Being a new, non-traditional craft brewer in Belgium is tough. Especially, if you don’t have a company owned brewing facility.

Hailing from a land where beer brewing is almost as regulated as wine making is in France, De Struise Bouwers is turning the heads of craft beer enthusiasts all over the world.

Although the name Struise has roots in the old Flemish word for “ostrich”, it is most commonly used as a contemporary slang term meaning “sturdy” or “tough”. The preferred English translation of De Struise Bouwers is “The Sturdy Brewers.” However, the ostrich aspect to the title also plays an important role in the Struise brand. The owners also manage an ostrich farm in West Flanders and many of their labels feature ostriches.

Founded in 2003 by ambitiously creative homebrewers, De Struise Brouwers has recieved much criticism for its lack of a company brewing plant. Instead, it “hires” brewing facilities to produce its unique concoctions. Struise originally produced beers at the Caulier brewery in northern Hainaut. As of 2006, Struise has been using the Deca brewing facility in Woesten-Vleteren in West Flanders.

According to its annual members’ poll, RateBeer.com declared Struise “the best brewer in the world” for 2008. This feat should not be taken lightly.

Once upon a time, De Struise Brouwers were approached by Chris Lively, the brewery’s good friend and owner of Ebenezer’s pub in Lovell, Maine – which has been named Best Beer Pub on Planet Earth on several occasions. Chris asked the owners at Struise to brew a special beer Ebenezer Pub’s 3rd Annual Belgian Beer Festival.

For this event, De Struise Brouwers refused to brew just any old beer. They were intent on brewing a special ale for their special friends for their special event. And special they created.

Instead of merely creating a new beer, Struise decided to create a completely new style of beer in honor of the event. The result was a BELGIAN ROYAL STOUT, which they named Black Albert – referring to the beer style (blacker than black stout) and to the Belgian Crown (King Albert).

A few nights back I enjoyed an evening of fine beer drinking with some fine friends at Red Light Red Light (my favorite beer bar in Orlando). My good friend Dominick made the excellent decision to purchase a bottle of Black Albert for the group of us to taste. Naturally, I recorded our tasting notes on the BeerPad application on my iPhone.

De Struise Brouwers BLACK ALBERT

“Black Albert was brewed and crafted with a 100% Belgian ingredients. Pours a blacker than black beer with an inch of dark tan head that lingers as it cascades into itself. Nice aroma of bitter-sweet chocolate, fresh torrified coffee beans, barley, candy sugar, complex fruits, and floral hops. At the front, there is spiced baker’s chocolate, fresh mocha, caramel like barley touches, and underlying hints of dried fruits which marries the back of your palate and features a Top, and well integrated but not overbearing hop flavour. The after-taste is well balanced and shows a panorama of extreme sensations like chocolate and coffee bitters, a plum cake richness that covers the palate, and a crisp impression of hop bitters that brings elegance and freshness into this massive brew.”

Style: Belgian Royal Stout

Numbers: 100 IBU (oh hells yes) … 160 EBU (dark as night) … 13% ABV (feel the burn)

Brewery: De Struise Brouwers

Region: Belgium

Pairings: Cheese, Smoked & Dried Meats, Dessert, Game (Venison especially)

Color: Blacker than black with a caramel head.

Carbonation: Moderate carbonation. Small head that dissipates quickly. Virtually no lacing.

Aroma: Rich coffee, dark chocolate, toasted malt, caramelized brown sugar

Mouthfeel: Thick, rich, oily … very heavy. (Lighter fluid anyone?)

Flavor: Dark chocolate, bitter cacao nibs, roasted coffee beans, espresso. Slight astringency. Very bitter.

Finish: Extremely bitter finish (just the way Wenchie likes it)! The alcohol content is extremely noticeable – yet not too overwhelming. Finish is long lasting – like taking a bite of good dark chocolate.

