fbpx

gluten-free beer

High Impakt

by

Last week I was invited to the launch of a new beer at the Special Belge Taproom in De Pakt, Antwerp. The four guys running the bar also intend to open a brewery on the premises, which I understand will take quite a few more months,

De Ranke

In preparation for this, they have been honing their brewing skills by collaborating with one of Belgium’s best craft breweries, De Ranke. Located just over the border in Dottignies, Walonia, De Ranke beers are easily identified by their extra strong hoppy bitterness from brewing with whole hops. They are also specific about brewing natural beers at higher temperatures while using solar energy to reduce their carbon footprint. They use whole hopes instead of pellets and have specially designed fermentation tanks to increase the hop flavor during fermentation.

Franc Belge

The Special Belge team worked together with De Ranke to develop a strong amber, a style which they were not producing.

The result is a great amber beer with a particular hoppy flavour which can only mean one thing – De Ranke. Unfortunately, it was served on the cold side, but when you let it warm up a few degrees, you really are in for a pleasure as you savour the underlying ale and then the fuggle hops.

The aftertaste lingers for over an hour – depending on how much you drink. This is not surprising as they hop the Franc Belge with serious quantities of whole hops. If this is their first beer, then we can seriously look forward to when they actually start brewing at the Special Belge Taproom.

Ginger Kriek

Another reason for attending the launch was that they just started selling the 2018 Ginger Kriek. There are four different batches from this vintage and the Special Belge are selling the one which is least gingery with only a touch of sourness. Catch one while you can, the stock is limited.

Tipple on the Corner

by

The Corner House

Alan O’Grady opened his bar, The Corner House, earlier this month on Antwerp’s trendy Nationalestraat. He designed it to be the perfect place to pop in for a drink on your way home after work or a place to spend the evening.

This is not a bar which wows you with a selection of hundreds of ales, by bringing brews from Brunei or beers from Beer Sheba.

This is a bar with atmosphere. When I went there to deliver some samples, I immediately felt the impulse to sit down and have a pint, or pintje in the local lingo.

Ginger Beer
Allan @ Work

The Perfect Stella

I ordered a glass of Stella Artois. Many bars and restaurants serve Stella on tap, but not all are the same. The quality can be affected if the keg is old, storage at the wrong temperature, tubes not cleaned properly etc. This one was perfect!

Sometimes, the challenge of pulling a perfect pint, is in fact not that simple. It does help if you enjoy what you serve.

The Tipple Effect

Ginger BeerNew customers are critical to the growth of any new business and we invest in selecting potential clients. I was delighted to receive the order from The Corner Shop for the regular Ginger Tipple and our Ginger Quad.

Ginger BeerI delivered yesterday evening and within a few hours was happily surprised to see pictures of Ginger Tipple in the bar and on the menu. This must be the record, as it usually takes a few weeks or even months for bars to change their menus. The Corner House is featuring the Ginger Tipples as their gluten-free offerings.

Nationalestraat

This long road links the Antwerp’s Old City with the artsy Antwerpen Zuid which is full of Art Nouveau buildings, galleries, museums, bars, cafés and great shops. The road was widened in 1884 and has now been restored and is home to a lot of the city’s trendier shops.

The Corner House is open from 10 am until 3 am, so you can Tipple 17 hours a day!

 

 

Kobe & Kriek

by

Spéciale Belge Taproom

Ginger BeerA few months ago, a friend of mine introduced me to an new area, not far from the Ginger Tipple brewery called De Pakt. Built out of some industrial buildings next to the old military hospital complex, it hosts a selection of restaurants, trendy shops and an organic rooftop garden. The old hospital is now a hub of modern apartments, businesses and a Michelin star restaurant, The Jane.

It also has a tremendous new beer bar, Spéciale Belge Taproom. Run by four friends, it offers about 13 craft beers on tap and many more in bottles. Selling craft beers from kegs is risky, because you have to finish off the keg quickly, preferably within a week, nevertheless, they have some great ales on draught.

I particularly enjoyed drinking Rye of Sun, a rye saison with a mouthful of funk nut less than a  sour and a lovely hops but less than an IPA with the added dimension of rye. The wonderful creation is a collaboration between Tanker in Estonia and Hedonis in Belgium. The there was the Petrus Sour with passion fruit from  and De Brabandere, where the passion fruit subtly underlies the 2 year old lambic.

Kobe & Kriek

Ginger BeerI have tried to convince them to make Ginger Tipple their gluten-free offering and delivered some of my bottles. They tasted the Ginger Tipple 4, but it was not what they were looking for; the regular Ginger Tipple and the soon to be launched Tipple Quad (11% ABV ginger donker aged with oak) are waiting in their fridge.

One of the partners, Kobe, was very skeptical about the kriek, how could I balance the contrasting ginger and morello cherry flavours? Then at 1:10 am on Wednesday morning he sent me an SMS that he loved it and I should be in contact with him.

He loved the kriek and ordered my last 22 bottles. What can I say? He has great taste! Every customer is important to me, but an order from a craft beer bar with such tremendous selection of excellent beers, made us feel proud.

Straight into the Fridge

Ginger BeerIt’s there in the fridge, only 22 bottles, so if you want one, you’ll have to be quick. Catch one if you can, otherwise you will have to wait until the end of the year when the 2018 vintage is ready.