Anyway, Belgian beer is supposed to be very good. So in addition to my chocolate hunt, SP and I also made every effort to try as many Belgian beer as possible.
From my past experience, beer goes reasonably well with mussels. And during my trip, I found that beer also goes well with beef stew, cold meat, 'cuckoo' (similar to chicken), rabbit. Many dishes are acutally cooked in beer. And according to the locals, it's supposed to go well with rye bread, cheese and even shallot!!
In our 9-day beer tasting effort, we managed to try a fair few beer. Below of some of them (we didn't manage to take a photo of every beer we drank. hehe):
From the Orval Trappist Monastery, one of the 6 remaining Trappist breweries in the world. It is one of our first beer in Belgium. It's slighly fruity and has a dry finish.
We also tried the "Mort Subite" (Sudden Death) A la Mort Subite. Although it was a 'must-try', I'm not particularly used to the sweet/sour taste of that particular beer.
Grimbergen Triple, from an abbey dating from 1100's. It has a crisp, bitter-sweet flavour. It's one of the stronger beer (9%).
Rochefort 8, also a Trappist beer. Rochefort comes in different numbers (They were 6, 7, 8, 9 from memory). I have no idea what they mean. Anyway, it is supposed to be one of the less commercial of the Trappist brewery and it was recommended to us repeatedly.
De Koninck and Kasteel.
The brewery of De Koninck is located in Antwerp and we were told that it's the only brewery in the city. The brewery has been around since 1830's and it is still managed and maintained by the founding family.
Kasteel is a rather sweet beer and it doesn't taste as strong as it really is (11%!!). I thought it was a rather interesting beer.
Gouden Carolus from Mechelen. This particular glass is Gouden Carolus Ambrio, but SP and I has basically tried all their regular line of beer.
We went to Mechelen in search of a brewery tour and the name of that brewery is "The Anchor" (Het Anker). The name of the beer, Gouden Carolus, actually means "Golden Charles", which is related to Emperor Charles V. He grew up in Mechelen at the court of his aunt Margaret of Austria (At the time, Mechelen was the capital of Flanders). He likes this beer so much that he arranged for regular delivery of the beer from Mechelen to Spain for his personal consumption. Even though Spain also produces excellent wine, he once stated that "the daughter of the grain was superior to the blood of the grape".
The beer was fit for an Emperor, so I think it's good enough for me. SP and I arrived at the brewery in the morning. We were directed to the bar and restaurant in the next property straight away. From there, we realised that they only do tour groups via prior bookings. Luckily, they were willing to let us join another English-speaking tour group at 7pm.
The tour was quite interesting. It is the my first time in a functioning brewery. After the tour, we went back to the bar and restaurant next door (which is a seperate business entity) to buy some beer . That's when the fun starts.
Initially, we just wanted to make our purchase and go, as it was close to around 8:30pm and we need to head back to Brussels. Then, the person-in-charge swiftly gave us each a glass of beer. And soon enough, we were chatting away. Our group got slightly bigger and with lively conversation, the beer tap continue to flow.
....We had glasses and glasses of Gouden Carolus Classic, Gouden Carolus Ambrios, Gouden Carolus Triple, Blusser, random liquor, more beer....
We had sooooo much fun that in the end, we decided to catch the last train back to Brussels!!! (Thank you Mr L for our express ride to the train station!) We didn't get to visit Brussels north that night, but I personally think that the night at Mechelen was the greatest night I've had in Belgium! :)
Our regrets: there was one beer which we both want to try but was not available. It's the Cuvee van de Keizer (Grand Cru for the King). It's made on the day of Emperor Charles V birthday (Feb) every year. Sadly, the bar has ran out of stock. I guess it leaves an excuse for us to return! hehehe
For more information:
Orval Trappist Brewery
http://www.orval.be
Het Naker
http://www.hetanker.be/
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