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A shortened version of this piece appears in the book 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die (May 2010).
ABV: 6%
Origin: Pipaix, Hainaut, Wallonie
Website: www.vapeur.com
First brewed: 1785
Serving temperature: 8-10°C
 Vapeur Saison de Pipaix “Born in 1785 with the brewery”, says the publicity for this idiosyncratic speciality, though in truth its history over the two-and-a-bit centuries since has not been uninterrupted. The brewery in question is in the centre of the village of Pipaix, deep in the Wallonian brewing heartland in the west of the province of Hainaut, not far from the French border, also home to the rather bigger Dubuisson of Bush/Scaldis fame. Originally a farmhouse operation, it was expanded in the early 19th century into a typical small industrial brewery of the period and flourished into the postwar period under the name of its owning families Biset-Cuvelier. But it finally fell victim to post-war changes in the industry that saw the big brewing groups rise on a tide of fizzy lager, drowning many smaller concerns. By 1984 it was derelict and up for sale.
Enter local teacher and beer fanatic Jean-Louis Dits, who’d nurtured a dream of brewing since a student visit to nearby Dupont. He bought the brewery and with his then wife Sittelle set about restoring it, renaming it “Steam Brewery” after the vintage machine that provided the motive power. Dits dug into the archives for heritage recipes, interpreting them with his own imaginative flair and redeploying long forgotten spices and flavourings. This, his signature brew, is typical, rejecting the contemporary hoppy saison model for a complex and exotic mélange infused with pepper, ginger, sweet and bitter orange peels and star anise, a reminder that past generations of Belgian brewers raided the spice cupboard even more readily than their successors. The result of this labour of love may be wayward but the world of saisons would be a much duller place without it. Call in on the last Saturday of the month and you may be able to catch it in production.
Tasting notes
An amber beer with a fluffy, bubbly white head and a toffeeish malt aroma dosed with herbal notes and invitingly dark aniseedy spicing. The distinctive sweetish slightly smoky malt palate has spice and thyme hints, with gently bittering sappy orange fruit and brown sugar on the finish.
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Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/saison-de-pipaix/7480/
A shortened version of this piece appears in the book 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die (May 2010).
ABV: 7%
Origin: Ninove, Oost Vlaanderen
Website: www.witkap.be
First brewed: 1929
Serving temperature: 8-10°C
 The Witkap beers are the oldest surviving examples of the abbey beer style, predating more famous brands like Leffe and Grimbergen by decades. Although unlike these two they’ve never been linked officially to any religious institution, they can claim a lineage going back to the famous Trappist brewery of Westmalle. Here their inventor, Hendrik Verlinden, self-taught author of a textbook on yeast cultivation, perfected his brewing skills before World War I. In 1916 Verlinden struck out on his own by buying the Drie Linden (Three Linden Trees) brewery, founded in 1890 at Brasschaat near Antwerp. Inspired by the products of his previous employers, he began work on developing his own Trappist-style beer. He named it Witkap, “white cap”, cleverly linking a reference to the white cowls of the Cistercian order of monks from which the Trappists developed with the luscious head of the beer itself.
Back then control of trademarks and appellations was in its infancy and Verlinden marketed his product as “Trappistenbier”, a dubious practice followed by many later brewers until pressure from consumers and Trappist monasteries resulted in the designation “abbey beer” for monastic-styled but secular-brewed ales in the 1980s. By then production at Brasschaat had long since dwindled and in 1979 Drie Linden contracted the brewing and bottling to Slaghmuylder, an 1860-vintage family brewery at Ninove in East Flanders which, until then, had been best known for its lagers. Two years later Slaghmuylder gained full rights to the brand and extended the range to include a double, a triple and a blond. All are unspiced ales fermented quickly at 25°C, cold matured in tanks then further conditioned in the bottle. The brewery recommends pouring the double carefully to leave the yeast in the bottle then tasting with Belgian chocolate desserts – heavenly enough for me.
Tasting notes
A dark ruby-brown beer with a rich soft fawn head and a figgy, fruity, slightly winy aroma. A powerful palate has sweet-sour fruit, cedar, fresh marmalade, tobacco, liquorice and toffee, with a long, rounded, lightly drying angelica and smoke-tinged finish.
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Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/witkap-pater-dubbel/5395/
ABV: 10%
Origin: Achouffe, Luxembourg, Wallonie
Website: www.achouffe.be
 Achouffe N'Ice Chouffe 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die A full review of this beer is featured in the book 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die, published May 2010 by Cassell Illustrated.
