Night of the Great Thirst

Nacht van de Grote Dorst or Night of the Great Thirst is a biannual beer festival held to promote and celebrate one of the most unique Belgian beer traditions: Lambic. The 2014 edition of this festival, held on Friday April 25th, marked its ten year anniversary and was the biggest to date.

Saint Ursula church in Eizeringen with some festival tents

Some background
The first Nacht van de Grote Dorst was held in 2004 as a protest against the Federal Food Agency (FAVV) in Belgium who wanted to close down a number of lambic breweries because they thought that fermenting beer in open coolships were unsanitary. The main problem was that the FAVV food inspectors were unfamiliar with the age old brewing process of spontaneous fermentation.

Fortunately, since then the FAVV has backed down and the relationship is now good between the lambic brewing community and the food inspectors. But the original festival turned out so successful that the organizers decided to hold it every second year from then on, in order to celebrate and promote the lambic way of life.

The festival is arranged by HORAL (the High Council of Artisanal Lambic Beers) together with the famous lambic café In de Verzekering tegen de Grote Dorst in the village of Eizeringen, just off Ninoofsesteenweeg (N8) - the long straight road that heads west out of Brussels to Ninove:

Eizeringen is located about 15 km west of central Brussels

Café In de Verzekering tegen de Grote Dorst, Flemish for "In insurance against the great thirst", is located opposite the Saint Ursula church and has the look and feel of a 1940s era Flemish café, there is no modern technology visible inside - even the bills are tabulated on a piece of paper. As mentioned in an earlier post, the café is only open on Sundays and church holidays when the owners - the brothers Kurt and Yves Panneels - have time off from their regular day jobs. For them, the café is a labor of love, a way to keep an old tradition alive.

The festival is usually held at the café, but this year the organizers had acquired the use of the entire church square as well as the church lawn, for erecting big party tents and movable toilets, as it was expected that some 3,000 visitors, from all around the globe, would show up. Apparently, the café had been turned into a gallery for famous Belgian cartoonist Erwin Vanmol, displaying his drawings of beer related topics.

Getting there
In the late afternoon on Friday April 25th, a friend of mine and I got on the bus (line 128) at De Brouckère, a few blocks from Grand Place in Brussels, and enjoyed a scenic 30 minutes bus ride west, passing along the way the red brick stone buildings of the old Eylenbosch lambic brewery in Schepdaal, before getting off the bus at Eizeringen Kruispunt. From there it was just a five minutes walk to the church square.

The festival
I arrived about an hour before the 7 pm opening, so I got the chance to look around the festival area to find a suitable table but also speak with some of the volunteer helpers before things got hectic. It seems that most of the inhabitants of Eizeringen had been called upon to help organize this event, helping with the selling of tokens, the pouring of beer, carrying stuff around, cleaning up etc.

All the beer stands were in the big tent on the church square

In order to get beer you had to purchase a small 15 cl tasting glass, with the Nacht van de Grote Dorst logo printed on it, as well as some tokens to pay with at the different stands. Beer prices varied from 1 token for lambic from cask to 8-10 tokens for a bottle. Some of the rarer bottles could cost as much as 20-30 tokens. Because you had to buy a full bottle to taste a beer it made sense to join a group of people to share with, so my friend and I invited a couple of American visitors, sitting on the neighboring table, to share the bottles we bought. And they did vice versa for us, so that we managed to taste more beers than if we had been on our own.

This year the festival had outgrown the small café so guests either had to find seating outside or stand around the tall tables inside the big beer tent. The latter becoming very packed a few hours into the festival, making it difficult to get more beer. Another novelty this year, one I'm not particular fond of, was the stage next to the big beer tent where live music was played from 8 o'clock. For me, such a festival is all about meeting like minded people and enjoying good beer, so loud music really is a nuisance. I hope the organizers will skip that part of the program for the next festival, just let us talk - that will be noisy enough.

The food was catered for by a butcher that has been at several of the previous events at De Grote Dorst, he had a big food stall on the church lawn where burgers, meat and that traditional dark blood sausage of Flanders were grilled and served. It was really tasty beer food!

... and the beers
At the 2014 festival lambic based sour ales from all the traditional lambic producers in Belgium were available, mostly in bottle but a few also offered lambic or kriek from small casks or bag-in-box systems. With 14 different brands, each with multiple beers, I certainly didn't stand a chance to get through the entire selection in one night. Here follows a summary of lambic breweries and blenders that had beers at the festival.

Brouwerij Boon
Brouwerij Boon is a lambic brewery and blending business in Lembeek, founded in the 1970s by Frank Boon who still runs the company. Frank Boon is one of the reasons we still have traditional lambics; together with Jean-Pierre Van Roy of Cantillon and Armand Debelder of 3 Fonteinen, Frank Boon worked hard to promote traditional lambic in an era when some of the biggest names sold out and started making sweet fruit based ales. Boon brought along the famous Geuze Mariage Parfait and Kriek Mariage Parfait to the festival, and I swear I also saw a few bottles of Oude Geuze Boon VAT 44, released for the Tour de Geuze 2013, though it wasn't listed in the official program.

Geuzestekerij De Cam
Founded in Gooik in 1997, this is a small lambic blending business run by Karel Goddeau on his sparetime (his real occupation is as a brewer at Slaghmuylder!). Gouddeau learned the art of blending lambic from Armand Debelder (while he tought Armand how to brew), and today makes some of the best oude geuze available. For Nacht van de Grote Dorst, he sent along De Cam Kriek Lambiek and Oude Lambiek, but unfortunately none of the excellent Oude Geuze.

Cantillon
Founded in 1900, when gueuze was all the rage in Brussels, Cantillon is a small, family owned and operated brewing and blending business in the Anderlecht area of Brussels. It is also a working museum in the sense that visitors can go on tours to see all parts of the brewery, from the mechanical mash tun on the ground floor to the shiny copper coolship just underneath the ceiling. Since 2009, the brewery has been in the hands of the 4th generation of the Van Roy-Cantillon family, the dynamic Jean Van Roy. Cantillon sent along a number of exciting beers to the festival, such as the Vigneronne made with white wine grapes and Saint Lamvinus made with red (Merlot), Fou'Foune made with apricot and the rare Lou Pepe Gueuze - a geuze made with 2 year old lambic only. To complete the line-up, there were also bottles of the regular Gueuze, Rosé de Gambrinus and Grand Cru Bruocsella.

Brouwerij de Troch
This old lambic brewery, founded and based in Wambeek since 1795, was the first to add fruit to geuze and is mainly known for their Chapeau series of fruit beers which is largely exported to the US. For this festival, Brouwerij de Troch sent their Oude Geuze and Kriek.

Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Beersel based Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, headed by HORAL co-founder Armand Debelder, is one of the most traditional lambic producers in Belgium, refusing to offer geuze on draught since that is historically incorrect (as Armand likes to say, "You won't find good Champagne on tap, so Geuze shouldn't be either"). For the festival, 3 Fonteinen sent along several fairly new creations, such as Intense Red, a kriek relased for Tour de Geuze 2013 and made with 400 gram cherries per liter beer and the brand new Golden Doesjel, made by blending 75% of Doesjel and 25% of Golden Blend. 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze Vintage 2007 and Schaerbeekse Kriek 2005 were also available at the festival.

