A Hoppy Weekend In Poperinge

Sidewalk hops

Most days it is pretty cool to be living in the center of Mons. After all, the Grand Place is literally in our back yard meaning we are mere steps away from the weekly markets, numerous museums, local festivals year around and more cafes and restaurants than we could ever eat at. But I said most days. Some days, or weekends, the ensuing crowds and rowdiness associated with the afore mentioned festivals are a reason to flee rather than stay. We learned our lesson during last year's Dou Dou festival meant closed streets, piles of discarded cups and cans and drunken crowds so large that that city workers came down our street at three in the morning armed with street vacuums and power washers. With this in mind we made plans to get out of town during this year's festival and as such, spent the past weekend exploring the Belgian town of Poperinge.

Our goal was to simply get out of town and we chose Poperinge due in part to its proximity--less than two hours from our home, it flat rolling land criss crossed with bicycle lanes and it plethora of breweries. We experienced all of this but what we discovered was really so much more.

We started off the weekend at a lovely bed and breakfast set amongst the fields of West Flanders. We didn't have any real plans upon our arrival but our hosts were quick to make suggestions which set our course for the weekend. First up was bike riding on the well maintained and dedicated bicycle lanes of the area. (Such things simply do not exist in our little part of Belgium). Our route took us through farm land filled with animals and crops and of course the hops stands which the area is famous for. Our ride was so peaceful with the only traffic being tractors and other cyclists. Living in a city it is all too easy to forget how rural parts of the country still are but there was no ignoring it during our ride. And as we quickly discovered, if you are a riding enthusiast, this little western corner of Belgium is the place to ride. Not only are paths well maintained but they are equally well marked with sign posts directing you at each intersection. And with this being Belgium, we were never too far from a local brewery or cafe. So close that we were able to have lunch at and then buy a few bottles of one of our favorite beers to take home. We also made a mid-afternoon pitstop at another cafe and enjoyed yet another local brew while Sidney romped around on the playground.

Beer, the reason Belgian bicycles have
front baskets

But I really want to return to the discussion of hops. I knew that a lot of hops is grown in the Poperinge region, after all there is more than one statue paying homage to the crop and the town is home to a hops festival where people actually dress up like the plant. Our bed and breakfast sat in a field that was filled with hops and pictures of our hosts harvesting hops adorned the walls. Even the windows of the local cathedral have hop themed stained glass. Yes, hops is serious business in Poperinge.

And this hoppy message was driven home when we visited the Hopsmuseum. This little museum, tucked off of the main street, walks visitors through the complete history of hops and hop farming in Belgium. For those not in the know, hops is a key component of beer, so it makes sense that it is a flourishing crop in a country that is renowned for its beer. In fact, 70% of the hops grown in Belgium is grown right in Poperinge. (It also grows throughout much of Europe as well as Asia and North America). One might even call it a weed since it grows at a rate of up to 10 centimeters a day. But to beer enthusiasts, it is the vital ingredient that makes beer, well, beer.

Using individual handheld guides, visitors to the Hopsmuseum explore four floors dedicated to the story of hops. There are the legends---according to some hops was first grown by Lucifer and is the weed of the devil. Then there are the facts---hops is the economic engine of the West Flanders region. Native Americans considered hops to be the cure for insomnia and persistent headaches. Hops thrives in areas with sandy soil and lots of rain which is one of the reasons it grows so well in this part of Belgium. Hops grow in both the male and female varieties but it is the female varieties that are welcome in the hops fields. Along the way there is the opportunity to smell various varieties of the plant, with each having their own distinct aroma. These are but just a few of the hops related facts I learned during our tour.

We visited the museum at the end of our weekend and it seemed fitting. After all, we had already cycled through the hops fields, taken in the hops related statues and sampled the end product of hops. Visiting the museum just completed the picture for us. A weekend in Poperinge made for the perfect respite from the temporary craziness of Mons. We enjoyed it so much that we are already making plans to go back. There are still more bicycle routes to peddle, beers to try and Belgian history to explore. I can't wait.

