The usuals

Bear with me as I drag you to a few of my regular haunts in Brussels. All roads lead to Cantillon of course, where the roofspace renovation was in full swing, though with no impact on the first floor bar. It was serving Grenache on draught, a deep red number served quite warm and tasting exceedingly fruitsome, of sweet fresh cherries in syrup more than actual grapes. That heavy boldness reminded me of something and it took a bit of delving before I figured out that this tastes of the sort of blousey new-world Cabernet Sauvignon that someone might have enthused over if, say, they were discovering wine via the selection in Superquinn in the early 2000s. Yeah, like that.

Such a person may have grown up a bit and their taste become more sophisticated. They may, for example, have become a fan of the Italian Barbera grape. Luckily Cantillon would have them covered if they came here as it has a grape lambic of the same name, ruby red in colour and with the breezy light spritziness that Barbera wine does well. The aroma is sweet but classy fig relish while the flavour mixes cherries again with a more pronounced nitre spicing than in the previous one. It got heavier as it warmed, the sweet cherry turning to a frangipane paste. 750ml brought us on quite a journey, and while it might not be the brewery's best work, it's very fun.

Walking back to town from Cantillon is generally going to involve passing Moeder Lambic Fontinas, or trying to. I didn't put up much of a fight. Kernel's Vatted Porter 1864 had been at the BXLBeerFest but I didn't try it there so I was glad of the second chance when I saw it here. As it turned out it's fine, but lacking the special effects I was anticipating. The aroma is sweet and herbal, suggesting chocolate and vermouth, which leads on to the signature floral taste I always enjoy in Kernel's black beers, complicating only slightly the milk chocolate base flavour. As a porter it's properly refreshing, which was a surprise given the 7.2% ABV. I had been hoping for some sort of mildly sour woody briskness but there was none of that. It's good, then, but a bit of a waste of vat time.

I think I get to complete the most recent round of house beers with this glass of La Source Moeder Impériale, a double IPA of 8% ABV. It's clear in the way these generally aren't back home, and smells funky and dank, veering into soap territory. A weighty and smooth texture helps carry those big hops, which bring a serious west-coast sensation to the flavour: grapefruit, lemon, bergamot and lime. Only a whisper of earthy funk, right at the finish, reminds you it's brewed in northern Brussels, not southern California.

It was the promise of Greek beer that got me through the doors of BrewDog. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. The beer was an IPA called Psaki, by Solo in Heraklion. This one was fairly by-the-numbers for an old-fashioned American-style job: 7.5% ABV, orange in colour and brimming with resins, flowers and spritzy citrus. I hadn't thought of this kind of thing for a hot day on the terrace but it absolutely worked, thanks to the clean and dry flavours.

Via BrewDog's Berlin satellite, which was well represented on the taps, 50 Cuts, a coconut and vanilla porter. This has a sunny coconut aroma but not much else going for it. More coconut appears in the flavour, which is good news if that's what you bought it for, though I also found a strange meaty, savoury effect. All that is set on a body which is far too thin for 7% ABV. I'm glad I was on the Greek stuff; these Germans aren't very good at making beer.

This was part of a final lap before heading to the airport and it also included a brief visit to Le Coq, now one of my favourite Brussels hangouts. De La Senne Summer Crush was the order and... it was disappointing. From the name I expected fruit in spades but it's exceedingly dry, to the point of acrid. Mild lemon and herb notes cause it to taste like the severer sort of discount witbier, and more something you'd rub a chicken with than drink. Just a glitch, I'm sure. Why this place isn't selling endless pints of Zenne Pils I do not understand: it's the perfect venue for that sort of unfussy pleasure.