A bottle of 3 Fonteinen Golden Doesjel
- at Nacht van de Grote Dorst 2014

Hanssens Artisanaal
Located on a farm in Dworp, this small lambic blending businesses is run by a husband and wife couple on their sparetime. When lambic brewer Jean Hanssens retired in 1997, his daughter Sidy and her husband, John Matthys, decided to keep the old business alive and established Hanssens Artisanaal. They stopped brewing but has kept up the blending business, purchasing their lambic from other brewers. Hanssens was the first blender to start using the Oude Geuze and Oude Kriek denomination for its beers. Both of these were brought along to the festival, along with the weird strawberry lambic - Oudbetje

Brouwerij Girardin
Located in Sint-Ulriks-Kapelle, Brouwerij Girardin is a small family business but still one of the most important lambic breweries in Belgium, not mainly because of its own beers but because they sell lambic wort, for aging and blending to others; both 3 Fonteinen, De Cam, Hanssens and Tilquin buy their lambic from Girardin! Of their own beers, Girardin sent along the Oude Lambiek, Kriekenlambiek, Gueuze Black Label, Faro and Framboise to the festival.

Brouwerij Lindemans
This old family brewery in Vlezenbeek stopped making traditional geuze when the market folded in the midt 20th century, but the new EU designation of traditional lambic and the awakening interest in old style geuze caused Brouwerij Lindemans to start up production again in 2005. Lindemans may be best known for the sweet Lindemans Kriek, the first sweet kriek to become popular in the early 1970s. But Lindemans now also make some decent sour ales - two of which were available at the festival: Oude Lambiek and the Oude Geuze Cuvée René.

Brouwerij Moriau
There was a stand for Brouwerij Moriau at the festival, a lambic brewery in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw that was known for their Moriau Geuze but which closed in 1992. Recently, the beer has been revived by the Boon brewery which blends and release the Moriau Geuze.

Mort Subite
Named after the famous bar À la Mort Subite in Brussels, the De Keersmaeker brewery in Kobbegem was famous for brewing the Mort Subite sour ales until acquired by brewery giant Alken-Maes in 2000. Though the old Keersmaeker name is largely forgotten, the brewery still exists and do make sour ales in addition to sweetened beers (such as the terrible Mort Subite Xtreme series). For the festival, visitors were offered bottles of Oude Geuze and Oude Kriek - decent, unsweetened sour ales.

Oud Beersel
As the name implies, Oud Beersel is the oldest lambic producer in Beersel, founded in 1882 and in regular operations until 2003 when the aging brewer retired without a heir. Fortunately, two fans took it upon themselves to revive Oud Beersel and in 2005 the business re-opened but only as a lambic blender, the brewery equipment having been sold. Today, Oud Beersel is run by Gert Christiaens who travels to Boon for brewing the lambic which is then aged on oak in the cellar at Oud Beersel. For this festival Oud Beersel Oude Lambiek, Oude Geuze and Oude Kriek was on offer.

Gueuzerie Tilquin
The newest lambic blending business in Belgium, Gueuzerie Tilquin, was founded in 2009 by Pierre Tilquin, a young brewer from Wallonia who had studied under Armand Debelder at 3 Fonteinen and Jean-Pierre van Roy at Cantillon to learn how to brew, age and blend lambic. Located in from Bierghes, just south of the Flanders Walloon border, Gueuzerie Tilquin has grown quickly in fame and production volume with lambic bought from Lindemans, Girardin, Boon and even Cantillon (Cantillon usually never sell their lambic but made an exception for Tilquin). Tilquin Oude Lambiek, Oude Geuze and Oude Quetsche 2013-2014 were on sale at the festival.

Brouwerij Timmermans
Founded in 1702, Brouwerij Timmermans is the oldest lambic brewery in Belgium and one of the most spectacular, located in the heart of Itterbeek in a white painted brick building with what must surely be the biggest coolship in the world. The brewery was sold to the John Martin Group in 1993 and stopped making traditional geuze for a few years, until re-introducing the Oude Geuze in 2009 and the Oude Kriek in 2010 - both bart of the Timmermans Tradition series. For the festival, Timmermans offered several Tradition beers, such as Oude Gueuze, Oude Kriek and Blanche Lambicus - the last one a wheat lambic.

In addition to the above Belgian producers, the festival had an exclusive guest from America. What, you may think, an American brewery at a Belgian sour ale festival?! Yes, really - Allagash was present!

Allagash Brewing Company
Portland, Maine, based Allagash Brewing Co has been inspired by Belgian beer styles ever since its founding by Rob Tod in 1994. A few years ago the brewery acquired its own coolship, one of those shallow, open metal tanks where wort is cooled over night and inoculated by yeast from the ambient air - to undergo what is known as spontaneous fermentation. Which is exactly what traditional lambic brewing is all about! Allagash sent along three of their Coolship beers to the festival and they turned out so popular that Allagash was the first beer stand to run out of beer! Fortunately, I had been sensible enough to get a bottle of each, shortly after the festival opened, so I got to try all three of them.

A bottle of Allagash Coolship Cerise
- at Nacht van de Grote Dorst 2014

- Allagash Coolship Red (5.7%): This is their version of a framboise, made by steeping raspberries for four months in a two year old, spontaneously fermented sour ale. It poured a reddish amber color and smelled and tasted strongly of raspberry, but with some funky notes and a good acidity.

- Allagash Coolship Cerise (8.1%): This is their version of an oude kriek, made by steeping sour cherries for four months in a two year old, spontaneously fermented sour ale. It really tasted of sour cherries with notes of cherry pits.

- Allagash Coolship Resurgam (6.6%): This is their version of a traditional geuze, made by blending a two year old spontanesouly fermented beer with an 18 months old and a 6 months old ("jonge lambik") before refermentation in bottle. The one I tried had been bottled in May 2011, making it almost three years old, it tasted of sour fruits, lemon peel and had some funky barnyard notes in the aftertaste - very tasty and refreshing.

Concluding remarks
A little before 10 pm, the beer tent was so crowded that I found it hard to get through to the beer stands to get more beer, and there were queues for the toilets, the food stall and to buy more tokens, so I decided it was time to call it a day and catch the next bus back to Brussels.

My overall impressions of Nacht van de Grote Dorst 2014 is that this is an excellent addition to the much older Weekend of Spontaneous Fermentation festival in Buggenhout, the two festivals differ both in style and popularity so they complement each other really well. I will probably return for Nacht van de Grote Dorst 2016, but intend to do like this year - be there at the opening and call it a day as soon as things get too crowded for comfort.

Visitors queuing for tokens at Nacht van de Grote Dorst

More photos can be found at Flickr in this album.

Belgian road trip autumn 2013

Every September I attend the great Borefts bier festival in Bodegraven, Netherlands, but in 2013 I added a twist by going on a beer road trip in Belgium after Borefts. I was accompanied by two friends and in the span of seven days, in late September and early October, visited breweries and great beer places across Belgium. I've already posted about the visit to Koningshoeven and the tour of Het Anker, so in this post I'll wrap up the rest of the tour which includes stops in Beersel, Ypres, Poperinge, Watou and Hainaut, visiting great beer bars, a hop museum and the breweries Brouwerij St. Bernadus, Brasserie à Vapeur and Brasserie des Légendes.

Taking a stroll in the Zenne valley with Zenne river on the left

Beersel - the heart of lambic
After picking up the rental car in Utrecht we drove south, towards Belgium, making one beer related stop at Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven, outside Tilburg, before entering Belgium. In order to get to Beersel we just followed the main highway towards Antwerp and then Brussels. Near Brussels we took off on the E19 which goes around the western outskirts of the city until we were almost due south of it, there the E19 turns south along the Zenne river valley. After a few kilometer you'll see the exit to Beersel which takes you off the highway and onto a winding country road that leads up the hill to the east of the E19.

