No really, it is a Disneyland of beer here. Go into a grocery store, and there are six-packs of Trappist brews, one bottle from each - not to mention the plethora of other ones we've heard about but never tried back home. Benchmarks from which the beers we drink descended from. The choices are endless, and as I commented to Tim this afternoon, "it must be hard to live here and not be an alcoholic".
The flight across the Atlantic was a money-loser for Delta. We had a couple rows each, able to spread out and actually lie down and sleep. I even slept through breakfast.
We were met by the local account team and spent 90 minutes going 12 miles in heavy Brussels traffic. We should have taken the train! Brussels, like other large european cities I've been to, was large, compressed and mix of ancient and 90's architecture. Out hotel is more like an apartment, but small, with a limited cleaning schedule, one bar of crappy soap, two bottles of non-lathering body wash and no shampoo. It has a small kitchenette, dishes and utensils. But best of all ... it is right downtown, two blocks from the Grand Place, and much closer to awesome beer and world-class cuisine. Being right above the Metro is nice too, but our local contact has driven us to and from the client every day so far.
What isn't so great about Belgium is the occasionaly poop on the sidewalk and pee on the walls - too big and too high up to be a dog. Yuck.
Our co-worker here has an interesting feature on his BMW: When in neutral, not moving, clutch disengaged, the engine will stop. Let the clutch out or shift into a gear and it will start. The idea is to reduce emissions when idling (which happens a lot in Brussels traffic). I always though the starting of an engine introduced significant wear...
Our first challenge in Belgium was to find money. We hit up several banks and a post office, but nowhere did they accept our American Express or Mastercard/Visa accounts. Eventually we found an investment bank that took our personal cards - woohoo! While scouting this out, we found lots of places to eat and drink at later.
Then, later, we did in fact try one of those places, and it was a rude reminder of the fact that europeans smoke like West Virginians. We barely lasted through a glass of Juliper (light lager with some pleasant apricoty yeast byproducts) and went across the street to The Villette, billed as a place with "authentic belgian cuisine". Things got off to good start when we decided to share a 750ml bottle of Saison Dupont organic ale, and got interesting when I realized I had drunk 650 ml of it. This brew is often raised up as the hallmark Saison. Compared to my own, it is not quite as dry and has more fruity peach, cherry and apple esters, which is typical of the Belgian saision strain of yeast. I have been using the French saison yeast, which is very good at drying out the beer but lacks the added complexity. Thus, next time, I will have to brew a 10-gal batch of beer and then split the batch into two, and try a different strain in each fermentor and compare.
What sort of "authentic belgian cuisine" did I find? Why, none other than roasted pork with Orval cheese on top. That's right, the only Trappist brewery which uses brettanomyces in their liquid art also makes cheese. "Delicious" was an understatement. You don't think I could get away without ordering an Orval with the meal, could you? Of course not. The interesting thing here is that we can get this beer at home, but not fresh ... and it is better with a bit of age on it! Still very good, but I will be buying some of these and then aging them in my basement for a year ... yuuuuummmmmmm.
Being tired sucks and jetlag doesn't help, but it REALLY sucks when the mattress is hard. Maybe I'll get used to it? Until tomorrow ... later!
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