Walk on the Wild Side

On a stunningly bright sunny Saturday morning my wife and I made our way via the Eurostar to Kortrijk (tip, travel via Lille, it’s quicker) 26 miles south west from Ghent. The largest city in south west Flanders Kortrijk has plenty of sites to occupy you for a day. The mediaeval Grote Markt with its belfry, the Beguinage (listed as a world heritage site) and the amazing fortified Broeltorens. There is also the Kortrijk 1302 multimedia museum and Texture, the city’s textile museum. There are also a number of breweries in and around the outskirts of the city and walking along the beautiful River Leie I spied Brouwerij Ruimtegist on the opposite bank. However, we weren’t here for historical culture….

On the weekend of 7th and 8th October, Brouwerij ‘t Verzet hosted the first Oud Bruin Fest, a two day celebration of everything Roodbruin, Flemish Red and Oud Bruin. Thirty three brewers from Flanders, Brussels, Hungary, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Denmark and Scotland showcased an amazing range of mixed fermentation, barrel-aged and wild ales. Street food to soak up the tasty beers was provided by ROK and Potatolicious and a sound system cranked out anything from old school punk to krautrock, psychobilly and more. The bottle shop featured extremely affordable bottles of everyone’s beer with the obvious highlight the 2022 version of Oud Bruin Megablend.

What really made the festival memorable for me was the people that it attracted. Bumping into old friends and colleagues all coming along for the same ride. Folks not only from Belgium but all over the world drawn to savour the tart, malty nuances of various interpretations of this oft-forlorn beer style. Standout modern versions of this ‘oud’ classic were savoured from Antidoot, La Source, De Ranke, SOSAB, Toye, Dok and Alvinne. Then you had pure class in the heritage example from the likes of Cnudde, De la Senne, Beer Project, Vandewalle, l’Ermitage and Bourgogne des Flandres. And if that wasn’t enough to whet your appetite out poured super wild beers from Rolling Hills, Holy Goat, Loverbeer, Tanker and Brekeriet. So if you are expecting only BJCP style-specific beers, be prepared to open your mind to the creativity on show.

Both days featured sets of masterclasses with Friday including Luc from De Leite, Glenn from Alvinne and Rudi from Rodenbach. On Saturday I enjoyed Chris’ presentation from Vandewalle and we also had Valter from Loverbeer and Johnny from Holy Goat. Chris Vandewalle, archivist for the city of Diksmuide gave a presentation of Oud Bruin within the Westhoek of West Flanders and particularly highlighted the role that his family played in this. Chris was also showcasing his wonderful beers from Seizonbrouwerij Vandewalle. He gave me a copy of his book ‘Oud Bruin – De bierlink tussen de verleden en toekomst in Reninge’ (the beer link between the past and future of Reninge, where is brewery is based). It was a surprise for me to learn that the style was being produced throughout the region with even a brewery situated on the dunes of the Belgian coast.

Eventually I had to admit that as much as I love this beer style and was still keen to taste more beers it was time to head back into the city for some food and retire for the evening. Kortrijk has plenty of great food options offering up numerous different cuisines. But after a long day enjoying Oud Bruin it just had to be a steak with frites, as classic a Belgian dish as you will find.

So Oud Bruin Fest will be back again in 2024. Be sure to keep an eye on the Brouwerij t’Verzet homepage and socials as I thoroughly recommend this friendly and exclusive beer festival. I’ll definitely be there. Cheers!

Photos credits: Caitlin Mackesy Davies and Ahmed Elamin

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FOMO? Back to Belgian Beer Festivals!

Bier van Olier Bierfestival photo Frank Debels

FOMO. Or FOMBBF – Fear of missing Belgian Beer Festivals. Back in August we were spending a weekend at my Mum’s place in Wales. Looking out of the windows at the wonderful and persistent Welsh rain I stole a glance at my phone for messages and saw an announcement that Belgium had belatedly acknowledged the NHS Covid Pass and that travel to beer heaven was possible again. There was just one snag. I had booked crossings and a place to stay for a 15 day break based in Brugge which was due to start that very day. But I’d cancelled the trip as we were still barred from entering Belgium. Talk about rubbing salt into recently opened wounds, sigh….

Coupure Canal, Brugge photo Paul Davies

So after Wales it was back to work on the Monday – beer judging, brewery tours, more beer judging – but the FOMO knowledge that friends of ours from the US had already been in Belgium for two months started to gnaw away at me. And finally we decided to book a last minute week’s trip to Belgium and cram in 15 days of activity into 6 days (excluding a day in quarantine). Once the Covid pre-travel, during and post travel requirements were taken care of – half a day I will never get back – we were fit to fly. Or drive. And we finally made it back to Belgium. Just.

Triennial Brugge 2021 – TraumA

We managed to catch up with almost everyone during our brief stay. Museums that we previously failed to visit were ticked off. And luckily we were in town during the Triennial art installation and worked up a huge thirst walking the routes to view the exhibits – always a treat every 3 years. I even went for a swim in the canals. Yes, in Bruges! For a number of years now the city has dredged the floor of the Coupure canal up by where it meets the Groenerei. As long as you don’t mind the cannonballing young lads or the occasional swan for company this is a truly invigorating experience. And the water tastes clean..