The town of Beersel is perched on top of a hill, above the Zenne valley, about 15 km south of central Brussels. It's possible to get there by train from Brussels, but I've always gone by car or even taxi (but the latter can be fairly expensive since most cab drivers in Brussels are unfamiliar outside the city and may take a number of wrong turns on the way!).

The main reason for visiting Beersel is related to the valley mentioned above. Zenne, or Senne in French, is the historical area for brewing the spontaneously fermented beers known as lambic or lambiek. The reason for this is probably the many cherry and fruit farms that used to dot the valley, along the small, meandering river of the same name. Just like wine grapes, many fruits carry yeast cells on their skin - yeast that can become airborne and thus trigger spontaneous fermentation if landing in an open tank of cooled wort.

A hundred years ago, every small village in the Zenne valley would sport a lambic brewery to supply the locals with fresh beer. The larger towns, in particular Beersel, would have many. The largest breweries would often sell unfinished or "jonge" lambic to cafés in Brussels or special blenders who would age the lambic for one, two or even three years before making a blend of several vintages to create one of the most popular beers in Belgium in the early 20th century: Geuze. Such a blending businesses, known as a Geuzestekerij, required a skillful master because you had to age each lambic just right and then know how much to blend from each vintage. Some of the blenders also played around with fruits, most commonly sour cherries or raspberries, creating fruit lambics known as kriek and frambozen in Flemish (the latter is probably better known under its French name framboise).

Today only a handful of lambic breweries and geuze blenders exist in Belgium, two of them in Beersel which has remained at the heart of lambic culture in Belgium. Bezoekerscentrum De Lambiek, the official visitor center and museum for all things lambic, opened up at Alsemberg, just outside Beersel, in May 2011. Here visitors can learn about the history of lambic brewing and geuze blending while also tasting authentic, lambic based, sour ales from all 11 members of HORAL - the "HOge Raad voor Ambachtelijke Lambiekbieren" or "High Council for Artisanal Lambic Beers" - which was founded to protect and propagate the knowledge of traditional lambic beers. Cantillon is the only lambic brewery that is not a member of HORAL.

I've earlier posted about my visits to 3 Fonteinen, both to the brewery and blending business run by Armand Debelder and the excellent café run by his younger brother Guido Debelder. My most recent visit was during Tour de Geuze 2013, so I won't repeat myself in this post just stress that if you're in Beersel you really must visit the brewery and try their lambic and kriek served on tap at the café. And if you're lucky, the café may still have a bottle of Hommage 2007 left in the cellar.

Hommage 2007 at Café 3 Fonteinen, in 2013

The other lambic producer in Beersel is Oud Beersel. As the name implies this is the oldest one in town, founded as early as 1882. However, about a decade ago Oud Beersel almost came to an end. In its 120th year, owner Danny Draps - who had taken over the reins after his uncle, Henri Vandervelden - decided to retire, and with no heir to succeed him he was forced to close the brewery. Fortunately, Henri Vandervelden was still alive and a vigorous 76 year old, and he refused to see the end of Oud Beersel, so when two young fans of the brewery contacted him he was quick to act. Together with Gert Christiaens and Roland de Bus (who has since left), Vandervelden drew up plans for a revival. In 2005 Oud Beersel was relaunched as a pure geuzestekerij, Christiaens brewing his lambic at Brouwerij Boon in Lembeek but still aging and blending it at Oud Beersel. The first "new" Oude Geuze from Oud Beersel was released in 2007 and today the business is thriving under the sole owner Gert Christiaens.

Just like Cantillon in Brussels, Oud Beersel is a working museum that is open to visitors on the first Saturday of every month. In fact, Oud Beersel was the first lambic brewery to establish such a "living" museum, and it was that very same Henri Vandervelden who did so in 1973, five years before Cantillon! So set aside some time for a visit to this historic lambic brewery.

In addition to the two lambic business and the highly rated Café 3 Fonteinen, Beersel has a couple of highly rated pubs that I'd like to say a few words about - but for different reasons.

Centrum Hotel
Centrum Hotel is located just "around the corner" from 3 Fonteinen, at the start of Steenweg op Ukkel, and it was here we decided to stay the night in Beersel. Despite being under heavy restoration works, with parts of the dining room closed, the place turned out really great. Besides being very cheap (€55 for a night) and close to 3 Fonteinen, the bar is by far the best hotel bar I've been to in Belgium. In addition to several decent beers on tap, including Tripel Karmeliet, La Chouffe and Girardin lambic, the bar had an amazing bottle beer menu that would have allowed us to spend many nights there and not exhaust the alternatives. And it didn't hurt that the hotel kitchen served hearty dishes of hot food and that we found the atmosphere of the bar cozy and traditional.

The bar at Centrum Hotel in Beersel

In de Oude Pruim
Located further down Steenweg op Ukkel, In de Oude Pruim was rated very high on RateBeer, second only to Café 3 Fonteinen, when I checked out places to visit. However, it turned out to be anything but great. The old couple running the place had all the time in the world (in itself not a sign of bad quality in Belgium) even if we were alone in the pub. It was so quiet in there that I could hear every raspy cough made by the woman, and the ticking of the old clock seemed so loud it brought back childhood memories from the dentist's waiting room. We didn't care for the pils they had on draught and it took several failed attempts, sending the old man scampering down the cellar - or so it seemed - in an attempt to locate a beer from the menu before we finally ended up with bottles of the regular Rodenbach that I had spotted behind the bar. After quickly finishing the beer we left the place as courteously as circumstances allowed. None of us will ever come back. If you plan to visit Beersel, stick to Café 3 Fonteinen and Centrum Hotel.

If you're staying a night in Beersel I would also recommend a nice morning hike in the Zenne valley, it's about 1 km to walk from the church square down into the valley. Just follow Puttestraat and Lotsestraat downhill, in the direction of the railway station, there you take the pedestrian underpass, below the railway lines, and simply follow the small country road ("Langestraat") through the fields down to the valley floor where you can walk along and even cross the meandering Zenne river. It's a tranquil and fairly scenic walk, with cows grazing along the lush river bank.


Oostvleteren and Ypres - in Flanders fields
After the night in Beersel we followed the highway west towards Ypres in West Flanders, a region that still bears the marks of the bloody battles on the Western Front during World War I. The goal was the small town of Oostvleteren, home to De Struise Brouwers, but we also made a stop in Ypres.

Ypres, usually written Ieper in Dutch, is home to the famous In Flanders Fields war museum which anyone with even the smallest interest in our history should visit. Located in the rebuilt Cloth Hall, right next to Grote Markt, the museum offers visitors a shocking reminder of Europe's recent, violent past. From the museum you can also follow a set of stairs up to the belfry, from 70 meters above ground you'll get a breathtaking view of the city and the surrounding Flanders fields - all the way to Passchendaele.

When we'd had our fill of history and great views it was time to check out a new beer place in Ypres, the Brasserie Kazematten.

Brasserie Kazematten in the old city wall of Ypres

Brasserie Kazematten
Prior to the trip, I had read about a "joint venture" between the breweries Rodenbach and St Bernardus that piqued my interest. Named Brasserie Kazematten and opening up in April 2013, in the Ypres city wall just east of Grote Markt, this was apparently a brewpub, the very first to open up in Ypres.