Paying homage to hops in Watou

Welcome to Poperinge, where hops is king

If you go:

Hopmuseum
Gasthuisstraat 71
B-8970 Poperinge, Belgium
hopmuseum@poperinge.be
+32 0 57 33 79 22
www.hopmuseum.be
Open daily 10.00-18.00, closed Mondays
Adults 6 Euro, children under 6 Free

Poperinge Tourist Office
Grote Markt 1
Poperinge, Belgium
+32 0 57 34 66 76

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Our Belgian Beer Road: Brasserie Dupont

It all started with this:

The book that started it all

I first spotted the book when we were sitting on the patio of a brasserie in Waterloo. The man at the table next to us was consulting the book before ordering and I was intregued. So much so that I made note of it and surprised Glenn with his own copy for his birthday. And since he received it, he too has been pouring over it and plotting out our Belgian beer adventures. And I first one took us here; to Tourpes, Belgium (a short 20 minute drive from Mons) to Brasserie Dupont.

So many beers (including five organic varieties) to
taste and chose from

The DuPont family got their start in 1920 when Alfred DuPont, with the hope of preventing his son from emigrating to Canada, gifted his son Louis with a farm and brewery in the Belgian countryside. The original brewery dated back to 1759 and Louis worked under the tutelage of the original owners to learn the craft of brewing beer. He started out brewing two varieties of beer using locally grown barley which he laboriously malted on site. The beer was originally distributed locally with horse drawn carts and it wasn't until after World War II that the brewery purchased their first truck. As the brewery changed hands from one generation to the next new techniques were introduced and the variety of beers produced expanded. Under the next generation of ownership the brewery began producing bottom fermented beers in addition to their traditional top fermented ones. The brewery has expanded their production capacity and modernized with each generation and after a fire in 1988 they began purchasing their malted barley rather than making it themselves.

Today Dupont remains a family run business, is a member of the Belgian Family Brewers and brews ten beers, half of which are organic. The brewery and shop are thoroughly modern but like so many Belgian breweries, they are nestled behind the original walls and amidst the brick structures of their original foundations. In 1997 the brewery was named one of the ten best in the world at the World Beer Championship. They brew 19,000 hectolitres of beer a year export their beer throughout Europe as well as to the United States, Canada and Japan so chances are you can find a bottle someplace near you. Their top rated beers include a stout, their Saison Dupont and a Moinette Blonde but my personal favorite was their Brune. But honestly, I liked all of the ones I tried and look forward to trying even more from the variety pack we put together.

And if the beer isn't enough for you, since 1995 they have also been making their own cheese--with beer of course. I sampled two cheeses during my visit. The first one was a slightly pungent washed rind spreadable cheese which was quite tasty on top of crackers. The other was a firmer cheese malt and hops Moinette which tasted very much like beer and quite addictive. And as I later found out, made for a great filling for a grilled cheese sandwich.

Tours are available by reservation only for groups between 35 and 50 people. But if you aren't a part of a group, stop in anyway. The day we visited the staff spoke a bit of English and were eager to let us sample their beers and the cheese. You can buy one of the pre-packaged gift sets or put together your own variety pack of beers and glasses.


If you go:

Brasserie Dupont
Rue Basse 5
7904 Tourpes, Belgium
+32 69 67 10 66
contact@brasserie-dupont.com
www.brasserie-dupont.com

Direct sales : Monday-Friday 08.30- 12.00 & 13.00-17.30; Saturdays from 09.00-13.00

Our Belgian Beer Road: The Beer Of Brasserie St Feuillien

Beer and Belgium are pretty synonymous. After all when I first found out that we were moving to Belgium it was one of the first things I thought of (after NATO and before chocolate). I wasn't a huge fan of beef before we moved here but I must say that this national drink is growing on me. Since we've been here we've been enjoying discovering all of the beer that Belgium has to offer. Part of the fun for us is trying new (to us) varieties. I am apt to regularly bring home a few different bottles of beer from the grocery store with the hope of finding something new that we like. No beer has been bad, quite a few have been really good and some are so good they have us seeking out the brewery themselves. Our recent discovering of St Feuillien beer was one of those beers and much to our delight, thanks to Google, we discovered that the brewery is literally right down the road from us. So of course we had to go visit and that is just what we did on a recent Saturday afternoon.

