Flanders is History

We're going strong in Belgium. Yesterday (Monday) we went on two brewery tours. On the drive to the first brewery our enthusiastic tour guide Christa talked about the history of the Flanders (Flemish speaking) region of Belgium. Flanders has a long, eventful and slightly depressing history. It is depressing in the sense that the region has constantly been invaded and attacked throughout its history. Along with the constant invasions has come multiple leaders from multiple countries. It is an understatement to say that Flanders struggles with its identity as a region. However, it seems to me that people from Flanders see themselves as a different breed of Belgians. In other words, they are united in their separation from (geographically and culturally) the rest of Belgium. Based on what Christa told us yesterday and from what I have observed, Flanders seems to have something in common with Bavaria. That is, Flanders, like Bavaria, is a region defined by its differences from the rest of the country. One particular characteristic of people from Flanders is their individuality, at least in terms of the architecture of their homes. As we were driving to our first brewery, Christa pointed out how different every house looked. Throughout Germany, houses in a certain area tend to look similar, if not exactly alike. In Flanders, though, houses are in all shapes, sizes, colors, and designs. Christa told us these drastic differences come from people in Flanders choosing their own plot of land and then hiring an architect to design their house to their own personal taste. While driving past the rows of these individually designed houses I could not help but think of how similar it was to many suburban neighborhoods in the United States. The individualism of people in Flanders seems to be at least somewhat similar to the individualism of Americans, however the source of the individualism is different in each country. In Flanders, it seems that the search for an individual identity after centuries of invasion has led to these eccentric houses.

After about an hour of driving through the Flanders countryside we arrived at Bosteels brewery. Bosteels is a family run brewery in Flanders. When we showed up we were surprised to see that the brewery had an American flag hanging from the roof of one of the brewery buildings. To our further excitement we found out that the brewery had put the flag up in anticipation of our visit. It was great to experience firsthand what Christa called "the Flanders hospitality." We were then led through the brewery, which was relatively small and had beautiful copper kettles. The most striking part of the tour was seeing how Bosteels clearly puts importance in preserving the history of the brewery. There was a display of old beer transport vehicles, which was something I had never seen before. Also, the brewery building itself retains its classic architectural style. After the tour we tasted all three of the Bosteels beers. Each beer was outstanding, however one beer stood out from the rest. This beer is called Deus and is a strong golden belgian ale. What makes this beer special, though, is that after it is brewed it is sent to France where it receives the same treatment that Champagne receives. This treatment gives the beer amazing effervescence and impeccable clarity. The aroma of the beer was special. A mix of malt sweetness with a slight note of spiciness. The flavor was also a combination of sweet and savory. Overall it was an smooth, interesting and unforgettable beer. During our tasting we got the opportunity to meet the former owner of the Brewery. He was a passionate and knowledgeable man who obviously brought a tremendous amount of joy to the brewery. He also seemed to take a liking to our group so he brought us to the house where former owners used to live. He showed us paintings of former owners as well as the founder of the brewery. He also described to us his philosophy of owning a brewery. He made it clear that money cannot be the main objective and that quality must be the number one goal. He said that his job has always been like a vacation every day and that a person does not need much money in life to live comfortably. I left Bosteels brewery with an optimistic outlook. This was an inspirational man we had just met and I doubt I will ever forget the morning I spent at Bosteels brewery.

After Bosteels we went to Ghent which is a college town in Flanders. Ghent is full of beautiful historical architecture and even has a medieval castle in the middle of town (pictured above). Apart from being a deeply historical city, Ghent is also very much alive because of the constant flow of students through the streets of the city. Ghent seems like an ideal student city. It is not too big or too small and has enough history to keep any history buff busy for a few years. The city also seems to have a good mix of old and new architecture, and does not seem to be stuck in past, so to say. After Ghent we went to Liefmanns brewery, which is mostly a display of old brewing technology. It was fascinating to see how breweries were run before automation. The cleaning of brewing equipment clearly must have been extremely difficult work, requiring exponentially more manpower than breweries employ today. While most of the brewery was industrial archaeology, one section is still in use today. The open air fermentation tanks are used to ferment all four of the beers at Liefmanns. These tanks are used because the location of Liefmanns in that section of Flanders has a particular strain of wild yeast in the air. So the beer that is made at Liefmanns has a distinct sourness, which comes from lactic acid bacteria, which are a result of the open air fermentation. This form of fermentation is much like the fermentation at Cantillon brewery, and is a method historically used by many breweries in the Flanders region. However, only a select few breweries use the open fermentation method today. So breweries such as Liefmanns are keeping the traditional beers of Flanders alive. Overall, the day gave me a glimpse of the history of Flanders and how that history has influenced the region today.

