Taste of Belgium
Sometimes all you need is a beer to bring back wonderful memories.
Saturday night, with Elaine and Nick being the guests of honor for the weekend, a small group of us went to a bar, Hopleaf, in Andersonville which specializes in Belgian beer. Or, in my opinion, some of the best beer around not brewed by Arthur Guinness.
Belgian beer is an art form. For a country with about 10 million people, there are at least 500 different kinds of beer. Trappist monks brew beer from recipes that date back one millenia. And if you walk into a Belgian pub that has 300 kinds of beer, there will be 300 unique glasses, each carefully designed to maximize the flavor of its contents. Talk about dedication.
After looking at a menu with more than 200 different kinds of beer, only about four of which I felt confident in pronouncing, I decided on Tripel Karmeliet. I recommended the champagne-like Lambics to the girls, and the other guys joined me in taking shots in the dark.
We weren't disappointed. Spurred by the atmosphere and beer, our discussions turned international. Stories from abroad were told, and vague ideas to return were thrown around. Distant dreams were brought a little closer to home.
Due to the expensive nature of the imported beer, it's certainly not something I could do every weekend on a student budget. But once in awhile, if nothing else, it would totally be worth it to reinvigorate the imagination.
Saturday night, with Elaine and Nick being the guests of honor for the weekend, a small group of us went to a bar, Hopleaf, in Andersonville which specializes in Belgian beer. Or, in my opinion, some of the best beer around not brewed by Arthur Guinness.
Belgian beer is an art form. For a country with about 10 million people, there are at least 500 different kinds of beer. Trappist monks brew beer from recipes that date back one millenia. And if you walk into a Belgian pub that has 300 kinds of beer, there will be 300 unique glasses, each carefully designed to maximize the flavor of its contents. Talk about dedication.
After looking at a menu with more than 200 different kinds of beer, only about four of which I felt confident in pronouncing, I decided on Tripel Karmeliet. I recommended the champagne-like Lambics to the girls, and the other guys joined me in taking shots in the dark.
We weren't disappointed. Spurred by the atmosphere and beer, our discussions turned international. Stories from abroad were told, and vague ideas to return were thrown around. Distant dreams were brought a little closer to home.
Due to the expensive nature of the imported beer, it's certainly not something I could do every weekend on a student budget. But once in awhile, if nothing else, it would totally be worth it to reinvigorate the imagination.
posted by craichead at 2/09/2006 12:29:00 PM
1 Comments:
Yesss!! I made it in! Thanks for the great time next weekend... I'll have to make sure your trip to Dayton is fun. :)
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