Barter Beer in Belgium?
My Beer Buddy Larry Porter, who owns not one, but two great pubs in Easton, PA, was instrumental in propelling me to Belgium for the first time in my life. He asked me to chime in on the issue of bartering for beer in Belgium. He also asked if I, as an award-winning beer writer, had ever been given a beer (in Belgium, I presume) in return for a favorable review.
I’ll answer the second question first, because it’s the easiest. During our visit to Belgium, as well as during my travels here at home, I have been presented with more than a few opportunities to write about a given beer—even a given restaurant—when proprietors learned who I was and what I did. And there were sometimes “blandishments” of one kind or another presented.
It would be essentially unethical to write a favorable review of a beer or a restaurant in exchange for such “freebies.”
That said, if a brewer or a restaurateur, gave me a sample of some beer or dish on the house and asked how I liked it, I’d write about that, with the caveat that whatever I was evaluating would get a fair, honest review—and it might not be positive.
My general rule when writing is to present a clear picture of what I’m drinking and eating and in what circumstances. Following Jim Koch’s classic dictum of “All beer is good; some beer is better,” 95% of my reviews are positive; 5% are less so, but if the experience is exceptionally bad, I usually avoid writing about it at all. I chalk it up to “tuition,” or a learning experience as to which places to avoid. My mission, after all, is to tell my readers where to find good pubs with good beer and good people.
Now, for the first part of Larry's question. Which beers would I bring to Belgium for barter, and which Belgian beers would I seek in the exchange? The answer to this could be so long as to violate the word count strictures of any but the most liberal of editors. Likewise, the logistics of transporting not one, but two caches of precious liquid between two continents would be daunting at best. But the general rule I’d follow is pretty simple.
If you want to secure good beer, you have to provide good beer. And Belgium is synonymous with good beer. They are also fanatical about serving their beers in the proper glassware. So unless you want to cart along enough fragile glassware to swap as well, you’re better off going directly to the breweries with your bottles. Here are six breweries that could make your trip worthwhile.
If you seek the likes of a Westvleteren 12, you’d better have a beer worth trading for. The monks that produce the “best beer in the world” are not fools. They are not brewers who choose to be monks, but monks who become brewers to afford to live as monks. Arrogant Bastard comes to mind, since that’s what they’d likely think you are, but I’d opt for Double Bastard in this case.
At Bosteel’s Brewery, I’d swap a Troeg’s Nugget Nectar for a Kwak and a Weyerbacher’s Merry Monks for a Triple Karmeliet. Jack Van Antwerpen might even throw a hat or two in with the deal.
At Rodenbach, I’d seek a swap of anything from Wicked Weed’s (NC) Sour collection for a Grand Cru. And drinking one of those beneath those towering barrels in the brewery is a special treat indeed.
At De Struise, the Double Black would be my target, and swapping an Avery Mephistopheles might help you hit it, even though the Double Black, at 26% ABV, bests the Mephistopheles by a full 9%. Take two “devils” to be on the safe side.
At Drie Fonteinen, exchange a Walden from Hill Farmstead in VT or (if that’s not doable logistically) a Victory Summer Love for an Estaminet or a Beersel Blond.
Beware at Timmerman’s, the Lambic Brewery in Brabant that still ferments its beers in vats open to the night sky. I know of no American beer that is made this way. Also, your exchange will depend upon which Timmerman’s you seek. The Oude Gueze and Oude Kriek are prizes for sour beer lovers, and the regular Krieks, etc. are more in keeping with a standard lambic, though still tart. But as you will likely not have an equivalent, slip them a few Wild Blues, Wild Reds or Wild Blacks from Blue Dawg Brewing in NY. At least their higher ABV’s (8%) might allow you time to make an effective escape.
And be sure to explore the area around the Grand Place. I'd also say that a visit to La Mort Subite is compulsory.
But do save some time to see this guy.
After all, you can't go to Brussels and not see Mannekin Pis. And there's so much good beer in Belgium, you'll understand why he's doing exactly that 24-7.
Cheers!
The PubScout