However, upon our visit in early October 2013, the pub was still very much a work in progress - with construction going on both outside and inside - and there was no brewery to be seen. When I asked the bartender, she told me that the brewing would actually take place a couple of blocks away, so Brasserie Kazematten isn't going to be a traditional brewpub, though it will serve its own, unique beers brewed nearby. But Kazematten is still a nice place to visit, the pub offered 8 beers on draught, all from Brouwerij St Bernardus, including their Abt 12, Tripel, Prior, Wit and Tokyo - the last one is specially brewed for the St Bernardus pub in Tokyo, Japan. The hot food was also nice, I went for a tasty meat and pasta dish. If you're in Ypres, definitively check out this place.

Other than Brasserie Kazematten, Ypres doesn't really have any good beer pubs that I know of, so after this pit stop we left for Oostvleteren - about 15 km north west of Ypres.

The town of Oostvleteren is home to one of the most famous craft breweries in Belgium, De Struise Brouwers. Normally it's possible to visit their small brewery, which I did in July 2011, but this time it was closed because of their Borefts attendance a few days earlier. So instead we visited two of the local pubs and stayed the night at a wonderful bed & breakfast.

Walking along Kasteelweg to Vakantiehoeve Schraevenacker

Vakantiehoeve Schraevenacker
The bed & breakfast in question is called Vakantiehoeve Schraevenacker and is part of a working farm, with goats, sheep and horses grazing around. It offers several large rooms on the ground floor, each individually named and with private bathrooms. The owners also operate a restaurant, where you have your breakfast in the morning, but where you can also have dinner or just enjoy a beer outside in the beer garden. Their bottle beer menu was surprisingly good, offering many different De Struise beers - including some rare gems such as Aardmonnik 2008.

Vakantiehoeve Schraevenacker is located in Kasteelweg, about 15 minutes walk after turning off from the N8 highway through Oostvleteren. The reason for mentioning this fact is that both De Struise and two very nice pubs are located around this intersection, so it's just a short walk back to bed after enjoying some good beers at the pub!

't Molenhof
Located on the opposite side of the intersection from De Struise, Het Molenhof was actually recommended to me by Carlo Grootaert before my first visit to De Struise. It's a charming, old place with a wooden windmill right next to it - hence the name - so you really can't miss it. Het Molenhof doubles as a restaurant, but the kitchen closes early so when we got there at 8 o'clock only the pub section was open. But they take pride in their beer menu and you can't really fault a place where you can do vertical tasting of De Struise Black Damnation!

Restaurant and pub 't Molenhof in Oostvleteren

De Sterre
If you crave food and arrive after the kitchen closes at 't Molenhof you can just cross the street to the neighbor pub, De Sterre, they serve a wicked pasta dish and are on friendly terms with 't Molenhof (I even left my bar tab open at the Molenhof while eating at De Sterre - with no credit cards left behind for security!). The beer selection is also decent though a bit smaller than at Molenhof. The couple running De Sterre are quite something, calling them old hippies would not do them justice, but you will not leave the place without a memory for life - I assure you.

Among my many visits to Belgium, this visit to Oostvleteren stands out spectacularly - the two pubs gave me such a good vibe, followed by that peaceful walk back to the bed & breakfast, under a starry night sky, between fields of tall corn and with various animals still up and grazing on patches of open field along the road. It was such a perfect ending to a day of exploring beer and history in Flanders fields.


Poperinge - hop capital of Belgium
After at hearty breakfast at Vakantiehoeve Schraevenacker we left Oostvleteren and headed south into the heart of Belgian hop country - the municipality of Poperinge. The idea was to make a stop in the town by that name before turning west to our main target, Watou.

The town of Poperinge is known as the hop capital of Belgium, surrounding it you will find many hop farms with those characteristic tall poles erected to hold up a system of trellis, to allow hop bines to grow up in a controlled way and to ease the harvesting. You can spot such farms from far away, thanks to the 6-7 meter tall poles erected in the open fields. Thus, it's only fitting that the first thing greeting a visitor, coming by car from the direction of Ypres, is a large, green painted metal hop cone placed in a roundabout on the outskirts of town.

Bins of fresh hop cones with the new "beer wall" to the left
- at Hopmuseum Poperinge in October 2013

Hopmuseum Poperinge
For a beer tourist, the town of Poperinge may not offer a world class beer bar to visit, but its museum dedicated to the history, farming and use of humulus lupulus - aka hops - is outstanding. The Hopmuseum Poperinge is located in Gaasthuisstraat 71, about 500 meter west of Grote Markt, in a remarkable 4-storey building known as "Stadsschaal" or Municipal Scales. This building was used for weighing, drying and storing hops until the mid 20th century. Visitors can rent a very informative audio tour guide that will guide them through four floors of hop history and culture, from the labor intensive hop farming of yesteryear to the mechanized modern farming methods.

The museum also presents statistics showing that hop farming in Poperinge (and the rest of Belgium) has declined dramatically over the past one hundred years. In 1909, there were 665 hop growers with 1.100 ha land in Poperinge, producing around 50% of the hops in Belgium. In 2010 only 32 hop growers operated on 185 ha land in Poperinge, they produced just 285 tons of hops but that still accounted for 95% of the entire Belgian production! Thus, Poperinge isn't only the hop capital of Belgium it is almost the only remaining hop growing region in the country (the remaining 5% of hop production is in Aalst).

On my most recent visit, the museum had just completed its "beer wall", similar to the one in Bruges, which showcases the regular beers brewed in Belgium - about 1,400! The museum is also host to an annual hop competition, where the best hop farmer in Poperinge is chosen by a jury that sniffs fresh hop cones from every farm in the region. We were so fortunate to visit the day before this competition, so we got to smell the fresh hops, neatly sorted into a hundred different numbered bins. Oh heavens!

In a mild hop induced euphoria we got back into our car and headed west ... to Watou.


Watou - abbey beers
Any person with even the slightest interest in abbey beers should visit Watou, this small village lies at the heart of a great region of full bodied and rich abbey beers; Van Eecke brews the excellent Het Kapittel beers in Watou while Brouwerij St Bernardus is located just 3 km outside Watou, along the appropriately named Trappistenweg. Trappist abbey St. Sixtus, home to the world famous Westvleteren 12 - which is available at Café In de Vrede next to the abbey, is located 14 km east of Watou, just past the town of Poperinge. You get my drift?

Taking a stroll along Trappistenweg in Watou
- notice the hop field in the background?

If you plan to stay in or near Watou, I highly recommend contacting Brouwerij St. Bernardus to ask for a room at their bed & breakfast, right next to the brewery. This 2-storey house complex, hidden from the road by a vine covered wall and gate, offers half a dozen large guest rooms, with private bathrooms, and a large terrace covered by glass so that you stay warm and dry while enjoying breakfast on cold or rainy days. On my October 2013 visit I paid just €35 for my own room, which isn't bad when you get to live next door to one of the best family breweries in Belgium!

The hostess, Jackie, will welcome you with a big smile and can help you get a tour of the St Bernardus brewery. More importantly, Jackie makes sure that the refrigerators in the living room are full of fresh St Bernardus beer, so that guests don't have to worry about the lack of pubs nearby. The closest pubs are in the village of Watou, some 3 km or 30 minutes walk away. Unfortunately, poor business seems to have taken its toll on Watou between my 2011 and 2013 visits, since many of the pubs and restaurants closed early or even stayed closed many days of the week. On my last visit, the village square was virtually deserted after 6 pm on a Wednesday!