I had never sat in the main ground floor bar of the Delirium Café, always ending up in either the basement or the loft, but it was almost empty as we were passing and so we availed of the opportunity. I hadn't yet had the pleasure of Huyghe's recently-added IPA, Paranoia, either so I availed of that as well. And quite the pleasure it was. In general I don't care for Huyghe beers at all but this 5.6%-er is startlingly clean yet characterful, beginning on an aroma mixing fresh lemon zest with peachy Belgian esters, and continuing the flavour in the same way, with a citrus bite backed by soft stonefruit. You might say it's two-dimensional but so are many famous works of art. Like Zenne Pils, this would work well as a pintable sessioner in any mainstream bar of quality.

And so to the airport. AB InBev still controls the taps and fridges here, and they have what I guess is their answer to Duvel: an 8.5% ABV golden ale called Victoria. It does have the same old-world salad hopping but is very plain beneath. It's not sweet like Leffe Blonde but neither is it properly flavourful like Duvel, only a slight estery burn distinguishes the taste. Nothing this strong should be this bland.

Via the miracle of non-linear storytelling, gate 107 is not where this all ends. We still have a festival to go to. Doors open tomorrow.

Back slaps and barley wine

My reflections on 2021-that-was are dogged by the question of whether this was Another Weird Year or the beginning of The New Normal. Regardless, I am sticking doggedly to the old categories laid out by Mark and Andy 600 years ago, and will endeavour to fill each one, however meaninglessly. If you're looking for relevance and insight you are very much on the wrong blog.

A tradition of my own dictates that the meandering musings be accompanied by a beer, and this year's was shipped to me by Eight Degrees as a kind gift. Irish Oak-Aged Barleywine is the fourth in their five-beer Original Gravity series. It's a beast of a thing at 12.2% ABV and one noteworthy aspect is its use of Irish oak for the ageing, something we also saw from Wicklow Wolf's autumn Locavore barley wine last month. In the glass it's a pleasing russet shade and has a gorgeous vinous aroma, all Madeira, Tokaji and similarly sweet, luscious styles. Though it poured thickly, the texture is light on the palate, and only the heady alcohol vapours give the drinker pause; a reminder that this is very much a sipping job. The flavour opens with a sharp pinch of wood, sappy and resinous, before smoothing out into the sweet wine detected in the aroma. This would run the risk of turning cloying were the texture thicker, though there's also a certain balancing bitterness from Nugget and Cascade hops. The specs tell us they're working at a massive 82 IBUs though only just making themselves heard. I think I enjoyed the base beer a lot more than the barrel effects. An additional can will be aged to see if that sappiness fades eventually. Overall, though, this is an excellent relaxing beer for a winter's afternoon. Not that I get to do any relaxation, as I move on to...

The Golden Pint Awards 2021

Best Irish Cask Beer: BRÚ Brown Ale
There's always at least one winner-by-default in these, and they're starting early this year. The pub situation being what it was, this is the only Irish cask beer I drank in 2021. Still, it wouldn't get an award if I hadn't enjoyed it so BRÚ is fully deserving of the accolade.

Best Irish Keg Beer: Four Provinces Gob Fliuch
A year after its launch in cans, the Four Provinces mild arrived at the brewery pub on draught for the first time, albeit only for takeaway pints, initially. During the summer it became my Friday evening ritual and one of the highlights of the week. This is still a magnificent beer, and that it's comfortingly familiar and brewed on my doorstep is also in its favour.

Best Irish Bottled Beer: Land & Labour Lúnaberry
I mentioned last year that this has become the true prestige category of the GPAs. Bottles are for the special stuff. There were several candidates but when I took stock of my memories of each, the blueberry lambic-a-like from Land & Labour was the one which left the strongest lasting impression of excellence. It's L&L's first appearance in this category but from what I've tasted in 2021 I'm reasonably sure there will be more in future.