The history of the brewery dates back to the 7th century when an Irish monk traveled to what was then called the Continent to preach the gospel. In 655 he was martyred and beheaded in what is now the town of Le Roeulx. Hid disciples later built a chapel on the site with the chapel eventually becoming the Abbey of St-Feuillien du Roeulx in 1125. Monks have  brewed beer for centuries and thus the tradition of a St Feuillien brewery was born. Today Brasserie St Feuillien is located on the same site of the former abbey and has been owned by the same family for four generations. The beers of St Feuillien are recognized for their quality and continue to win international awards at competitions across the globe.

The brewery itself recently moved their operations out of their original building and into a newly constructed adjacent one so that they could keep up with the demand for the product. (They remain on the same site however so they can continue to have ready access to the spring that has always served as their water source). During our tour we were able to visit both the new and old facilities. In the original building we climbed up three stories to view the gravity operated brewing and distilling tanks. We were able to sample some of the grains and the hops that are used in the brewing process. Our group was large but the bi-lingual guide talked all of us through the brewing process, explaining every step in their

Taste testing the grain (which was declared to be "yummy"

brewing process as well as answering questions about the history of the brewery. Home brewing is a relatively new concept in Belgium (with so many wonderful beers readily available throughout the country there really isn't a need to brew it yourself), but there were home brewers amongst the group so a lot of questions were asked. From our third floor perch we could look down into the old brewing tanks before working our way down the stairs and out to the new brewery.

A few kegs awaiting consumption

Whereas the original building had antique charm, the new facility was nothing if not modern with giant steel tanks and an automated bottling system that immediately made me think of the assembly lines seen on Laverne & Shirley. The new brewery is designed to do everything on a much larger scale. Here everything is concrete and stainless steel but the process for brewing and the quality of the beer remain the same. Only the quantity that is produced has changed. This was evidenced by the soaring stacks of kegs that filled much of the floor area.

Of course the best part of the tour was the sampling that came at the end of the tour. (There was orange juice available for the younger or non-beer drinking crowd). The final stop on the tour was the pub where we were able to try all of the beers that were currently available. And by sample I'm talking about full sized glasses of beer, which of course was served in the proper glasses. (Belgians are religious about serving their beer in the correct glass. And each beer does have its own glass). Like I said earlier, we had tried several types of St Feuillien beer before but during our visit we were able to also try ones that were new to us. We already knew we liked the bruin but Glenn really enjoyed both their Saison and Grand Cru. My favorites were on opposite ends of the spectrum; since we've been in Belgium I've discovered fruit beers and I really liked the mixed berry Grisette which was light and refreshing rather than sweet. And because it is the season, the spicy and heavy Christmas inspired Cuvee de Noel. Before we left we bought a few bottles of our favorites to take home with us along with a glass (because even at home Belgian beer must be consumed out of the proper glass).

Sampling a beer or two

And for you American based fans of Belgian beer, St. Feuillien is distributed in the United States and is set to expand its footprint even further. On the day of our visit one of the owners was on an exploratory trip to Boston and Chicago in the hopes of expanding their market. So look for St. Feuillien on shelves near you. If you find it, try it. It has become one of my favorite beers.

If you go:

Brasserie St- Feuillien
Rue d'Houdeng 20
7070 Le Roeulx Belgium
info@st-feuillien.com
www.st-feuillien.com
+32 498 86 41 82

Individual tours on Saturdays at 14.00
Group tour can be arranged at other times
6 Euros for adults, 3 Euros for children over 6 includes tour and generous samples

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