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Hi,
Yesterday afternoon, a great visit was done at one of Belgium's newest microbreweries.
That gorgeous place, located at Ruiselede, a 24 km away from Bruges, is called De Hoppeschuur Eet-en Brouwhuis (The Hop Barn Eat- and Brew House).
Inside our BBB brewery list simply mentioned as microbrewery Urthel.
Very strange to actually find so less online information about this really wonderful initiative.
Hence the time be right to do the research, and make this place more known to beer lovers throughout the whole world.
The place is really in the middle of nowhere. Not easy to find without GPS.
But once you have found it, you will be astounded about its location.
It's in fact in the middle of the Flanders fields, and next to a forest. Very appropriate when the Erthels fairy tale comes up again.
The mcrobrewery is housed inside the back place, and the tasting room just next to the brewery.
We were kindly welcomed by Bas Van Ostaden, the Dutch husband of brewmaster Hildegard.
Hildegard, who we see here on the picture, gave some great explainations about every step of the brewing process.
A great talk with Bas can already exclude alot of wrong rumours spread on many forums about the brand name Urthel being sold to Bavaria.
This definitely is not the case, and that's really some great news .
Hildegard gave us a great visit inside their really beautiful small brewery.
Everything is there - except a bottling machine - to produce great artisanal beers.
150 Litres per brew, and this only with he intention to sell the beer at that place only. Indeed, from tap.
Hildegard was kind to let us taste one of the next available beers.
Indeed, it's not ready yet. Filtering has not been done yet, but the actual brew is already delicious drinkable.
Tapped straight from the lager vat, and poured straight into our glasses.
A low alcohol (approx. 6 vol%) hazy blond beer, with great hoppy characteristics and refreshing orange peel flavours.
A great springtime beer this is, and readily available starting from next week.
That small microbrewery really is a "play toy" for Hildegard, who wants to produce every now and then another experimental brew for the second tap.
That's really interesting, knowing that after every monthly visit, you will nearly always have another beer from that second tap.
Here's that beer that isn't ready yet. It even has no name yet either.
The two beers from tap at this moment!
Home brewed Urthel Saisonnière. This time brewed with hops from Poperinge. A different brew compared with the Koningshoeven brewed Saisonnière.
AND..... again only available at this place !!
The two beers on the left and right side of the Saisonnière were a complete surprise tio me.
From tap and such a delight !!!
Urthel Kruisbergse Tripel, brewed with Spalt and Magnum hops - first try on the new brewing outfit.
A beer that immediatly blew me away. Wow, what an amazing fruity triple this is!
Wonderful flowery hopped, perfect sweetish, creamy, and that spicy-fruity touch. Quite a stunning piece of brewing craftsmanship.
This is the beer that has convinced me to come to this place as much as possible. Really top-notch !
Here's a close-up from Urthel Kruisbergse Tripel, only available at the tasting room from tap.
Ofcourse, more Urthel beers are on offer.
Here's the beer and drinks menu. You can click for big and readable.
Urthel Samaranth, that wonderful 12vol% quadrupel, was such a treat really.
Really exceptional quality at democratic prices.
To give it that more realism, I even made a 3D-image.
For those who are capable to produce 3D images with crossing the eyes, please feel free to click the image into much bigger and much more realistic.
Note that De Hoppeschuur also wants to bring great cuisine.
Hildegard has obtained her degree cooking, and this means that quality food will be offered on location, made by Hildegard herself.
Also very interesting to mention is that the local produces 150 litres batches of beer will be specially made to pair the food she's cooking.
This really is quite unique, because this time it's the way round, i.e. it's actually the beer that is made to perfectly match the dishes.
Never seen this before, but this will become some reality in the very near future.
More pictures were made. Too many to fit inside this article.
When clicking the picture here above, a pictorial impression about our visit will show up.
Well, that's a bit what we experienced yesterday afternoon.
A really excellent beery treasure, where food and beer are greatly paired to satisfy all customers.
Congrats to Hildegard and Bas for achieving this remarkable initiative !
Cheers,
Filip
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