Best Irish Canned Beer: Western Herd Flora & Fauna
It was April when this one made me think "that's a Golden Pints winner right there". I have since run the due diligence; there were quite a number of candidates for this award, and an extremely honorable mention must go to Brewmaster Imperial Nitro Stout, but I think Flora & Fauna holds up as the greatest achievement of the canned arts on this island in 2021. I knew nothing about it when I drank it, but in the gap between me drinking it and publishing a review one month later, the plaudits were already pouring in. The apotheosis of the West Coast revival, this brought me back to a time when big and punchy American hops on a clean malt base, served brewery-fresh, was the most perfect thing ever produced for humans to drink.

Best Overseas Draught Beer: De la Senne Zenne Pils
Another category awarded based on the feel of the memory rather than any detailed analysis of the field. I was surprised to find a pils by the pint on my visit to Brasserie de la Senne but utterly thrilled by what I was given. I saw little sign of this becoming a ubiquitous flagship around Brussels but it absolutely deserves to be one.

Best Overseas Bottled Beer: Cantillon Carignan
Yeah, my holidays were largely in Brussels this year, at a time where there was some slight semblance of old-normality about the place. So I drank large bottles of fruited geuze in the Cantillon brewery bar, and they were absolutely delicious, and the Carignan grape one was my favourite of those. Were I giving out silver and bronze medals, other beers from the same session would likely feature, but that would be boring.

Best Overseas Canned Beer: Sierra Nevada Big Little Thing
Now this was a surprise. Nothing jumped out immediately for the category so I had to do some digging to find candidates. And even though I haven't been fully on board with Sierra Nevada's sequence of Hazy Little Thing brand extensions, it turns out I sang the praises of this one. I don't remember now exactly how it tasted so it's just as well it's still in circulation. I will be giving it another go.

Best Collaboration Brew: Galway Bay / Stu Mostów Boulevardier
This was such a close contender for best Irish bottled beer that I'm delighted to find a different rosette to pin on it. My cynicism over beers designed to taste like cocktails was completely washed away by this one. It's all beer, and a masterclass in complexity and balance, even when bourbon barrels and double-digit ABVs are involved.

Best Overall Beer: Western Herd Flora & Fauna
Like I say, it's a classic; a beer for the ages. I wouldn't dream of using this award as a means of bribing the brewery into keeping it in production, but if that should occur, I won't have any particular objection.

Best Branding: Metalman
The 2010 Golden Pints saw brand new brewer Metalman take an award for their art deco logo before it had even released any beer. The brand got an overhaul this year, moving from the 1920s to the 1950s with the classic science-fiction look of its Galactic Voyager series. It's colourful and dynamic, all action and excitement while still classic and charmingly retro. Since the first ones appeared in the spring I always look forward to seeing each new version.

Best Pump Clip: Flow
Table service has really done a number on the tap badge as a marketing tool. Admiring the array of artwork while my pint is being poured seems like something from a bygone age. I feared I might have to skip this award, except... I really like the goofy wolf logo used by the Wolf foodhall in Brussels. You see him a lot in there and he is used on the mini blackboards attached to the taps of the onsite Flow brewery. I therefore deem him a pump clip, and my favourite of the year. Good boy.

Best Bottle/Can Label: Whiplash The Horror
More than any Irish brewery, Whiplash puts High Art on its cans. Just occasionally, however, Sophie the artist gives us something playful and silly, which is when I tend to take notice. So it is with the wide-eyed Charlie Sheen, captured in a particularly daft bit of that very daft war film. Go get 'im, Chuck!



Best Irish Brewery: Lineman
I say this almost every time I review one of their beers, but Lineman really has a bead on how to make classic beer styles, and they've turned out a particularly pleasing high number of those during 2021. Quality and variety done locally is how this award usually goes, and this year Lineman was a level above.

Best Overseas Brewery: Brussels Beer Project
I came home from Brussels very impressed at how the local brewing scene has expanded in recent years, and how the city really seems to be taking it to its heart. I drank and enjoyed quite a few beers from The Big Two, and I'm sure there are those who think I've picked the wrong one here: unlike De la Senne, BBP has not yet made the move to being a fully in-Brussels brewery. But it's coming, as is their all-new lambic brewery, so I have no qualms about giving them this award, though the quality of the many beers released under their name is phenomenal too.

