Stepping out

Dave, Laura, Séan and I left Cantillon in the late afternoon and caught up with Mrs Beer Nut on Rue Tabora, just outside one of my very favourite Brussels boozers. I wrote about A La Bécasse after my last visit in 2007. It's well hidden up an alley with only the giant flashing red neon sign indicating that it exists. It was quite crowded when we got in, but we squeezed round a table and ordered Lambic Doux for four, which arrived in one of their trademark clay jugs.

I absolutely love this beer, and I think most of my drinking buddies did too. They noted a certain cidery quality to it which I'd never noticed but is definitely present. The drinkability is just astounding. With the jug drained we moved on.

We didn't move very far, mind: just up Rue du Marché aux Herbes to A L'Image de Notre Dame. I'm a big fan of this Brueghelesque two-room affair concealed up yet another alley. It has quite an extensive beer list for a central pub, and my first pinstick got me a Belgoo Magus. It's quite a light and spicy blonde ale. A touch of yeasty spiciness starts it off, moderated by some zesty oranges and lemons. The sort of classic easy-going beer that Leffe Blonde would give its eye-teeth to be.

Also around the table was a light and caramelly Pater Lieven and a strong and malty La Divine, but Séan was the one who really struck gold with his La Gauloise Bruin. I think it was more than just the name which suggested a smoky character, and this sits next to rich dark plumminess on a very full body.

Time to move on, and for some reason A La Mort Subite was chosen as our next stop. It had been many years since I visited the brown café that thinks it's a beerhall, and which is famed for its lousy service. The main room was packed so we scurried upstairs and found a table there. We didn't have to wait too long for service either, which was pleasantly surprising. Alken-Maes beers dominate here, and I decided to follow Boak & Bailey's recommendation of Ciney Brune. Quite complex, this clear red-brown ale. Mostly it's the sort of sweet and malty affair I was expecting, but there's a very interesting sour kick mixed in with the caramel. I liked it.

Mrs Beer Nut has a particular penchant for the restaurants of Rue Rollebeek so that's where we dined, passing over Séan's suggestion of In't Spinnekopke La Rose Blanche. We came back towards Grand Place after, finding Poechenellekelder full. The possibility of drinking beer from ceramic skulls at Le Cercueil had been something of a running joke through the evening. With a few beers on board this seemed a perfectly natural option. When we found that Le Cercueil -- where the light is ultraviolet, the tables are coffins and the soundtrack is rrrrock -- includes Orval among its skullable beers the joke just got funnier. Five skulls of Orval around the coffin. I'm not sure where I stand on Orval. I've found it tough going in the past, but supping it from a ceramic cranium without really thinking about it I really quite enjoyed it. Not too powerfully horsey but still loaded with character. Perhaps from-the-skull is the best way to enjoy it. Noted for future reference.

Fun and all that Le Cercueil was, it's damned expensive. So we moved on, back to Rue du Marché aux Herbes. This time we hit Au Bon Vieux Temps, probably my least favourite of the three pubs on the street. Still, it wasn't too crowded and the beer was good. Looking for a good Flemish red, I opted for Bourgogne des Flandres, mistaking it for Duchesse de Bourgogne. Oops. Anyway, it's still quite enjoyable, though a little unexciting. Needing more malt in my life, I moved to Westmalle Dubbel and stayed there for the rest of the night.

I don't do pub crawls very often. When the occasion does present itself, it's nice to do it properly. Just one more day of beering left in Brussels.

Scattergun

Of course, any trip to Belgium will involve a fair bit of sticking a pin in the beer menu, especially the three-inch-thick menu of Delirium Café, holder of the official world record for most beers in stock (2004 in total). So, I've a couple of themed posts to do, based partially on beers I brought home, but here's everything else.

First up is Cuvée des Trolls. This is an easy-going but rather bland affair carrying herbal hints but not much else. Also from western Belgium comes Forestinne, a red gold ale which offers much stronger herbal flavours with pronounced pine and juniper notes. Sweet, vaguely medicinal, and very tasty.

My suspicion of honey beers took a knock with Barbar Blond, a quite mild but surprisingly strong (8%) golden ale. The honey flavour isn't very strong, but instead there's a rich malty taste and a heavy filling texture. On a lighter note, there's St Idesbald Blond, clear and refreshing with just a hint of bitterness to it.

Similarly light, golden and refreshing is Rulles Estivale which has just a final bitter hops kick to give it personality. Rulles also make a Tripel which is loaded with tasty bitter fruit and which lingers long on the palate. The same can't be said for Lamoral Tripel, unfortunately, it being rather light, thin and generally disappointing.

Some of the most interesting discoveries were on the darker side of the spectrum. I'm a big fan of Flemish red ales so was expecting much from Bourgogne des Flandres. It pours red-brown and is dry with notes of raisins and fruit-infused tea. There's a lingering sourness which makes it a beer to savour, unlike reds such as Rodenbach which tend to have a short lifespan in my vicinity. Curiously, Bourgogne des Flandres is made using maize but doesn't seem to suffer from this. Good Belgian yeast and blending techniques cover a multitude of sins, I guess.

On this bitterly cold Dublin morning it's hard to believe it was only Wednesday last that I was sitting in the balmy garden of Hopduvel in Ghent, basking in the last of the evening sun. While there, on another menu pin-stick, I tried Grottenbier, a spiced bruin from St Bernardus. As the speleological name suggests, this beer has an earthy characteristic, warm and bitter. It's a little like the aforementioned Flemish reds, just a little heavier.

Finally, my find of the trip and another inductee for The Beer Nut Weird-Stuff-In-Beer Hall Of Fame: Captain Cooker. This is Belgian-made, but on a New Zealand theme, with manuka (tea tree) leaves. I reviewed the sterner New Zealand version, Spruce Beer, last year. This is a much more approachable product, however. It has a sweet perfume aroma and a mild flavour with notes of Parma Violets and eucalyptus. All very refreshing and a marvellous fusion of two brewing traditions.

That's not the end of the posts based on the trip, the others will be trickling through over the coming weeks. Bet you can't wait...