Seef and sound

This year's spring meeting of EBCU was hosted by the Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie at its shiny new brewery and restaurant in Antwerp's renovated docklands. The company was founded by a former director of Duvel-Moortgat, Johan Van Dyck, with the intention of recreating Antwerp's indigenous beer style, Seefbier.

I reviewed Seef in 2014 when it was contract-brewed and a clear orange colour. Now it comes from the brewery's own plant and is a hazy yellow. Though it's a supposedly faithful recreation of a unique local speciality, it tastes a lot like a weissbier: big sweet bananas and a heady buzz of butane. The texture is similarly soft, while 6.5% ABV intensifies those weissbier qualities, almost to the point of making it difficult to drink. I'm informed by Johan that this was the beer consumed in quantity by the dockworkers of 19th century Antwerp. Feeling heavy when only half way down a 33cl bottle, I found that difficult to imagine.

It's not the sort of style one would think to barrel-age, but they do that, producing the beer called Xperimental. Still only 6.5% ABV so it somehow avoids picking up extra alcohol. It's a dark rich gold colour and shows a luscious white grape foretaste, followed by a wisp of smoke. The very typical Belgian yeast spices are present also, but they're subtle, hiding behind the fruit. I really don't see the resemblance to Seef but it's a much better beer; subtle, complex and very moreish. Perhaps this is closer to the historic original.

There's a range of other beers produced by the brewery, and we'll begin with Bootjes Bier, a rosy amber ale of 7% ABV. A healthy pillar of foam builds as it pours and stays in place. From the look of it I was expecting sweet toffee as the opener but it was a pleasant surprise to get a peachy buzz up front. The heavy texture and low carbonation give it the feeling of an English strong ale, as do the subtle esters and slightly tannic tea brack flavour. The only fly in this ointment is a slight whiff of chlorophenols right at the back. It's all good up until that point, and the bleachiness doesn't last. Overall quite a fun one.

John next to me was drinking Tournée Antwerpen, a 6.5% ABV blonde. It's spicy and herbal, like a witbier, with a similar lemony note, but heavier and slightly hotter. Bready density and herbs gives it an inescapable feel of sage and onion stuffing. Luckily that's something I enjoy, in real life and as a beer flavour analogy. The flavour is quite intense and busy, which might make it difficult to drink more than one in a sitting. One was fine, though.

Blonde ales are something of a stock in trade here. At the taproom bar they were pouring two more. Mr T is the strongest of them at 8% ABV, infused with grapefruit and tea. It's a clear yellow, presenting like a pils with its big thick head. There's a smooth sweet flavour, like vanilla ice cream with possibly a ripple of raspberries too. A spark of ginger and nutmeg runs alongside this, but neither element is particularly strong and the whole thing is quite plain. Initially I misread the strength as 5% and fully believed it to be that light.

Hussy is a step down further, in strength (7% ABV) and flavour. Here we get just a mild dusting of black pepper and some slight floral perfume. It's inoffensive, with just enough character to be pleasant to drink, but no more than that.

A dry-hopped lager is next: Super Cadix. Crystal clear, a deep yellow colour, and with a decent but not excessive head. The carbonation is quite busy, but at 5.6% ABV there's plenty of heft. That does mean the lager side of the equation is a little lost -- there's no crispness and not much to distinguish it from a standard American-style pale ale. The main flavour comes from the hops: lightly fruity, with notes of kiwifruit and cantaloupe. A mineral dryness finishes it, but -- again unlagerlike -- the hops echo long into the aftertaste. It's quite nice, but more lager character would be my preference.

The big guns are Nonkel Pater, badged, playfully, as a "qua-dubbel". It's 9% ABV and purest black with a thick layer of foam the colour of old ivory. The aroma is a heady mix of toffee, milk chocolate and squashy banana. On tasting the chocolate intensifies and, along with everything just mentioned, there's also a gingerbread spicing which helps put an edge on all the dark sugar and balance the overall picture. I had been warned in advance that it was horribly sweet, but it's not. It's an unapologetic dark and boozy Belgian beer.

Not far from the brewery, in the shadow of the ten-story MAS museum, is a small bar called Dr Beer. Though it's starkly decorated and runs big on long tables and unvarnished wood, it still manages to feel cosy. The beer list is carefully chosen.

It was here I found my second Kromme Haring beer, a saison called Les Perles du Homard. This is a big one, at 8% ABV and is a clear dark gold colour. It smells rich and sticky while it tastes wholesome: of grapefruit on toast. The alcohol doesn't interfere with the crisp and clean flavour, and while it's not what you'd call thirst-quenching, it is well-balanced and very good.

The grand-sounding Ministry of Belgian Beer is a lager specialist, and Pils 13 is their flagship. Microbrewed Belgian lager is a rarity and this lot seem to be making a concerted effort at reclaiming the style from the industrial brewers, eschewing adjuncts and shortcuts. It works too: although the beer is only 4% ABV it's very full-bodied and is flavoured with a strong bitter herbal taste. I had bought it thinking it would be low-effort drinking, but it really makes you pay attention, and is all the better for that.

My nightcap on my first visit to Dr Beer was De Molen's Ali & Baba, a bourbon-aged imperial stout of 12.7% ABV, brewed in collaboration with La Pirata. It's luscious, tasting powerfully of whiskey and truffles. Warming without being hot, it has a strong peaty character which lasts on the palate after everything else has faded. The odd thing is that there's no smoked malt involved; the only outré ingredient is roasted sesame seed, so I guess that's what produced the smokiness. It works quite well, making it taste like it was aged in an Islay cask.

I was back for one more Dutch beer at Dr Beer later in the weekend: Bru(u)t IPA on the Dutch Bargain label of Brouwerij Brouwerslokaal. I think it's time I just started avoiding this style altogether: I can't remember the last one that was any good. This one was very characterless, vaguely grassy, like a basic lager. Doubtless it's exactly what the brewer wanted it to be -- dry and clean -- but all the joy has been fermented out of it too.

On that downer we'll go off and do some further pub exploring.