Walk through The Front Door in Galway and the ear-splitting volume of the music and the size of the fashionable crowd spilling between the first and second floors might deceive you into thinking that you have stumbled into a nightclub in Manhattan.
While Oregon and Washington, Colorado, Maine or California amongst others saw explosive craft brewery growth, the Southeastern states seemed trapped in light lager culture and a persistent prohibitionist mindset. Beer remained stuck at sports bars and tailgating parties.
Though it was bragging rights that first enticed me to head to the Norwegian town of Tromsø to whet my whistle at the northernmost brewery in the world, my tune soon changed. Here in these arctic climes, getting the low-down on this beer-biased nation’s attitudes is all a part of the social call.
Walk down the aisles of any well-stocked beer store and you will notice there is a quiet revolution taking place. Caged-corked champagne-style bottles of Belgian-inspired beer are invading the shelves. If you have stopped to wonder who is responsible, blame Canada. Specifically, blame Quebec.
Canada is a culturally diverse nation. While the United States is more of a melting pot, Canada celebrates its cultural diversity. With less than 33 million people spread over almost 4 million square miles, to say that there are great expanses between Canada’s major centers would be a mild understatement. But this geographic separation has helped the populated areas of Canada maintain unique cultures.
This Flemish area of Belgium, nicknamed “Hoppeland,” is nestled against the French border and, in a country known for more than 800 beers, has the distinctive honor of being called the “brewers’ corner of Belgium.” There, five breweries are located less than a 10-minute drive from downtown Poperinge: the reclusive Trappist brewery of St. Sixtus, Van Eecke, De Bie, Leroy and St. Bernadus. So what better part of Belgium to plan to visit than where the hop cone and beer itself is most revered, treasured, respected and celebrated.
Sat Aug 28th, 2010
Birth of a Brewery
It’s rare that a beer lover gets to watch a brewery being born. However, years ago I offered a young man a job at the magazine for no apparent reason...
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