Luxembourg National Day

What does Luxembourg National Day entail you might ask???? Well let me just say it includes alot of people, alot of beer and wine tents, plenty of food, a touch of heavy rain, wonderful fireworks and many other things. Give us some time to relax and sleep after this great night and we will report back! And since tonight (22 June)was my birthday you can understand why I am slow to report.

Cheers,
Greg

Beer Passion Weekend in Antwerp, Belgium

This past weekend (20 - 22 of June) the Bierpassie or Beer Passion beer festival is being held in Antwerp. I decided that since Paula had to work at the Sacred Heart graduation on Saturday I would take an early train from Luxembourg to Antwerp to take in this festival and also to visit the Kulminator as no trip to Antwerp would be completed without a trip to this fine beer institution.

Open House at Brasserie Artisanale de Rulles

Today Paula and I visited the La Rulles brewery in Rulles (province of Luxembourg in Belgium). Yes, there is a Luxembourg area in Belgium, right across the border from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. This area was given to Belgium many, many years ago from the Grand Duke in Luxembourg but back to the beer.

La Rulles was started in June 2000 and each year in June (7th and 8th this year) they have an open house at the brewery where can take a tour of the brewery and sample all of their current beers at very reasonable prices. They had their blonde, brune, estivale, triple and Jean Chris. We sampled all of them. We also got a little serving of Orval cheese and some local meat.

Check out our pictures from our little visit

What Does a $45 Pound of Cheese Look and Taste like?

Well check back over the next few days and we will let you know. Paula and I went to a Spring fair last weekend in Luxembourg and ran across an Italian specialty stand that had some great cheeses and meats. We tried a few different cheeses and bought a little block of one thas was about €6 or $12. Not so bad. Before leaving I spotted a block of cheese that looked very interesting so I asked for a taste and was greeted with a slice of a very sharp cheese with Italian Brunello wine grapes on top. Not only was the cheese great but it was covered with some of the most expensive wine grapes the world knows. They were dried but still very tasty. I asked for a little block and almost fainted when I saw that it was €60 for a Kilo which is a little over 2 pounds so that is about $90 for a kilo or $45 a pound!

The Counting Crows in Luxembourg

Last night, Saturday 31 May, Paula and I went to see the Counting Crows in Esch sur Alzette, a town about 15 minutes from us in Luxembourg. The concert was at a very modern and new looking placed called the Rockhal. It is right next to a huge old steel plan run by Arcelor-Mittal the largest steel company in the world and probably the largest employer in Luxembourg. It is also right near a huge new RED bank building complex for Dexia, one of the larger banks in the country. Although the building looks huge from the outside, the actual concert area was fairly small and maybe held 2,000 people or so. It looked similar on the inside to the main floor of the Electric Factory in Philadelphia but was not as deep.

We didn't know what to expect as we have been to a ton of concerts back in the U.S., mainly Dave Matthews, and we usually get there several hours to tailgate and avoid all the crazy traffic. The doors were to open at 8pm for the show that started at 8:30pm. We showed up at about 7:15pm as the drive was very quick and we hit no traffic. As the concert venue is right next to an old steel plant and a huge bank complex, all of which is still under construction, parking was odd but easy. We were the only car in line when we entered and quickly found a nice spot near the exit. For only €2 (or $3) we were able to park where we wanted with no little annoying kid with an orange wand telling us there to park and how close like you get back in the States usually. As this was our first concert in Luxembourg, we were unsure about potential tailgating ability and we didn't really find anyone doing it but I am sure we could have.

It was about a 300 yard walk to the venue but it was easy so no big deal there. There was already a line of several hundred people waiting at the front door to get in before the doors opened at 8pm. As it was a general admission concert I was worried we would be too far in the back but that ended up not being a problem. Instead of going right to the line we went to the beer truck and got a quick drink. Paula got a cremant (Luxembourgish champagne) and I got a typical Luxembourgish beer, Diekirch, a deal at €2. No ridiculous concert beer markup here. This is basically the price you pay at a bar or festival or anything in Luxembourg so I was happy for that. It is always nice to be able to buy a drink with a coin and the little €2 coins come in handy for things like this. After getting the drink we got in line and waiting for 20 minutes or so until the doors opened. Once they opened it was organized and easy to get in and get a good view. As the venue only held 2,000 or so, we were able to get near the front of the stage, maybe 20 feet away, pretty quickly. For the most part we had enough room to move about without having someone breathing right on your neck.

The show was set to start at 8:30pm and did right on time. There was no mention of an opening bank so when the band came out at 8:30pm we thought for sure it was the Counting Crows. We had not seen them in a long time and had not see pictures in awhile so when the lead singer had straight brown hair, no dreadlocks as the lead singer Adam always had, we were a bit suprised but thought it was just the fact we hadn't seem them in awhile and maybe they changed their appearance. I also thought there were 7 members to the band instead of 5. Anyway, after a few songs that we didn't recognize and words from the lead singer in another language, we realized this was an opening band called Dreamcatcher or something like that. I think they were actually from Russia but sang most of their songs in English and were pretty good. One song was called "f*** you" which was funny.

