Drinking the World's Finest Beers at Their Source-A Sampling of Belgian Breweries. By Bob Barnes Throughout the course of my two decades as a beer geek, my ultimate beer nirvana has been a trip to Belgium, the beer capital of the world. Beer capital it is because of its rich brewing history, but also for the diversity of beer styles and in the case of the lambics, brews which can't be duplicated anywhere else in the world. My first trip to Belgium convinced me that Belgium is indeed the beer heaven I thought it would be, as virtually every place I visited abounded in excellent beer choices. 3 Fonteinen Brouwerij The first investigation topping my list was to seek out a true lambic brewery that indulges in open spontaneous fermentation capturing the wild yeasts in the air. 3 Fonteinen Brouwerij, in Beersel, 15 km southwest of Brussels, has been producing traditional lambics aged in oak barrels since 1873. I met brewer and owner Armand Debelder and found him to be an artisan extremely passionate about his craft. He educated me on the basics of lambics. A lambic is 2/3 barley and 1/3 wheat. The mash is pumped to a vat on the roof to cool overnight, and the roof retracts to let in more air. Spontaneous fermentation occurs with the wild yeast in the air, a strain that thrives only in the Brussels area. The fermenting beer is transferred to wooden barrels where it stays for up to 3 years. Since only the cool nighttime air is used to cool the wort, Armand doesn't brew during the hotter summer months. During his brewing season he produces two a day 1,000 liter batches. He is now using hop pellets from 1998 which are only at a 1% alpha bittering unit. Old hops are used because hops lose their bitterness over time, and it's not the bitterness that a lambic requires, but rather acidity that adds to the extreme tart character of the beer. Using wood barrels to ferment and age the beer also contributes. The tannins and skins of the wood flavor the beer as the wood breathes, allowing more bacteria in the air to come through. Armand is in the midst of a fight with the European Food and Drug Administration. They're pressuring him to ferment in stainless steel instead of wood and replace his brick floor with concrete. What's unfair is the same demands are not being made to wine makers, creating a double standard. He refuses to comply because doing so would take away the enzymes that are vital to the natural wild yeast fermentation. Said Armand, "If I had to ferment in stainless steel I wouldn't be making a lambic. I welcome them to pursue this with me. I will fight them and draw publicity to my beer." Armand also produces gueze, faro and kriek. Gueze is a blend of old lambic with new lambic, and is aged for at least one year after bottling. The new lambic is not as sour, which results in a less tart flavor. Faro is lambic infused with candy sugar at bottling and is very sweet. The Kriek is a lambic with fresh cherries from local farms added during the last five months of fermentation and then aged for a year in a wooden barrel. The cherries add some sweetness, but plenty of tartness is retained in the flavor profile. According to Armand, 10-14 degrees Celsius (50-57 F.) is the ideal temperature to drink any beer with a lot of flavor. About his beer he said, "This beer I make is how I like it. Whether or not you like it, that's not my problem." If you visit 3 Fonteinen, be sure to dine at the restaurant next to the brewery which bears the same name. All of the entrees are prepared with the brewery's beer. I dined on mussels (a Belgian standard) stewed in 3 Fonteinen Gueze. De Dolle Brouwers My next brewery visit was to De Dolle Brouwers in Esen. The brewery dates back to 1835 and is also called Oerbier Brewery, which means ancient or primitive from the source; its mascot is a cartoon-like caveman. The brewery pub doubles as an art gallery with original paintings adorning the walls, all done by brewer/owner Kris Herteleer, and available for purchase. An award winning artist and accomplished architect, Kris bought the brewery in 1980. Kris said, "I had no formal training to brew, but taught myself by trial and error." Making strong ales, he's reviving a Belgian beer tradition that has recently been on the decline. The desire for strong ales has its origin in the 1920's as the Belgian version of prohibition prohibited spirits, but didn't apply to beer; brewers started making stronger alcohol strength brews to appease those missing strong alcohol flavor. De Dolle's slogan is nat en straf (wet and strong), a warning for the strong alcohol content of its brews and is distributed in England and 10 states in US. Kris has a sense of humor which comes through in his beer labels (all designed by him) and the stories behind the origin of the beer names. Dulle Teve, a 10% tripel made with white candy sugar, means mad bitch, which was first brewed for a restaurant owner whose wife kept pestering him by repeatedly calling him on the phone, during which time the restauranteur commented, "She is a mad bitch." Other brews are: Oeral, a 7% blond; Arabier, a strong golden ale at 8% featuring a picture of a parrot on the label; Oerbier, a 7.5%, brown, made with candy sugar; and Extra Export Stout (a style not often seen in Belgium), a 9% imperial stout. Kris produces 1,000 hectoliters a year, all of which are bottle conditioned. The brewery's walls are painted yellow because it's his favorite color. Brouwerij Bavik A large brewery producing a wide range of styles was my next beery adventure. Bavik, in Bavikhove, a small village in the south of Western Flanders, is a mid-sized brewery brewing 130,000 hectoliters a year, yet is responsible for only 1-2% of the Belgian beer market. Its diversity and expansion of a chain of successful pubs has helped make it one of the larger breweries in Belgium. 