Better Late Than Never: Belgian Brewing Technology

Greetings! This is Gideon--- parentheses free, for the purposes of this entry. Alas, this entry is about a month and a half late, so you'll need to file this under "better late than never". Then again, is a blog entry on brewing and beer ever really late or out of order?

My goal is to cover the brewery tours from Half Moon Brewery in Bruges and the Cantillon Brewery in Brussels. Both breweries are quite different; I'll try to avoid unnecessary detail, but you'll need to hang with me on this. In fact, let me suggest right now that you get yourself a cold one. It'll make all of our lives easier.

Half Moon Brewery (De Halve Maan) is one of the lesser known breweries in Belgium--- at least by Americans. Generally, you can find one or two of their beers in the states, typically their Straffe Hendrick tripel (which is a light, sweet, high alcohol beer with spices and a taste of caramel) and their lighter wheat beer (Zot). See here for more information: http://www.halvemaan.be/index.php?id=6&L=2.halvemaan.be/index.php?id=6&L=2

In trying their beers in Sacramento, I was struck by how good they were--- I was positive that there was something about the way they brew that set them apart from what American brewers can make.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was NOT the case. Half Moon Brewery makes beer just like everyone else--- malt, barley, hops, water, and yeast--- and their processes were identical to anything you'd find in an American brewery. So why was their beer better? I think it comes down to ingredients and experience. Half Moon Brewery was founded in 1856 and remains in family hands; the brewery started with Belgian beers (probably lambics), switched to British beers in the late 1800s, then jumped to German beers in the 20th Century, and then back to Belgian style beer (albeit Abbey/Trappist style beer) in the 1980s. Without Prohibition, this evolution was allowed to unfold naturally--- we didn't do that. Moreover, Belgium has the tradition of a small brewery; we had extensive consolidation (Pabst's, Anheuser-Busch, Miller, etc.) back in the 1880s.

I was also happy to discover that there were several beers that Half Moon Brewery makes that are not available in America. In particular, their quadrupel was quite good--- this is a dark, highly alcoholic beer (around 10%) that's starting to become popular in Belgium. There's no strict definition for a quadrupel; I don't know if this is fair, but I think of them as Belgium's answer to a barley wine--- not bitter, not cloying, just sweet, complex, thick, dark... and extremely dangerous. The notion of operating machinery after having a 10% beer is wishful thinking.

As I touched on above, Half Moon Brewery specializes in Abbey/Trappist beers. These are beers that originated in abbeys and monasteries that were sweet, complex, and high in alcohol: think dubbels, tripels, grand crux, etc. These are the beers that most people think of when they think of Belgian beers. However, there is another type of beer that Belgium is famous for: lambics.

(Erin: Sorry, no photos of Half Moon. I took a walk around Bruges while Gideon took the tour.)

Lambics are unfortunately a lost art. Since the lambic beer was made in copper kettles, many breweries were shut down in the first and second world wars so their kettles could be melted down for ammunition. Then, in the 1950s onward, Belgians began drinking pilsners and the lambic-style beers lost market share. (This never ceased to amaze me--- how many Belgians would drink shitty beer when world-class local beer was available. It's not as bad as here, but it boggled the mind.) Lambics are only now starting to make a come back, and it's limited.

In that light, Cantillon has to be viewed as an incredible survivor: http://www.cantillon.be/br/3_1 Now located in a working-class neighborhood that's mostly Muslim, Cantillon in Brussels is both a brewery and a museum. In fact, it's only through its museum designation that the EU allows it to operate. Why? This is due to the way that the beer is made: at Half Moon Brewery, the grain is added to water; heated at several different temperatures; and then hops and flavorings are added. At this point, the liquid mixture is known as wort. The wort is then brought down to room temperature (or so), and then yeast is added.

At Cantillon, the wort is instead chilled in a large, shallow pan. Exposed to the air, it picks up naturally occurring bacteria. After being left out overnight, the beer is then barreled, where it can age for up to five years. The end result is a sour, nuanced beer unlike anything else in the world. You literally cannot do this anywhere else--- if I left my beer out, it would taste like wet cardboard.

(Shallow pan)

(This fan helps cool the wort and increases exposure to naturally occurring fermenting bacteria.)



(Time does not respect what is done without him.)



(This system was used to fill bottles in the early twentieth century.  It was abandoned due to safety concerns with exploding bottles.)



(They don't get rid of spider webs or pockets of dust; it's a kind of symbosis with the enviroment to encourage the fermenting bacteria to thrive.  It's the opposite of a traditional brewery.)

Naturally occurring yeast and bacteria in Brussels air (and naturally occurring in the brewery itself) allow Cantillon to do this. Other breweries claim to make lambics, but they accomplish this by cultivating wild yeast and bacteria and then putting the cultures into the beer. Or they make terrible beer, throw in a lot of fruit sweetener, and then call it a lambic. To put this in perspective: a bottle of Cantillon's finest lambic would go for about $65 in San Francisco. If you could find it. For beer, that's expensive.

Fortunately, at the brewery a bottle goes for a bit more than $10; Erin and I had as many as we could suffer.

