Beer Discovery: Pauwel Kwak

Beer: Pauwel Kwak
Brewery: Bosteels
Country: Belgium
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
ABV: 8.4%

Many people recognize the distinctive shape and look of the Kwak glass, but the story behind the funky shape of the glass and the beer it contains is not that well known.

The beer is brewed by the family brewery Bosteels, which has been run by the same family for over 6 generations!

The beer is named after its brewer, Pauwel, who started brewing the beer while Napoleon was busy conquering Europe. Pauwel was the owner of an inn, de Hoorn, which was frequented by coachmen of horse carriages. It was customary during that time for the coachmen to stay with the carriage, whilst the passenger went inside for a refreshing drink or something to eat.

Pauwel, recognizing that the coachmen would also like to have a nice brew (drunk driving was still allowed back then), set about creating a special glass for the coachmen. Imagine someone designing a special glass today which would make it easier for drivers to drink without leaving their car.

Coachman and his Kwak

And so the Kwak glass was born! The glass is distinctive for both its round bottom shape and the wooden holder which comes with it. Its enlarged, round bottom, prevented the glass from falling over while riding whilst it was hanging from its wooden holder. Attached at the side of the carriage, the coachmen always had their glass ready for a refill. The wooden base was added later as the brew became more popular, allowing for the beer to be placed on tables or other surfaces.

Enjoying a Pauwel Kwak (3.75/5*)

There are several theories as to why the beer is named "kwak". Kwak or the english equivalent of blob was used to describe the brewers physical appearance as Kwak was not his actual last name. However, some people attribute the name to the sound the beer makes when it spills over careless consumers. Due to the its distinctive shape, the last few sips result it an air bubble pushing beer outward (something which, if not suspected, can cause quite a mess). Therefore, some argue that the name is descriptive of the sound the beer and not the physical appearance of its brewer.

The beer and glass were actually released in 1980, with the history behind the glass and beer being used for marketing its release. The brewery claims the history is authentic, and it might as well be with the brewery going back so many generations.

Amber in colour and having a slight sweet/spicy taste with fruity aromas, the Pauwel Kwak is definitely an enjoyable brew.

So if you ever find yourself driving your horse carriage through Belgium, be sure to stop for a Kwak!

Cheers!

Beer Festival: Dutch Craft Beer Festival

Festival: Nederlands Speciaalbier Festival (Craft Beer Festival)

Location: 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands

Last week i visited the bi-annual Dutch craft beer festival in Den Bosch, and had an absolutely great time. 

I was really looking forward to once again attending this great beer festival, having only visited it once before. Furthermore it was in my home town, something which adds just a little bit more excitement to the event. I was therefore quite disappointed that after a week of reasonably good weather that the forecast for the festival day was bad.

I still had my hopes up though, weather forecasts aren't that accurate in the Netherlands on average.  Unfortunately for me and my friends, on this occasion they were. Despite the dismal weather conditions, we still managed to have a fun packed and beer filled day at the Dutch craft beer festival!.

We were a little early, eager to start!

We arrived about 15 minutes early to the festival, knowing from previous experience that it could get quite busy and as such did not want to wait in a long line. Therefore, we managed to get our tasting glasses and coins quickly and set out exploring. 

Tasting glass, and brewery booklet

It turned out that there was plenty to discover, with 38 Dutch breweries present and with each offering 3 or more craft beers, there was something for everyone's taste. With so much choice, we started looking around for something light to start with (which ended up being a very good idea). There was also a great atmosphere, at least for the first half of the festival, with live music and relatively stable weather conditions. 

Beer Festival

However, after a couple of hours the rain started pouring down and some logistical problems became apparent. There were two big problems, there weren't enough coins or glasses. This was unfortunate, because it created long lines and prevented people from enjoying more of the festival, since it is only a one day event. However, we were well prepared, being early birds, and as such were just spectators to the chaos. 

Getting busier

Logistical and weather conditions aside, it was really awesome being an such a big festival! The fact that there were only Dutch breweries present really gave me a chance to discover more of my nation's craft beers. Furthermore, the brewers were all open for a chat and there was even some brewing going on!

