Toer de Geuze 2011 - Boon (2)

Toer de Geuze 2011 - Boon

Up in scale here. Frank Boon's beers are now available world-wide. Even my fine local Fullers pub, Red Lion, Barnes, stocks the standard Boon Kriek and Boon Framboise.

My favourite is the Boon Mariage Parfait Oude Kriek, using the best barrels of aged lambic and the finest quality cherries. A world class beer and a bargain at €4 in the brewery.

A large site, packed with revellers. Those with the energy to take a walk round the site were rewarded with a small taster of the lambic.

Toer de Geuze 2011 - Drie Fonteinen

Slightly longer here to enjoy the beers. A short talk in Flemish was rewarded with a taster of Drie Fonteinen lambic but it was the large glass of Kriekenlambic that really hit the spot (€3). Hand pulled, little carbonation, sharp and refreshing. Starting to get crowded now we reach the middle of the day, and the locals are out in great numbers. Warming up to be a really great day out.

Toer de Geuze 2011 - Oud Beersel

Next stop is Oud Beersel, the newest of the lambic blenders having resurrected the company after it closed in 2003. We landed here just as one of the HORAL buses arrived so there was a long queue to walk round the cellars.

We were on a mission, so enjoyed another quick glass of lambic and decided to walk to the next place, Drie Fonteinen. Supposedly a 10 minute walk, our plan was to get in an extra glass of Drie Fonteinen beer while the rest of the tour followed either on the bus or a more leisurely stroll.




Luckily I had a guide - NOT. "It's ok, I know where it is, just by the church, in the town" says the guide (Lovely Eric, world famous publican). I started to get worried as no church came in sight, and ten minutes turned to twenty. A schoolboy French conversation got us back on track and the guide did not fail as we reached the next brewery a minute before the bus. Doh !

Toer de Geuze 2011 - Hanssens

Leave our base hotel in Aalst, north of Brussels, bright and early in eager anticipation of a long day. Our first stop is Hanssens to the south of the City. This family brewed lambic until the Germans stole their copper in WW1 and have blended other people's beers ever since with much success.

A short stop here to aclimatise to the sour beers, a small (free) glass of 4 year old Girardin lambic, a quick walk round and back on the bus. There is much ground to cover.

Toer de Geuze 2011

Every two years the lambic and gueuze brewers and blenders in the Payottenland area around Brussels throw open their doors to visitors. The event is hosted by HORAL - Hoge Raad voor Ambachtelijke Lambikbieren - Society of Artisanal Lambic brewers.

Put at its most simply, lambic (or lambik) is the pure form of the famous Belgian beers brewed sour by a spontaneous fermentation taking wild yeast strains from the air rather than a more common cultured yeast; gueuze or geuze (pronounced guurzz) is a blend of the still lambics refermented in the bottle to give a more spritzy character and kriek or framboise is a lambic steeped with cherry or raspberry and refermented in the bottle to give a more fruity beer. They are truly the world's most extraordinary beers.

Nine breweries (or blenders) take part and anyone can travel round the venues under their own steam, just visit one brewery, or take an organised tour. Horal organise buses that manage to visit five of the places and it takes a special effort to get to all nine in a day. I visited with Podge's Belgian Beer Tours and our bus managed eight (missing De Troch) having a couple of sat-nav malfunctions during the day, though our companion bus full of Podge's Norwegian beer tourists were delighted to get to all nine. More about Podge's beer tours another time - I have much praise to shout about these legendary beer tours.

The video on the Horal website shows what a family fun day this is, where the hard-core beer geek mixes with local families enjoying the beer, the breweries, the history, the music and the sunshine.

There is no fun in just reading "I went to a brewery and drunk this beer" - You really had to be there to soak it all in. What I will do is share some of the photos that I took in the hope that it will entertain, amuse, give a flavour and hopefully inspire a similar visit for others in 2013.

Ale at the Foundling Hospital

A month or two ago, I visited the Threads of Feeling Exhibition at London's Foundling Museum. The Foundling Museum tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, London's first home for abandoned children.

The exhibition consisted of 5,000 small swatches of fabric dating from the middle of the eighteenth century. They are pinned to the registration documents that recorded the entry of each baby to the hospital. They were kept by the hospital as a means of establishing an identifyable link between the child and its mother.

Among the scraps of material were other similar tokens left as identification. The one above was among them. It leaves an unknown story. Who was the mother ? How did she come by this token ? What became of the child ?

A poignant representation of a bygone age.

Beer Geek Meets Girl

Sometimes, when you are the sixty fourth in the top beer bloggers in the UK, it is easy to take yourself too seriously.

