FOOLCiRCLE

Though they seemingly stole the idea of the name directly from Brewery Ommegang’s Begium Comes to Cooperstown, the event was all their own.

On Saturday after brewing the Honey Oatmeal Stout our group expanded to include DJ Voodoo, Mitchell, Robert, Dave, and Myself and we all went up to Iron Hill West Chester to check out there Belgian beer event, Belgium Comes to West Chester. This was the first time I had attended and I am not sure if this was the first time they have done it. It was pretty cool, lots of different Iron Hill beers from all of the different locations, plus lots of local featured Belgian style beers. I saw several of the Iron Hill brewers and crews from at least Stewart’s, Sly Fox, and Flying Fish – things were well represented. The restaurant on the whole seemed full but tame, but the back bar where the event was in full swing was rowdy in the best way possible. We all grabbed a table near the back, we could still feel the energy, but weren’t deep in the mix. Here is a list of at least some of the beers, I think there were 22 total, here’s like 17, enjoy:

Stumblin’ Monk – Stewart’s
Otay – Nodding Head
Mad Elf – Troeg’s
Saison Vos – Sly Fox
Tripel Lindy – Manayunk Brewery
Stoudt’s Tripel – Stoudts
Belgian Red Ale – Triumph
Biere de Framboises – General Lafayette Inn
Abbey 6 – Victory
Heywood – Iron Hill, West Chester
The Quadfather – Iron Hill, West Chester
Bourbon-aged Quadfather – Iron Hill, West Chester
The Cannibal – Iron Hill, West Chester
Imperial Wit – Iron Hill, Phoenixville
Fe10 – Iron Hill, Newark
Flemish Red – Iron Hill, North Wales
Rudolph’s Revenge – Iron Hill, Media

My two favorite of the night were easily the Flemish Red from Iron Hill, North Wales and the Fe10 from Iron Hill, Newark. The Flemish Red was a very tight tart bright red variation of the style. This is a style that very much has my attention right now and I want to learn more about it, and then brew it. Also, the Fe10 has finally really come to stand on its own. It has always been OK and has gotten better, but now it is a stand-out. One of my favorite comments last night was Mitchell after he tasted my Heywood from Iron Hill, West Chester. The Heywood is fermented completely in oak with 100% Brettanomyces, it was tart, complex, and funky, and I really enjoyed it once I settled in with it. But, Mitchell took a sip and had this look on his face like I just made him watch the BME Pain Olympics and tried to describe the aftertaste as a cross between cheese and feet. He then described how he imagined this beer being served with a hill-billy named “Heywood” with his shoes off and his feet in a barrel of spoiled beer. And whenever one was ordered ol’ Heywood would dip a glass into the barrel and pull out the beer to be served. It sounds kind of weird now, but it was very funny then.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 9:24 pm and is filed under Side Trip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.