It was a glorious afternoon...

Bruges and Brussels

There isn't quite as much to share about Bruges and Brussels.

Bruges looks like it was built from the drawings in a medieval storybook. We spent two days in Bruges. It's seeing what Paris must have looked like before Napoleon knocked down much of the city and rebuilt it with wide avenues.

(Bruges has an interesting history. In the middle ages and early Renaissance, it was one of Europe's central trading hubs. It became one of the wealthiest cities in Europe, with a huge Cathedral and beautiful art. However, Bruges access to water silted over, and it became a backwater. Fast forward several hundred years: the Germans have destroyed large areas of Belgium (twice). That meant that the towns that had original middle ages architecture were largely gone. Except Bruges. Why? Other than architecture, Bruges wasn't worth bombing. Today it's a tourist hub/fancy place for rich people to retire.)

Brussels is great. Rick Steves warned that it's more grimy and city-like than Paris or Bruges. However, Gideon and I really like Brussels. It reminds us of San Francisco. We spent the majority of our time going to the brew/pubs recommended in our beer guide.

(For me, there's also the fundamental fact that this City is chill. There's something eminently livable about Brussels--- not much to see, but its a nice place to chill.)

I didn't realize how much we packed into Paris until we took the time to slow down in Belgium. Tomorrow we leave for Amsterdam and I'm really looking forward to this leg of the trip.

(The one thing we have been doing is hitting Lambic breweries. We've hit 3 so far, and we'll hit more if we can find them. These are breweries that are only found in Belgium, and largely Brussels. Lambic beers are beers that ferment with wild yeast that naturally occur in Belgium. I'll talk about this more in the next blog entry.)

One last thing before we leave Belgium: the bikes! The bike culture here is amazing. There are bike stations next to every metro station and each has about 25 bikes for rent. These bikes can be dropped off at other bike stations throughout the city. In California, good city planning means there are bike lanes, enough lighting and plenty of places to lock your bike. Here it's different. And it's not just that the driving behavior is different around bikes. Bikes are just another element of getting around - they're incorporated on a much more fundamental level into the city's infrastructure. From what I've read, Amsterdam is even more supportive of bikes. Bikes would need to be a common part of the American cityscape for another 30 years before we could even approach what Belgium has.

Honor, or Something Like It: The French Military Museum

So, Erin has graciously allowed me to handle this blog entry. No parentheses, just straight Gideon. And a journey through France's military history.

The museum is (roughly speaking) 4 different areas: Napoleon's tomb, arms from the 14th to the 16th century, Louis the XV to Napoleon III, and the modern period--- WWI and WWII. Took me about 3 hours to get through... could have taken 4. Lots going on.

First things first: Napoleon's tomb. He was dug up by his nephew, Napoleon III, from the island of St. Helena. Since his entire claim to fame was his uncle, he pulled out all of the stops. The tomb basically deifies Napoleon; the bas reliefs around the ornate sarcophagus show Napoleon as the ultimate man: law giver, leader, carrier of revolutionary ideals, peace maker between Church and State, etc. I suppose that if my uncle's name gifted me the nation of France, I'd be a huge fan too.

The ancient arms were amazing. In short, France has been making quality swords since the bronze age, seeing Ottoman swords from the crusades is a bit odd, and full suits of armor are awesome in person. My favorite moment was a display where they tried to side-step the "vagaries of history" in explaining how France wound up with entire collections of Italian Renaissance weapons.

This was the beginning of some of the "awkward" moments. For example, did you know that Yorktown was "Franco-American" victory? I knew that France played a big role. We couldn't have won without the French blockade, but it was strange for mento realize that the French played a much larger role in Washington's victory (and our independence) than I realized.

However, the awkward moments from there on in were purely French. After some incredibly limited criticism of Napoleon (specifically regarding Spain and Russia), they them go on to practically worship him. No serious discussions of Napoleon's political oppression. No discussion of Napoleon's basically killing the Republic either.

Similarly, the nationalist movement, which arose after France's defeat during the Franco-Prussian war and was virulently anti-Semitic, was discussed as a cause of the harsh post-war treaty imposed on France. But there's no real discussion of the Dreyfus affair.

And the harsh Versailles treaty? Wilson's fault. And the Germans were never serious about complying any way. The latter notion is a stretch; the former was a complete fiction. Clemenceau was no fan of a moderate treaty.

Oh, and WWII? It was a failure of civilian leadership. And the French army fought with honor. Never mind that the French military was considered the best in the world. Never mind that Leo Blum wanted to halt the fascist takeover of Spain, which would have put a cramp in Hitler's step, and was stopped by military leaders. Never mind it was the military leaders wanted the Maginot line. It was a civilian leadership failure.

The museum was silent on the Indochina war; colonialism was generally discussed as "exploration" anyway. Another personal favorite.

In short, the museum was quite good. But it was a trip. Worth a discussion on our own historical memory lapses.

The Louvre, etc.

Wow. I understand why everyone says Paris is so awesome - because it is.