Best New Brewery Opening 2021: Farrington's
Pickings were slim in this category, but there is definitely promise in what I've tasted from the new brewery in Kildare, so they get the gong.

Pub/Bar of the Year: DeRat
I didn't spend much time in pubs this year. It has simply stopped being the fun it used to be, and Dublin lacking a beer bar with serious variety and turnover means there's not much to attract me and my notebook out. Calling in for one beer on a dismal evening in October was enough to secure this prize for DeRat in Utrecht. It was busy but not crowded, highly convivial and with a fantastic selection. For half an hour I had a glimpse back to how pubs used to be. Should it ever come back, I will not be taking that for granted.

Best New Pub/Bar Opening 2021: The Beer Temple
There's only one serious contender in this category: the takeover of this grand prime location on the corner of Dame Street and Parliament Street by the newly combined Galway Bay and BRÚ breweries. They had a short run at normality during November, and I enjoyed my visits. I look forward to making more of it in the months, and years, to come.

Beer Festival of the Year: PINT Jubileum
Another default winner. The bijou little festival at Bierbrouwerij Mommeriete in Gramsbergen to celebrate PINT's birthday was my only beer festival of 2021. I did enjoy it, though.

Supermarket of the Year: SuperValu Sundrive
This shop goes through phases of being good at beer and is currently on something of an upswing. On more than one occasion this year I found beers on the shelves which had not yet made their way to the independent off licences. This award is dedicated to whomever it is who keeps saying "Yes" when the Grand Cru van opens its doors.

Independent Retailer of the Year: Craft Central
My time in the city centre has been limited all year, so when I'm looking to pick up beers, efficiency is important. Craft Central / Stephen Street News hasn't quite been a one-stop-shop for me, but it's the next best thing. I have availed of browsing the fridges, click-and-collect and home delivery, and it all just works.

Online Retailer of the Year: Yards & Crafts
February saw Brickyard in Dundrum pivot to becoming an online off licence as well. I've only used them a few times, but it's always been because they have something in stock that I can't find anywhere else. That's the service I need most from an online operation and what makes this one stand out for me.

Best Beer Book or Magazine: Beeronomics: How Beer Explains the World by Johan Swinnen & Devin Briski
I've had this book since 2018 but for whatever reason never made the time to read it. This year I did, and really enjoyed it. The writers are economists, so take the working of the market as the starting point of their examination of beer and brewing through history, from the church's taxes on medieval gruit, through to the grand consolidation which resulted in AB InBev vs. everybody else. The chapter on how TV advertising was responsible for the death of local American beer brands is particularly enlightening -- it's nice that there are still new stories to tell from 20th century beer history.

Best Beer Blog or Website: Boak & Bailey
Our little community of beer commentariat is getting littler, but Jess and Ray are doing steadfast work to keep it together and, where possible, expand it so it's not the same old voices. Their Saturday morning round-ups are essential reading, and they even find the time for the occasional blog post (and beer reviews!) among the newsletter, Patreon and social media material. Being the Head Girl and Head Boy of Beer Blogging College can be a thankless task, so this is just to say thanks, it is appreciated.

Simon Johnson Award for Best Beer Twitterer: @Nickiquote
This reformed beer blogger rarely mentions the stuff any more but there's plenty of good (better) content besides: art, music, dry wit and a rich seam of quality retweets. Nick has kept me amused and entertained all year.

Best Brewery Website/Social media: Whiplash
Two in a row for the Dublin brewery. In my citation last year I complained that they were a little too Instagrammy for my liking, but it's all on Twitter where I can see it now: lots of detail on the many new releases and re-releases over the year, plus of course the iconic artwork. Questions get answered too, which should be taken for granted but not every brewery on social media does it. Well played to all the humans behind the Whiplash accounts. 