Gesundheid!

Dubuisson and Het Anker

Yesterday was a bit of a crazy day. Our bus driver was supposed to meet us at a road near our hotel. He went to a road with the exact same name as the road near our hotel, the problem was that it was in a city 45 minutes away. So, the day got off to a late start. After finally catching our bus we went to our first brewery tour at Dubuisson, which was an hour and half drive away. The tour was slightly disappointing because, well, it wasn't a tour. They showed us a video and a gave us a few tastings of their beer. Regardless, it was interesting to see a brewery operating in such a rural area. The brewery was basically surrounded by farmland and there weren't any traces of a city anywhere nearby.

After Dubuisson we drove another hour and a half to Het Anker brewery, which was a much cooler experience. The first step of the brewery tour was a quick history lesson. Our tour guide told us that the brewery was started by women during the Crusades who brewed beer to use as a pain reliever in their hospital. The hospital still exists today and is directly across from the current brewery. The brewery itself is a mix of old and new. The brew tank and mash tun both looked weathered and older than most of the breweries we have seen, with the exception, of course, of Cantillon. We also got to see the old cool ship, which is no longer used in the brewing process, but was nonetheless very cool to see. The cool ship is what was formerly used to cool the beer after the boil in order to prepare it for fermentation. The cool ship worked because it was outside in open air, much like at Cantillon. Our tour guide did not mention anything about wild strains of yeast entering the beer, which one would expect when beer is exposed to the open air. I would expect that the beer at Het Anker probably had a sour taste, much like at Cantillon. After the brewery tour we got to taste a couple of their beers, which were powerful in aroma, flavor and alcohol content. So that is a brief synopsis of our day yesterday. Expect a blog about the differences in pub culture between here and Germany soon.

Salut Brussels!

We're off to a strong start in Brussels. Today we toured the Cantillon brewery, which is probably the tour I looked forward to most. It exceeded every one of my expectations. When we arrived at the brewery we entered into a rustic old building, which had an amazing, indescribable but unforgettable musty aroma. We then began our tour of the brewery. Our tour guide led us through each stage of the brewing process. She was extremely knowledgeable and nearly everything she said was something we had not heard before, which was surprising and refreshing considering how many brewery tours we have gone on so far. The reason for this was that there were some significant differences between this brewery and every other brewery we have visited up to this point. First of all, they boil the wort and hops for up to four hours, as opposed to the one hour that is typical in Germany. They boil for so long in order to evaporate some of the water from the wort which makes it more concentrated and results in a higher alcohol content in the final beer. Another fascinating aspect of the brewing process is that the brewer does not have the process set in stone. In other words, one day they might boil for three hours, while another day they boil for four, it all depends on how the brewer feels about the beer. In this sense, the brewers at Cantillon are much more in touch with their product than many of the brewers we met in Germany. Another major difference is the fermentation process. According to our tour guide, only about two percent of breweries in the world ferment their beer the same way as Cantillon. The process they use is called spontaneous fermentation, during which the beer is exposed to open air where the yeast live. Basically the only part of this process that the brewer can control is ensuring that he brews on days when the temperature outside is suitable for the yeast. Other than that he makes sure to use only natural paint throughout the brewery and steam is essentially the only cleaning agent used throughout the brewery. The lack of deep cleaning gives the brewery a beautiful rustic look and smell. Cobwebs are pervasive and the floors are sticky from beer that had overflowed. This tour was really an amazing experience and has changed my perspective of brewing as an art-form.