Bier van Olier photo Frank Debels

So after a busy week of walking, talking, drinking, swimming, eating, etc it was with anticipation that we waited for the (hopefully correct) bus to take us to the Bier van Olier Bierfestival in Sijsele. This year it was located in a huge abandoned military barracks just outside the village, a suitable location in these times providing plenty of space and fresh air with both inside and outside seating, some childrens play areas and food. My first Belgian beer festival for 18 months didn’t disappoint. This third edition (2020 was cancelled due to the pandemic) featured 18 small producers, many from within this part of West Flanders.

Gigant Microbrouwerij photo Frank Debels

Evaluating the Apero Cult photo Caitlin Mackesy Davies

As in the UK beer festivals are a great opportunity to catch up with friends and many of our favourite small breweries were on show. Note: bring cash to buy jetons and glasses if you don’t have a Bancomat card. One of the highlights was recent World Beer Awards medallist Gigant, a small microbrewery based in Adinkerke. Their Apero Cult is a ‘Piconesk’ beer using a contemporary range of hops and flavour editions to evoke the sensory experience of this cult French aperitif. 6.4% abv. Sure Thing is a ‘beachy tripel’ using Galician samphire and seaweed. 7.7% abv. Lovely folks and I really enjoyed their beers.

‘Research’ photo Frank Debels

Filip Vanhulle and Kristiaan Ampe photo Frank Debels

It’s always great to catch up with Kristiaan from Bar Belge especially after almost 2 years. It was even better to learn that he and Filip now have a site of their own in Zedelgem and that there are more beers sitting alongside their award-winning amber ale. I tried their Bar Blanche, a refreshingly vibrant Witbier that should be just as popular as the amber. 5.8% abv. Its also impressive to see that they have added to Belgium’s rapidly expanding no and lo alcohol range with Bar BO, coming in at a gentle 0.4% abv.

Brouwerij De Meester photo Frank Debels

Eli Noe photo Frank Debels

No Dirk De Meester as he was away on holiday (ironically I had bumped into him at Bierhalle Deconinck earlier in the week). But his team had brought 13 different beers to the festival and were also sharing their space with Punaise, the bar who has been brewing at De Meester. I love Dirk’s beers especially his dark ones which are so rich and malty. But for a change I decided to sample his bourbon barrel-aged Maitre Tripel instead. Quality as always and a cheeky 9% abv. It’s always a treat to catch up with Eli at Brugs Bierinstituut and I was interested you hear that he has been distilling during lockdown with the Belgian on trade drying up. I wasn’t in the mood for gin but knowing Eli I’m confident that his Den Yzeren Armgin which includes a distillation of his beer is a classic.

Bar Belge photo Frank Debels

Gijzelse Microbrouwerij photo Frank Debels

Tom and Jonas Skollman No Bollshit Just Craft Beer photo Frank Debels

Robin and Yannick De Pelsmacker’s brewery ‘t Gijzelaarke is a four year old microbrewery set up by these beer-crazy brothers. I hadn’t tried their beers before and was mightily impressed by their 7.5% abv Dubbel. Located just South east of Gent they suplement their Blond, Dubbel, Tripel and Saison beers with gin and cheese. Must be worth a visit! Earlier in the week I had the privilege to celebrate quarantine release with Jonas Schollaert at Cafe Republiek and ‘t Brugs Beertje. A fellow beer nut and expert on all things Trappist, when not busy with his day job as a geography lecturer he makes excellent beers with his mate Tom. One of the best Saisons out there and I had a sneaky taste of their test batch DIPA which was delicious. Skollman are currently making their beers at Gulden Spoor/De Feniks.

Brouwerij Siphon Franklin Verdonck and Kim van Opdurp photo Frank Debels

Brouwerij De Vier Monniken Jeroen Gunst photo Frank Debels

When I last spent some time chatting to Franklin Verdonck, he was still working with Breandan Kearney and Siphon Brewing was firmly established at the eponymous restaurant just outside of Damme. Things change quickly. Franklin has decided to go on his own and is hopefully moving to a new location in Gent. What hasn’t changed is the quality of their beers and his Zwaluw Rye Session Ale is a banger at 3.3% abv. I was also lucky to meet his wife Kim aka Zytholicous. Hopefully the next time we meet up it will be in their new location. Jeroen Gunst one of De Vier Monniken was on form. In fact Jeroen is always on form, such a nice guy. He was keen for me to try his newly brewed IPA yet was unsure that it had a big enough hop profile for the style. He needn’t be worried as it is a perfectly balanced beer and I’m looking forward to tasting it again when they start packaging it.

Cheers/Proost photo Frank Debels

Plenty of space, room to sit and lots of fresh air photo Frank Debels

Other breweries attending the event included BramBrass from Zwevegem, Houtlandse Brouwers from Moereveld, Blommecaes in Gent, Beer van Brugge, Brouwerij Ruimtegist in Kortrijk, Bieren Boels from Sint Niklaas, Castalia in Zonnebeke, Crystaklstick from Halle, Brouwerij Benoit in Kortrijk and Rostune in Beernem. Really well run, plenty of space, sparging stations for glass cleaning – all you need for a beer festival in these interesting times. Cheers!