The Quadrupel

So, one of the perks of living in Belgium is that you pretty much have the opportunity to enjoy great beer any time you want. 

The Belgian Quadrupel is one beer that I particularly enjoy, and I was lucky enough to have my friend Bram drop by and bring me a bottle of La Trappe Quadrupel- a well known Trappist beer from the Netherlands. 

Man, this thing was tasty. It's the kind of beer you want to sit in your yard and appreciate after a day's worth of grass and hedge cutting. 

Oh wait... that's just what I did. Thanks again, Bram!

Info on The Quadrupel (Quad)

Why is it called a Quadrupel (Quad)? While no clear explanation has been found, folklore holds that due to illiteracy monks would mark beer with a number of tallies to illustrate the strength of the beer. 

Thus, one tally would indicate a weaker beer, while four marks would tell you that another is much stronger. 

What is it? Typically speaking, it's a strong beer that falls between 10-12% ALC. They are usually darker beers and can be amber, garnet, or chestnut hued. But, they aren't limited to these colors.

Taste? You can look forward to enjoying a lovely range of tastes, from a malty, caramel with hints of clove, to a toffee, coffee, raisin, or even fig flavored quad.

This beer style should go on any beer lover's list of need to have.  

  

The History Of India Pale Ale

At the forefront of the rediscovery of craft beer has been a style called India Pale Ale, or shortened to I.P.A. India Pale ale is a style defined by the use of various different hops which give the beer its distinct flavor.

The style has grown to massive popularity within the States in the past 10 years, with breweries like Stone, Sierra Nevada, and Lagunitas spearheading the style in California.

The origin of the style comes from the necessity of English merchants to ship barrels of beer over long distances without refrigeration, principally to colonial India in which the style derives its name from.

Beers higher in hop content would keep longer. Thus it was a useful process in supplying ale to the English subjects of the Indian colony.


The use of hops within a beer can yield a variety of different flavors, from bitter to citrus - caramel to herbal notes. There is an international standard of measurement in rating the hop content of a beer, called the International Bittering Units scale, or IBU.

 Below is an image of where some of the subcategories of beer may fall within this grading system, as well as an example of craft beer IBU labeling in the upper right.

Brewing Beer Collaboration on the Streets of Brussels: Beer Project Brussels

by Myles Fry

I set out this past Wednesday to meet up with one of the co-founders of Beer Project Brussels - Sebastien Morvan - to talk about the company, how the set up of the brewery had been going, and some of the beers they offer.

When I arrived at Dansaert street in Downtown, Brussels I was a little early for the interview, so had a look around. 

It was funny that I did, because that's when I caught Sebastien delivering a few cases of beer to a local pub. 

So, we got introduced and I asked him if I could lend him a hand. He said, "yes," and we got under way delivering the beers. 

We walked down the street a ways to the pub, and I helped him shuffle in the cases, while he did inventory sheets with the bar. 

I was able to take the opportunity to witness their work and customer relations first hand, which was pretty awesome.

A few empty cases later, and we headed back over to the building site for the new brewery. Sebastien discussed with me some of the details they had in mind for the 5400 sq ft warehouse.

He showed me where the new German brew house, and 4,000 litre Italian made fermenters would be housed.

And, he even showed me where the tasting bar was going to be set up, so that the people could walk in off the street and test the brews.  

On issues setting up he said, "you always have delays, but it takes time to get permits and registrations... but, stuff is like that everywhere. 

"It's even maybe less so in other countries, but it's still a burden."

"We had to wait months, and months, and months paying rent, just to do the paperwork," but he also added that it had been, "So far so good."

If you read my blog post leading up to this one you'd have seen that Beer Project Brussels is "a newly crowdfunded company who has started up a micro-brewery in the center of Brussels."

Not to mention their beer for life scheme, which to that Sebastien had to say, "I can't wait till 2025, people come in 12 years later, they get still their 12 beers every year. It's a cool feeling." 

The concepts mentioned in the latter are just some of the things that make them different from traditional breweries in Belgium.

But, the one main difference they see between themselves and other Belgian breweries is that they have an open minded philosophy towards beer. 

In other words, they don't want to keep secrets on how the beer was made, and on top of that, they want to help others co-create and come up with new ideas for beer as well. 

It's an innovative idea for the Belgian world, and it's also promising for beer lovers too. 

I had the pleasure of tasting all four of their gorgeous beers, and even got some feedback from Sebastien about them.

DELTA [6.5% ALC Organic Belgian IPA] - "A fusion between new and old," this beer was picked from the prototypes to be the pilot beer for Beer Project Brussels. 

DARK SISTER [6.66% ALC Belgian Black IPA] - "The evil twin"

GROSSE BERTHA [7% ALC Organic Belgian Hefeweizen] - This is a blend between a "Hefenweisen and Triple." 

BABYLONE [7% ALC Bread Bitter] - This guy is made from "recycled bread," and "Chinook hop." 

After few beers later, I managed to sneak in the question about his and Olivier's plans for the grand opening. 

He managed a quick smile before he said that it would be "something special." What a way to leave a guy hanging! 

It's all okay though, because after the talk about Beer Project Brussels' newest beer in the making -"A Camomile Pale Ale fermented in Pinot Grigio," - I have the feeling that it's going to be real tasty. 

Note:

Unfortunately, while you can't find Beer Project Brussels beer state side just yet, there are plans to get them to America in the coming future. 

Keep your eyes and ears open!

The Explosion of California Craft Beer

by Patrick O'Brien

A bit of an introduction:

I am a 28 year old college student from California with a passion for sports, gaming, and craft brews. I met Myles five years ago or so through gaming, and we quickly discovered that we both shared a passion for beer. 

So naturally, when he asked if I'd like to participate in beards and brews, I could hardly contain my excitement.

To those of us who live State-side, it's no secret that craft beer has seen a resurgence in the past 10 years or so.

A craft brewery is defined as any brewery operation who is small (brewing 6 million barrels or less),  independent (one quarter of the brewery or less is owned by any alcohol industry member or interest that is not a craft brewer),  and traditional (meaning the flavor derives from traditional or innovative brewing methods and fermentation).

One of the states at the forefront of artisan brewing is California.  The state in its entirety has over 500 craft breweries, listing all the important ones would take far too much time and would fit better in a novel than a blog.

Each week I'll be setting out to highlight a particular brewery, style of beer, or perhaps even give some insight to home brewing.

Stay tuned for the good stuff!

Wait for it...

by Myles Fry

It's coming...

Beer Project Brussels

by Myles Fry


This week I'll be visiting the new micro-brewery site for Beer Project Brussels. I'll be looking to do an interview with the creators, and find out some more about the delicious beers that I've tasted over the past few months. 

If you're not familiar with the Beer Project Brussels, they are a newly crowdfunded company who has started up a micro-brewery in the center of Brussels. 

Their pitch for the crowdfunding was a spectacular one, "for 160euro you could get 12 beers, every year... and your life!!!" It was a hit, and they met their mark. And, now they're getting ready to open up shop in the summer of 2015. 

So far they list four beers that are currently out in the market, and they plan to be releasing 20 new types of beer each year, every year. 

They're also projecting to produce about 200,000 beers every year as well. This means that I've got to be in that line! 

From speaking with the founders, Olivier and Sebastian, I have a feeling that they're some really cool dudes. 

I am looking forward to speaking with them in more detail and getting the dirty on what the grand plans are for the official opening. 

Until next time folks!