Today I drove to Belgium to pick up my 2 cases of Westvleteren 12 from the Sint Sixtus abbey.  I will actually be picking it up tomorrow, but it was a 6.5 hour drive so I came today.  I’m staying in downtown Poperinge which is only 4 miles away from the Abbey.

While sitting in the bar at my Hotel (Hotel De La Paix), I met a man who owns a hop farm (Eurohop) here in Poperinge.  Tomorrow I will go visit his farm (he’s compressing hop flowers into hop pellets … what fun!)

Because I was in Poperinge, I decided to have their local brew: Hommel Bier as my beer for the evening.   “Hommel” is the local word for Hops in Poperinge–and it has plenty of them in there!  It is a quite flavorful ale … and at 7.5% ABV, it doesn’t take many to feel the effect.

I took a break today … whoa.  It’s been pretty much non-stop since I got here and I took the day to recuperate and just unwind a little.  No big outing, no visit to a castle, no visit to a brewery.  Just me and the room … thank goodness!  However, I feel pretty rested and ready for the big drive back to Westvleteren tomorrow (6.5 hours).  Tonight I “relaxed” with a few brews; but the real beer for today is one from Westmalle.  If you recall from an earlier post, I had the “Monk’s brew” — the extra from Westmalle.  Tonight’s option was the Tripel … and boy was it good!

Beer Mentor

Today I went down town in Stuttgart and tried to go to two places: Biddy Early’s (an Irish Pub) and Sophie’s Brauhaus.  Obviously, since it was a Friday night, both were extremely crowded.  (I will hit both of these places during the next few week to add their beer selection to my quest.)  Since they were so crowded I took my friends over to this hole-in-the-wall Whiskey Bar.

This place has somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 whiskeys (if not more).  The one I had last night was Blackadder 1989, 16 year old.  Wow.  Very nice… but the beer I had? Jever.  Again, a nice Pilsner.  I couldn’t get a picture — forgot my camera.

Here’s their English advertisement on their web page: The beer like the land.
Jever comes from Jever. And Jever is located in Northern Germany, or more accurately Friesland. Because here in Friesland our water is really pure and soft, we can add a little more hops when we’re brewing our beer to create the slightly bitter Friesian taste that distinguishes Jever Pilsener from other beers. Jever.

I do like the fact that this beer is a little hoppier than some of the Pilsners in this area.  More more flavor actually.

Beer Mentor

This month has just zipped by!  Wow–as I expected, it’s getting harder and harder to find a different beer for every day.  I know I have quite the selection of Belgians in my possession, but I’m trying to hold some of those for real emergencies!

Since I have to take the opportunity to have a new beer when I can, sometimes I don’t have my camera with my to verify/validate.  Today was one of those occasions.  I was out for lunch and found a beer that’s been around since 1597 — yes, 1597.  Only 400 years + old.  I guess that one is good enough for me.  As you might expect, it is a Pilsner: Gold Ochsen

This beer was spot on for style and characteristics.  It had quite a robust flavor … so much so that I went back to this place for dinner as well and had a couple of more! LOL

Here’s a little picture of it from the brewery’s website … Enjoy.

Beer Mentor

Today’s beer is a Quadruppel — It’s called Het Kappitel Abt and it’s from the Van Eecke Brewery in Poperinge-Watou, Belgium.  This was a very nice flavor and kind of what you would expect in a Belgian quadruppel.  Another short post today — I’ll add pictures tomorrow.

Beer Mentor

Today I simply tapped into my nice supply of Belgian Trappist Beers.  I “sampled” Chimay’s Tripel … and it was everything I expected it to be.  Keeping it short today — running short of time … stay tuned for my update on each of the Trappist breweries.

Beer Mentor

Tonight I had a Westvleteren 12.  What is this beer?  Arguably it is the most difficult to obtain.

There are web pages out there that talk about the process — you have to call at a certain time during the week in order to get a pickup date for whatever beer they are offering that month … it could be the blonde, the 8 or the 12.  Fortunately for me, I was able to snag a couple of the 12s on my recent Trappist Thanksgiving trip to Belgium.

I cracked it open — the bottle is not even labeled — the only labeling is on the bottle cap (see pic above).  I poured it and smelled it … not much aroma.  Amazing to me.  I tilted it up for a taste and got a mouth full of alcohol!  This thing is 10.2% ABV.  Now I love a high octane beer, but my favorite’s are usually well balanced with high IBUs (hop bitterness).  This beer is more balanced with Malt … the flavor is really different … so, actually, before I declare it the best, I’m going to have to have a few more … and (again) fortunately, I’ll be heading back to Belgium to pick up my 2 cases of Westvleteren 12!  Stay tuned for my additional report on this.  But for now, it is today’s beer.

Beer Mentor

Ha ha ha!  This is great … I picked up three different Gordon’s Finest beers (all in cans) at the Achel Monastery.  Today’s can is the Gordon Finest Silver Beer.  Since I ate at my favorite Biergarten tonight (ZOM WUFF) and I’ve exhausted all their beers, I needed another beer tonight to continue my quest.

I bought these beers just for this purpose.  This one labels itself a strong blond beer … but the last time I had a beer like this, it was a Colt .45!

This one is brewed at the Anthony Martin brewery.

Beer Mentor