Is that enough? I think that's enough. On the cusp of this blog's 18th year it only remains for me to say thanks to you, the reader, for keeping my hit counter ticking over. Have a safe and happy New Year, and I'll be back with the first of 2022's posts on Monday.

See how they brew

A full 15-beer travel post covering only two breweries? It's fair to say they've both been busy. An early presence on the new Brussels brewing scene has meant Brussels Beer Project and Brasserie de la Senne are now sizeable operations, and that's very obvious from the selection visible in bars and shops. Their bottles and their branding are everywhere -- a heartening sight for anyone whose own local breweries are struggling hard to find a foothold among the multinational giants. It can be done.

The new Brussels Beer Project brewery is still under construction but even before that comes on stream the range is significant. Here's what I got through, following a little supermarket browsing and a sweep of the shelves in the taproom shop.

Wedding Season is not a saison but something called a "fruit salad sour" at 3.8% ABV. It's quite a salad too: pear, blueberry, blackberry and raspberry are joined by rosemary, sage and thyme. The end result is cocktail-pink and smells quite herbal but not of anything distinctive. The sage flexes its oiled muscles in the foretaste: it's very sage, with the rosemary also running loudly alongside bringing a savoury Sunday-roast aspect to an otherwise light and easy beer. The berry subtleties get lost under that, and there's merely a light tartness in the finish which could equally be the fruit or the sour culture. The berry flavours themselves only emerge when it has warmed up a little, and this is very much designed to be quaffed cold. I like herby beers so it suited me enormously. I can see how others might have an issue with it, however.

BBP cans are new (for me), and first up it's Now or Never, a 4.3% ABV "Belgian session IPA" -- a style designation I would deride were it not from an actual Belgian brewer. It looks like a witbier, being a pale yellowish green in the glass with a fine white froth on top. Pith and peel is the long and short of the aroma; they don't tell us what hops are used, just that there are "loads" of varieties and all Belgian. Fair enough. A twist of lemon rind and a shaving of coconut is what I get in the flavour, creating a kind of cocktail effect, and similarly medium sweet and very easy to drink. A texture which is light without being thin helps it slip back very easily. This is another very decently constructed beer, simple but flavoursome. There's nothing explicitly Belgian about the taste, but then redefining what "Belgian" means for beer is one of the project's stated aims.

You can see that slogan -- "Leave the abbey, join the playground" -- at work in the next one. Lime Crime purports to be a lime meringue pale ale. It's easy to set expectations when the customer has no idea how that should taste. The answer turns out to be: rather good. It's 4.7% ABV, hopped with Centennial and Columbus, plus added lime and lemon zest with vanilla. That seems like it'll be a mostly sweet fellow, but while it's another smooth one, it's not really sweet. The surprise first flavour is a nutmeg or peppercorn piquancy which dries it all out before the vanilla essence gets to work. There's a mild tang of citrus on the end and I don't know if that's enough to placate the drinkers who wanted big zest from this; I thought it all worked very harmoniously. It doesn't taste like a dessert or any other sort of novelty, just a pleasingly spicy pale ale.

Doubling down on the novelty is Petite Pépite, a habaneros gose. This one tastes of lime, with lots of salty margarita vibes alongside. I looked hard for the chilli but couldn't find any, though there's a clean, green, watermelon rind quality in the mix late on. Halfway down I noticed a certain, subtle, waxy dryness, which might be chilli-derived, but it may as well not be there. This is a beer for the sourness and the citricity, and that's fine. I've tasted many like it and, at 4.8% ABV, this one is basic quaffable fun with a modest amount of daftness involved.

