This is the title of a book I got Rick for his birthday. I also got him some good beer to go with it. Since living in Belgium, I've learned to appreciate a good beer. Rick has always been a fan, but now he is working on becoming a connoisseur. The book is more than just a guide to the best beers in Belgium. It is a tour of the country written from the perspective of a total beer geek from Gr. Britain. While the focus is mostly on brewers, breweries, and cafes, the book also gives good historical information about the cities, brewers, and beers and it does it with a good bit of sarcasm.
We began our beer tour of Belgium this past weekend by visiting the Dubuisson Brewery and Taverne where Bush beer is made and distributed. That's Bush with an "sh" not a "ch" as in Aneuser-Busch. The brewery is not allowed to use the Bush name for their beer sold in the U.S. for obvious reasons, which they make clear have nothing to do with our current President. Instead, it is sold under the name of Scaldis.
The Brewery is located in the middle of nowhere, in a small, farming town close to the French border. We took a tour of the Brewery, which was very interesting and included a tasting of 3 different beers at the end--the lowest alcohol content was 7%. The tour guide was more than accomodating as we arrived late and were the only English speakers in the group. While the French group was watching a video, he sat down with us and gave us some history about the brewery. He continued the tour in both French and English and hung around and chatted with us during the beer tasting.
The star beer at this brewery is the Bush Prestige (13% alcohol content), which we discovered at the Essen Beer Festival. It comes in a champagne-style bottle and sells for 16 Euros for 75cl--pretty expensive. It's, apparently, a difficult beer to find, but we did see it at a beer store in Brussels. It was more expensive though. We bought several bottles, some for us and some for others in Rick's office. We finished our day off by sipping beer and eating cheese in the tavern for a couple of hours. By the time we left, it was evening and the place was packed with families coming out for some good food and beer on a Saturday night. Everyone in the town must have been there.
I guess this is just the beginning--I think I've created a monster!
We began our beer tour of Belgium this past weekend by visiting the Dubuisson Brewery and Taverne where Bush beer is made and distributed. That's Bush with an "sh" not a "ch" as in Aneuser-Busch. The brewery is not allowed to use the Bush name for their beer sold in the U.S. for obvious reasons, which they make clear have nothing to do with our current President. Instead, it is sold under the name of Scaldis.
The Brewery is located in the middle of nowhere, in a small, farming town close to the French border. We took a tour of the Brewery, which was very interesting and included a tasting of 3 different beers at the end--the lowest alcohol content was 7%. The tour guide was more than accomodating as we arrived late and were the only English speakers in the group. While the French group was watching a video, he sat down with us and gave us some history about the brewery. He continued the tour in both French and English and hung around and chatted with us during the beer tasting.
The star beer at this brewery is the Bush Prestige (13% alcohol content), which we discovered at the Essen Beer Festival. It comes in a champagne-style bottle and sells for 16 Euros for 75cl--pretty expensive. It's, apparently, a difficult beer to find, but we did see it at a beer store in Brussels. It was more expensive though. We bought several bottles, some for us and some for others in Rick's office. We finished our day off by sipping beer and eating cheese in the tavern for a couple of hours. By the time we left, it was evening and the place was packed with families coming out for some good food and beer on a Saturday night. Everyone in the town must have been there.
I guess this is just the beginning--I think I've created a monster!
1 comment:
You definately live in good beer country. It's good to see you're embrassing it!
Wish we had the cash and time to come out and sample some with you!
-Marjorie
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