Since time and ethanol together are beginning to render faded memories of the beers I've tried since Steve has arrived, I'm just going to blog as many of them as I can in one sitting. If you don't want to read the gory details of these, just move on to the next more interesting blog.

Het Kapital pater (7.5%) - The name implies it would be fit for the monks that, unfortunately, do not brew this beer. It is brewed by Watou and what a fine bunch of brewers they are I must say. This one was rich and malty with a balance toward the sweet side, though I picked up a bit of hop flavor in the finish.

Bon Secours Amber (8%) - Brewed by Caulier, this sample had a pretty powerful DMS flavor that left us glad that we were only drinking half a beer each. I've had it tasting better, but it's a crapshoot with this brewery.

Rochefortoise Amber (8%) - Though I really like the brune from this brewery, the amber landed just short of sucking. It was a technically sound beer that just didn't have much complexity. Though the beer is worthless, the labels are a trip. A half naked, busty, black babe in revealing armor holding a mash paddle and charging away from a castle while being pursued hotley by a group of goofy Walloons with red noses. It gave us a couple of good belly laughs at the very least.

Ellezelloise Amber (8.5% - catching an amber theme here?) - This one stole the show with some profound orangey notes created either by diacetyl or orange peel, who knows. It was complex, smooth, and waaaay to easy to drink too much of.

Dupont Vielle Provision (9.5%) - This one is an insanely smooth strong blonde ale that left both Steve and I speechless. It had some really subtle vanilla and spice notes, but mostly it just left us guessing at it's subtle but impressive complexity. We had this in a large corked bottle that pretty much corked us by the time we were done.

Saison 1900 (5.1%) - There is something about Saisons that you just can't pin down, and this one was no exception. Wonderfully grainy malt, a spicy hop flavor and lingering finish of.....of....of something that kept the glass pinned to my lips. I fully dug this beer made by the brasserie Lefebvre which makes the more well-known Floreffe brands.

Saison Pipaix - A beer gone bad.

Duchess de Burgogne vintage 1998 - A scam. This one should never have been aged as it is not a bottle conditioned beer. This was more theft than vintage beer, though it wasn't too bad overall.

Vichtenaar Oud Bruin (5.5%) - A rare find from the Brugge Biertje cafe, this one smacked of Rodenbach Grand Cru but with maybe a touch less sourness and complexity. A real nice beer though and one which I wish I could find here in Brussels.


Ichtegem Oud Bruin (5%) Yet another in the string of oud bruins (old browns) that I chose as a theme at the Brugge Biertje cafe in Bruge, which, as our prophetic beer guide put it, is "one of only a handful of cafes in the world that you must visit before you die." This brown gave up only the promise of coming sourness, while yielding some good toffee and nuts and plenty of creamed corn from the high DMS levels in the beer. In practically any other beer style I would call it an unfortunate off-flavor, but in this style, it reminds you of the house character that a good old brown must develop from the proprietary microfauna in the brewer's casks. With the caramelly flavors of this beer, the DMS thus becomes essential for making it consistently interesting.