I can't get passed how easy it is to get around. The metro is so fast and efficient and easy to navigate. And everything is beautiful! Each street and alley looks like a photo. All the buildings are gorgeous. All of them.

(I agree with all of the above. Paris is simply fantastic. And I think it's important that everyone goes. That way, when you're in New York, you know that you really are in the greatest City in the world. I kid, I kid.)

The last three days have been packed. We visited the Louvre twice, the Tuileries Garden, the Orsay, the Orangerie, Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle, the Left Bank Book Sellers and a bunch of stuff in between (like the best falafel in the world). We also managed to pack our faces full of bread, cheese, macarons, pastries, quiche and wine.

The Louvre was great, but we had to divide and conquer. There is no way to see everything in one visit so we split up and took two hours to see the important stuff.

(The Louvre is amazing. But it's also an incredible showcase of the paradox of France. Yes, it is beautiful, but this exists due to an oppressive monarch who wanted a nice house. The stuff is great, but some of it is from colonial/Napoleonic adventures. The French also feel a need to showcase the glories of past civilizations, but in the light of being a successor civilization. It's jarring to American sensibilities.)

The Orsay Museum picks up where the Louvre leaves off: Impressionism through Realism.

(PHENOMENAL. Here the French have real cause to gloat. The Orsay is a former train station, so the flow is great and the light is fantastic. And the art... Almost totally French. And all of it is priceless. Favorite museum so far.)

The Orangerie continues with Pointilism and Cubism.

The Orangerie, though smallest, was my favorite so far. It houses Monet's Water Lilies. Monet painted the Water Lilies specifically for this exhibit but never saw it installed. Water Lilies covers the entire first floor. The best part, however, was downstairs. The lower level covers Renoir, Degas, Picasso, Utrillo and a number of others; many of whom were developing their style Montmartre.

(In short, we are staying in the neighborhood where the modern art movement was born. Not bad for a girl from San Jose and a boy from Maine.)

So far we've had great luck with the language. Neither of us speaks French, but Rick Steves' book has enough terms, phrases and suggested behavior to get by. Plus, most of the waiters and waitresses we've interacted with have been friendly and speak quite a bit of English.

(Who knew that English was the lingua franca of our times?)

We met up with a couple of good friends, Mike and Nicole, for dinner and drinks yesterday evening. They're staying close to Notre Dame and have rented a little apartment for the few days they're going to be here. Mike and Gideon have big plans for the army museum while Nicole and I will take a break and shop a little. Paris has a couple department stores unlike anything I've ever seen. They're huge, ornate and expensive.

(I was shocked, just shocked to discover that the ladies didn't want to spend 3 hours in a museum learning about Renaissance armor and Napoleonic battle formations.)

If I had the time (and a car) I'd visit the Puces St. Ouen flea market held out in the 'burbs. The flea market dates to medieval times when peasants would sell items discarded by the rich. Today, the market has more than 2,000 vendors.

Paris: Day One

Yeesh. Having access to wifi and taking photos with my iPhone sure makes this easy.

Today we rolled out of bed, ate the continental breakfast and went straight back upstairs for a nap. We managed to get out for a few hours to walk around the neighborhood.

We're staying in Montmartre. It's the home to the Moulin Rouge, Paris' highest point (Sacré-Cœur) and a lot of young artist/hipsters.

(It was also home to some major activities of the 1871 Paris Commune. Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, and Mao have written extensively about the Commune, and it serves as the primary case study on how to structure a state after a successful revolution. Specifically, the lesson drawn was that once the revolution is kicked off, the revolutionaries must act quickly, decisively, and crush your enemies. Hence... The 20th Century. - GB)

We started at the Sacred Heart Basilica. It's a beautiful cathedral that was finished a little less than a century ago. It was built shortly after France lost the Franco Prussian War. Although built recently, it looks ancient.

(I think my favorite part was all of the mosaics of Jesus with no shirt on--- AKA Gun Show Jesus. According to our guide book, the church was built in repentance for the actions of the commune--- and for the tens of thousands killed when the French military, supported by the occupying Germans, destroyed the Commune. Nearby was another church built on the remains of an ancient Roman temple to Mars.)

Following that we went to the Dali museum and Picasso's studio (Le Bateau-Lavoir). We strolled past the Moulin de la Galette - the setting for Monet's famous painting. We also saw La Maison Rose - once frequented by Picasso and Gertrude Stein.

(All of the impressionist artists lived out here--- the rent was cheap and the booze was tax free. Earlier, Van Gogh lived out here as well. It's quite the neighborhood and featured quite a bit in the recent movie "Midnight in Paris".)

We stopped briefly for a couple sandwiches and a pastry. Even the touristy sandwiches are made the the best bread! I think the next five days are going to be full of wine, cheese and heavily spiced meat.

(True story. Though, I will say how impressed I am with the fruits of the American culinary revolution. We can get bread in Sacramento that comes close to what we're eating now. I suspect we couldn't say that 10 years ago.)

Tomorrow: the Louvre, Orsay and the Tuileries Garden.

(In short, my countdown to the military museum continues. But I'm looking forward to our picnic in the gardens near the Louvre.)