Belgian Beer Tour - Part III, Westvleteren, St. Bernardus (B&B), Struise

"Life is a pilgrimage. The wise man does not rest by the roadside inns. He marches direct to the illimitable domain of eternal bliss, his ultimate destination"

 - Swami Sivananda                     

My modification to the Buddhist quote is the following:

"Life is a pilgrimage. The wise man does not rest by the roadside inns. He marches direct to the (abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren), his ultimate destination"

                                                                               - Lou

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"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us."

- Henry David Thoreau

Bow Wow's modification to Mr. Thoreau would be the following:

"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within that field of delicious hops."

                                                                                  - Dr. Bauer

The time has arrived; the off-track portion of our program where we pave new paths to new, rare beers. Yes its true, where we are going, not even Rick Steves could recommend a local restaurant.

Following our time in Bruges, we picked up our rental car, taking a quick hour drive to West Flanders, also home to some of the best breweries in the world, including, but surely not limited to De Dolle, De Struise Brouwers, Westvleteren and St. Bernardus. We were able to visit the last three and even stay at the last one on our excursion (entrance to St. Bernie's B&B pictured above).

We had agreed to meet Jacky at 3pm and as we had made it to the area much quicker than we expected, we stopped in Oostvleteren (just east of Westvleteren, naturally), to pay homage to De Struise Brouwers, whose beers I (ignorantly) knew little about before researching for this trip. Their secret is not safe with me!

The Brewery is an old schoolhouse and while Carlo, one of the owners of the brewery, wasn't around, the office manager was friendly and able to sell us a few beers to try out (p.s. the beer is awesome - not sure how readily available it is in the US).

Following this, we had an hour to go 10 km and between St. Bernardus and Struise was St. Sixtus. I will explain the story more below, but Saint Sixtus thankfully have opened a brewery cafe in the last several years that allows Pilgrim's to stop and sample the best rated beer in the world, Westvleteren 12.

Following the second pitstop we made it to the St. Bernardus B&B, which if not connected to the brewery would still be amazing as the bedrooms and common rooms are very carefully done. Debatably the best feature of the house however, is that guests have free reign to two fridges stocked with Bernie's, which we of course made quick use of (but not quick work of - Belgian's are strong)! Dat's a lotta Tripel's Bernie!

Following our welcome drink to wait out the rain, we grabbed the bikes that guests can use and biked to Watou, the nearby village, for dinner. Erin's bike didn't last long so she got a Dutch taxi ride (as I just now coined).

We arrived in Watou to witness a local version of lawnbowling, patanques or bocce ball. This variation involves rolling these rubber disks down the street. I gathered the objective is the same where you have to get closest to the little ball tossed first.

Paterstafel, our restaurant for the evening, was just opposite the game in the village square. Bauer and I went for steak for two marinated in a sauce whose primary ingredient was the Prior 8.

Following dinner, we meandered our way back along Trappistweg, taking the first left after the brewery. We stayed up for a few games of cards and drank a Bernie in its proper glass, emulating the monks who started the brewery. The history of the brewery and cheese production plant is found here and here. You can read that the beers of Westvleteren used to be brewed here and in 1992 when the Trappist beers all moved production to within the Monasteries, the beer's name was changed to St. Bernardus, after the Refuge established there following the anti clergy movement in France (during the French Revolution). Its good to see I have more hair and less belly than the Saint - for now :-)

The following morning after breakfast, the other unique feature of the B&B was unveiled. In the laundry room connected to the B&B kitchen was a door...but not just any door, a door leading directly to the bottling facility of the brewery, beginning the brewery!! TOTALLY COOL!!!

Jacky gave us a nice tour of the facility, which was during the full production process (only the second time I had a tour during production - Summit). I almost got plucked by a forklift when I was posing for a pic!

Following the tour, we took another bike ride through the country and its fields of hops, sadly returning the bikes to leave. We all agreed another night on Trappistenweg would have been wonderful.

We had a couple hours before our beer date with the monks, so we went to Ieper or Ypres. A beautiful town was subject massive destruction during world war one. The church was the only building resembling more than a pile of rubble, but following the war, nearly the entire town was rebuilt to its pre-war character.

The time had arrived, just an hour before our scheduled pick up and time for another lunch at the Westvleteren cafe In De Vrede, and two more 12's for me along with some of the Monk's famous cheese.

Upon leaving the cafe, we headed to the Monastery gates to see where and how we get our beer. Thankfully I have dealt with my fair share of Monk's at Saint John's, so this guy and I seemed to click. I have a suspicion he likes beer too. The length's we go to get our beer!