They have embraced the haze at Brussels Beer Project, and I don't know how that flies with the normal Belgian beer-drinking public but if Juice Junkie is anything to go by they have absolutely nailed it. This is a New England IPA of 5.4% ABV, a bright sunshine yellow in the glass and a marvellous tropical fruit mix in the flavours. Lychee and passionfruit start us off, turning towards even softer cantaloupe and honeydew. With the juice levels in danger of going off the charts it reins things in a little in the finish where it turns slightly danker and bitterer, with a hint of fried onion at the very end. The texture is only a little fluffy and it remains drinkable and preposterously refreshing. A power combination of Citra, Simcoe, Nelson Sauvin and (I'm guessing lots of) Mosaic was how it's achieved, along with Belgian ale yeast S33. I give you this detail in the hope your brewery tries something similar.

Before you ask, yes, I did occasionally leave the hotel room to drink beer. Down on Boulevard Anspach, just opposite the Bourse and six storeys above the Delhaize cornershop there's a seasonal rooftop bar called Le Jardin. It's plainly designed for the late-night party crowd but it opens in the afternoon and it was fun to enjoy the views over Brussels in the quiet daytime.

They have a few BBP beers on offer, including Wunder Lager, a 3.8% ABV highly-hopped job. Even for the strength it's very pale with a very slight haze. And it lives up to its name, with a gorgeous bright and zesty hop character set on a light and crisp base. Very moreish and sublimely refreshing. There's a touch of witbier about the way it's constructed, minus any soapy characteristics, and it works far better than any so-called India pale lager I can think of. Beers like this should be much more commonplace.

It was Belgium Beer Week and a few venues had put on special events. At the BBP taproom on Rue Dansaert that involved putting a selection of their wild-fermented beers on the rotating taps. That sounded like my sort of thing so I went along for a nosy.

The first I tried was Nue, a saison with added yuzu, dry-hopped and Burgundy barrel-aged. It's another hazy yellow one with a fabulous aroma of lychee and capgun smoke. It tastes of 7-Up first: all syrupy lemon and lime. An oily rosemary bitterness adds a grown-up side, finishing on a peppery note which is the only nod towards classic Belgian saison. Overall it's a bit of fun; a novelty act rather than a serious connoisseur's serious mixed-fermentation beer. I had a lot of time for what it does, though.

A serious connoisseur might go for something with a gatekeepy name like MXD 692 next. I did too. This is a pale ale with the same mixed fermentation culture and is another clear golden one. There's a happy mix of funk and fruit in the aroma here: ripe plums and apricots in a mucky farmyard on a cold morning. Phwoar! Though only 5% ABV it has a very thick and gummy texture. That keeps the flavours intense as they bring an interplay of very dry and very sweet; sweaty woolly horse blanket see-sawing with luscious peach, plus a lacing of fungus and umami. "Very interesting, " I've written, then "grapefruit on toast" before I ran out of page. I think I liked it.

My one for the road here was Foeder Pils, once again looking identical to its shipmates. The aroma is nothing special here: a perfectly pils-y lemongrass effect. The mixed fermentation side is subtle. It's only 4.5% ABV and the immediate impression is of something light and clean. I caught a wisp of chamomile tea, elderflower and lychee. None of this changes its clean lager nature while still making use of the advanced flavour effects from the wild yeast. It's a very neat trick.

Suffice it to say I came away a big fan of Brussels Beer Project's Bretty efforts and I commend them to you.

One last beer before we leave them. Minotaur is a Flemish red which has served three years in a wine barrel and smells like a mince pie. The flavour retains the zingy summer berry effect which, for me, is the whole point of the style, and then there's a richer depth behind it, offering chocolate, perfume and spices. Labyrinthine? Not quite, but there's bags of complexity and, at 8.6% ABV, it rewards slow sipping. A suitable bookend to my exploration of the Project's beers. There were plenty more around but I think I've done OK with this brief snapshot, for now.