Brewmaster in action

Weathering the storm, using our festival booklets as umbrellas, we enjoyed all kinds of different beers at the festival. I ended up drinking 17 different brews (good thing i started off light :P). Furthermore, with the exception of one brew, i enjoyed all the beers that i tried. 

I will be sure to visit the festival again next time (in the fall), hopefully next time it will be better organized and the weather more enjoyable. 

All in all, a great day at a great festival!

Cheers!

Beer Discovery: La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged Series

Beer(s): Quadrupel Oak Aged
Brewery: Koningshoeven (La Trappe)
Country: Netherlands
Style: Quadrupel
ABV: 11%

The La Trappe Oak Aged Quadruples are in my opinion some of the best beers that the Netherlands has to offer!

In 2009 the monks at the Koningshoeven Monastery and Brewery started aging their La Trappe Quadrupel in Barrels (or Barriques), and have since then produced 19 batches of La Trappe Oak Aged. The Koningshoeven is also a fully certified Trappist Brewery, one of two in the Netherlands.

Enjoying a Batch #18! (4.5/5*)

Batches are blended multiple times a year, and as such this beer enjoys a consistent release but ever changing taste palette. Once a new blend is created, production of the previous stops, making each La Trappe Oak Aged Quadrupel a collectors item in its own right.

With each blend, the quadruple is interred into barrels (or Barriques) with specific properties. For example the Batch #14's blend consisted of: Acacia Wood (7%), New Oak Barrels (11%) and Limousine Barrels with Cognac (82%). Each Batch has a particular theme, for example with 82% Cognac Barrels, the Batch #14's taste is strongly influenced by Cognac.

Enjoying the #14! (5/5*)

Unfortnately, the La Trappe Oak Aged beers do not come cheap. When a new batch is released they are reasonable priced, at least at the brewery. However, since batches are only created once, and the fact that the beer can be further aged on the bottle for many years causes earlier batches to come with a significant price tag. I recently came across the batch #12 which was priced at €25 (could have been a lot worse).

€100 of Batch #12, Yes this happened :P (4.5/5*)

The most recent batch to be released, as i am writing this, is the batch #19. This batch is aged on dessert wine and should be very interesting to drink. I recently paid a visit to the Koningshoeven Brewery and bought myself a bottle of the batch #19,  I'm planning on drinking it this weekend (if i can resist my temptation for that long).

Oak Aging, with a little Divine Intervention (Source: La Trappe)

If you ever have the opportunity to try one of these awesome beers, i highly recommend it!

Cheers!

P.S. I did not get the opportunity for a brewery tour when i was visiting the Koningshoeven, so a blog post will have to wait until i have had the opportunity to do so.

Beer Discovery: Royal Virility Performance

Beer: Royal Virility Performance
Brewery: Brewdog
Country: Scotland
Style: IPA
ABV: 7.5%

Royal Virility Performance is a limited edition Brew (2011) to celebrate the marriage between Prince William and Kate Middleton. But this isn't your average commemorative beer….

"A beer to stir the lions of newlywed princes and cure the stammer of stuttering kings"

and to

"Celebrate Big Willy Style"

RVP is brewed to give the happy couple something "extra big" on their wedding night, and with a name such as Royal Virility Performance i think the message is quite clear. Brewdog states that the beer contains viagra and other aphrodisiacs to boost the "performance" of the drinker, and caused quite big stir upon its release.

Is Royal Virility Performance the cause?

"Arise Prince Willy.."

Whilst the beer does not contain the full strength regular viagra, it does contain the herbal viagra variant together with some other "stimulating" herbs and a good dose of sarcasm. If you are reading this, and thinking that your search for beer that will boost your sexual performance is over, i must disappoint you. Although a great concept, and reason for a laugh, the beer really does nothing to help you out there. In fact, having too many of these will probably do the opposite.