Comments: “Theobroma without the bullshit.” – Glen

“It reminds me of a high-end espresso vodka – uber smooth, yet the alcohol is apparent.” -The Beer Wench

“If I poured this in my gas tank, my car would run.” - The Beer Wench

Following the launch of Black Albert , Chris Lively of Ebenezer’s Pub had the brilliant idea to age some of it in bourbon oak barrels. Originally the plan was to age Black Albert on “Four Roses” bourbon barrels and name the resulting product “Four Black Roses”. The barrel aging experiment was a success, but Struise was strongly advised against using the “Four Black Roses” name for its newest creation.

Before bottling, Struise allowed some professional beer sommeliers to taste the beer from the barrel. These honored few declared the bourbon barrel-aged Black Albert as a work of art. Coincidentally, the only offspring of King Albert is involved in art. And so Struise named its concoction Cuvee Delphine.

Cvuee Delphine’s launch is tentatively scheduled for the end of January 2009. Unfortunately, an export program for Cuvee Delphine is currently nonexistent. According to the label, Struise will be offering Cuvee Delphine via its web shop as well as in some specialty pubs in Belgium.

I would absolutely love to get my hands on this ale … hint hint. I will post additional information as I receive it.

CHEERS!

As fate would have it, I was introduced to Birrificio del Ducato Krampus on the evening December 5th. The reason that tasting this particular ale on that specific evening was so significant is because, according to German (and some Slavic) tradition, the Krampus (roving bands of demon-like characters) take to the streets to terrorize children, accost women, and wreak general havoc on the village on the evening on December 5th. The following day, December 6th, is the feast of St. Nicholas.

Unfortunately I did not know the story before drinking the beer … and was unable to translate the one on the bottle in entirety at the bar. In retrospect, it would have been fun to dress up as a Krampus and terrorize the town. Perhaps this will become a future party theme or ritual …

The story on the Birrificio del Ducato Krampus bottle is as follows: La notte del 5 dicembre, i Krampus si aggirano fra le vie ed i vicoli dei paesini dell’arco alpino. Coperti da pelli di montoni, con corna e zampe di capra, agitando le loro nere catene, terrorizzano gli abitanti dei villaggi. È il preludio dell’arrivo del Vescovo San Nicola (antico precursore de Babbo Natale) che riporterà la pace, dolci e doni nella comunità. Una birra dedicata al Natale, calda ed avvolgente, dalle tenue speziatura. Ideale per aspettare lálba accanto al focolare, al riparo dalle incursioni del demoni.

The Wench’s version (using a combination of several online translations): On the night of December 5th, the Krampus are estimated to stand between the streets and alleys of little villages of the Alps covered in hides and skins of sheep, with horns and feet of goat, shaking their black chains, and terrorizing the inhabitants of the villages. This is the prelude to the arrival of the Bishop San Nicola (ancient precursor de Santa Claus) bringing peace, sweets and gifts to the community. A beer dedicated to Christmas, warm and enveloping, from tenuous speziatura (the definition of speziatura evades me …) Ideal for waiting by the fireplace, protected from the incursions of the demons.

Next year, The Wench is totally hosting a Krampus party … accompanied with crazy costumes, complete havoc and debauchery. And, of course, it would not be complete without lots of women & child terrorizing! Hopefully, Birrificio del Ducato Krampus will be accessible for this occasion.

Enough about folklore and tradition. Time to get down to business.

Located in Parma, Birrificio del Ducato is one of Italy’s up-and-coming microbreweries.

Its brewmaster, Giovanni Campari, is a second generation Italian craft brewer. As with most craft brewers, Giovanni got his roots from homebrewing. However, boasting a degree in Food Science and Technology, Gio is more learned in the science aspect of brewing than most homebrewers. (Source: StarChefs.Com)

Before becoming professional brewmaster, Gio went to finishing school at Birrificio Italiano – one of Parma’s oldest craft breweries (dating back to 1996). Birrificio Italiano brewmaster, Agostino Arioli, helped Gio develop recipes for what would eventually become his first commercial brews.

This year, accompanied by his Pilsner, Saison & Imperial Stout, Gio became the first Italian brewer to compete in the World Beer Cup.