Once the opening band ended and some time passed to clear the stage, the Counting Crows came on and we knew for sure it was them as there were dreadlocks, t-shirts and guys looking high. They sounded just as good as they had in the past and played alot of the songs you are used to hearing from them and some new songs as well. The crowd was a mix of people from Luxembourg, France, Germany, Belgium and some Americans like us. We were chatting with a couple behind us from Germany that were big fans of the Counting Crows and they traveled all the way to Lux since they were not playing in Germany this tour. It was also very interesting to watch people in Europe at a concert. A good of them were obsessed with taking pictures on their mobile phones or cameras. There was no restriction on pictures I guess and I am kicking myself for not bringing our camera as we were really close to stage. It was also interesting to see a few people near us that wanted to clap at every song that played. I don't mean clapping at the end but it seemed like they wanted to start a group clapping during every song and they got it started several times but it died out quickly.

The Counting Crows played for about 2 hours and ended with one song for an encore. There is a curfew in Luxembourg and apparently that is 11am so they had to stop playing by then. After the encore song they played California Dreamin' over the PA system and Adam the lead singer remained on stage to sing along with the crowd to the song which was pretty cool to see. Most people in the crowd seemed to know the words to the song which was also cool to see. Seems like it was the think that the band does after all their shows but not sure.

The exit out of the venue was just as quick as the entrance. After a 5 minute walk we were at our car and in another 15 minutes or so we were heading into our parking garage at home. That is how a concert should be but most are not. Since Luxembourg is so small, I guess the concerts are as well. Despite the small size there have been and will be some really good concerts here besides the Counting Crows including Jame Blunt, Seal, REM, Avril Lavigne, Little John (YEAAAH!), Backstreet Boys, Mika and coming soon....KISS!

After getting the concert bug I went home last night and looked up some other concerts in Europe and was thrilled to see that Jack Johnson and G. Love & Special Sauce are playing throughout Europe in the next month. They will be in Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Germany and France. They will also be in London so it looks like we are going to try to get tickets and turn it into a little holiday to London around the 4th of July. If we can't be home with family and friends for this holiday, at least we could be in a fully English speaking country for it!

My Visit to the Struise Farm Brewery

Since it was such a beautiful day today, I decided to take a little 3 plus hour trip to the Belgian coast. Well about 15 minutes from the coast actually to the town of Lo to visit the Struise Farm. The farm is basically the headquarters for one of the best breweries in Belgium. In addition to being an ostrich farm and a bed & breakfast, the Struise Farm also has a small brewery where they brew certain of their beers and other test beers.

It turns out Struise is about 10 minutes from the Abbey at Westvleteren so I decided to make an afternoon of visiting Struise for a few beers and then heading to the Westvleteren cafe for lunch.

I arrived in the town of Lo at about 13:00 and found myself on a bunch of very small farm roads. As I found out quickly, these roads are really only passable by 1 vehicle at a time when I came upon a huge farm tractor and had to pull off the side of the road and partially into a field to let him go by. Thankfully I didn't come head on with any others before I arrived at Struise. I got to Struise about 15 minutes later and was first unsure about heading down the private driveway but after reading on Ratebeer.com that the brewer Urbain was going to have a keg of their new and rare stout, Black Albert, on tap and open to the public for free, I knew it would be ok to visit.

When I got out of my car I was greeted by a very friendly woman, that I found out was Urbain's sister, and a large dog. When I annouced why I was there, I was led up to an office where Urbain was talking on the phone. His sister offered me coffee and water and let me sit down to wait. After taking a few sips of a water, I got to to meet Urbain and as a thank you for letting me visit, I gave him a few American craft beers which he seemed to really enjoy. In return he gave me a bottle of beer from a brewery friend of his. After talking for a few minutes we headed down to the farms bar.

In talking to Urbain, the bar is in an old farmhouse that he and his family has refurbished over the past 10 years or so. Although the bar looks private, it would be a really cool bar to hang out at as it is rustic and full of charm. After taking a few minutes to setup the sinks to wash our glasses properly, Urbain poured us each a glass of Black Albert which they have termed a Belgian Royal Stout. I think it lives up to the name. It rings in at 13% abv and poured a very deep black hole color with a thick bubbly tan head.

While sipping on this fine brew, Urbain showed me the keg system that they are testing with this beer. Instead of using stainless steel, they had this beer in a keg that comprised of a cardboard outer system with a foil type bladder on the inside that holds the beer. It would of course be a much cheaper and lighter way to keg beer and based on what he said and I tasted, there is no impact on the quality of the beer in such a system.

