The Europe Trip; Random Post

I haven’t made a post on this blog in a while… life has been really busy as of late and the Europe trip was perfect timing. Along the trip we took plenty of photos of beer, bread, architecture and random things along the way, enough to warrant this LONG beer rant/random photo post. My goals for the trip were to have a good time, NOT loose my passport, and try 50 different beers. All of these were accomplished.

Also a few people asked about if the Belgium beers we drank were vegan or not. If you are not aware some beers contain lactose, honey, gelatin, egg whites, oysters, etc. Some beer is also filtered through isinglass (which is the bladders of fish) in order to clarify the beer and is largely done in British brewing of cask-conditioned beers and also in smaller facilities that don’t use a centrifuge. The isinglass accelerates the process of the settlement falling to the bottom of the barrel. I have emailed plenty of Belgium breweries to ask about the process in which they filter their beers (all of which are located at Barnivore and every last one has emailed back they they do not use any sort of fining, most say they just use time. My favorite response was from Cantillon who said, “We do not add anything else and surely not animal products.”

In Belgium many of the brewers are very keen on everything being organic even though they were doing that much before this whole organic everything was the thing to do because this yeilds better flavor and has less contaminates. They also have ingredient labels on the beer over there in case you want to double check anything as well. Because they have very strict rules on lets say what a tripel is, you won’t see the same experimentalism in micro-brews like you see here in the states where you could be drinking beer brewed with oysters. So my standpoint while over there was enjoy the beer, and stay away from the few beers that I knew were not vegan which might be a bit more of a laid back approach than when I’m back at home.

So initially I thought it would be a good idea to write down and track the beers we drank over the trip as to remember what we really enjoyed. This was going well until one of the last nights when I lost the tablet… Luckily we took plenty of photos and remember the majority of what we drank. I know were leaving off a few but here is the Europe beer list, we made it over 75:

Lauren’s favorite: De Ranke – Noir de Dottignies (9)

Eric’s favorite: De Dolle Brouwers – Verse Vis (8)

Honorable Mention: BFM Brasserie Des Franches-Montagnes – Suisse (11)

Favorite Beer Label: Zwijntje – Zwyntje (8)

Worst “Beer”: Huyghe Mongozo coconut (3.6)

Day 1

Cantillon
Gueze (5)
Faro (5)
Lambic (5)
Rose de Gambrinus (5)
Vigneronne (5)

Affligem brouwerij
Postel Triple (9)

Huyghe
St-Idesbald Tripel (9)
La Guillotine (8.5)

Day 2

Brasserie de Rochefort
Trappistes rochefort 8

ZBF Beer Festival:

Slaghmuylder
Witkap Pater Stimulo (6)

De Dolle Brouwers:
Verse Vis (8)
Oerbier (9)

De Ranke
Noir de Dottignies (9)
Saison de Dottignies (5.5)

Br. De Bastogne
La Trouffette Rousse (7.5)

Trappisten Brouwerijen
Westmalle Double (7)

Huyghe
Delirium Noel (10)
Ten Duinen Rousse (7)

Dilewyns
Vicaris Generaal (8.8)

Millevertus
Mac Vertus (4.8)

De Kale Ridders
Tumulus Magna (9)

Sint-Canarus
Sint Canarus tripel (7.5)

Br. De Blaugies
La Moneuse (8)

Abbaye Du Val-Dieu
Val-Dieu Triple (9)

De Rulles
Rulles Blonde (7)

Huyghe
mongozo coconut (3.6)

De Musketiers
Troubadour Blond (6.5)

Schelde Brouwerij
Oesterstout (5)

Het Nest
Schuppenboer (8.5)

Van Eecke
Het Kapittel Tripel Abt (10)

De Hoevebrouwerij
Nen Uts (7)

Wieze
Tripel Blond (8)

Smiske
Smiske (7)

After ZBF
Brouwerij Westmalle
Westmalle tripel (9.5)

Brasserie Belle-Vue
Kriek (5.2)

Day 3

Not a drop…

Day 4

Brasserie Dupont
Saison Dupont Bio (5.5)

Zwijntje
Zwyntje (8)

Slaapmutske
Bruin (6)

Brasserie De Brunehaut
Ramée Ambrée(7.5)

Brouwerij Alken-Maes
Grimbergen Optimo Bruno (10)

Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck N.V.
Kasteel Cuvée Du Château (7.5)

Day 5

Heineken
Heineken (5)

Brasserie Piedboeuf
Jupiler (5.2)

Brasserie Ellezelloise
Quintine Blonde (8)

Day 6

Brasserie Ellezelloise
Hercule Stout (9)

Brouwerij De Keersmaeker
Mort subite kriek (4.5)

Bierbrouwerij De Leeuw
Leeuw Pilsener (5)

Day 7

Amstel
Amstel (5)

Brouwerij Palm
Palm (5.4)

De Ridder Brewery
Wieckse Witte (5)

Brouwerij De Landtsheer
Malheur 12 (12)

Wieze
Tripel Bruin (8) (750ml)

Day 8

Grolsch Bierbrouwerij
Grolsch (5)

Cantillon
Lou Pepe Kriek 2008

lambic bar, lots of fun on tap and we didnt even get to the bottle selection…

Kerkom
Adelardus Brune (7)
Bink Bloesem (7.2)

De Ranke
Noir de Dottignies (9)

Jandrain-Jandrenouille
Mère des Moeder’s (8.7)

Valeir
Blond (6.5)

Gouyasse
Tradition (6)

De La Senne
Zinnebir (6)

BFM Brasserie Des Franches-Montagnes
Suisse (11)

And the damage done at lambic

Delirium bar even had US micros, some ive never heard of.

Huyghe
Delirium nocturnum (8.5)

De Rulles
Rulles Estivale (5.2)

Brouwerij Van den Bossche
Buffalo Stout (9)

Brasserie de Silly
Le Scotch Silly (8)
Super 64 (5.2)

Bosteels
Tripel Karmeliet (8.4)

Brouwerij Riva
Lucifer (8)

Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck
Brigand (9)

De Ranke
XX Bitter (6.2)

Corsendonk
Corsendonk Pater (7.5)

Brouwerij Van Eecke
Watou’s Wit Bier (5)

The list fades from this point….

Day 9

Brouwerij Alken-Maes
Maes Pils (4.9)

Random photo time, go!

I thought they only did this in Philly 🙂

I dont know what to say about this one…

see if you can find it.

Pickle + mustache = win

Not only in Texas.

Why their mailmen aren’t fat.

These were EVERYWHERE and always packed…

Loved drinking big beers and watching bike racing in Europe.

More bike racing

News to me.

I was too scared to try.

Where you alleviate yourself after a few drinks.

Woo!

Favorite person i met on the trip, Larry in the pink.

Tall Ts are out.

No ham in these.

Final lesson learned, you can make friends with anyone while enjoying a nice Belgium beer.