Jessenhofke Bruin

It is sometimes hard to explain to people what we get out of living in another country. If you had asked us two years ago, what European country we would most like to live in, I don't think Belgium would have made the top 5, maybe not the top ten. For us, Belgium seems to be a good starter country for an expat experience. It is quite cosmopolitan, so language is less of an issue than in some countries. The people are genuinely friendly and accomodating. And there is the food and beer that I speak about frequently. So when we have vistors, as we do now with my in-laws in town, it can be difficult to relate what this experience is like. I think however, it is as much about experiencing the differences. Moving to another country removes the ability to rely upon routine. It forces you to not be in your comfort zone, to try new things and to push your boundaries. Unlike a vacation visit, there is no safety net of a plane ticket home. In this experience we have to make this home. We have to create new routines that align more readily with our new environment. These are not better routines, they are different. I think what we get out of this most is expanding our experiences and our ability to deal with the differences that they present.

Enough deep thoughts, this is a beer blog after all. Tonight's trial is the Jessenhofke Bruin. After the excellent experience with this beer's sibling, She who must be obeyed purchased the Bruin so I could give it a go. I was very much looking forward to it after the blonde but as so often happens, the sibling does not live up to the level of its predecessor. This Bruin is heavy on the caramel and malt without much hop to balance the beer. It has a very pronounced grain flavor, almost as though there were some unfermented wort mixed in with the beer. It is interesting but not inspiring. Three Drunk Monks.

Living La Vida Ex-Pat

I have travelled globally for quite a number of years, both for business and pleasure. That global experience helped me to understand some of what to expect but it is not the same as living here. Brief visits, living in hotels and eating in restaurants does not prepare you for the day to day. Particularly when you move to a culture that does not share your native language. I was speaking to another American expat the other day and we commiserated about the energy that the small stuff can take. I have mentioned it here before, but the minutia of daily life is what can exhaust you. Figuring out how to dispose of garbage or operate the parking meters amount to small victories but often take a significant amount of energy to deal with. Being functionally illiterate does not make any of this easier. Those small victories however, are what keep you going. When you do figure things out, you feel pretty good about it and you begin to feel like you are beginning to assimilate.

My in-laws arrive for a visit tomorrow and we are really looking forward to showing them around. I don’t think however, that they will get a real feel for how different our life is here. We will take them around and they will see some of our daily routine, but the fact is, because we have figured things out, I think much of how we have changed will be invisible to them. And that is probably a good thing.

She Who Must Be Obeyed thinks she has a sense of humor

She who must be obeyed decided it might be funny to bring home some Jupiler while I was working in Wiesbaden. She brought home the normal Jupiler Red (5.5%) and the 3.3% Jupiler Blue. Jupiler is the Budweiser of Belgium. It is the working class beer that you can see littering the dashboards of most workvans in this country. These are not interesting beers, these are drinking beers. At 75 cents each, they are cheaper than a diet coke Coca Cola Light. Interestingly, they are better than any Bud or Bud Light. They actually taste like a watery version of heineken. Two Drunk Monks based solely on the fact that they could be worse!!!

Bruges

There are times as an expat, when you forget that you are living in a foreign country. This weekend was not one of those times.

With the weather reported to be beautiful, we decided to venture out to Bruges (Or Brugge in Flemish). Everyone always asks us if we have been there, so we decided to check that box and spend the weekend. The weather was as reported and the weekend started out just fine. A nice hour and a half from home and we were entering the medieval town. This is when the illusion that you are home begins to unravel. Bruges is an old city. A very old city. A city that predates any form of modern transportation. Consequently the streets are very narrow. That's not too bad though. We have lived here long enough to know how to cope with the traffic patterns that this situation creates. What is different is the number of completely oblivious tourists flooding the streets. They are everywhere, most with an apparent death wish as they back into traffic whilst trying to take a particularly artistic photo of their unfortunate looking spouse.

She who must be obeyed had planned ahead however, and booked parking with the hotel in the center of the city. As we approached the hotel however, we could see no evidence of parking. Just a very narrow gate through a wall leading to the front desk. She hopped out and I took a drive down the block to wait for her to tell me where to park. I should have known however, it was through the narrow gate. To say I circled the block to get back does not really do justice to the meandering trip I took to get back to the hotel. A trip that included me squeezing down a narrow alley where I needed to get out of the car and move a bike before being able to make it through. It was so tight, that three tourists took photos of me emerging from the alley. Presumably to show the police how this American moron got stuck in the alley. Having cleared that obstacle, I found myself back at the gate of doom. As I began to squeeze in, I heard the unmistakable sound of gate on front bumper. Just a scratch, but enough to put me in a mood for much of the day. In retrospect, I think it is pretty safe to say that the purchase of a 520 sedan was not the best idea for Belgium. If it is not too wide, as in this instance; it is too long, as can be seen by my garage.

Bruges is a very pretty city. The canals are scenic, there are many pubs and restaurants. It is a really nice place to wander. The downside are the sheer quantities of people. This was a sunny weekend in March and the place was mobbed. I would hate to see what it is like during the summer months. It must be bedlam. I am not a person who gets energized by being in big crowds. I have come to accept a certain amount of jostling and lack of personal space because you can't get away from it here. What really drives me nuts however, is the abrupt stopping to take a photo or look in a shop window. Is it so hard to step to the side before you bring the line of people behind you to a screeching halt? Which brings me to another pet peeve, cameras where the viewfinder is the screen on the back. These cameras have turned everyone into snapshot zombies. Arms outstretched, peering into their camera and oblivious to the world around them. A world that includes automobiles, bicycles, horse drawn carriages and other pedestrians. Glad to have that off my chest.