Since there was no one else around at the time, we went outside on the patio to enjoy the days sun and to chat a bit about various thinks including of course, beer and other things like the environment. He mentioned that about an hour before I arrived, a large group of folks stopped by to try the Black Albert and he envisioned that a good number of people would show up later in the day as well so I was lucky to try the beer while it was still available. It won't be bottled and available in Belgium for a few more weeks and will eventually make it to the U.S. but may not be very soon.

After filling our glasses again with Black Albert, we wandered around the farm a bit. First to take a look inside a large military tent that was currently holding all of the brewing equipment while they were renovating the brewing building. We then walked down to the brewing building and got to see where the equipment will be reinstalled and will allow Struise to brew on an 8 barrel system and to play around with different yeast, sugar, and other combinations that can only lead to good beer. Urbain then opened up the cold room and was kind enough to give me to bottles as a gift for visiting the brewery. A 750ml bottle of their Struiselensis and a 750ml bottle of Tsjeeses Reserva which is a beer not really released to the public. I Can't wait to try both beers but will probably sit on them for the right time to try.

Urbain mentioned a few beer projects upcoming that were interesting. They are going to brew another batch of Struiselensis in the coming months and about 1/6 of the batch will be laid down with kriek to form a nice lambic which I can't wait for. He also mentioned that they will be brewing an imperial porter in the near future that will mainly be for a private group but it will also be available at the farm brewery at times. I smell another trip to the farm in my future....

While we were wandering around the farm I saw a handful of farm cats roaming the grounds and protecting the beer! The large doggy was also roaming around but behind a fence which was good because a group staying in the B&B arrived and with a dog that could only be described as a large black bear! This dog jumped out from the back of their van and ran over to the farm dog and they did some looking and sniffing and barking but no fighting.

Not far from the brewery building is where the ostrichs live. We got close enough to look eye to eye with these interesting creatures. They seemed to be interested in people, at least the females did. The males apparently are not very friendly and held back in the pack.

Overall my visit to Struise was a great day. The beer was great, Urbain was a great host and is very generous with his time and his beer. Since there is a B&B on the Struise Farm, I am thinking that this would be a great place to stay on future trips to Belgium as it is a great place to have a beer, it is very close to Westvleteren and the Belgian coast.

After leaving Struise, I drove the few minutes to the cafe at Westvleteren but was dissapointed to find out that they were closed. Maybe for the upcoming holiday in Europe. Needing a lunch after having 2 glasses of Black Albert, an Royal Belgian Stout of 13%, I found a cool looking cafe not far from Westvleteren. I knew it was a good place to stop as a beer truck had just pulled up to unload a bunch of kegs and crates of beer...and water. I stopped at 't Vleterhof for some food and maybe another drink. There were already a few locals sitting outside having drinks. I think they were all in their 70's but they looked like they were having a good time so I thought I would also. I sat outside and ordered a Struise Pannepot, why not, and a coke and a croque monseuir, basically a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. While I was there two older ladies stopped by for some drinks. Their drink of choice, Pannepot, just like me. Those Belgian ladies can really have a drink as this beer rings in at 10%. There were also a handful of bikers that stopped by for some refreshments. No Harley bikers but the biking that is typical of this part of the country, the peddle powered type bikes.

After a good quick lunch, I was back on the road and made another quick stop, this time at the Deca Brewery where Struise sells their beers. I picked up a few large bottles of Pannepot for home and some 33cl bottles of Pannepeut which is a slightly different version of Pannepot, made for the Danish beer market.

After that last stop, I was back in the car for another 3 and half hours to Luxembourg. Overall it was about 7 hours in the car and 3 or so out of it but it was still worth it. I think the temp hit about 80 so it was the warmest day since we arrived in Europe!

I hope you enjoy these pictures of my trip....

Also, check out this short video I took while driving down some of the tiny farm roads leading up to the Struise Farm. If a car was coming at me I would have been in some trouble but luckily it was just me while I was shooting the video.

The Craft Beer Scene in Holland

In the time I spent in Holland in 2000 I didn't really get to enjoy any craft beer from Holland and at that time I am not really sure there was much of a craft beer scene in the country. We mostly drank Belgian beers and the main Holland beers like Amstel and Heineken.

Flash forward to 2008 and it looks like the craft beer scene in Holland is alive and well although maybe not known to the world outside of the Benelux (or outside of the "ne" in Benelux). I discovered a few of these Holland beers when we visited my favorite bar in Utrecht, Kafe Belgie. I also found a bunch of them at a great bottleshop we found in Utrecht, Bert's Bierhuis.

We also found a good beer scene in Amsterdam, one that I had not really explored in the past. We searched out and found 2 good beer bars and 2 good bottles shops.