Not far from where Brussels Beer Project is adding the finishing touches to its new production brewery, its arch rival Brasserie de la Senne has already moved into its new home and thrown the doors open to drinkers. This canalside dockland redevelopment zone to the north of the city is in its early stages and most of what surrounds the brewery is still waste ground. It will be interesting to see that change over the coming years. The taproom itself is a spacious glass and concrete affair and there's lots of well shaded outside space too.

After trekking up there on foot on a warm afternoon, my first beer was Zenne Pils and I was overjoyed that it's available in a very unBelgian half-litre serve for a very uncraft €4 a throw. And throw I did. This is gloriously sinkable stuff. It's crisp as the day is long with only a little hazy fuzziness. A base of snappy waterbiscuit gets a layer of nettles and rocket in near-perfect imitation of classic German pils, including the creamy smooth texture. I really didn't expect de la Senne to be in this game at all but I'm very glad they are. Flood the bars with pints of this, please.

Something more in line with expectations was Bruxellensis Reserva, a wine-barrel-aged version of their Brettanomyces pale ale. It's still the same 6.5% ABV, mind, pouring a coppery pink shade. There's a very sharp and funky aroma -- back in the farmyard but this time with a jug of balsamic vinegar. The flavour is dry first, with an unsubtle splintery oak. It softens soon after to red grape, and all of it backed by a loud and stereotypical Brett funk. It's a bit busy overall and I think it might benefit from some ageing. But if funky Brett is your thang it's just the ticket.

Another barrel-aged Flemish red next: Ouden Vat. This is 6.7% ABV and a dark and brooding murky red colour. There's a fruity yet savoury quality to the aroma: tamarind, garlic and black pepper, like an exotic marinade. A slick and greasy texture leads us to a mellow flavour with notes of spicy incense and sweet black cherry. I tend to prefer this style to be fresh and light and brisk, but if you are going to go the opposite way, this is exactly how to do it, with no cloying sugars and all the spices.

Newly arrived on the bar was Saison de la Senne. They had brewed a light saison with this name several years ago but this seemed different: stronger and (big surprise) barrel aged. It goes heavy on spices, with quite a lambic-like gunpowder effect, plus added lemon zest, juicy grape, farmyard funk and stonefruit. In short it's all of the barrel and Brett goodness you could want, in a 6% ABV package and an unpretentious 330ml bottle. I love these sorts of barrel-aged saisons and this is one of the best examples I've encountered. The name looks quite flagshippy so I hope it goes far and wide. Edit: thanks to Eoghan Walsh for pointing out to me that the lambic-like barrel-aged quality comes from the fact this is blended with beer from Cantillon. That'll do it all right.

That was it for my visit though I do have one other beer to report from them: Schieven Enthusiasm. I'm not at all used to de la Senne beers at double-figure ABVs but this "barrel aged double farmhouse ale", if that means anything to you, is 10% ABV. I certainly didn't know what to expect. It's blonde and hazy like a saison but with a very active carbonation, threatening to escape the bottle between cap-pull and glass-pour. The aroma is on the sour end of farmhouse, with elements of vinegar amongst the earthy spices. The flavour is based on classic Belgian blonde elements; there's a core which echoes Duvel and La Chouffe Blond in particular: the honey base with peppery sparks on top. Overlaying that is the tartness. It doesn't automatically say barrels to me, but if I had to guess I would say they were ex-wine. The tang of a flinty white is in the topnotes here. The finish is a clean warming buzz, blending the comfy alcoholic depths of a well-made strong blonde beer with a sharp-edges crispness. This fellow was full of surprises: finely-honed for an overclocked saison and bitingly sharp for a big blonde ale. I enjoyed the journey it brought me on even when I was by no means sure of the destination.

And that's all I have to tell you about today. I am certain there are those who complain about the ubiquity of these two breweries in Brussels, especially as there are so many younger and smaller operations trying to make themselves seen. The sheer quality of the output from Brussels Beer Project and Brasserie de la Senne is something to aspire to, however. I felt that the city's beer is in safe hands.

One more blog post from Brussels, coming your way, next.