Cuvee and Cows

Day #603 Cuvee Brut / Brouwerij Liefmans, Oudenaarde, Belgium
Previously from this brewery: Goudenband and another Goudenband

The second day of the Beercycling trip was spent riding along canal paths, with a stop to walk around the quaint town square in Oodenarde, an awesome picnic lunch in a beautiful park, and a well timed visit to Brouwerij Liefmans.

Hi there!

Hector, our Liefmans tour guide extraordinaire, set us up with a couple of rounds in their tasting room, then walked us through the entire brewery, sharing some very cool perspectives on how they brew beer and what sets them apart from their competition.  I loved this tour because it was completely OSHA-free; no warning signs or concerns that you might injure yourself on tiny stairs, low ceilings, hoses scattered about, or any of the other dangerous things we got to hang out with.  If I had a Euro for every time I hit my head on something while wandering around breweries in Belgium, I could book another trip to Belgium.

Beer, fresh from the tanks...

One of the beers sampled was the delicious Cuvee Brut, which poured with a dark red color and a thin white head.  When you take a sip, you get a great blend of tart and sour on your tongue.  Not as tart as I expected, but it did have a ton of wonderful cherry notes.  You find some earthy, oak flavors hiding out in there as well. This is a great summer beer; refreshing and enjoyable.  Hector was also a bit of a pusher, as he made sure glasses didn't stay empty too long...

Good lookin'!

While there, we also drank an Oud Bruin (delicious), a Goudenband (previously reviewed and really delicious), and a Fruitess, which was a fruit beer on the rocks (too sweet to be delicious).  And, to top off an already awesome brewery visit, Hector gave everyone a bottle to take home as gifts!  Belgium... so friendly.

Thing to Think About Today:
Almost all of the bike ride was spent on paths along canals or through farm country. Having grown up in a not urban environment and having attended college in a not urban environment, farms and cows aren't anything new.  However, I did enjoy the quiet calm I felt riding through farms and pastures.  I also got a kick out of seeing the wildlife as we rode through - including these two cows who were quite literally mooing outside my window during a stay in the tiny hamlet of Zwalm.

Sup, yo?

For every cow I saw - and I saw plenty - I wondered if they understood English, or Flemish, or French, or some combination of all three.  I close things out with the best European farm animal translation video I've ever seen, courtesy of the show Family Guy.  The cows never answered back when I would bellow, "SHAZUUL!" at them.  Maybe they spoke German?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcPOEtuAKw0

"It most certainly does NOT!"