Basement Fires

Day #624 Vuur & Vlam / Brouwerij De Molen, Bodegraven, Netherlands
Previously from this brewery: Engels, London Porter

So after reviewing the first two beers from Sint-Sixtus, you're expecting the legedary Westvleteren 12 here today, right?  Nope.  Going to make you wait for that one.  My blog and I can do whatever I want.

Instead, I'll give you the only non-Belgian beer I drank during the Beercycling trip: a bottle of Vuur & Vlam, an IPA from Dutch brewer Brouwerij De Molen.  I found this bottle on the impressive tap list at Le Trappiste, a cool basement (catacombs?) bar in Brugge.  This beer poured a dark gold color with a fluffy white head.  At least I think it did - not great lighting in the catacombs.  There are aromas of tangerine, and when you drink it you find pine and grapefruit, with good amounts of bitterness throughout.  Very tasty, and easily the hoppiest beer I drank on the trip.  If you close your eyes, this tastes exactly like an American IPA; one that I really enjoyed.

Henk, one of our tour guides, is from the Netherlands and actually grows hops on his farm which he sells to De Molen.  He let us know that this beer name translates to English as "Fire & Flames," although if Henk knew why, I'm not sure I wrote that down.  They have a number of "something & something" named beers, in fact, if you check out their website. Guess they have a fondness for the ampersand?

Darkness not good for photos

I mentioned that Le Trappiste is in an old basement - the bar is in a building that (allegedly) dates back to the 13th century.  They had an impressive draft and bottle list, including a beer from Flying Dog in Maryland. One of the very, very few American beers I saw on any of the beer menus I looked at.  As if this all wasn't good enough, the sound system was blaring a Queen album.  Not just one song - an entire album.  It's like they knew I was coming!

Life in the catacombs

Thing to Think About Today:
Follow me a bit: IPAs are known for their strong hops.  Hops grow on vines.  This beer is named Fire and Flames.  Therefore, I make a stretch connection and give you Death Cab for Cutie and their extraordinarily mellow Grapevine Fires, a song with a permanent home in my quiet mix for when I want to just zone out.

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

Meatballs, Meatballs II, and Beer

Beer #122 Engels / Brouwerij de Molen,  Bodegraven, Netherlands

The only good thing that happened to me today was making homemade meatballs and sauce.  Not particularly special under ordinary circumstances, but courtesy of Men's Journal magazine, I had a meatball recipe from Mark Vetri at my disposal.  For those not living in my corner of the world, Vetri is an absolute giant in the Philly restaurant scene.  His establishments have received huge, outsized praise from food critics.  Which of course means if he's giving a free lesson on cooking, I'm listening.  This recipe was remarkably simple, and I simplified it further, but I can attest that these were absolutely delicious.  A spherical little piece of heaven.

It isn't all homemade Italian cooking tonight, there's beer to discuss as well.  So let's discuss the Engels, an English cask ale from de Molen, which I found on draft at the Farmer's Cabinet.  It pours a cloudy apricot hue, with a white cloud of foam and you pick up grain, malt, and a pleasing lemon aroma.  When you take a sip, you get flavors of malt, pine, and citrus, with a dry hop bitterness throughout. A bit more citrus flavor than a typical English cask ale, but nothing too extreme.  At 4.5% ABV, this definitely fits the mold of an English Bitter - quite tasty and completely sessionable.  If you find it, drink it.

Proof of life that I was at Farmer's Cabinet

Your daily knowledge: this brewery name translates to "Brewery the Mill," which makes sense because the brewery is housed in a historic mill that dates back to 1697.

Thing to Think About Today:
Well, it's getting late, and I'm getting tired.  If we're thinking about meatballs, I've already given you a link to the recipe, which I highly encourage you to try.  But if you're still thinking about meatballs, then I encourage you to think about Meatballs II, one of those so bad it's almost good sort of movies from the 80s.  Long story short?  Summer camp of misfits has to battle their arch enemies from across the lake to save their camp from going under.  It involves your typical teenage humor, an alien named Meathead who dresses like the Gorton's fisherman, Pee-Wee Herman as a lunatic, the guy who played Ogre in Revenge of the Nerds.... and yeah.  What can I say, people did huge amounts of drugs in the '80s.  Yes, it's a sequel to Meatballs, but I'm a fan of the second more so than the first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slGkfS5-eNY

Trust me when I say that I DESPERATELY tried to find the video clip of Pee Wee Herman uttering a famous line, "This one's for you, and this one's for the horse you rode in on!!!" after making middle finger gestures at someone from the enemy camp.  If you find this, please let me know, as it's the highlight of the movie for me.  Thanks!

Me, Ted?  MEATHEAD!

Beer 95: de Molen London Porter

I picked de Molen’s London Porter because of the description:  historic recipe developed with the help of the renowned beer historian Ron Pattinson; a one-of-a-kind example of a genuine porter.  I’m a fan of porters so how could I resist drinking a historically accurate porter?

Sorry about the background...

This beer was brewed in an extremely limited quantity.  It’s from a recipe discovered by Pattinson that dates to August 1, 1914.  This is the beer you would have ordered in pre-WWI London.  Pretty crazy if you think about it.  I had it on draught at The Farmer’s Cabinet.  I know I always sing the praises of Teresa’s Next Door, but if you’re in Philadelphia, go to The Farmer’s Cabinet.  You’re a fool if you don’t.

It poured a deep, dark brown in my glass.  It had a coffee aroma that carried through to the flavor.  I found it to be have some spice to it.  It was also a bit nutty.  I’m struggling to describe the way it drank.  To say it wasn’t  smooth makes it sound bad.  But it wasn’t smooth.  It had body.  It also finished dry.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I really want to put it in my Top 25 but I hesitate because in nine months from now, I’m probably not going to find anymore.

p.s.  Someone please tell Google that it is not smarter than I am -- at least on this occasion.  I most certainly did not want to look up Rob Pattinson.  His pale, pouty man-boy image was most certainly not what I meant.