Because most restaurants in Watou were closed the two nights we were there in October 2013, we ended up eating at De Strooyen Hen a bit outside Watou. Situated exactly midway between Poperinge and Watou, in Watouseweg 54, this restaurant also functions as the neighborhood pub and festival hall, hosting weddings and parties. The kitchen makes really tasty dishes, I enjoyed a delicious rack of lamb, and the menu offers good local beer from both Van Eecke, located down the road towards Watou, and St Bernardus. But beware that De Strooyen Hen, like many rural establishments in Flanders, is closed on Mondays.

Distances to many interesting places are short from St Bernardus bed & breakfast, which makes it such a great place stay. Places such as Ypres, Poperinge, Watou and Westvleteren are within easy biking distance or 5-10 minutes of driving. You can even borrow bikes for free at the bed & breakfast, if you don't bring your own and would like to ride through the flat landscape of West Flanders.

Brouwerij St Bernardus located on Trappistenweg in Watou

If you feel extra adventurous it's only a couple of kilometers to the French border, from St Bernardus you can actually see the mountain of Mont des Cats, also known as Katzberg, on the opposite side of the border. Going there makes for a nice daytrip on a bike, though the road up the small mountain can be taxing if you don't have a bike with low gears. Near the top you'll find Trappist Abbaye du Mont des Cats, which commands great views of Flanders. The abbey is worth a visit in itself but also for beer historical reasons - it is the mother house of two important Trappist abbeys that still brew Trappistenbier: St Sixtus, founded by monks from Mont des Cats in 1831, and Koningshoeven, founded 1881. The abbey shop sells a Mont des Cats abbey beer, but it's not an authentic Trappist beer since it is brewed at Chimay and not locally - but it's still worth picking up a bottle if you visit the abbey.


Hainaut - old and modern breweries
On the way back from West Flanders to Brussels, at the end of the week, we drove through the province of Hainaut, in the French speaking Walloon region of Belgium. The reason for this small detour was to attempt a couple of brewery visits, even though we had no prior appointment. The two breweries are run very differently, one of them is a steam powered, old style mechanical brewery while the other is a shiny modern brewery, but both are independent and brew high quality, unique beers.

Brasserie à Vapeur
Our first stop was at Rue du Maréchal 1 in the small village of Pipaix, which is about 3 km east of the Dubuisson brewery and 9 km west of Brasserie Dupont, in other words smack in the middle of Waloon beer country! The reason for stopping at this address is that this is where you'll find a small but very old brewery which has changed name and owners several times over the centuries, until acquiring its current name, Brasserie à Vapeur, in 1984.

That year a young couple, Sittelle and Jean-Louis Dits, heard that the Biset brewery was up for sale. This was an old steam powered brewery, founded in 1785. The couple wanted to keep the old brewery and its history alive, so they bought it, renamed it Brasserie à Vapeur which is French for "Steam Brewery", but changed very little else. They've spent the last thirty years maintaining status quo but brewing a great line-up of beers with weird and funny names and often weirder and funnier label artwork. Since 1992, the artwork has been created for them by Belgian cartoonist Louis-Michel Carpentier.

19th century mash tun and malt mill at Brasserie à Vapeur

When we arrived at the brewery on a Thursday afternoon we were initially told that they didn't do tours that day, the small brewery usually allows visitors on Sundays only - to watch the brewing process. But after praising them on the well kept old brick buildings we were allowed inside on a short tour of the old brewery. For those of you who have been to the Cantillon brewery in Brussels, Brasserie à Vapeur will seem similar but even older (which it is, by a hundred years!).

Walking into the Vapeur brewery is like walking back in time; the wet and well worn cobblestone floor looks like it has been there for hundreds of years, the mechanical malt mill, the mash tun below and the old steam engine, connected by belts and steam pipes, gives an impression of early industrial era. Even the smell is old, of damp stones and iron with hints of wort, lingering in the air from the last brewing session. My mind started racing and it struck me that if the brewer from 150 years ago had suddenly woken up and returned to his old brewery he would not have noticed any changes  - this is a genuine, 19th century, steam powered brewery.

After the brief tour we thanked the lady profusely, returned to the bright daylight and started up the car, driving east towards our next and final stop that I'll mention in this post.

Brasserie des Légendes
About 17 km east of Pipaix, on the outskirts of Ath, there's an old castle named Irchonwelz which has given name to the small village nearby. These days the old castle is home to a modern brewery, founded as recently as 2006 when two smaller breweries - Brasserie des Géants and Brasserie Ellezelloise - merged to create Brasserie des Légendes.

Unlike the brewery we had just visited, Brasserie des Légendes is a modern high tech wonder of a brewery with a shiny new brewhouse in the courtyard of the former castle. You enter through the main gate of the castle, from a large gravel covered parking lot outside, facing the brewery straight ahead and the shop / tasting room up the stairs to your left.

There were no brewery tours that day, but the large main door to the brewery was open so I quickly took a peek inside before joining the others for a beer tasting session at the brewery shop which doubles as a tasting room. Because the shop / tasting room has no beers on tap you'll either have to buy some bottles and bring them home or find someone to share the bottles with. Fortunately, I had several people to share with and we managed to get through the entire selection of Goliath beers on offer in the shop.

View inside the modern brewery of Brasserie des Légendes

I appologize if this post seems a bit all over the place, which in a sense it had to be given the nature of the trip through so much of Belgium, but I hope it inspires you to do a beer road trip of your own through this small but still so varied beer country.

For more photos from this trip, check these Flickr sets: Ypres, Oostvleteren, Poperinge and the rest.

La Trappe - taste the silence

In the last couple of months of 2013 the exclusive family of Trappist breweries increased from eight to ten when The Spencer Brewery in Massacusetts, USA, and Zundert in the Netherlands joined. I've earlier written a post about Orval, so in this one I'll summarize my impressions after the three visits I've made to one of the oldest and most visitor-friendly beer brewing Trappist abbeys: Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven, outside the city of Tilburg in the Netherlands, the famous home of the La Trappe beers.

Our Lady of Koningshoeven Trappist Abbey

Our Lady of Koningshoeven
Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven or Our Lady of Koningshoeven in English was founded on March 5, 1881, by Trappist monk Sebastian Wyart. He had been sent out from Abbaye du Mont des Cats, in northern France, to find a safe refuge during a phase of strong anti religious sentiments in France. While it turned out that the brothers at Mont des Cats didn't have to abandon their lofty mountain abbey, the new monastery at Koningshoeven grew rapidly and would eventually eclipse its mother house both in size and fame.

The first important steps were taken in 1884, when the monks had a brewery built at Koningshoeven and sent the monk Isidorus Laaber to Munich to learn beer brewing from the very best of that era. The first beer that Brother Isidorus brewed at Koningshoeven he called "La Trappe", referring to the French abbey of Notre Dame de la Grande Trappe from which the order and the name "Trappist" hails. The brewery would continue to use the name "La Trappe" for all its subsequent beers.

A good indication of the rapid growth of the Koningshoeven abbey is the fact that in the year 1900, less than 20 years after its founding, the abbey could spare a group of monks who were sent out to found a daughter house in the village of Zundert, near the Belgian border. This became the second Trappist abbey in the Netherlands and 113 years later, at the end of 2013, the country's second Trappist brewery!

