Saturday turned into an amazing day. It started out with a short walk to one of the last traditional gueuze makers in Belgium - Cantillon, family owned since its inception in 1900. They offer a self guided tour of their unique facility, from mash tun to barrels to bottles, at the end of which guests are offered two tastes of their amazing products. Here we met two more Canadians, both in town for the beer festival - Cheri from Beerbistro in Toronto and Gisele from Stella's in Vancouver, both well informed enthusiasts and excellent companions as we sampled the house Gueuze and the puckering Framboise.
Neil then mentioned that one of the best beer bars in town, Moeder Lambic Fontainas was somewhere close by. In fact, Paul figured out it was just a few steps away from our hotel. How convenient! 46 beers on tap and 6 hand pumped casks, many of them lambics, plus a special list of brews brought in just for the Brussels Beer Weekend. We were in heaven!
We ordered Cantillon's Fou' Foune 2008 (sour, sour and more sour!), St. Lamvinus 2009 (made with merlot grapes), Cantillon Mamouche and Dri Fonteinen Lambic 2009 (both delicious!) to start. One of the owners, Jean, brought over our beers himself, after hearing us talk enthusiasticly about the sour beers on his menu, then sat down and joined us, telling us many tales of the Belgian brewing scene and his special connection to the lambic brewers. A very knowledgeable friendly and well spoken man, he treated us to a bottle of Beer Bera 2009 from Italy, a wonderful brew that none of us had ever heard of. But the beer that really caught our palates was the cask conditioned La Mummia 2008 (from Montegioco in Italy), also from Italy. Rather still, but complex, displaying many lambic qualities, musty aroma and with undertones of wine and wood. Wow, what a first visit to this exceptional bar.
Paul and I then went on what became a night of pub crawling. Next stop was the Poechenellekelder, a famous little cafe with a large terrace right across from the Manneken Pis. Paul enjoyed a Vieil Orval (aged a minimum of six months in a cave) while I tried the rather hoppy Hopus, poured tall in a beautiful glass with a side shot glass of the yeasty sediment from the bottom of the bottle. Yummy! A large bottle of IV Saison from the Brasserie de Jandrain helped us finish the afternoon, and as night began to fall, we continued on our way. Next stop was a traditional little Flemish cafe tucked away down a short dark alley, A La Becasse. Here we sampled a selection of rather sweetish Timmerman products, a Lambic Doux, a Kriek and, our favourite, the quite lovely and well balance Bourgogne de Flanders. We then made our way to the dark and sweltering cellar known as the Port Noire. Crowded and smoky, we managed to taste a few beers before the heat and the noise drove us out. I enjoyed a raspberry infused Grisette Fruit de Bois and the extra hoppy Taras Boulba, while Paul went for St. Feullieu Tripel and a Barbar Blonde Honey Ale. If that wasn't enough, we just had to stop in at Moeder Lambic for a night cap. The Saison de Dottiguies and Adelardus Brune made sure we slept like babes that night,