Buy the book from amazon.co.uk
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/nice-chouffe/1619/
ABV: 10%
Origin: Arcen, Limburg, Netherlands
Website: www.hertogjan.nl
 Hertog Jan Grand Prestige 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die A full review of this beer is featured in the book 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die, published May 2010 by Cassell Illustrated.
Buy the book from amazon.co.uk
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/hertog-jan-grand-prestige/5305/
ABV: 8%
Origin: Breendonk-Puurs, Vlaams-Brabant, Vlaanderen
Website: www.duvel.be
 Duvel-Moortgat Maredsous Brune
- 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die
This beer was previously known as Maredsous 8°.
A full review of this beer is featured in the book 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die, published May 2010 by Cassell Illustrated.
Buy the book from amazon.co.uk
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/maredsous-8/2526/
ABV: 7%
Origin: Rulles, Luxembourg, Wallonie
Website: www.larulles.be
 La Rulles Blonde 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die A full review of this beer is featured in the book 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die, published May 2010 by Cassell Illustrated.
Buy the book from amazon.co.uk
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/la-rulles-blonde/10375/
ABV: 6.3%
Origin: Purnode, Namur, Wallonie
Website: www.bocq.be
 Du Bocq Gauloise Blonde 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die A full review of this beer is featured in the book 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die, published May 2010 by Cassell Illustrated.
Buy the book from amazon.co.uk
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/la-gauloise-blonde/6154/
ABV: 7.5%
Origin: Courpalay, Seine-et-Marne, France
Website: www.biere-de-brie.com
 Rabourdin Bière de Brie Ambrée 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die Beer sellers: Cave à bulles.
An alternative version of this piece appears in the book 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die.
Rarely can beer claim a goût de terroir of the sort boasted of in the upper echelons of the wine industry, where grapes are grown, juiced and fermented and the results bottled all on the same estate. Although some brewers make a virtue of using local ingredients, very few offer finished products with such a direct connection to their local soil as Hugues and Geneviève Rabourdin.
Their Gaillon farm is at Courpalay in the Seine-et-Marne department of the Île-de-France region, about an hour east of Paris, in the heart of the old province of Brie. The area is famous, of course, for its soft rinded cheese, but it’s also known as Paris’s grain silo: farm brewing was once common, but proved less tenacious here in the 20th century than in more northerly parts of France. Cereals had been the Rabourdins’ business for over twenty years before they saw the opportunity to restore a local craft and create a product with a unique provenance by, in their words, “adding the rhythms of brewing naturally to the rhythms of sowing and reaping”. The beers can be sampled in the farm’s stables.
The Ambrée, one of Hugues’ first recipes when the brewery launched in 2001, is made from the farm’s own malted barley, with only hops and no spicing. Brewing takes place in one of the barns, with an 8-10 day warm fermentation at 24°C using Belgian ale yeast, several weeks of lagering in tanks at 0°C then at least four weeks of secondary fermentation in no-nonsense 750ml Bordeaux-style bottles.
The result is a reddish-amber beer with some white head and a smoky aroma with notes of burnt rubber, cheese, barley sugar and herb liqueur. An intense smoky, roasty, biscuity palate has sweetish malt with an orange tang and more of that slight burnt rubber flavour. The sweetish grainy finish is mild on hops but with a chewy dry roast bite.
Overall this is a big, honest and rustic delight that rewards careful sipping. It’s enjoyed considerable acclaim in a country that values regional food and drink highly, twice winning gold medals at the Concours Général Agricole in Paris. And the perfect accompaniment? Surely a decent, mature Brie de Melun.
For more reviews like this see the book 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die, published May 2010 by Cassell Illustrated.
Buy the book from amazon.co.uk
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/gaillon-biere-de-brie-ambree/39523/
ABV: 7%
Origin: Lurago Marinone, Lombardia, Italy
Website: www.birrificio.it
 Nuovo Birrificio Italiano Amber Shock 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die A full review of this beer is featured in the book 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die, published May 2010 by Cassell Illustrated.
Buy the book from amazon.co.uk
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/birrificio-italiano-amber-shock/11486/
ABV: 5.5%
Origin: Ertvelde, Oost-Vlaanderen
Website: www.vansteenberge.com
 Van Steenberge Monk's Cafe Flemish Sour Ale 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die Formerly known as Bios Vlaamse Bourgogne.
A full review of this beer is featured in the book 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die, published May 2010 by Cassell Illustrated.
Buy the book from amazon.co.uk
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/bios-vlaamse-bourgogne/11810/
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Cask  This pioneering new book explains what makes cask beer so special, and explores its past, present and future. Order now from CAMRA Books. Read more here.
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