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GingerTipple

300 Beers

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Den Stillen Genieter

Readers of my blogs know that I love to visit Den Triest in Kapelle-op-den-bos when it is open on the first Sunday of each month. Usually when I am there, an older man with long white hair is sitting at the bar silently enjoying some of Mar Struyf’s brews. Little did I know that he was Den Stillen Genieter, Dutch for the silent enjoyer.

Mechelen

Ginger BeerFor many decades until December 2014, Gerard Walschaerts ran a beer bar in central Mechelen which sold over 800 different beers. The bar was called Den Stillen Genieter. This spring, he reopened in a new location, however, with only a selection of 300 beers.

A couple of months ago, when I was at Den Triest, Gerard stopped me as I was leaving and gave me his business card. He had heard about Ginger Tipple and was interested in selling it in Den Stillen Genieter.

To keep it short, we visited Gerard one afternoon and he liked all the Tipples we presented him. He ordered and we delivered!

Boulevard

Ginger BeerI could not resist the opportunity to try one of the many beers on tap and drank a Boulevard Tropical IPA with my son.  Even though I use hops and experiment with them, it never ceases to amaze me how some brewers manage to produce amazing flavours without adding fruits and other additives. In this case, we really enjoyed the refreshing grapefruit and passion fruit flavours from the hops.

Ginger BeerMany IPAs are not much more than dishwater with lots of hops, but Boulevard knows how to make an excellent ale. This is one of the reasons why Duvel-Moortgat invested in them a few year ago.

My only criticism? The foam was too perfect, but then I am jealous of beers with a great head, because Ginger Tipple’s foam does not last very long.

 

The City is Worth a Visit

Mechelen as a destination is an interesting city. For a period it was the capital of Belgium and Holland and vied over the centuries with Antwerp, Leuven and Brussels for commercial and religious dominance. Its Gothic cathedral, St Rumbold, at almost 100m dominates the skyline and the last of its 12 gates, the impressive Brusselsport, dates from the 13th century. The military Casern Dossin was used by the Nazis in World War II as a transit camp for Jews, gypsies and others before they were sent by train to the extermination camps. There is a new and informative museum on that period nearby.

For the younger visitors, there is the Technopolis science museum and a toy museum.

And of course, for refreshments between attractions there is always Den Stillen Genieter!

 

What We Drink @ Home

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What we drink @ Home

People often ask me which beers do we drink at home? Do we only drink Ginger Tipple or do we also enjoy other beers?

Foodies

Ginger BeerFirst, you have to understand that not only is my wife a superb chef, but we all enjoy her delicious food. Even a simple sandwich can be upgraded into a culinary pleasure, although it often requires some creativity.

Last week I was gong to make hamburgers, but took out schnitzels instead. I baked fresh rolls, which came out more fluffy inside than usual.

After assembling the freshly fried chicken schnitzel in the bun with vegetables and sauces, all it needed was a Oude Geuze Boon.

The award winning Oude Geuze Boon is one of the finest examples of the traditional 100% spontaneous fermentation Lambic style. To moderate the sourness, Boon Brewery only brews Lambic in the 7 cold months, from early October until April, according to the traditional “turbid mash” system. This Lambic beer is aged for 1, 2 or 3 years in oak casks. The blend, a mild average 18 months old Lambic (unsweetened, unfiltered, unpasteurised) is refermented in the bottle and can be stored up to 20 years.

We also drink Ginger Tipple

This was a more simple sandwich on which we added some horseradish relish (chrain).  Unlike the shop variety, this one was coarsely grated and with less vinegar and sugar, this was a chunky chrain and full of flavour. But it turned the basic salami and mustard sandwich on 13-grain bread into an absolute pleasure which could only be enhanced with a Ginger Tipple or two.

Market Research

There are other other beers which we drink at home or when we go out, but that would fill a few more blogs. However, tasting other beers on the market is an important part of a brewers work, market research. Who said you can’t combine business with pleasure?

Time to Kriek

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The Short Kriek Season

Regular cherries have quite a long season during the summer here in Belgium. However, noordkrieken, better known as sour morello cherries which are used to make Kriek have a much shorter season. You can only buy them for about two weeks each July.

Ginger Beer

Why they are special

The krieken are softer than regular cherries and are more sour. Because of this sourness, they are less prone to infiltration from worms, but they are sensitive to other infections and infestations.

The most prized krieken used for the best Lambic Kriek beers are Schaarbeeekse krieken which is a rare morello variety grown in Schaarbeek, a suburb of Brussels. Demand for them is now so high that some brewers, such as 3 Fontainen, have started to plant their own trees.

The cherries have a pleasant sourness which when fermented into an already more sour beer such as a lambic, oud bruin, or Ginger Tipple give the beverage a refreshing tartness. This is why they are sought after by brewers.

Don’t Rush Ginger Kriek

It takes us 6 months to create our Ginger Kriek. First we brew a Ginger Tipple for 4 weeks. Yesterday, we bought the krieken for the 2018 vintage. We checked each cherry before washing to remove the insecticides and adding to the Tipple to ferment.

After about 6 weeks, the cherries sink down in the vats to show that their sugars have fully fermented. Then we sieve the brew before bottling; we do not filter!

After bottling, the 3rd fermentation takes about 2 weeks, but the bottles need to sit for a further 3 months before we can release them onto the market.

Unique

Our Ginger Kriek is the only ginger and sour cherry alcoholic beverage in the world and the 2018 vintage is 90% pre-sold.

Perhaps in 2019 we will produce more.