, I was rather impressed to be served a tankard of Keizer Karel in an authentic pot.
The story, in case you hadn’t heard it is as follows…
In Olen there was an inn famed for selling good beer. When Emperor Charles visited Olen on his annual hunting expeditions, he would never forget to partake of a tankard of that good beer. He would canter up to the front door on his horse, order, and wait for the woman to come outside with the foaming brew. But she always held the tankard by its handle, so that the Emperor could never get a good grip of it.
“Woman, by next year, get thee a beer tankard with two handles, for that will make it easier.”
“Yes, my lord,” replied the woman.
Next year came and again Emperor Charles stopped off at the inn. The woman had indeed bought a beer tankard with two handles, but she held the tankard with her two hands, so that again, the Emperor was unable to get a good grip of it.
“Woman, it is still not good. By next year, get thee a beer tankard with three handles, for that will make it easier.”
Next year came and again Emperor Charles stopped off at the inn. The woman had indeed bought a beer tankard with three handles, but she held the tankard with the third handle pointing towards her breast.
“Woman,” said the Emperor, “it would be still no easier than last year, were I not to know that a third handle there is.”
And so saying, he reached under the tankard and grasped the third handle firmly.
“Behold, a clever trick there is,” proclaimed he.
And the inn where this merry story happened all those years ago still exists in Olen. And the famous three-handled tankard is still preserved there too.
- From “Van stroppendragers en de pot van Olen” [Of Rope Wearers and the Tankard of Olen]
Pete McCarthy’s first book, McCarthy’s Bar, is premised on the principle that you should never pass up the opportunity of having a drink in a bar that shares your name.
So when we saw this place, dinner was decided.
And guess what Belgian beer they served in this French restaurant…
I have to say, the food here was really, really good. If you ever find yourself in Place Dauphine I would strongly recommend you give it a try.
Happy New Year!
One of the first things I noticed about Belgium is the fact that every one of the numerous beers here comes in its own, specially shaped, glass. My first assumption, of course, was that this was historical and – while entertainingly quirky – probably didn’t make much difference to the actual flavour of the beer.
However, it turns ou that the Belgians may have been onto something:
If convection currents really are driving flavour release, for example, the shape of the glass could be a vital part of the aroma experience.
Just to be on the safe side, maybe I should pop out and buy a huge stack of beer glasses.
Cheers!
One of the restaurants near us has a monthly guest beer – which is something I can never resist. And, for the month of July, the beer in question has been Malheur, which is French for misfortune.
The beer itself is okay – dark blonde (if such a thing exists), with an aftertaste that I’m still not entirely sure about – but their website is well worth a visit.
Starting with this page where you can see how to pour the perfect beer.
But the real fun begins here, with the malheuren – a collection of all those funny mpegs that people in offices send and receive when we should be working.
Cheers!
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