Santé

Tschüss Deutschland

So our time in Munich has unfortunately come to an end. We are now on train towards our next destination, Brussels. Munich was great, and now is a good time to reflect on some observations I made about the differences between Munich and Berlin. I did not have the chance to spend any substantial time with anybody who lived in either city. So I can only make observations about the people of Berlin and Munich based on what I saw throughout the cities as well as our short time with tour guides from each city. I also believe that the history of each city has a significant impact on the mentality of the people now. In Berlin, the history of wars and the division of the city have defined not only the layout of the city, but also the mentality of Berliners. Throughout Berlin there are reminders of its division as well as its Nazi past. For example, pieces of the Berlin wall are scattered throughout the city and serve as an obvious reminder of the city's division. The same is true in Munich. However, in Munich the evidence of its Nazi past is confined to museums.

People in Munich seem to base their identity partly on the idea that Bavaria is separate from the rest of Germany. Our tour guides in Munich made it clear, albeit in a slightly sarcastic way, that Bavarians see themselves as different from other Germans. An interesting side-note is that I, and I think along with many other Americans, see Bavarian culture (or at least what I observed in Munich) as typical German culture. The lederhosen, big beer halls with communal tables, and old-style architecture are all stereotypes associated with Germany. However, it seems that these aspects of Bavarian culture have largely been imported into the USA through our obsession with Oktoberfest and do not represent German culture as a whole. The idea that my former idea of German culture was based on a culture that does not necessarily see itself as German is definitely worth thinking about for awhile. Along with seeing themselves as different from the rest of Germany, Bavarians are a very proud group of people. This pride, again, was evident in our time with the tour guides (as well as the brewers who spoke at the VLB) who seemed genuinely proud to be Bavarians. The pride in being Bavarian extends, I think, to a pride in the history of the region. This pride in the history of the region is apparent in the buildings seen in the city center and throughout Munich. People in Munich have obviously made a concerted effort to retain an image of the past in the architecture of the city. This renovation of the past is not a new development in Munich. I visited the Müncher Stadtmuseum a couple days ago and one display showed how, even in the early 19th century, people in Munich were concerned about the modernization of the city and wanted to make sure to retain the image of "Old Munich." The desire to return to an earlier, romanticized era (at least in the architecture throughout the city) seems to be a persistent trait of people in Munich.

Berliners, on the other hand, seem to be much more fixated on the future. In general, reconstruction of the bombed buildings after WWII focused on creating a more modern city. The focus on modernity seems to be somewhat mirrored in the mentality of the people. Berliners seem to move at a faster pace than people in Munich. Its hard to point to any concrete examples of this besides people in Munich sitting at restaurants longer. However, the general feel of Berlin while walking through the city is that it moves faster and more energetically than Munich. The pub culture is also entirely different in Berlin as opposed to Munich. You do not find beer halls with big communal tables anywhere in Berlin and it was actually difficult for us to find a pub at all while in Berlin.

As I said, the histories of both cities seem to have had a significant impact on the mentality of the people living in them. Some of the impact of the history can be seen today in the layout of each city. Berlin was divided in half by the Wall for half a century, and you can still see differences between the two sections of the city. Berlin also does not have as defined of a city center as Munich. Rather, Berlin has multiple centers of activity throughout the city. Munich, on the other hand, extends out from the Altstadt (old city). The altstadt is the area of the city that used to be surrounded by the city wall. When looking at the map it is easy to see where the city wall previously stood. It is clear that Munich has been at a prime location for trade throughout its history and city fortifications were vital for its survival. Speaking of trade, access to water in both cities has had a tremendous impact on trade. In Munich, for example, the salt trade was an important income source because the salt was able to travel from the southeast to the northeast over water through Munich. However, a city that is located near a large body of water would have a distinct advantage over cities such as Berlin and Munich, which are located on rivers. So, there are some observations about Berlin and Munich, and now its time for a complete change of pace in Brussels. I'll keep the blog posted on how I handle the complete shock to my taste buds I will encounter with Belgian beers.

