Well folks MBCC is almost upon us, we fly out
early Thursday morning returning late Monday.

It's 4 days of beery madness...tap takeovers, bottle releases, beer festivals and maybe a trip over to Malmö thrown in too

A full report will of course follow this monumental weekend...it's going to be epic

Cheers
Jay 🇩🇰

Hi everyone

Well the Easter period has come and gone (still lots of chocolate left though 😄) and to celebrate over the weekend Linda secretly bought me something very fitting for the festivities

It was also a special tie in for this weeks #belgiansunday and a seasonal offering from my all time favourite brewery De Dolle - it's their Easter beer Boskeun...9% Belgian Strong Golden Ale





Blindfolded I can tell it's from Kris, just smelling this beer gives you that iconic De Dolle yeast profile....floral honey, citrus, herbal, touches of anise spicing...totally totally totally delicious 🇧🇪❤️

Cheers
Jay 🐇

Well folks, our next scheduled trip away was to MBCC in May...however

It's our anniversary at the end of April and Linda has booked us a three day break to Carcassonne in the South of France.

It's Europes best preserved Medieval village dating back to the 11th century (complete with fortified Castle) and we're staying in the lower La Bastide area in our own apartment.

It should be a soothing break before the madness of MBCC 😄 hey there's even a local brewery 🍻


Cheers
Jay

Hi folks,

 As you well know this past Saturday was Valentines Day (here in the UK) and Linda bought me a very nice box of beers from BeerMoth in Manchester.

 So seeing as Sunday is my usual #BelgianSunday I decided to crack one of the bottles from the box and chose a beer that needs no introduction.

 Well I can't just leave it with a non descript photo but picture first





 You all know this festive release from De Dolle and just how much I love this beer - Stille Nacht...12% Belgian Strong Blonde Ale.

Sweet jammy stewed orchard fruits, pears, apples, subtle spicing, honey, bready straw.

Me and this beer go way back and in all them years it's lost NONE of its magic, it still is (and always will be) a top 10 beer.


Cheers
Jay 

Hello everyone

We've been back a week since our two day break to wonderful Porto and despite me still not A1 beer wise that (and the rain) did nothing to spoil our fun.

Some favourite bars were visited and new ones too, we also squeezed in a visit to one of Porto's many Port houses and that's where we'll kick things off.

Not visiting one of these houses was one of the big regrets of our last visit...not this time.
Looking from the Porto side towards the Vila Nova area on the other side of the Douro river there's one particular Port House that sticks out from the others - Cálem, that would be the place we visit.








The tour takes roughly an hour with a guided Port tasting later. Firstly you wonder around the onsite Port museum that features lots of info on the history of Cálem and the history of Port.






You are then taken on tour of the various barrel rooms learning about the history and process of Port manufacture, these rooms were quite dark and didn't really lend themselves to picture taking but I took a few for the memories




One of the many large barrels (filled with Port) each holds 74000 bottles










The Port tasting took place upstairs in a modern looking designated Port room. You sampled three different Ports - a Fine White, a Late Bottled Vintage Ruby from 2019 and a 10 year old Tawny...all delicious with our favourite being the Vintage Ruby.








After the tasting you exit through the souvenir shop, a bottle of the Vintage Ruby Port was instantly bought also a set of Cálem Port glasses and wine that was produced just a few miles away along the Douro River.

It was an interesting and informative tour and we're glad that we've ticked that box.




Bars (old and new) to follow

Cheers
Jay

Hi folks,

BAB have just posted information on next year's Bruges Beer Festival.

It will take place on the 12th and 13th September and as a bonus it will tie in with the 20th anniversary of BAB.

Time off work requested 





Cheers
Jay 

Hi everyone

Well we're just three days away from our five day family break back to Malaga in the Andalusia region of Southern Spain.

We last visited back in 2022 so there's lots of new places that have opened up and are bookmarked for a visit (plus some favourites)

It's going to be a wonderful relaxing time and a full report will follow upon our return.


Cheers
Jay 🇪🇸

Hi folks,

Yesterday was my weekly #Belgiansunday and despite this being a well known and widely available beer this is only my second or third time sampling.
No particular reason for this low number of samples but the lower ABV beers often get overlooked for their bigger brothers.


St Bernardus  - Prior 8...8% Belgian Dubbel





Deep chestnut coloured beer with a crowning off white head....rich dark baked bread, Belgian candy sugar, fruit cake, caramel.

Without doubt one of the very best Dubbels, could it be that it has a touch of its bigger ABT 12 brother with hints of fruitcake?

Cheers
Jay

Hi everybody

Seen it posted on Facebook (by De Dolle) that brewmaster Kris Herteleer is turning 70.

What a wonderful brewing history there's connected to this man (Kris really is the Belgian beer Godfather) his beery back catalogue rank as Belgiums greatest hits AND you all know of my love for Stille Nacht 🇧🇪❤️

Let's hope there something special in the beery pipeline, a special beer brewed by a special man for a special birthday 🤞🏻

Cheers
Jay 

Hi everyone,

A bit of shopping info for anyone from the UK, ASDA Supermarket are selling Westmalle Extra.

It's currently on offer for £1.67 a bottle (down from £2.25) BUT better than that you can buy it on a 4 for 3 offer so the price drops to just £1.25 a bottle.