Like other Trappist abbeys, Koningshoeven experienced a decrease in the number of monks after World War II, so in order to preserve the monastic life they had to take certain measures. One of these was the creation of a limited liability company, Brouwerij de Koningshoeven B.V., as an independent subsidiary of the large Dutch commercial brewery Bavaria. Since 1997, Brouwerij de Koningshoeven has rented the brewery buildings from the abbey for brewing La Trappe beers, under the authority and supervision of the monks. The monks also set up a monastery store where handmade products are sold, including bread and chocolate.

The income from the store and the brewing activities has become the most important source of money for the abbey and its 16 monks, aged between 24 and 81. They use the income to maintain the buildings and for sustaining the daily life. The abbey also supports poor people at home as well as daughter houses in Uganda and Indonesia.

A field at Koningshoeven where the monks farm vegetables

Getting there
The Koningshoeven abbey is located near the village of Berkel-Enschot on the eastern outskirts of Tilburg, about 4 km from the railway station in Tilburg and about the same distance north of the border with Belgium. Many local visitors come by bike but as far as I know there's not much in the way of public transportation to rely on so you either have to take a cab from Tilburg, which I did once, or come in your own car (if you have a designated driver).

The first thing visitors to Koningshoeven will see, whether they come by bike or by car, are the three tall towers of the abbey, visible from far away in the flat landscape. The towers are also printed on the La Trappe logo, as a symbol of the abbey. The car parking is on the right side of the main gate, it's not a large parking space so it can be full if you arrive at popular times, but it's probably possible to park for a short while along the country road passing by the abbey (but don't quote me on it).

Entrance is not through the closed main gate but through a smaller gate by the parking, which takes you across a small ditch - resembling a miniature moat - up a tree lined path towards the monastery store, where you can buy the local products as well as religious artifacts, and from there on to the Proeflokaal which is a far as most guests will come. Beyond the Proeflookal you need to be in a tour group, if you want to visit the brewery and parts of the abbey. I did just that back in 2011, and it's well worth the money.

The outdoor seating area at Koningshoeven Proeflokaal

Proeflokaal
The Proeflokaal, which is Dutch for "tasting room / hall", is a large building located between the abbey and the car parking, partly surrounded by shading trees. It's a fairly recent construction built in brick stones, like the abbey, but with a charming medieval-style thatched roof hanging down on two sides. It functions both as a tasting room and a simple restaurant, and seems very popular with families from the area - who often cycle out to the abbey during weekends, with children in tow, to have lunch together.

There is a large seating area inside the Proeflokaal, with the bar along the wall next to the entrance, but I prefer to sit outside at one of the many wooden tables - if weather permits. Nothing beats enjoying a La Trappe beer, fresh from tap, while taking in the view of the imposing red brick stone buildings of the abbey and, sometimes, smelling the sweet wort from the brewery.

The bar at Proeflokaal usually offers all eight La Trappe beers on draught, at least that has been the situation on my three visits in 2011-2013. Normally they also offer bottled La Trappe beers, such as a couple of oak aged versions of Quadrupel and Isid'Or. If you're seated outside, simply flag down a waiter or waitress (no, the monks do not wait on their guests, the waiters are all civilian) to place your order - they prefer that on busy days, to avoid lines at the bar. Tasting the bottled beers, in particular different batches of the oak aged, is very useful if you consider buying a few bottles at the shop to bring home.

The food served at Proeflokaal is simple but filling, I've tried their burger and the tasty mushroom soup. Even if the food is simple it is usually locally sourced, well made and fairly reasonable.

One of the 4-tap beer towers at the Proeflokaal

Brouwerij de Koningshoeven
If you plan to visit Koningshoeven you should consider joining a tour of the brewery, but beware that it's recommended to book ahead (for updated information see their www.latrappetrappist.com website). The tour lasts about 45 minutes and will take you through both the old and new brewery and through the abbey yard to inspect their vegetable garden and an old firetruck.

A funny story we were told during the tour was that because the monks were living under a strict vow of silence only a few decades ago, if a fire broke out the monk who discovered the flames was to call an internal emergency number but instead of speaking he would knock the handset against the phone three times to indicate fire. The monks would then send out the firetruck they've got parked inside the abbey yard.

The old "Trappist firetruck" at Koningshoeven

Though a brewery has been in operation here since 1884, Brouwerij de Koningshoeven is a very modern brewery plant thanks to the cooperation with Bavaria who modernized the brewery in the late 1980s, adding a new brewing hall and a new fermentation and lagering cellar. All the La Trappe beers are brewed according to traditional methods, using top fermenting yeast, only natural ingredients and water still drawn from a well at the abbey. After the primary fermentation the beer is bottled, with extra yeast and sugar added, allowing it to undergo a secondary fermentation in the bottle and thus create natural carbonation.

In 1991, the brewery introduced its flagship beer, La Trappe Quadrupel, a massive 10% abv malt-driven ale. This was the first beer in the world that was termed a "quadrupel", so La Trappe Quadrupel effectively created a new style when it was launched 23 years ago. Today this category is usually termed Abt/Quad to include the strong Abbot ales from St Bernardus, Westvleteren and Rochefort.

The final beer in the La Trappe line-up was launched in 2009, to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the brewery, it was named La Trappe Isid'Or after the first brewer monk, Brother Isidorus. Including this one, but excluding the various Oak Aged releases, Brouwerij de Koningshoven now brews 8 different beers, all under the La Trappe brand, which is more than any other Trappist brewery. Contrast this with the three types of Rochefort and single type of Orval.

Stainless steel brewing vessels at Koningshoeven

The La Trappe beers
The modern Brouwerij de Koningshoeven is one of the largest Trappist breweries. According to Wikipedia the brewery produced 145,000 hectolitre (hl) beer in 2004, compare this to less than 5,000 hl by Westvleteren and 18,000 hl by Rochefort.

As of March 2014, the eight beers in the La Trappe line-up are:

- La Trappe Blond (6.5%)
- La Trappe Dubbel (6.5%)
- La Trappe Tripel (8%)
- La Trappe Quadrupel (10%)
- La Trappe Bockbier (7%)
- La Trappe Witte Trappist (5.5%)
- La Trappe Isid'Or (7.5%)
- La Trappe PUUR (4.7%)

It's worth mentioning that La Trappe Witte is the only wheat beer made by a Trappist brewery and that La Trappe PUUR is the only certified organic Trappist beer. The brewers may follow traditions but it's obvious they also enjoy experimenting with new beer styles!

In addition to these "base" beers, the monks make special oak aged blends of La Trappe Quadrupel a few times every year. The first blend, Batch #1, was released in June 2011 and as of this moment they've made 15 different blends or batches - using a range of different oak barrels for aging the beer, from former Port wine and French red and white wine barrels to Whisky and Bourbon. The results are always different and often surprising.

At the end of your visit, on your way out, you should stop at the monastery shop to pick up some chocolate truffles and a few bottles of La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged while exchanging a few words with the robe clad monk manning the counter - yes, despite the famous Trappist vow of silence the monks do speak with their customers.

A bottle of La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged
- enjoyed at Koningshoeven Proeflokaal

Click here for photos from my visits to Koningshoeven in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Craft beer comes of age in Norway

Back in 2007, Norway was lagging far behind in the craft beer revolution that was underway in the US and several European countries, both Sweden and in particular Denmark had more and better beer pubs and craft breweries. The few craft breweries we had in Norway, mainly Nøgne Ø, Valdres Gardsbryggeri and HaandBryggeriet, struggled to survive in a bone-dry Norwegian market.