Enjoying a RVP, no side effects experienced

I had heard of this beer before, but had much given up ever coming across it short of ordering it online. Therefore i was pleasantly surprised when i came across this at a pub in my hometown. It wasn't cheap however, being a limited edition beer in 2011 with only 1000 bottled, and it now being 2015, i did have to pay a significant price for a performance boost. However I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see what all the fuss was about.

Big Willy

I quite enjoyed this beer: herbal, spicy and IPA goodness. This beer probably tasted a bit different from the original, having aged three years, but still tasted fine. The fact that i was so surprised to find this beer, and that i was quite drunk at the time, probably contributed to my appreciation of the taste.

If you ever come across one of the rare remaining bottles i highly recommend you to also "Celebrate Big Willy Style"

My Rating 4.5 / 5

Cheers!

Brewery Visit: Van Moll

Brewery: Van Moll
City: Eindhoven
Country: The Netherlands

A while ago i visited the Van Moll Brewery and Brewpub, and had an absolutely fantastic time! The great thing about this brewery visit was the fact that it wasn't planned, at least not by me.

We were going to attend a soccer game that day, arriving earlier to spend some time in the city beforehand. My girlfriend wanted to do some shopping and told me she had heard of a nice pub we would visit afterward (it made the shopping a lot more bearable :P). I had never heard of Van Moll prior to walking through its front door, where i was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was both a brewery and a stylish/modern brewpub!

Brewery & Brewpub Van Moll (Source: Van Moll)

The brewery is run by Jaap and Erwin, who opened the brewery in 2013 as the first brewpub in Eindhoven. Underneath the pub is the brewery, which customers can observe through glass windows (as can be seen on the above pictures, top middle). The brewery isn't large, but Jaap and Erwin do brew quite a number of different beers both for consumption in the pub and for limited distribution (their beers have recently started appearing in the city where i live). Van Moll brews 11 beers all year around, with a number of experimental or limited time brews also available during the year.

Enjoying a Van Moll Schobbejak 

Off course, when visiting a brewery its near heresy to not try some of their beers, why wouldn't you? its the best place to drink them!. I really liked the Van Moll beers which i tried (Eenvoud 4*, Toewijding 4*, Schobbejak 3.5* and D.A.F. 4* respectively), the atmosphere might have contributed to this but they were very pleasant to drink. Furthermore, you are by no means limited to drinking their own brews, Van Moll has a wide selection of specialty beers available.

Enjoying a Toewijding (Dedication)

All in all: Great beer, great atmosphere, great pub, great location and one of the two owners that i talked to was very nice. It was a great place to get into the mood to watch some soccer and drink some very nice beers.

If you are ever in Eindhoven, I highly recommend paying a visit to this awesome brewpub and brewery!

Cheers!

Brewery Website: http://vanmolleindhoven.nl 

Beer Discovery: Estrella Damm Inedit

Beer: Estrella Damm Inedit
Brewery: Damm
Country: Spain
Style: Witbier (Belgian White)
ABV: 4.8%

"Crafted by Ferran Adria, The world's most award winning chef, and the Damm Brewmasters"

With a description like that on the label, my expectations were quite high. I first came across Inedit at my favorite Tapas bar in the Netherlands, Doncurado. But first, a little history...

Ferrand Adria started his culinary career as a dishwasher at the Hotel Playafels, here the Chef de Cuisine taught him about traditional Spanish cuisine. Afterward, at the age of 19 he served in the military as a cook. He continued to improve and at the age of 22 he joined the kitchen staff at El Bulli, 
just eighteen months later he became the head chef! (not too shabby). El Bulli closed its doors in 2011, and with 3 Michelin stars it was regarded as one of the best restaurants in the world.

Although it seems that Ferran Adria and Estrella take all the credit, it has to be noted that El Bulli sommeliers (Ferran Centelles and David Seijas) also helped craft this beer.

The creation of Estrella Damm Inedit (Source: Okathens) 

Estrella Damm Inedit was designed in 2008 specifically to accompany meals. A collaboration between Ferran Adria, his sommeliers and Estrella, the beer does a good job at what it is designed to do. A very light taste sensation and fruity aroma characterize this beer, very easy to drink and very pleasant together with Spanish tapas (trust me). Best served in a wine cooler, with glasses filled halfway to best experience the aroma's.

