De Gans

Rick and I had another interesting beer experience at this beer cafe in East Flanders.  It's called "De Gans", which means "The Goose" in Flemish.  As you can see by the decor, the place stays true to its name.  De Gans is famous for a unique method of serving beer.  They stick some pokers in the fire until they are good and hot and then use the pokers to rapidly stir glasses of Chimay Rouge until they are nice and frothy.  This process carmelizes the beer and results in a sweet flavor that tastes like marshmallows.  This tradition is what piqued our interest in De Gans.

The Chimay Rouge was very good and we enjoyed watching the owner of the bar work with the hot pokers, but it was not the highlight of our visit.  The best part of the day was getting to chat with the her  (she and her husband have owned this bar for almost 30 years) and to try some aged beers that she recommended.  We were the only customers in the bar so we had her full attention.  Once she realized how passionate and knowledgeable Rick was about Belgian beer, she started pulling out "the good stuff".  We opened a few bottles of aged beer and she told us that we didn't have to pay for them if they were not good.   One of the beers we had was a Christmas beer from 1986....it was awesome!

In addition to the great beer, we also had a nice meal, followed by dessert pancakes, the bars other specialty.  This was an ideal place to wallow away a few hours on a cold, winter day.  Both the hospitality and the environment were warm and cozy.

Beer Warehouse and Aachen Christmas Market

Shannon, Ali, Reagan, Rick and I ventured out to this beer warehouse near Antwerp and then to Aachen, Germany for the Christmas market.  Rick was in heaven with so many beer choices at great prices!  The Christmas market was also fun.  We ate some of our favorites (potato pancakes and mushrooms in cream sauce) as well as some yummy German desserts.

Beerfest in Hasselt

Brasserie Cantillon

We joined our friends Troy, Simone and Hrvoje at this brewery for an open brewing day.  Cantillon produces a type of beer called "lambic".  In general lambic beers are spontaneously fermented with yeast from the atmosphere.  Neither Rick nor I are crazy about this style of beer because they tend to be really sour.  The open brewery day, which included a guided tour of the brewery and the beer-making process and a tasting of beer at the end, was very interesting though.

Cantillon is a brewery located in Brussels.  It was founded in 1900 by the Cantillon family and is one of Brussels' most authentic traditional family breweries that still brews beer using centries-old recipes and methods.  Because of that, they can only brew beer a few months out of the year when temperatures are cool enough.  They don't rely on modern technology to cool the building.