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Not Modest at the Modeste

Ginger Beer

Successful Festival

A few months ago, I received an invitation from the Antwerp Beer College (ABC) inviting me to have a stand at the annual Modeste Beer Festival held at De Koninck’s brewery. Last year I was offered a stand outside with the T-shirts and the jewelery, as Ginger Tipple is not a proper beer. This year I was offered a stand together with the regular beers, “I am part of Antwerp brewing” was the official explanation.

Named after one of De Koninck’s previous owners, the Modeste is Antwerp’s main beer festival featuring local beers. This year there was also a Polish brewery, Nepomucen.

Tipple on Tap

Ginger BeerAlthough I had produced a few kegs for a customer in Jamaica, this was the first time I was serving Ginger Tipple on tap. I had no idea how to connect the keg to the draft equipment. Furthermore, as I had second-fermented in the keg, which is always a risky business, I was not sure how the tipples would pull.

One of the ABC’s experts connected the two beer kegs, and behold, the Tipples were producing a beautiful head, a light foam which lasted a respectable 90 seconds. You could taste that the head was natural and without the additives used by a lot of commercial beers.

Ginger BeerTap Labels

As a real newbie to kegs, I had not thought of the decal, the label to clip on to the beer tap, so I improvised with using bottle labels. I could not have manned the stand alone and my wife and two sons were there to help. My sons enjoyed tasting the excellent beers on offer from the other breweries.

Tipple Hop & Ginger Quad

Ginger BeerThe Modeste was also the first major event at which we were selling the 7% Tipple Hop and the 11% Ginger Quad. The Tipple Hop was our best seller. At 5pm with 2 hours still to go, we finished our 1st 30 liter keg and debated whether to open the second. In 2 hours we sold another 15 liters, which is a lot when you are serving tasters of 150ml!

Some visitors remembered Ginger Tipple from 2017 and were happy to see that we had expanded our range and were offering some of beers on tap.

Best Compliment

The best compliment came from the brewer and owner of one of Antwerp’s best breweries, ‘t Pakhuis, Ed Van Den Ouweland, who commented to a few people “De Tipple Hop is het lekkerste bier van het festival” the Tipple Hop is the most delicious beer of the festival.

 

Ginger Tipple Exceeds Expectations at the Modeste Beer Festival

Palette Palace

When the organisers or the Modeste Beer Festival offered Ginger Tipple a stand, not in the main beer hall but outside in the Palette Palace together with the t-shirts and beer-cap jewellery, I was not to sure. But it worked out really well. I had never realised that walls and ceiling of this structure are composed entirely of wooden shipping palettes.

Ginger Beer, Ginger Ale, Ginger Tipple, Modeste Beer Festival

First, it was a bit quieter than in the main beer hall, which made it easier to explain to people all about ginger Tipple. The beer aficionados all fully understood that one cannot and should not survive for 8 full days without any beer.

Jews & Brews

Even though Ginger Tipple was not ‘inside’ the organisers were proud to have a Jewish brewer exhibiting, perhaps because the Muslims cannot. They even announced it to the other brewers before the festival opened. A lot of people came to our stand and were not put off by seeing 2 orthodox Jews standing there with Kipot

It’s a Ginger Thing

Ginger Beer, Ginger Ale, Ginger Tipple, Modeste Beer Festival

Almost every ginger haired person looked at our roll-up poster and wanted to be photographed next to it. Christophe and Matthias Bergmans of www.studiorauw.be did a great job designing the poster and managed to portray Ginger Tipple as the refreshing ginger thing – which it is.

Talk of the Event

Lode Habraken from Ginger Tipple’s main Belgian distributor Van Ecclepoel, travelled in from Herentals, told me that a lot of people were saying that Ginger Tipple was THE new beer which had to be tasted. A lot of brewers also came to see this illegitimate beverage at a beer festival. But if they can serve Coke and Sprite, we can certainly serve Ginger Tipple.

It’s Hard Work

We served about 400 glasses of Ginger Tipple in 8 hours and I couldn’t have managed without the enthusiastic help of my wife Shifra and tallest son Yedidya.

Brewers at these events are expected to go and visit the other brewers and we swap drinks for free. I must have tasted over 20 beers – real hard work. Some were excellent, some were good and a couple we had to pour out they were so bad. When I went to the sink at the rear counter and asked them to pour one down the sink, they immediately knew which beer it was; and that brewer is so proud of his drink!

Hopfull and Hopeful Ginger Beer, Ginger Ale, Ginger Tipple, Modeste Beer Festival

I took the opportunity to present to some experts the new version of Ginger Tipple, which uses the same ingredients, but the cascade hop is grown in Germany and not the USA. They were unanimous that German cascade was a bit lower on the citrus flavours and introduced some delicious earthy undertones to produce an even better Tipple.

Looking forward to next year’s Modeste Beer Festival.

 

 

 

Modeste Beer Festival -Atoned & Stoned

Ginger Beer, Gluten-free beer

To Beer or Not to Beer

The Antwerp Beer College which organises Antwerp’s main beer event, the Modeste Beer Festival, had a problem with Ginger Tipple. Legally in Belgium it is not a beer as it is brewed without any grains or malts. On the other hand, it tastes similar to a beer, is a great gluten-free alternative and they want beer-lovers to giver it a try at the festival.

The festival is named of Modeste De Koninck, one of the main founders of the De Koninck brewery, Antwerp’s main brewhouse. The event is held in one of the premises of De Koninck 50 meters from the main brewery over the first weekend of October. 25 brewers offer their beverages in the main hall and outside there are some other stands for beer related products such as jewelry, foods and sauces.

What could they do to accommodate Ginger Tipple?

Creative Thinking

After a couple of pints, they decided to invite Ginger Tipple to exhibit, but not in the main hall. Everybody is happy, the Antwerp Beer College has not compromised on its pure definition of beer and Ginger Tipple is happy to attend.

Day of AtonementGinger Beer, Gluten-free beer

The next problem was that the first day of the festival is the Day of Atonement, the holiest Jewish day of the year! No problem they said. My stand will be for Dame Jeane‘s range of mustards and sauces on Saturday, and I will be allowed to exhibit on Sunday – only after proof of my atonement. As good or not so good Catholics, they quite like the idea of confession one day a year. By the way, Patrick Theunissen produces a wonderful range of champagne styled beers.

Support Ginger Tipple

Take a break on Sunday and visit the Modeste Beer Festival and support Ginger Tipple!

Looking forward to seeing you there.