A Well Kept Man

The first brew I sampled was called Primus, a premium lager which is bottom-fermented with a color resembling Budweiser or any other light blonde American lagers. The flavor was not as pedestrian as a Miller Lite, but it was thirst-quenching. Unfortunately, this was my least favorite of the beers I sampled fresh from the keg, but it still beats most of the beer I have to deal with here in Switzerland.

The second beer comes from the only remaining brewer in Bruges, the Brouwerij De Halve maan (or the Half-Moon Brewery in English). I decided to take a tour of the brewery (which included a sample at the tour's finish), as well as have lunch in the brewery's cafe (with a beer, of course). For both the tour and lunch, I had a Brugse Zot, which is a more golden blonde pale ale with a nice finish reminding me of fruits such as green grapes and melon, with a spice finish (clove or coriander maybe). The brewery only filters the beer that goes out to the stores and shops, leaving the beer at the source unfiltered...which I think makes for a better experience. Definitely a great beer to have with a meal!

Beer number three was a pre-dinner beer in a Bruges pub named Leffe Blonde. Leffe is one of the easier to find Belgian beers and most likely you will be able to find it at a well stocked store near you. This ale had a nice quality that made it drinkable (much like a table wine) and enjoyed with bar snacks. It was a golden blonde with a more amber color than the others. As Leffe is one of the largest breweries in Belgium, the beer definitely had a controlled flavor which I guess is to ensure that each beer tastes the same (i.e. no variation from beer to beer). I will definitely look for this when I am back in the States instead of the usual Stella Artois I have look for when yearning for a Belgian ale.

The fourth beer complemented my Grandma's Style Rabbit Dinner on my last night in Bruges (rabbit is my new favorite meal). The beer, Tongerlo Double Blonde, is made by monks in the Tongerlo Abbey. This might have been my favorite of the draft beers I had while in Belgium. Like the Brugse Zot and Leffe Blonde, it is an ale with a fruity palate and spice finish, although the color was a deeper amber and the malt flavor was more pronounced than the Brugse Zot. It went very well with the rich onion sauce on the rabbit and french fries.

The fifth beer I consumed at our apartment in Switzerland is from the Orval Abbey. The Orval beer is a Trappist Ale (in the picture it is the third from the right), brewed by a Trappist monastery of which there are only seven remaining in the world that continue to brew beer (six of the seven are in Belgium, the other is in the Netherlands) out of the 171 Trappist orders. The beer in question is the Orval Trappist Ale, an extremely tasty ale that was dry yet fully flavored, much like a glass of champagne. It starts out with a nice hoppy flavor and transitions to a smooth, spice finish. If this can be found in the States, go for it. It is truly a great beer.

I will try to remember to fill in folks on the remaining eight beers as I make my way through them.