Once again, I am truly lucky to have amazing friends! I met up with my friend Dominick, a true-blood Italian and booze connoisseur, at our favorite local beer bar – Red Light Red Light. Actually, it is more than just my favorite local beer bar. It is quite possibly the best beer bar that I have ever come across. (The Map Room in Chicago is a very close second).

I was smart enough to whip out my iPhone for proper documentation of the our Krampus experience. Here are the notes from all the Krampus tasters that evening (as broken down by Beer Pad):

Beer Name: Krampus

Description: Italian Christmas Ale spiced with star anise.

Style: Winter Beer

Brewery: Birrificio del Ducato

Region: Parma, Ilaty

Pairings: Cheese, Pork, Red Meat, Seafood

Color: Golden Amber

Carbonation: Mild carbonation, decent lacing that dissipates quickly …

Aroma: Star anise (duh!), hints of cinnamon, “has the essence of a cedar bowl that once held potpourri”… “smells like walking into a country time store or antique shop”… “Krampus is Christmas in a bottle!”

Mouthfeel: Light to moderate body, fairly mild finish, alcohol is virtually undetectable

Flavor: Mild black licorice from the star anise, slight vinegar taste, moderate acidity, sour yeast, low malt presence in the taste

Comments: “I thought this was an amazing Christmas Ale. Italians make fucking crazy beers!” -Dominick

“This beer [almost] makes me like Christmas … or at least it will make it more tolerable! Bahhhh humbug!” -The Wench

(PS: I actually really liked it … I just wanted to be a Scrooge.)

Cheers!

There is nothing worse than going to an amazing beer bar, drinking ridiculously extraordinary beers … and NOT being able to blog about it because intoxication and memory loss usually ensues consumption.

In the past, I brought a notepad with tasting & rating sheets to bars. More often then not, the sheets got ruined and/or lost. Eventually, I stopped.

I usually regret not being able capture my beer drinking adventures in writing, especially when I get the opportunity to taste super obscure and limited release beers.

But have no fear, my friends. There is a solution to my problem.

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s SUPER I-Phone.

Ok. I understand that not everyone has the same sentiment that I do for Apple. But regardless of your stance on the iPhone, I guarantee that the iPhone Beer Pad application will impress you.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Beer Pad is the iPhone app for the fine beer aficionado. Once you install Beer Pad, you will always have your beer notes with you; right on your iPhone. Beer Pad goes beyond a paper notebook full of tasting notes.

With Beer Pad you can:
- Record the beer name, price, rating, color, carbonation, aroma, finish and your personal comments
- Use pre-populated lists of category descriptions such as style, brewery, region and pairing for easy cataloging
- Rate the beers you try
- Take a picture of the beer bottle or use a picture from your photo library for future reference

Beer Pad will also:
- Remember the beers that you really liked
- Let you browse your favorite beers by style, brewery, region and pairing
- Help you search through your long lists of tasting notes with an advanced search feature
- Help you further your personal beer experience

Beer Pad costs $4.99 and, in my opinion, it is totally worth it.

At this moment, I only have tasting notes on 4 beers saved. Typically, I get too consumed by the excitement of tasting and drinking cool beers and completely forget about using the Beer Pad application.

The other night, I finally remembered to use it. My first experience using Beer Pad was at Red Light Red Light, dubbed the 4th best beer bar in the world by Rate Beer. My fellow beer geeks and I were sitting around tasting several interesting and hard to find beers. I remembered Beer Pad and whipped it out to show my friends. Like me, they were pretty impressed and they helped collaborate on some beer notes.

The creators of Beer Pad have developed similar applications for other beverages, such as wine and whiskey.

My only gripe about Beer Pad is actually not a fault of the application itself, but of the iPhone. Beer Pad allows you to download images, which is really great. BUT, the iPhone does not have a flash and images taken by it in bars (which are typically very dark) usually do not come out.

I look forward to using my notes from Beer Pad for future blog posts.

If you have an iPhone and love beer, this application (or one of its siblings) may be of interest to you.

Cheers!!!