40-50% of its production is for pubs; Bavik owns 500 pubs that serve its beer within a 40 mile radius, but 1,500 pubs serve its beer throughout Belgium, 250 in France, and distribution is in 34 US states. The brewery was built in 1894, but was modernized and rebuilt in the late 1950's. The brewery brews at near full capacity, around the clock, making a batch every 5 hours. 20-24 batches a week are produced during the busiest times, resulting in 11 different styles of beer. I was surprised to learn that Belgian brewers (although to a lesser degree) face the same challenge as American brewers do, weaning the public from light flavored beer to those with full-bodied taste. According to Commercial Director Jose De Smet, "Young people grew up with Coca-Cola, and gravitate toward lower alcohol or sweet syrupy fruit beers." To appease the masses, Bavik makes Pils (2nd best selling Belgian pilsner in the US), its number one seller, a light lager made with malt and 10% corn, and the newly introduced Wittekerke Rosé, a light but refreshing brew with 10-12% raspberry juice that reminded me of drinking a sweet wine cooler. Bavik's line of dinner beers, also called table beers, are 1% abv. and are designed for the whole family to be served with meals, a Belgian tradition that is waning due to the introduction of soft drinks during the past 50 years. Aside from the lighter fare, Bavik has plenty of full-flavored brews guaranteed to grow hair on your chest. Petrus Aged Pale (produced strictly for the US market), is a type of large scale lambic, fermented and aged two to three years in nine 219 hectoliter French oak barrels. The fermenting beer is inoculated with sour beer to impart lactic acids, esters and aromas, and micro-organisms that live in the wood contribute to its acidity as well. The barrels have a small hole on top with a fiber filter that allows pressure to escape, while the wood breathes allowing air and bacteria to come in. Vitamin C is added as an antioxidant, to take out the small amount of oxygen still left in the fermenting vessel. When the barrels are emptied, they are just rinsed out, with no chemicals being used to clean, and new beer is added the same day. Old dried Belgian hops are added to provide a top layer which serves to preserve the beer (hops are a natural preservative). A bit of a thrill for me was getting to taste this gem from the barrel. Yves Benoit, Assistant Production Manager (quality control) let me sample from one of the huge oak barrels containing a three-year-old with a very sour, true lambic flavor. 33% of this aged pale is mixed with two other top fermented beers to make Petrus Old Brown, which is fermented 24 months in the oak kegs and not as sour as the Aged Pale. Other beers I sampled were the Wittekerke-a wit beer with coriander and a very citrusy refreshing character (available in the US), Petrus Speciale-an easy drinking traditional Belgian ale, Petrus Triple-bottle conditioned, fruity, full-bodied and rich and Pilaarbijter Blond and Brown-bottle conditioned ales (available in the US). Brouwerij Van Steenberge My final brewery visit was to Brouwerij Van Steenberge (AKA: BIOS) in Ertvelde not far from Ghent. A true family brewery in the 6th generation of brewing, its origins date back 220 years when the brewery was first founded in 1784. Production is currently at 50,000 hectoliters a year, of which 30% is lager and 70% is high fermentation ales. The capacity is eight brews a day and 1,000 hectoliters a week. Although the brewing roots are quite old, the brewery is not. A new brewhouse was built in 1992 and is completely computer generated, enabling it to operate with a fairly small staff of only 30 employees. The brewery's best sellers in the US are Gulden Draak and Piraat, but it also contract brews Corsendonk Brown and Celis White for distribution in Belgium. Gulden Draak (means Golden Dragon, named after the statue on the top of the belfry in Ghent) is a complex 10.5% dark brown tripel or barley wine with a creamy head and toffee-like sweetness. Piraat, sporting a pirate on the label, is a 10.5% amber triple IPA with a huge spicy malt kick. Other brews I sampled were Bornem Dubbel (an 8% abbey ale brewed by license for the Abbey of St. Bernard's in Bornem) and Cherish Kriek Lambic (a perfect blend of sour and sweet flavors). All are high gravity, bottle conditioned and explode with flavor. Brewery Rep Andre Van de Velde was our tour guide and went beyond the call of duty, surprising us with a side trip to Ghent to visit the brewery's booth adjacent to the Gravensteen Castle during the town's summer festival, which proved to be an ideal location to sample the brewery's brews. My overall impression of my Belgian beer adventure is punctuated by the abundance of big beers (in flavor and sometimes alcohol) that I was fortunate to experience. The diversity and range of flavors covered the whole gamut of what I have always considered to be real beer flavor. Highly recommended is arranging for a guide to take you directly to some of the more out of the way and harder to find breweries. Global Beer Network arranges group and private tours. Contact Johnny Fincioen at johnny@globalbeer.com and check out his comprehensive website at www.globalbeer.com. Fincioen also distributes the brews of Bavik and Van Steenberge to the US. 3 Fonteinen 3 Herman Teirlinckplein B-1650 Beersel, Belgium 32 (0) 2331 07 06 www.3fonteinen.be De Dolle Brouwers Roeselarestraat 12b B-8600 Esen, Belgium 32 (0) 5150 27 81 www.dedollebrouwers.be Brouwerij Bavik Rijksweg 33 B-8531 Bavikhove, Belgium 32 (0) 5671 90 91 www.bavik.be Brouwerij Van Steenberge Lindenlaan 25 B-9940 Ertvelde, Belgium 32 (0) 9344 50 71 www.vansteenberge.com Bob Barnes is a regional correspondent for the Celebrator Beer News. He can be reached via e-mail at LVBobB@juno.com.