Today we were up early. My theory is that the churchbells ring to ensure all the tourists are up in time to maximize their commercial activities. So in that spirit, we wandered around the city for the morning, enjoying the relatively open sidewalks. Around lunch we decided to flirt with the gate of doom and leave Bruges to head to Oostende on the North Sea. It is about 30 minutes away from Bruges, so we thought we would check it out to see if we should bother with it for next summer. It reminded me of the Eastern Shore of Maryland with better restaurants. I think I can pass.

As far as a food and beverage weekend, it was a bit of a mixed bag. Food was generally quite good. I had an excellent Coq au Vin in Brugge at Oude Burg 22. Unfortunately, we also had a not so great experience at a restaurant in Oostende. The beers however, did not dissappoint. We started out with the Brugge Tripel which I have had before.

We Then moved on a Brugse Zot Bruin at the De Torre restaurant where we also had some Belgian cheese (Essentially like Gouda) sprinkled with celery salt. This bruin is very light and clean. She who must be obeyed said it was "fizzy". There is a little sweetness and a dried fruit flavor on the palate. At little raisin and plum. Definitely a refreshing beer after a couple of hours walking. Three and a Half Drunk Monks!

The next up was an Omer from Brouwerj Bockor. The Omer is very crisp with a strong alcohol bite. It is an 8% blonde ale with some hop backbone and residual sweetness. I like this one a lot. It has a few levels of flavor to it while at the same time staying crisp and refreshing. Four Drunk Monks!!

I feel almost bad reviewing this beer, because I know most people will never find it. While we were enjoying the Omer, I noticed this beer on their menu and it was one I had never heard of. They only had it in a 750ml bottle however, so I had to talk She Who Must Be Obeyed into sharing it with me. Being the trooper that she is, she agreed and we ordered it and I have to say I am glad we did. The Jessenhofke is an organic unfiltered wheat beer. I was a little worried that it would be a hippee beer with pachouli overtones, but oh was I worng. There is a lot going on in this glass. toffee, caramel, hops, a creamy mouthfeel. The Jessenhofke is serious stuff. Their label says "drink matig, doch regelmatig" which means drink moderately but regularly. Seems like a good idea to me. Four and a Half Drunk Monks!!!!

Tipping

Belgium is not a tipping culture. Typically in Belgium, you just leave a few coins of round up, seldom more than 5%. As an American, it is hard not to feel like a cheapskate when you don't tip. At the same time, it is kind of nice. There is no assumption of addition and when you are away from the tourist areas. Often the servers are surprised when you leave a tip and are genuinely appreciative. In the US it would always bother me that no matter how crappy the service, you were expected to give a tip. Here, service is generally not so great, but the upside is that you do not have to tip.

Just a Little Off the Top

Just finished getting my hair cut. Not typically a noteworthy achievement except in the context of being an expat in a non-English speaking country. My first few forays into personal grooming did not go very well. I learned a couple of important lessons. The first is that you should not get your hair cut in Walloonia. The French do not necessarily embrace the English language and as my French is elementary at best, that is not a good combination. The second thing I learned is that no matter how bad your haircut is, it is Europe and it would have to be astoundingly bad to look more conspicuous than many of the other guys walking around.

Lately I have been going to an old school barber shop near my garage box. Aside from the photos of guys with very modern Euro hairstyles, the place is straight out of the 50's. Except in a very Flemish sort of way. Retro barber chairs, a bunch of old Flemish guys hanging around talking about voetbal, not an English magazine in sight. But is has something that is like gold, a barber who speaks excellent English. The benefit of this is obvious. I can go in, ask for a trim because I have a business meeting in Germany next week, and I dont leave looking like one of the Pet Shop Boys. It could be quicker, the barber is quite a talker which slows the whole process down, but he does a good job and it is only 9 euros.

Being the Lenten season, She who must be obeyed picked up a seasonal offering from Leffe. Depending on your language it is either their Lentebiere or Leffe de Printemps. This is an Amber with a significant amount of caramel sweetness. There is a light hop background but not enough and it is has a fairly thin mouthfeel. At 6.6% it is not a very strong beer but it is pretty easy to drink. Three Drunk Monks!

It's An Old Church

Some friends came into Brussels on Sunday. Not specifically to see us. They had to be here for business. Nonetheless it was good to see them. It is interesting that when you are showing someone else around, you see the city a little differently than you do when you are by yourself. In our case, it made us realize that we are not very good tour guides. After the third or fourth time responding to a question with, "It's an old church", our friends also realized that we suck as tour guides. We could however, tell them all they wanted to know about the various restaurants and bars. So maybe we make better food critics than tour guides.

Brussels is a good town for showing people around. Even if you are not a particularly good tour guide. There are lots things to see and plenty of interesting places to eat or just sit outside with a drink catching up. So we had a good time showing our friends around and it was a good warm-up for when the in-laws arrive in two weeks.

The last beers from the Durbuy visit were unfortunately a bit of a disappointment. They are three offerings from Durboyse, a Blonde, a Tripel and a Brune. Of the three, the tripel was the best, but still pretty average. As a group, Three Drunk Monks.