Prost

Beer and Robots

Today was a fun day. We woke up early this morning to go visit the BMW production plant, something I had been looking forward to ever since we got the itinerary. The BMW plant was impressive because of the unbelievable amount of automation involved in the production of the cars. In other words, robots do almost all the work at this BMW plant. We learned that this particular production plant is one of the only inter-city plants in the world. Because of its inner-city location, the plant cannot expand its facilities. Therefore, the engineers at this plant had to get really creative with the layout of the plant. This creativity was evident in the way all of the production equipment was arranged in a way that wasted absolutely zero space. I could not help but think back to the robots at Widmere that worked on the kegging line. These robots do work that no human could conceivably do and reduce the amount of error to almost zero.

After our tour of the BMW plant we visited the Ayinger Brewery. Ayinger resembled the BMW plant in the sense that it is one of the only fully-automated breweries in Germany. It is interesting to consider the effect that automation could have on the employment opportunities in the future. It is clear that jobs in manufacturing are going to continue to decline, and we saw some concrete evidence of that today. Ayinger only employs three people to watch over the brewing process. An fun sidenote is that the brewers at Ayinger are constantly in contact with the brewery through their cell phones. If something goes wrong at the brewery, then they get a notification on their phone. The fully-automated brewery was really cool to see, but it was the rest of the experience at Ayinger that captivated me. First of all, Ayinger is an independent, family-owned brewery, which is something that is rare these days in Germany. Second, our tour guide poured us samples of beer straight from the fermentation tanks. This was something that I had never experienced, and I have really been missing out. The beer was their Jahrhundert, which is a medium strength light lager. The beer is normally filtered but the beer straight from the fermentation tank was completely unfiltered. It had a fresh, full taste which was unlike anything I had tasted before. Third, there was awesome beer artwork throughout the brewery. And last but absolutely not least, we got to taste some beers after the tour. Ayinger is definitely a brewery I will support in the future and I will forever dream of my next vacation to Aying to visit the Ayinger brewery.

The Brewing Process

Here is a general outline of the brewing process. We have toured several breweries up to this point so we all have a good idea of the process of making beer. The brewing process consists of three main phases: the mash, the boil and fermentation.

In order to start the mashing process, the brewer needs malted barley. Brewers typically receive barley that has already been malted from an outside source. Here in Germany almost every brewery receives their malted barley from a malting plant in Bamberg. The malting process begins by soaking barley in water, which initiates the process of germinating the barley grains. Once the germination gets to the necessary stage, the barley is heated via hot air, which stops the germination process. The malted barley is then kilned for a amount of time that is dependent on the type of malt being produced. Light malts (such as pilsner malts) are not kilned nearly as long or as hot as darker malts (such as roast malt).

So the brewer receives his malted and kilned barley from his outside source and proceeds to begin his/her part in brewing process. The first step is to grind the malted barley into a powder, which is called the grist. The purpose of this step is to expose the fermentable sugars that are in the malted barley. The grist is then put into water that has already been heated to a certain temperature and left in the water for a certain amount of time. This step can vary a lot depending on the style of beer being brewed or the equipment available to the brewer. The most common variation is changing the temperature of the water, which influences the type of fermentable sugars created. A lower number of fermentable sugars essentially results in a thicker bodied beer.

After the mashing stage is completed, the hot sugary liquid is somehow filtered in order to remove the husks from the grain. The brewer can use a lauter tun, which filters out the husks using a false bottom. He/she could also simply use a filter. The resulting liquid is then transferred to the brew kettle, and the boil begins. At this point, the brewer adds hops at previously determined times during the boil. The hop addition times depend on whether the brewer intends to add bitterness or hop aroma. For bitterness hops are added at the beginning of the boil. For hop aroma the hops are added towards the end of the boil.

After boiling, the liquid is cooled and transferred to a fermentation tank where it undergoes two stages of fermentation, which I will cover more in depth later.

A Few Days in Munich

I've been neglecting the blog for the last few days, so now is a good time to get back on track. The first few days in Munich have been a blur, so hopefully writing out some of the things I've done will help to clear it up a bit. I will get deeper into the differences between Berlin and Munich in a later post and reserve this post for ramblings about what we've done over the last few days.
On Thursday we arrived in Munich and after wandering around the city we stumbled upon a classic "Stube" called Schneider-Weißbrauhaus where I had my first weißbier (which I wrote about a couple posts ago) as well as a couple of the best sausages I've ever had in my life. The atmosphere in this restaurant was entirely different from any restaurant we went to in Berlin. The waitresses wore dirndls, the woodwork just seemed "German," and nearly everybody in the restaurant was drinking a beer. This was a place where I felt very comfortable and happy. After I devoured my sausages and washed them down with my weißbier we moved on to another stube called Hacker-Pschorr where we all had another beer. This stube also had the feel of a typical Bavarian tavern, albeit with a slightly more modern feel. The night left me with a warm feeling inside, which was not just from the beers and sausages, but rather from the feeling of experiencing some authentic german culture.