Every now and then something pops up to haul you back and remind you that "it's only beer"

I first found this video on Brookston Beer Bulletin but do not think it has been widely shared on this side of the pond. (The original creator is liquidhorseplay)

Very VERY funny .....

Royal Wedding Beer - Windsor & Eton, Windsor Knot 2011

Enough, Enough, I have supped enough royal wedding beers from 1981 and at last someone has saved me. My friends at Windsor & Eton Brewery took pity on me having to drink stale ale and kindly sent over a bottle of their Windsor Knot fresh from the fermenter.

Although W&E are a new brewery, they have quickly stamped their mark on the beer scene in London. Their first two beers, Guardsmen and Knight of the Garter were a fine introduction but it was when the Conqueror hit London pubs before Christmas that it became clear that this was no ordinary new microbrewery. Conqueror is a "black IPA" and was considered at the time a risky experiment for such a new boy on the scene. However it really hit the mark and was a great success. I gave it a plug here and can still vouch that it remains a most tasty beer that is still a first choice whenever I see it.



The Royal Wedding beer, Windsor Knot - not the only beer of that name but clearly the one with the strongest provenance - is another beer packed with hop character. Sovereign (UK)and Nelson Sauvin (NZ) to represent the home and away of the Empire, oops I mean Commonwealth.

Golden in colour, with a refreshing taste and aroma of tropical fruits, this beer really hit the spot. Only 4% in strength but with the fortitude to satisfy and a long bitter finish that begs the next sip.

I am a big fan of 330ml beers especially for strong beers or those that need to be drunk cold. However on this occasion it was not enough, I wanted more. This beer was so good that I could have managed a 5 litre mini-cask and still not been satisfied.



On Twitter the other day, @thegunmakers tweeted "I'm calling it : @WindsorEtonBrew is the best new brewery in SE England for a long while ..."

I going to try to get down to the Gunmakers beer festival before the week is out to reacquaint myself with this beer in its cask form - and in a measure greater than 330ml.

You have not got long to take advantage of this year's wedding beers but if you want something with which to toast the happy couple, and the subsequent happy coupling, you should snap up a bottle or even a 5l mini-cask of Windsor Knot. Recommended !

Two Weeks of Beer Festivals

Strewth ! The country seems to be closing down in anticipation for Easter, a Royal Wedding and four bank holidays. This is an opportunity not to be missed and there are plenty of beer festivals in which to enjoy the holidays.

I cannot promise to be everywhere but you are highly likely to catch me supping in many of the following places in the coming week or so :

Egham United Services Club beer festivals have quickly become UNMISSABLE. This one runs from Thursday 21st to Sunday 24th. I cannot seem to see the beer list on the web-site though I remember that there will be 7 beers from Ascot Ales and 4 from Windsor & Eton so I won't have to think too hard or too long to make a sensible choice.

The Willoughby Arms in Kingston us having a monster effort covering the whole holiday with their usual St George's Day festival extending through to a Royal Wedding festival the following weekend - a beer festival of two halves from Thursday 21st to Mon 25th, then Tues 26th to Mon May 1st. A good effort and well worth a visit.

Brodies Bunny Basher at King William Fourth, Leyton on 29th, 30th, 1st and 2nd, for over twenty Brodies beers on pump at all times at £1.99 a pint. Unbeatable value for a beer festival.

If the consistent quality of the beer through the pumps is anything to go by, it should be worth making a trip to the Gunmakers in Clerkenwell next week. Their first beer festival is on from Tuesday 26th to Friday 29th and promises Kernel beers, so rare in cask, Ascot and Windsor royal wedding beers plus ales from two of the best Tyneside breweries, Jarrow and Big Lamp.

An Easter holiday trip to the seaside is always a must. Refreshment in Margate is available at the Winter Gardens where CAMRA host the Planet Thanet Beer Festival on Good Friday and Saturday.

CAMRA's Bexley beer festival is at Sidcup Sports Club on 28th, 29th and 30th.

New ale venue Mason & Taylor in Bethnal Green Road will be having a single hop festival over Easter from 22nd to 25th

For those who like to drink a little farther afield, the Toer de Geuze is on Sunday 1st May, when all of the Belgian sour beer breweries in Payottenland throw open their doors to visitors. A special day that only occurs every two years.

Diary note - CAMRA Kingston beer festival 13th and 14th May, CAMRA SE London 1st Beckenham beer festival 28th and 30th May at Beckenham Rugby Club. Finally Ealing beer festival this year is from 6th to 9th July.