Day 606: De Dolle, The Crazy Brewer

On Day 7 of the Beercycling trip, we hit a stretch of bike path that was pin straight for a few miles. After a quick water stop, our trusty guide Evan told us to have at it and take as little or as much time as we needed to get to the next route marker. Faced with a relatively empty bike path, beautiful weather and my bad ass cycling outfit, I hit the road. Let's face facts. My fastest ride didn't hold a candle to most of the riders on our tour, but it was fun to pedal away and not have to worry about a thing except stopping when I caught up to the leaders of our pack.

Despite knowing that there weren't any turns on the path, I did get a little nervous when I couldn't see the group either ahead or behind me. I pressed on and was very happy to catch sight of one of our bikes pulled off to the side of the path. Was that it? Did I get to the meeting point that quickly?

Nope. Someone with an eagle eye at the front of the pack noticed a beer vending machine in the side yard of a farm. A what now? Yes, you read that correctly. We found a beer vending machine in the middle of nowhere. For a few Euros, the Duvel in the photo below was all mine! Wait, it gets better! Remember how I mentioned in a previous post that Belgians take their beer glasses very seriously? Sitting next to the vending machine was a bin of glasses and much to my delight there was a Duvel glass waiting for me.

Aerodynamic!

Now that's a vending machine!

This wasn't the first vending machine we hit on the trip. Earlier in the day, we came across a fresh strawberry vending machine. Those were some of the best strawberries I've ever had. Belgium, man. It is a good time.


Later this day, we visited De Dolle Brouwers. I've been told that it translates to "the crazy brewers". While I  can't attest to the mental capacity of the brewer at De Dolle--he seemed like a nice enough guy, I can tell you that De Dolle makes some amazing beer.

One of those beers is Dulle Teve or Mad Bitch. It's a tripel weighing in at 10% ABV.

It poured a very bright apricot color with an equally bright white head. Maybe it was all the beer from throughout the day, but this beer was absolutely magical in the glass--it almost glowed. It smelled of caramel and hops. It drank very cleanly. There was lots of honey, malt and fruit. It finished with a solid hop bite.

So remember when I said the brewer from De Dolle seemed pretty nice? In full disclosure, after poking around his beer cellar, we found his aging/storage room and this is what greeted us when we walked in...

If you're wondering, I screamed like a girl. So much for the sneaking part! 

There was so much beer aging in there. And cobwebs. So many cobwebs!

Beer stats
Style: Tripel
ABV: 10%
IBUs: Unknown
Rating: Excellent

Previously reviewed from De Dolle
His and hers reviews of Arabier