The background behind St. Sixtus and getting the highly rated and commercially untouchable beers of Westvletern is that you need to be able to interpret their beer schedule, you need luck to get through on the phone and you need to be able to visit Belgium the week after you reserve. As I mentioned, the beer is not available commercially anywhere except the cafe (legally), so you have to call the reservation line if you want to get beer. I called the reservation line, not knowing the pick up dates on the website correspond with the call in dates listed on the call in column (generally a week or so earlier). I was able to get through to reserve a case of the Westy 12s, but had to then retract as I was not going to be there during the schedule pick up dates (only two days available for pick up of this batch - and you though the soup Nazi was strict;-). Knowing that the call in dates correspond with the pick up dates, I was luckily able to get through the following week and reserved a crate of Westy 8's, not a bad consolation.

The pick up area, attached to the monastery, is ran by one of the monks. It is exactly like a bank drive through, except you leave with beer instead of a deposit slip. We were also lucky as they were selling mixed three packs for €8 each that allowed a sixer for each passenger in the car. Naturally we maxed out our order and ended up with two cases of Westies! We actually had two crates lined up for our reservation, but it was too much to haul back on the train through the chunnel.

What an amazing and truly unique beer experience that we will all never forget. And to top it off, the beer was as good as advertised, one of the best!

Now how do we get it back to the US?????

Brewery Tour: The Kernel

While awhile outdated, a late October brewery tour is a must-report. Especially a tasting at the little engine that could, The Kernel, tucked away in Southeast London underneath the railroad tracks just east of London Bridge station. Please visit the website, especially if you are in London. They pull open the garage door every Saturday morning and the gentlemen that share the space with him, a cheese maker and a parmesean and cured meats specialist, also have their goods available for tasting and buying. 

 This place is the perfect, low-key alternative to the Borough Market, especially with other nearby speciality stores, you can get away from tourists snapping photos and into some relaxed Saturday morning/afternoon marketeering!

 The Kernel offers about 6 different beers, most of which change regularly. When we were there the range included two different IPAs, two Pale Ales, an Amber Ale, and two Porters.

 While I do enjoy the traditional english ales and love the history surrounding them, its exciting to see a new culture of British brewing that are challenging the norm in the UK and venturing to new territories. Another example of this is BrewDog, a Scottish brewery that has great marketing and more importantly, great beer that is aiming to redefine the British beer scene....I think both them and the Kernel are onto something! Try for yourself!

Hi-Ho Bauer Take SIX: The North Cotswolds

Finding a perfect phrase to describe the Bauer's is easy....Gettin-'er Done!! There aren't many people who have visited us in each capital city we have lived in over the last....dare I say (dare, dare) 7 years. No sir, the only other qualifier would be Lissa. If I were the government they'd get the medal of honour. If I were Bud Selig, they'd win the pennant. No no, we aren't keeping score, the hi-ho Bauer take six doesn't mean anything....

We started off the evening with a pint at our local, the POW or Prince of Wales, in the fabulous patio, and that was the start of the countless samples of English Ale we would consume over the next 8 days. The Price of Wales is nice as there is no pubco that owns the pub, so no dictating what beers are served on the taps (if there is, they have all guests on the taps:). Following this was dinner at a local tapas restaurant, Pinata, which was average when you compare to the heavyweights of London, but would be a top tapas place in most cities. From there it went downhill, or shall I say downstairs, at the Trailer of Happiness, where they served lots of Hooray Beer (Red Stripe), not to be overlooked by their speciality, the volcano, a drink literally in the mold of a volcano that feeds 2-3 and it flaming. This is why the photos are not suitable for small children.

The following morning we did some stretching to get rid of the toxins, grabbed the usual morning remedy (Paul's) and headed to Kensington Olympia where we rented the car for the next four days. We got the usual mini-Mercedes that gets a gillion miles per gallon (or litre shall I say to be in proper English-speak).

From there we meandered to the Cotswolds, through a couple cute villages to Hook Horton, where (what is becoming a common theme) we took a brewery tour of Hook Norton Brewery, which has been brewing in the same family since the mid-1800s. The building, while very old-school, resembles a lego building a novice lego builder would put together. But it does the trick and they brew using traditional methods, using a steam engine to power the brewery.

There is actually a stout recipe from pre WWI that the grandson of the descendant who first brewed it had to discontinue due to supply shortages during the Great War. All the beers were great, as was our tour guide, whose wife works at the Hook Horton history society.

From here we briefly wandered around the village, complete with several thatched roofs and an 800 year-old church. Take note, as our visits to these villages are unsurprisingly similar. A stroll, a church, a pub. You might think we should be ending the trip at Betty Ford, but in actuality, the best way to experience a village's history is to venture into its local. The constant in these English villages over the hundreds of years are two things, the church and the pub.

From here we went to Great Tew, which arguably had the best pub of the trip, an "eatable" mishmash of thatched roof, ivy covered walls, and beams, really friggin old beams. You can almost predict within 50 years of a pubs origination by how low you have to duck to get through the door, especially Dr. Bauer. This pub, the Falkland Arms, is a keeper.