The next day we leisurely woke up and went into the Altstadt (the old section of the city) where I got some homemade glühwein, which is the ultimate cold weather drink. We then decided to do some outdoor ice skating, which coincidently turned out to be the ultimate outdoor activity. As if we had somehow planned it, snow started to fall almost as soon as we started ice skating. If that isn't the epitome of the perfect way to spend an afternoon in Germany, then your crazy. That night we had dinner at one of the premier restaurants in Munich, Augustiner Braustuben. Now, this is not premier in the sense that you have to dress up and talk in low voices at the table. Nope, not at all. Augustiner typifies the German Bier Hall; big communal tables, waitresses clad in dirndls, and most importantly, beer served in one liter glasses. So we spent a raucous evening drinking beer and eating copious amounts of traditional German food.

On Saturday, we went on a walking tour of Munich and saw some of the main sights that are worth seeing in the city. More importantly, though, were the funny and interesting stories that the tour guide told us. One story involved the devil's footprint in a gothic style cathedral. The legend goes that people did not believe a cathedral of such magnificence could not have been constructed in such a short amount of time (20 years) so the architect must have had a contract with the devil. Apparently, the contract required the architect to build the cathedral without windows because, according to the devil's thinking, people would not worship in a place without light. However, the architect was clever and constructed the columns in a way that they hid the tall stained glass windows. When the devil went into the cathedral to make sure the architect had fulfilled his contract he could not see any windows but there was natural light inside, which caused him to stomp his foot in disgust/confusion, and created what will forever be known as the "devil's footprint."

Sunday (today) has been relaxing and exciting all at once. I woke up slowly and went into the city with Lindsey and our friend Mallory who was visiting from the Netherlands. We went back to Schneider-Weißbrauhaus and I had a Weißbeer and two Weißwürste (white sausages), otherwise known as the perfect food combo. The effervescent, crisp sweetness of the Weißbeer complemented the subtle richness of the Weißwürste in a way that brought both the beer and the sausages to a transcendent level of taste. To make the moment even better, a old style German band started playing while we were eating. After lunch we all went to the Englischer Garten, which is one of the biggest inner-city parks in Europe and is bigger than Central Park in New York. The main attraction, for me at least, of the park was the man made wave, which a few guys were surfing on. Yeah, you read that right, I watched surfing in Munich, in January. Awesome. After the park, Lindsey and I went to an art Museum, which was only one euro because it is Sunday, and the German government recognizes the value of subsidizing art and culture. It was an expansive art museum but was not difficult to see the entire thing in a couple of hours. My favorite part of the museum was the room which displayed early 17th century paintings by two Flemish painters of life in taverns. The paintings depicted rowdy farmers drinking beer, well-dressed merchants drinking in a civilized manner, and showed how a tavern may have looked during that time period in a Flemish country. It was interesting to see the difference in the paintings between the two artists. One artist, Adriaen Brouwer, seemed to always depicted alcohol in a negative light. The drunk farmers in his paintings were almost always fighting or getting in trouble somehow. He had a painting which showed a monk drinking as part of a group of down and out drunks (pictured below). I found this fascinating because my thesis last semester was on monastic brewing and I found that part of what caused the downfall of monastic brewing was the idea that it went against the religious ideal of rejecting worldly goods. It seems as if Adriaen Brouwer put that sentiment into his painting. He may have also been protesting against that lavish lifestyle of Catholic monks, which would make sense considering his paintings were done in the midst of the thirty-years war. Regardless, these paintings show how important beer has been in peoples lives, whether it be for good or bad, and it has become clear over the last couple weeks that beer and culture are inextricably linked to each other.