My wife and I took an anniversary trip to Europe recently and I partook of some great beer along the way in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Belgium and even found a decent one in France.
May 17 - before getting on the big plane in Chicago I had an
Anti-Hero IPA with lunch at
O'Hare Airport. Might as well get some hops before entering the land of barley-heavy beer.
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| Classic beer history. |
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| May 18 - As soon as we touched down on the Emerald Isle again I had a Beamish Irish Stout at The Long Hall, an awesome Victorian pub in Dublin. Next up was the Rower Red Ale from Bo Bristle Brewing in Ireland. This is by far our favorite pub in Dublin now. |
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| May 19 - We took a day-tour up into Northern Ireland and I had a Belfast Ale from Whitewater Brewing in Northern Ireland at The Nook, another great pub near The Giant's Causeway on the northern coast. I also had my first official pint of Guinness for this trip here also as my honey, Ashlee, and I toasted our 12th wedding anniversary! Cheers, baby!! |
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| I had a draught of the Bee's Endeavour from Whitewater Brewing at The Crown Liquor Saloon, an exquisitely beautiful pub located in Belfast, Northern Ireland |
Back in Dublin for dinner at the
Davy Byrnes gastro-pub I had a
Kinsale Pale Ale, a nice hoppy American-style IPA
brewed in Cork, Ireland, by Blacks of Kinsale.
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| May 20 - before leaving Ireland we had a wonderful lunch at The Sussex Restaurant where I had a pint bottle of Black Rock Irish Stout made by Dungarvan (Ireland) Brewing. Look out, Guinness, you've got serious competition here!! This was a superb beer. But don't worry about Guinness, they are still moving a good amount of product (photo below). |
BEER-CHEIVEMENT!!! I finally made it to BELGIUM!!
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| May 20 - My first beer in Belgium wasn't the best, but you couldn't beat the atmosphere. I had the cheap Campus Premium pale lager draught by Browerij Huyghe (it was actually OK) at the Delirium Cafe in downtown Brussels. |
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| We moved next door to the Delirium Taphouse and things got serious. I started with a draught pint of the excellent Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen (double) IPA Tripel by Brasserie (brewery) d'Achouffe. Next was the Double Dry-Hopped Hommel pale ale by Perennial Artisan Ales. It was OK and that's before I knew they were owned by InBev. I finished up at the taphouse with a Lupulus Fructus (fruit beer) from Brasserie Les 3 Fourquets in Belgium. On the walk back to the hotel I grabbed a can of Kriek (cherry) lambic from Brasserie Belle-Vus in Belgium at a little convenience store and sipped it until I feel asleep (or passed out). What a night! |
May 21 - BEER TOUR!! We took a great walking beer tour today in Brussels. Below are photos of the nine (yes, nine!) offerings we were given. Several are fairly hard to find anywhere outside Belgium and all were superb. The greatest thing about Belgium beer (besides the taste) is that each brewery (and beer) has its own distinctive glassware it is served in. The Belgians are very serious about this! No plastic cups here!
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| Besides the three pictured above, we also had the Orval Pale Ale, the Saison from Brassiere St. Feuillien, the Tripel Karmeliet, Westmalle Trappist Tripel and the Guldenberg Strong Pale Ale. |
AND NOW ON TO THE FRENCH BEER.....(Insert Joke Here)
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| Granted, we moved on to Nice in the south of France for a lot of things, but not the beer. I did manage to find one decent pint in a little store near our hotel that I kicked back on our balcony and enjoyed. It was a decent amber ale called 3 Monts from the Brassiere Saint Sylvestre in France. Just for the record I also choked down a can of Schoenberg lager that was pretty gross. |
We landed back in Chicago and I had nice draught of
Unshadowed Hefeweizen by Ale Asylum (Wisconsin) on a warm afternoon at
The Southern restaurant down in Wicker Park during our layover.
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