Last time I had this was about 10 years ago in Beertje (and there was a lot of excitement about getting the extra) how times change



Cheers
Jay

Hi folks,

We're now less than a month away from the Mikkeller Beer Celebration Copenhagen (MBCC) 2025.

It's no doubt going to be another amazing trip to this fantastic beery corner of Denmark. You can be assured that we'll cram as much as possible into our trip with bars both familiar and new visited (maybe a visit to Sweden again, who knows)

Pics will be posted on Facebook during our time there (as is the tradition) but an in depth report will be made here.

Cheers
Jay 

Hi everyone,

Recently I've been writing down our trips away in a holiday diary, better to get things on paper before it fades from memory 

So seeing me getting things recorded Linda has bought me a memories book, in fact it's a copy of the "Our Adventure Book" just like the one in the Disney Pixar film UP.

And whilst rummaging through some old boxes at the back of the wardrobe we found our train tickets from our very first trip to Bruges back in 2008, didn't know we'd kept these so it was quite the surprise (and they're unused, no conductor on the train to rip them)

These will be going on page 1 with some photos from that trip, plus any other artefacts I may come across.





I've also found something from 2009 that will be going in the book...when I met Tim Webb in Beertje





Cheers
Jay 


 

Hi everyone

Thought I'd post a beer whilst also drinking because...iiiiiiiiiiiits #belgiansunday 🇧🇪

De Meester - Grain Master...13% Barley Wine aged 9 months in Gouden Carolus Whisky Barrels

Pours a dark brown with zero head (it's like blended prunes)
Loads of sticky toffee, caramel, butterscotch, Whisky, Bourbon....oh YES what a beer.




Cheers
Jay

Hi everybody

Our first trip of 2025 is now just over a week away, next Friday we head out to Lisbon in Portugal for a family mini break to celebrate my birthday (on the 14th)

Last year we visited Porto and we were so taken by this wonderful city that Portugal is my birthday location once again, this time heading much further down the country to its coastal capital city

It should prove to be another fantastic beery and foodie getaway and of course a full report will follow

https://www.ratebeer.com/places/city/lisboa/0/164/

Cheers
Jay 🇵🇹

It's the best day of the week, it's #belgiansunday and something special for the festive period

Deca - Vleteren Imperial Stout Barrel Aged Series...11.5% Imperial Stout aged 12 months in Heaven Hill Bourbon Barrels and a limited edition of just 700 bottles





Pitch black beer with a thin coffee coloured head...dark sticky figs and raisins, coconut from the barrel, chocolate, hints of coffee, touches of Belgian yeast, caramel....it's just the perfect mashup of my two loves, Belgian beers and barrel aged Imperial Stouts

A massive massive thanks Filip, this was such an amazing beer

Cheers
Jay 

You read the title right, next Sunday we're heading to Amsterdam for a very fleeting one day visit.

We finish work on the Saturday and fly out of Manchester at 7am on Sunday, we spend the rest of the day in Amsterdam and fly back home midday Monday (and back in work on Tuesday)

Even after all these years and many holidays Linda can still surprise me, we're sure to cram plenty into our day in the 'Dam 🇳🇱

Cheers
Jay 

Hi everyone,

It's #belgiansunday and also the time of year for Christmas beers, so let's kick the month off with possibly my all time No1 beer (Belgian or otherwise)

De Dolle - Stille Nacht...12% Belgian Strong Ale





Sweet jammy stewed orchard fruits, honey, candied pears, bready malts and that unmistakable De Dolle yeast aroma....still love this beer after these years and I always will 🇧🇪 ❤️ ☃️

Cheers
Jay

Hi everyone

This weeks #belgiansunday is a blind tasting and a battle of the Belgian Quads

Done this triple tasting many times, so once more won't hurt

Poured in three identical tasting glasses and sampled with eyes tight shut (brewery glasses for pics) here they are in order of preference

No1 - Westvleteren 12...10.2% Trappist Quadruple

Knew the top two would be close (and they really were) this had much more dark sticky fruitcake and maybe my tastebuds were in fruity mood because on all past tastings number 2 has come out on top

No2 - Rochefort 10...11.3% Trappist Quadruple

This one had a festive spice, almost Christmas pudding taste to it and could easily have been my No1 (and despite Wesvleteren's mythical status has been my favourite) it's just the fruitcake shone more on the Westy

No3 - St Bernardus ABT 12...10% Belgian Quadruple

Very similar to the other two but with less raisins, fruitcake and spice...however it has that giveaway banana bread yeast character of a St Bernie





All three are properly world class and either are top of their style, it's amazing how similar they are especially the top two


Cheers
Jay

Hi everybody

I thought I'd share another beer that was first sampled at the recent Bruges beer festival and more recently for my latest #Belgian Sunday on instagram

De Meester - Meestereske Tripel...9.5% Belgian Tripel

Bags of herbs with a floral touch, sweet stewed apples, banana, subtle clove spicing with a peppery edge...delicious stuff





Cheers
Jay 

Hi everyone

A beer from Gekko Brewing out of the Côte d'Azur in the Souteast corner of France - however this beer was first sampled at the recent Bruges beer festival (and was thoroughly enjoyed) so a can came home with me.

Gekko Brewing - Into the Thick of It...7% DDH IPA

Pours a cloudy pale orange with a white pillowy head.
Loads of peach, nectarines, tangerine, creamy stone fruit sorbet, bitter hops...a really great beer.





Cheers
Jay