However, only a year later I started noticing signs that things were improving, though it was still far to early to talk of a vibrant beer scene in Norway. But I felt confident and optimistic enough to give a talk at Sesam in Oslo, in October 2008, titled "Ølets renessanse" ("The renaissance of beer"), where I hinted at these early signs and predicted a more exciting future for craft beer in Norway.

The "Beer Renaissance" talk at Sesam, 24 October 2008 

Five years later I'm stunned by the rapid and large changes that has taken place; at the beginning of 2014 Norwegian craft beer seems to be "everywhere" - from pubs to hotels - with newspapers printing "success stories" about the many new craft breweries opening up and reviews about new beer books and pubs. The number of homebrewers has reached epic proportions and the average pub goer is much more demanding and knowledgeable than only a couple of years ago. Thus, comparing last year to those early days I think it's safe to conclude that 2013 was the year that craft beer finally broke through to the beer drinking masses in Norway.

Read on to find out why I think so and to learn about the current state of Norwegian craft brewing.

Norwegian beer scene anno 2013
While only a couple of years ago you would be hard pressed to find Norwegian craft beer in bars and good restaurants, and even fewer beer drinkers who had tried anything more exciting than the annual Christmas beers, today you can almost pick a random pub anywhere in Norway and still find Norwegian craft beer on bottle and often on draught too. The capital, Oslo, alone offers 6 brewpubs, around 30 beer bars and more than a dozen restaurants listed as good places for craft beer on RateBeer. Those new beer places attract a growing number of, often, young beer explorers, not just the old guard of beer tickers, which helps spread the word to new groups of people.

Crowbar brewpub in Oslo on opening night December 13, 2012 

In addition to more active bar owners, many of them importing their own beer, the Vinmonopolet chain of government-owned liquor stores imports and distributes more types of beer than ever before. The first small shift from a wine centric era came with the January 2010 campaign for beer, when a number of new beer brands were launched. Since then, the number of beer brands available has more than tripled and currently (January 2nd 2014) stands at 558, though some are probably sold out. This gives the average beer drinker a more varied selection of beer to choose from, without having to travel to beer destinations in Belgium, Denmark or the US.

Another sign that there is money to be made by distributing craft beer in Norway is the recent success of Norwegian beer import company Beer Enthusiasts. Founded in April 2012, last year saw their business take off with a number of great craft breweries in their portfolio, national as well as international, such as Sierra Nevada, Moor Beer Company, St Feuillien, Chimay, Midtfyns Bryghus, Austmann Bryggeri and Birra Baladin. The company frequently arranges beer maker's dinners around Norway, to spread the interest of good food and beer pairings, and even distributes Norwegian craft beer outside the country, through their newly opened Beer Enthusiasts Sweden branch.

Along with the wider availability of beer you'll also be more likely to encounter beer drinkers with a wider preference for beer, they won't ask for just pils anymore, beer styles such as IPA, porter, stout, saison and lambic seem to have entered the common vernacular. In particular the younger beer drinkers seem to explore and pick up new beer styles and trends really fast, many of them may even be homebrewers on the side.

Back in 2009, the Norwegian homebrewer society Norbrygg had 900 paying members, in 2013 that number had grown past 3,000! In addition to the Norbrygg members, many people brew from time to time, either alone or in so-called bryggerlaug ("brewing guilds") without caring about competitions or formal registration, so there are probably now more than 10,000 homebrewers in Norway!

But it's not only at the grassroot level that the interest in craft beer has exploded over the last couple of years, even the big lager breweries have noticed the trend towards more flavorful beers. Perhaps the best evidence for this was the November 2013 acquisition of Nøgne Ø, the largest Norwegian craft brewery, by the Hansa Borg brewery group. And they are not alone, the pride of northern Norway, Mack Bryggeri, will soon open up their own microbrewery, Ludwig Mack Brygghus, in downtown Tromsø. Even Carlsberg owned Ringnes is playing catch-up, though slower than its smaller competitors, brewing the Imperial Polaris doppelbock in collaboration with Brooklyn Brewery in 2012 and releasing Superior Polaris, a 10,5% abv barrel aged version of that beer, in the fall 2013. One can only speculate about what Ringnes will do to follow Hansa Borg and Mack in 2014, perhaps Ringnes will launch its own microbrewery?

Nøgne Ø became part of Hansa Borg in November 2013

Expanding old and opening new breweries
Another way of measuring the penetration of beer interest in Norway is to look at the state of the craft breweries, their growth and numbers. And 2013 was without a doubt the best year to date, with more than a dozen new breweries opening up and many of the older craft breweries expanding or moving to larger facilities.

Among those craft breweries that have recently moved or will do so soon are:

• Ægir Bryggeri: New production brewery opened in June 2012, allowing Evan Lewis and his brewers to once more brew all the Ægir beers in Flåm (for a while some were brewed at Deproef in Belgium) and to expand production when that is needed.
• Kinn Bryggeri: Opened its new production brewery outside Florø in April 2013, where Espen Lothe and his helpers will be able to brew up to a million liter beer annually.
• Trollbryggeriet: This small brewery in Liabygda, Møre og Romsdal, is currently expanding the brewing capacity from 50,000 up to 300,000 liter annually! The new brewery should be operational soon.
• Lindesnes Brygghus: This brewery on the southern tip of Norway may already have started brewing at the new and larger facility in Gahre Næringspark in Lindesnes.
• Hubertus Bryggeri: This brewery was launched in January 2013 but is already planning to move from Lesja to Dovre, sometime in 2014, in order to meet the growing demands.
• HaandBryggeriet: Only two years after opening up at Sundland, Drammen based HaandBryggeriet has outgrown its current location and plans to move to a larger one across town, at Brakerøya, in July 2014. Here the brewery will be able to grow for many years to come, increasing the capacity up to 6 million liter beer annually!
• Nøgne Ø: Finally, Nøgne Ø has also outgrown its current brewery, maxing out at around 1,1 million liter beer in 2013. There has been talk of moving for a couple of years now but any plan they may have had must have been put on hold, pending the recent acquisition, though I expect the new owners will soon take steps to improve the capacity.

In addition to these breweries, a number of others have expanded their capacity in 2013 by installing more or larger fermentation tanks. So there's no doubt, more craft beer is being brewed in Norway than ever before.

Breweries that started up in 2013
There are now microbreweries in almost every town and larger community in Norway, Finnmark remains the only county without a brewery (but that may change in 2014, see Slettnes Bruk in the next section). Only in the last twelve months a total of 15 new breweries have started up around the country.

1. 7 Fjell Bryggeri: This brewery, partly owned by Herman Friele, is a "phantom brewery", brewing its beers at Lervig, but a production brewery should open up in Bergen in 2014.
2. Apotekergaarden Bryggeripub: 2 hl brewpub in Grimstad, Vest-Agder. Opened in February,
3. Austmann Bryggeri: 8 hl brewery in Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag. Opened in July.
4. Bådin: 8 hl brewery in Bodø, Nordland. Opened in July.
5. Fjellbryggeriet: 6 hl brewery in Åmotsdal, Telemark. Opened in August.
6. Grünerløkka Brygghus: 10 hl brewery in Oslo, associated with the pub of the same name. Opened in August.
7. Halden Mikrobryggeri: 2 hl brewpub in Halden, Østfold. Opened in March.
8. Hemnes Mikrobryggeri: 3 hl microbrewery at Hemnesberget, Nordland. Opened in January.
9. Hubertus Bryggeri: 2 hl microbrewery in Lesja, Oppland. Opened in January.
10. Namdalsbryggeriet: 1 hl microbrewery in Grong, Nord-Trøndelag. Opened in September.
11. Nydalen Bryggeri: 10 hl brewery in Oslo, same owner as Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri. Opened in August.
12. Nøisom Craft Beer: 5 hl microbrewery in Fredrikstad, Østfold. Opened in August.
13. Sandar Haandverksbryggeri: 5 hl brewpub in Sandefjord, Vestfold. Opened in October.
14. To Tårn Bryggeri: 10 hl brewery in Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag. Opened during the summer.
15. Voss Bryggeri: 10 hl brewery in Voss, Hordaland. Opened in March.

