OnTap Magazine

associated with wine – we sit down for a tasting that covers all three ranges. The first bottle Hans opens is Epiclese, a beer-wine hybrid, half of which was aged in barrels and the rest in amphora before being blended back together. “One of the benefits of using amphora is that they help to soften alcohol,” says Hans. “If you want to make a 16% ABV beer, put it in an amphora – no-one would ever guess the strength!” And he is quite right. It is just after 10am and we all happily sit sipping on Epiclese, not for a second guessing that the beer is just shy of 10% ABV. No-one else is doing a beer like this Next we taste Sabbat, from the ‘Name of the Holy Spirit’ range, which focuses on spontaneous fermentation. It’s an uncarbonated beer aged in amphora for four months and flavoured with sea buckthorn, a tart berry indigenous to northern Europe. The beer is a masterful balance of acidity, salinity and tannins, so complex and refreshing you don’t miss the carbonation. “Beer doesn’t need carbonation,” says Hans. “In fact, carbonation is what makes it difficult to pair beer with multicourse dinners.” He talks a lot about high gastronomy and beer’s notable absence from fine dining menus. I am shocked to hear that even in Belgium, with its deep-seated respect for beer, the beverage is still largely ignored in a fine dining setting. “We are in a few Michelin star restaurants,” says Hans, “but I want our beers to be featured more. I want to be with the main course, not just served as an aperitif.” From the ‘Name of the Son’ range, which has yeast added by hand rather than yeast that floats in on the breeze, we sample Custodia, a beer kettle- soured with Greek yoghurt and later fermented with sourdough yeast. This is a place where beer nerds are truly at home and I am a little disappointed when our time at Heiling Hart comes to an end. We round off the tasting with Agape, a Lambic-style Chardonnay hybrid. The level of experimentation and innovation is remarkable, and something that we’ll see repeatedly on our four-day trip through Flanders. OLD STYLE, NEW TAKE The premises of Brouwerij t'Verzet are not quite as illustrious as at Heilig Hart. Marc De Keukeleire pours tasters of Glaurung, a sour, brandy barrel-aged quadrupel with smoked mango Ready to taste from the foeders at Alvinne The four foeders at t'Verzet are named after members of the Ramones, with the beer labels bearing the musicians' likenesses Koen Van Lancker in the t'Verzet barrel room Tasting time at t'Verzet Despite Belgium’s centuries-old beer culture, wine is still more common as an accompaniment to haute cuisine. But if you know where to look, Flanders does offer some fine opportunities to pair multi-course menus with great local beer. Highly recommended is GarageDays, a private dining experience that takes place in the converted garage of beer chef Hilaire Spreuwers. We hear Hilaire’s tales as he prepares plate after plate in front of us, a soundtrack of Metallica playing softly in the background. We feast on seven courses: seaweed caviar with a blended sour, scallops served with a local IPA, a decadent burrata dish with one of Hilaire’s own beers, for when he’s not entertaining diners in his home, he’s brewing small batch beers at a nearby brewery. There’s bass with Jerusalem artichokes, pork cheek with a bacon crumble and the gooiest, most decadent plate of cheese I have ever witnessed, paired with a seriously well aged beer – a 22-year old tripel Hilairehas been cellaring since the dawn of the millennium. It’s a truly special experience and one that you couldn’t have anywhere but Belgium. FOOD IN FLANDERS WORLD OF BEER ontapmag.co.za | Summer 2022 | 35