This article is part of a series, please read the previous article here: A European Pilgrimage – Pt. 1
Our next stop stood in great contrast to Schlenkerla. A winding journey through many small towns south of Brugges brought us finally to De Dolle, the “mad brewers”. When we arrived, De Dolle’s head brewer, Kris, was wearing a black jumper, black work pants and purple loafers. The walls of his brewery are filled with portraits of friends and colleagues that he drew. Much like his beer they are wacky, lively and quite charming. One thing became evident quite quickly, despite Kris’s eccentricities, his brewery exudes quaint Belgian farmhouse charm. Unlike most modern breweries, there is little here in the way of shiny stainless steel. Despite the seemingly ancient equipment the brew-house has an air of immense energy and spirit.
Kris’s most famous beer, Oerbier, was the beer he first homebrewed. His first introduction to beer at a young age was through stouts and Oerbier reflects this. The “Oerbier Man” who adorns the beer’s label, is also plastered on the facade of the brewery. The Oerbier man is actually a yeast cell with a mash rake in one hand and a goblet full of beer in the other. De Dolle originally used Rodenbach’s yeast slurry but when the brewery stopped distributing its yeast Kris had to switch. His current house strain has evolved much since the discontinuation of the use of Rodenbach yeast and has taken on its own, more unique characteristics. After being toured around the brewhouse Kris took us to the barrel room where Oerbier Special Reserva and Stille Nacht Reserva live in their barrels. This barrel aging program was started entirely by accident. Kris had 200 bottles of beer that were exploding due to extremely high levels of carbonation. He was not sure what to do with this seemingly unsellable beer but decided to age the beer in wine barrels. Kris has only 9 barrels. The beer, after aging, is re-fermented with wine yeast as the resultant alcohol level renders the liquid intolerable to his house yeast strain. Kris let us taste Oerbier that had been in the barrel for 4 years, it was stunning to say the least. These barrels work magic, as does his yeast.
After De Dolle we headed to an equally funky brewery – Picobrouwerij Alvinne. Alvinne is in a very unassuming industrial park in Moen, Belgium. The only indication of the brewery’s presence in this building is a sign on its façade that says “Morpheus yeast inside”. Alvinne’s famous and signature Morpheus yeast strain was captured in the cheese-making region of the Auvergne in France. This complex culture is responsible for the mystifying fermentation that Alvinne’s beers undergo. It is composed of two different saccharomyces strains and a lactobacillus strain. Apparently these strains can only survive in the presence of each other. Davy told us that the culture was taken to a University lab where they attempted to separate the different components of the culture but every strain when separated, died. This culture is remarkably unusual.
Davy, the brewmaster, gave us a tour of his very small brewery. Currently, Davy is the only one working at his brewery – he is in charge of everything. As Davy poured Wild Undressed straight from the 75hL foudre that it was resting in, he explained to us that he hates stylistically categorizing beer. Wild Undressed is a perfect example. One could say that it leans towards being a Flemish Oud Bruin but its time in a foudre and its yeast characteristics do not make it comfortably fit that mould. Categorizing any of Davy’s beer is extremely difficult. Davy is constantly experimenting and when he sat us down for a tasting, it was baffling how many different beers he brewed in his one-man brewery. One of his most recent creations is called Alvino. Its base is Wild West but with the addition of grapes that were grown in Davy’s garden, it is then blended with 10% Kerasus before bottling. Alvinne was a treat, although a short visit, Davy made quite the impression.
Paul and I headed to our penultimate destination, Domaine Familial Louis Dupont. Driving through Normandy, France causes one’s jaw to drop to the floor. The landscape of Normandy is stunningly rustic. Pulling up to Domaine Dupont causes one to be light headed. The Domaine seems genuinely unreal. It is picture perfect. Here, Paul and I met Jerome Dupont. Jerome took us to a neighboring orchard where he sources some of his fruit. Here we became closely familiar with the soil that makes Normandy cider so unique. Geologically, Normandy is perfect for cider production and it is the geology that also makes it so different. The soil itself is not particularly deep; underneath most of the soil is shale rock. Because of this, Normandy is a poor region for any crop growth. Tillage is impossible, as the soil simply cannot support mass amounts of crops. This is why animal husbandry is the most common and viable economic option on these farms – cows are everywhere.
Despite the poor crop yields, apples enjoy a distinct growth advantage for the cider producer. The fruit ends up being extremely small and concentrated due to the poor soil. Their compact size is due to the lack of water uptake, which typically waters down the distinct characteristics of the apple itself. The harvest begins in September but is then quiet until November when the rest of the varietals are ready. The apples themselves are not picked from the trees, they are allowed to fall off of the tree and then they are harvested. After being crushed the juice is extracted and fermentation begins immediately due to the wild yeast residing on the skins of the apples.
Jerome showed us the fiberglass fermentation vessels and the cider inside was complete with its “Chapeau Brun”, the “brown hat” so important to the production of Cider in Normandy. This “brown hat” is formed at the beginning of fermentation. Dupont does everything they can to encourage its formation, chiefly by lowering the temperature of the liquid itself to temporarily halt fermentation. The brown hat then begins to form; it is made up of pectins which gather and begin to rise up through the liquid. In this process, it is filtering the cider and removing many of the unwanted flavor and aroma compounds. This brown hat is also crucial in allowing a slow fermentation that encourages weaker aromatic yeasts to work first before the stronger yeasts take over. Once the brown hat reaches the top of the liquid and the yeast drops out to the bottom of the fermenter, it is quickly transferred to avoid breaking the brown hat and releasing many nasty compounds back into the liquid. The ciders of Domaine Dupont define the word terroir. The wild fermentation of the cider, with fruits so unique to the region leads to a product that almost tastes like Normandy makes one feel.
Our final stop was a short one but a fun one. A quick drive to Paris brought us to La Goutte D’Or, a tiny brewery in the 18th arrondissement. The brewery is very very tiny. It is hard to stress its small size. Despite this, their beer is not small in flavor. Their beer is personal and vibrant. We met with the assistant brewer Fred, who, while he’s not brewing with head brewer Thierry, is studying brewing at a University close to Paris. La Goutte D’Or is packed with talent and huge potential.