At the end of 2013, there are 83 commercial breweries in Norway, a couple of them (Union Bryggeri and Breiflabben Brygghus) may have stopped brewing by now and a couple (Gjerberg Bryggeri and Granås Gård) only offer their beer as part of a tour, the rest of them ranges from industrial size breweries, large craft breweries and farm breweries to small microbreweries and brewpubs.

Austmann Bryggeri started brewing in early July 2013
- here at Grünerløkka mat- og Mikrobrygg festival

Breweries that may start up in 2014
A number of new breweries are in various stages of planning and construction, here is a list of some that may start brewing in 2014.

1. Bryggerhuset Veholt: 4 hl microbrewery in Skien, Telemark, run by Jan Halvor Fjell.
2. Garasjebryggeriet: 2 hl microbrewery in Haugesund, Rogaland.
3. Lofotpils: Pils brewery planned to open in August in Svolvær, Nordland.
4. Låven Mikrobryggeri: 2 hl microbrewery in Sylling, Buskerud.
5. Mosjøen Mikrobryggeri: 2 hl microbrewery in Mosjøen, Nordland.
6. Nua Brygghus: 5 hl microbrewery in Mandal, Vest-Agder.
7. Sagene Bryggeri: A new pils brewery at Sagene in Oslo aiming at the throat of Carlsberg.
8. Schouskjelleren: 15 hl production brewery in Oslo, same owner as the brewpub. May start brewing as early as January.
9. Slettnes Bruk: Will become the first brewery in Finnmark when it opens in Mehamn.
10. Stjørdalsbryggeriet: The first commercial brewery in Stjørdal, Nord-Trøndelag.
11. Storm Brygghus: Microbrewery on the island Hitra in Sør-Trøndelag.
12. Svalbard Bryggeri: Microbrewery in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, awaiting license.
13. Teveltunet Ølbryggeri: Farm / microbrewery at Teveltunet in Meråker, Nord-Trøndelag.
14. Venndøla: Microbrewery in Vennesla, Vest-Agder.
15. Wettre Bryggeri: Farm brewery in Vettre, Asker.

In addition to these, there are several still working on the finances or awaiting the brewing license from the authorities before making the necessary investments, so the above list will probably grow over the coming months.

Schouskjelleren 15 hl production brewery may open in January

Domestic beer sales
Like in many other countries, the overall beer sales in Norway are declining while the craft beer segment is growing at a rapid pace. Total figures for 2013 are not available yet, but Vinmonopolet has published the numbers for the first 9 months of 2013 and they show that strong beers (i.e. those above 4,75% abv) is the fastest growing product segment: Compared to the first 9 months of 2012, the period of January-September 2013 witnessed an increase in volume of 30,8%!

This growth at Vinmonopolet is due to the craft beer segment, not the big lager breweries. A clear indication of this is the fact that the largest craft brewery, Nøgne Ø, has gone from exporting 70% of its production in 2007 to only 15% in 2013, which means that 85% of their beer is now sold in Norway even though they brew four times as much beer as in 2007! It's also interesting to note that much of this growth does not come from Vinmonopolet or pub sales but from grocery stores selling the lower alcohol beers (below 4,75% abv). And this growth is expected to continue, especially now that Nøgne Ø will get a better distribution by its new owner, Hansa Borg.

According to Bryggeri- og drikkevareforeningen, the organization for Norwegian Brewers and Soft Drinks Producers, the sale of craft beer now makes up 1,8% of all beer sales in Norway, so we're not quite at the level of the US craft beer market yet but it's still very impressive for such a young industry. Petter Nome, the leader of said organization, believes craft beer will make up 5% of all beer sales by 2020.

Another good indicator for the growth of domestic craft beer is Lervig Aktiebryggeri in Stavanger, which was founded in 2003 to replace the local Tou Bryggeri, closed by Ringnes that year. Built with an extra large capacity, of 5 million liter per year, Lervig has lost money every year since starting up and by the end of 2012 had lost more than 60 million NOK in all! But thanks to a patient and rich owner and to Mike Murphy, the brewmaster since 2010, the brewery has finally started selling well and 2013 could well be the year that Lervig finally breaks even (we won't know until the official numbers arrive in a few months), after selling 1,2-1,3 million liter. Last year Lervig also started making money by brewing contract beer for the likes of Mikkeller, Beer Here and 7 Fjell.

Lervig 10th Anniversary Special at Bergen Ølfestival

Norwegian books about beer
Surely 2013 must have set a new record for the number of new books about beer, written by and for Norwegians. They range from homebrewing recipe books to pub guides and historical accounts of the recent growth of Norwegian craft beer. Here are four titles that have caused some waves in the national media:

"Håndbok i Ølbrygging" (Kagge forlag): This handbook about homebrewing, containing both recipes and technical details about the brewing process, was written by Gustav Foseid, the current leader of Norbrygg and a successful homebrewer who has won several prizes in Norwegian homebrewer championships. The recipes are his own.

"Ølbrygging - fra hånd til munn" (Kagge forlag): Written by Thomas Horne, this is another book about homebrewing but with recipes from some of the larger Norwegian craft breweries, such as Nøgne Ø and Kinn. The book also presents those breweries and aims at inspiring people to brew or just enjoy beer.

"Skummende lidenskap - Fem stabeiser og deres øl" (Bibere forlag) : Written by Gustav Jørgensen , the only Norwegian to become a member of the British Guild of Beer Writers, this book is based on interviews with the founders of Nøgne Ø, HaandBryggeriet, Ægir Bryggeri, Lervig Aktiebryggeri and Kinn Bryggeri and tells the colorful history of each brewery.

"Espens Ølsafari" (Gursli Berg Forlag): Written by Espen Smith, a well known beer writer and frequent guest in Norwegian media as well as a beer judge and consultant for new beer bars, this book takes the reader on a beer safari to his favorite beer places in Norway and other countries, pairing food recipes with beer while giving his personal story of each place.

Norwegian craft beer has come of age
As they say in England, the proof is in the pudding, and I think that's what my claim finally boils down to: Go to a good pub or restaurant and ask for their beer menu, I would be surprised - especially in the larger cities - if the place doesn't offer at least a dozen types of craft beer. The fact that craft food is driven by the same focus on local, quality ingredients means that a good restaurant really should offer a good beer menu too.

So, go out and enjoy locally brewed beer with locally sourced food.

Alstadberger Stjørdalsøl at Café Sara
- an exciting new release in 2013

January 3 update:
This morning I found updated figures showing that Norwegian craft beer sales grew by 35% in 2013 and now make up 2,2% of the overall beer market, up from 1,8% at the start of 2013. It seems we could break the 5% barrier well before 2020 :)