The glass is full, forgive my earlier ignorance

However when assessing the Inedit as a standalone beer, i was a little disappointed. Yes, the beer was designed to accompany meals (quite logical as it was designed together with a chef), but the fact that this was designed by one of the best chefs raised my expectations. I expected the beer to be very good, just like Ferran's food (i have never had the privilege but i expect that the food is extraordinary). It was purely this reason why i expected more than i did. Furthermore, Inedit means "never been done before", and im a bit skeptical as to the truth of that statement.

The taste is also very light, and so does not define itself as some other beers in the same category. But as previously mentioned it does what it was designed to do very well!

Glass half full, happy now?

The more drink Inedit, the more i seem to appreciate this very pleasant beer. The first time i drank it i was unaware of its purpose and as such did not appreciate it as much as i did before. If you ever get the chance to enjoy the Inedit together with some tapas or on a terrace in the sun, i highly recommend it.

(As I'm writing this, there is a closed bottle of Inedit mocking me from across the room, i'm really having a hard time resisting the temptation to just drink it.)

Previous Rating: 3.5
New Rating: 4

Cheers!

Brewery Visit: Hertog Jan

Brewery: Hertog Jan
Village: Arcen
Country: Netherlands

Sometime ago i visited, together with some friends, the Hertog Jan brewery near Arcen. Hertog Jan being one of my favourite pilseners and beer brands, i was really looking forward to this brewery visit. Located near the German border in the south eastern end of the Netherlands, and being located in the Dutch equivalent of the middle of nowhere, traveling to Arcen took quite a while.

However, it was well worth the journey.

Having booked tickets in advance for a brewery tour, and with a set start time, it was very important to arrive on time. Most of us did arrive on time, with the exception of one member of our group. He just missed the train as it was leaving the station, which was quite entertaining, he eventually arrived halfway through the tour.

The Brewery (middle of nowhere)

The first thing that was noticeable when nearing the brewery was the pipeline connecting the brewery with the brewery pub. The pipeline provides beer to the taps within the brewery, awesome!

The beer pipeline 

The brewery tour covered the entire brewing process, from raw materials to finished bottles. This was very informative and just a lot of fun to experience. Also there were multiple opportunities to taste, smell and feel the raw ingredients used to make Hertog Jan beers. This particular brewery mainly creates the specialty beers of Hertog Jan, with the pilsener being brewed in another Brewery, Dommelsch, which is also part of the same group which owns Hertog Jan (InBev).

The Brewery

As previously mentioned the tour covered the entire brewing process, and also the history of Hertog Jan which can be read about (Dutch only) here. During the tour we also had the opportunity to taste several beers such as HJ bock, also we had the chance to taste the Grand Prestige in two different stages of the brewing process.

No, its not espresso...

We also got a look at the brewery bottling line, it was quite hypnotizing seeing a never ending line of bottles being filled with beer and capped.

Toward the end of the tour, just before we headed over to the pub for some beers, we visited the brewery cellars. These cellars are exclusively used to store and age Hertog Jan's flagship specialty beer, the Grand Prestige. This is definitely my favorite specialty beer from this brewery, and if you get the chance i suggest you try it (fresh or aged). There is a special version of the tour that you can book, this will result in you receiving a bottle from the cellar on its conclusion. Unfortunately, we did not book the special version so we could only watch.

row upon row….

Tasting the finished product

After the tour's end we followed the beer pipeline to the Hertog Jan pub, finally it was time for some beer! Here we tried several of Hertog Jan's specialty beers, together with one…. or maybe two more glasses of Hertog Jan pils. The pub is definitely one of the nicest looking ones I've been to, in terms of interior and great location.

Yes!

All in all, we had a great day visiting the Hertog Jan brewery. The weather was great, the tour was great, and the beer tasted great! The only thing that wasn't so great was the fact that we now had to travel all the way back home.

A great day at the brewery

Cheers!