Great pub 'eh? From there we took the extreme back Cotswold roads to Chipping Norton, where we went to yet another historic pub, The Chequers, that was recently featured in great NYtimes article that inspired our trip. Chipping Norton is a pretty cute huggily town, but not eatable.

After this, we had dinner at an unbelievable country restaurant called the Kingham Plough, which we read once had a Michelin Star (although I didn't confirm with the source). Star or not, this place was great. It is a MUST visit if in the north Cotswolds. Save room for dessert!

Following dinner we made it to our hotel, The Noel Arms, in Chipping Campden, which is a great spot to spend a couple nights on your Cotswold's holiday. We made it just in time to have a pint of Ale and walk around the quiet streets, checking out the 700 year old market where one can easily picture the wool traders of the past exchanging goods on market day.

The next morning we did a bit of hiking, starting by checking out a section of the Cotswolds Way outside Chipping Campden.

Afterward we walked around town, below is the aforementioned market. You really can picture the 1500's bustling market which is now replaced with tour buses of q-tips and flashing cameras (mine included)!

We then jumped in the car and headed to some Tricky Dick mentioned Cotswolds towns. I made some silly comments like eatable and huggily earlier, which are actual adjectives used by Rick Steves (i.e. Tricky Dick) in his book of England. The next town, called Snowshill, was both. Just a little square, a phone booth and a pub that served Doddington's, a one-of-a-kind brewery that is not powered by steam, but instead by the waterfall flowing in to the lake adjacent to the brewery. They don't bottle the beer, but instead sell their kegs to less than 20 nearby pubs. Pretty unique. Also a family run brewery (that doesn't offer tours).

After grabbing lunch at a great spot called the Plough (unintentional to visit two Ploughs), we parked at Lower Slaughter to do the hike from Upper to Lower Slaughter, a Fodors recommended walk. It was great having to close all the gates behind us to keep the sheep in while we followed the wandering river between the two towns.

We actually saw a Sasquatch in one of the fields chasing sheep around, I think its the first ever captured in a blue polo and a Rick Steves backpack.

After evading a near death at the hands of the Sasquatch (who by the way needs to shave 3-4 times every 8 hours to avoid getting his neanderthal beard caught in fencing while chasing farm animals), we made a quick stop at Burton-on-the-Water before returning toward our hotel in Chipping Campden. Naturally, I had to take a photo of the water in "the Water". Its a cool town, but I would recommend checking our the Slaughters, which are only 5 minutes away.

On the way back we stopped in Stow-on-the-Wold, which has arguably the oldest continuously running hotel in.....the WORLD; dating back to the 900s. Below is the pub where Edward III had a pint of ale before a battle in the 1330's - crazy.

We had sunset in a little hamlet overlooking a church (over another pint) at a spot called the Churchill Arms. The pub is a proper gastro-pub that I would recommend having dinner at if in the area.

An amazing first two days in the Cotswolds; everything is so close so you can do so much! Next up, Cotswolds part II...

New Glarus and Verona, Wisconsin

After a week of work in our Minneapolis office, two more Twins games that didn't rain out, including the first win I got to see in the new ballpark and some more family visits; the following weekend was here.  After hearing that Pedro's wedding was going to be near Madison, Bauer and I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to venture to New Glarus Brewing Company, a highly coveted beer that has such high demand that it isn't sold outside of Wisconsin. We left at 7am in order to make it at a reasonable time and then have time to change for the wedding. New Glarus recently relocated to a brand spankin new brewery just down the road from the old town that was settled by the Swiss and looks more like an alpine village than a Southern Wisconsin town. 

When you get into the brewery, you pay for the tour and get a (US) pint glass to go fill up in the tasting room down the hall. They had 7 different beers on tap, with a couple that were pretty rare (Golden Ale brewed in Trappist style and a Cherry beer that was like a Lambic). Then you can take the self-guided tour which includes some bad-ass wort tanks!

After the self-guided tour, Bauer and I decided to do the tasting as well, as it is like kids in a candy shop when Bauer and I are in a brewery. 

After the glorious tasting we headed downstairs to the bottleshop and picked up some for after the wedding. It is definitely worth taking a weekend from Minneapolis (or Chicago) to visit the brewery. 

Of course the tour isn't complete without heading into town to the Glarner-Stube (I think) to get some Swiss-themed food (and another New Glarus - the only beer served on tap). As you can see, it was full of character. 

We departed from the restaurant in haste to make it to the wedding in Verona for Pete and Jenny's wedding. The lovely couple had a great day as the weather was beautiful and all their friends and family were there to share the day!  The restaurant was at a really beautiful golf course that served great food and wine all night. The dance was wonderful and everyone had a great time.

Pete was so high in demand that I barely had a chance to sneak a photo with him. Congratulations Pedro and Jenny, thanks for the great night!!!