After grey skies on Friday, it was nice to wake up on Saturday 24 March 2018 and see blue skies above Leuven railway and bus stations from my 6th floor room at the
Ibis Budget hotel.
Our plan was to visit Hof ten Dormaal brewery in the afternoon, a bus ride away from Leuven.
Buses in Leuven, Mechelen and Antwerp are operated by
De Lijn.
The first task for today was to buy a 10-ride Lijn Kaart (16 euro) from the ticket office at the bus station. After a walk into town, Simon and I enjoyed a bargain breakfast of coffee and croissant at
EXKi,
Rector De Somerplein 8, where the special offer is available until 11am.
We passed a market next to St Peter's church that included a stall with Belgian beer glasses for sale at reasonable prices.
With time to spare before the bus to the brewery we passed the Fishmarket square, which is now home to De Blauwe Kater, on the way to another bar with 'blue' in its name -
De Blauwe Schuit.
The Blue Barge entrance passage houses part of a (red and white) barge and gives views to an inner courtyard which is home to a splendid peacock.
We entered the main bar, above street level, and found a table in the sunshine. Simon ordered a
Hopus and I chose a
Poperings Hommelbier which is brewed with hops from Poperinge.
The high-ceilinged bar is decorated with nautical and travel related items including an old map of the Belgian Congo. An unusual mixture of music (Ghostbusters, Don't lose my number (Phil Collins)) was playing a bit too loudly for a lunchtime.
We caught the delayed 284 bus (towards Mechelen) from the stop at nearby Dirk Boutslaan to Tildonk Brug, a journey of 25 minutes via Herent. We were able to validate the Lijn Kaart twice to cater for two passengers.
Google maps estimated the 1.8km level walk to Hof ten Dormaal brewery would take 23 minutes. We passed
Kasteeltje van Tildonk dating from 1642. Only a few cars and cyclists would pass us on the narrow Kasteeldreef road.
Some barking and shouting preceded our arrival at
Brouwerij Hof ten Dormaal when the farm's dog took an interest in a dog being exercised by passing cyclists. We were admitted to the farm at
Caubergstraat 2 and then into the tasting room on the left of the gates.
It was just after the 2pm opening time and we were the first customers to arrive. The wood-buring stove was warming the large room with traditional furniture.
Having established that we were planning to sample several beers it was agreed that we would each use tasting glasses (for the forthcoming
Leuven Innovation Beer Festival) and share bottles.
We started with the 7.5% ABV Saison. It has low bitterness (20 IBU) '
lightly sour, brewed only with grain and hops, made right here'.
Witgoud, an 8% ABV beer (25 IBU) is brewed with chicory '
Belgian Endive, and dates back generations to a time when the Flemish region of Belgium prospered from its growth'. We were told that after some time in the oven, slices of chicory are added to the brew. Witgoud is the brewery's best selling beer in Belgium.
André Janssens sat with us for a while to talk about the brewery and the Leuven Innovation Beer Festival. I gave
André a copy of Ullage, the West Berkshire CAMRA magazine to read. The spring issue had a front page story about Tutts Clump Cider.
From the 'Zure van Tildonk' (Sour from Tildonk) range we tried Stekelbees (6% ABV), made with locally picked gooseberries.
André kindly suggested a tour of the farm and brewery given by himself and Jef, his son and brewer.
A hop garden is part of the farm and an old chain-driven machine is used to separate the hops from the bines. André mentioned an innovation they are looking into is to grow hops with artifical lighting to provide green hops outside the traditional season.
Spent grain from the brewing process is used as feed for the cows on the farm. Swiss cows were chosen as less time and effort is needed at calving time.
Viewed from an elevated platform, the main brewing vessels include a Mash Tun, Lauter Tun, Kettle and Whirlpool (on the right). Although having copper exteriors, the Mash Tun (left) and Kettle both have stainless steel interiors for ease of cleaning.
So far, so relatively familiar, but then Jef showed us an oak Foeder that would usually be filled.
Jef opened it up so that the heating element could be seen inside. A variety of wooden barrels for ageing beer were stored in the open floor above the Foeders.
We chatted with Jef after the tour on the walk back to the Tasting Room and Simon discovered that English football is one of his interests. Jef later revealed that he is interested in tanks and ships and has enjoyed a visit to
Bovington Tank Museum.
Jef sat with us and kindly offered to share his bottle of Dad's Tea with me. This new beer in the range is a 6.5% ABV Saison brewed with Jasmine Tea in a bag introduced to the wort at the end of the boil. This was my favourite beer of the visit and before leaving I would buy two bottles to take home.
When asked about the relative merits of Mechelen and Leuven, Jef replied that he only has time for Leuven. He is fond of the city and recommended
De Fiere Margriet in Leuven as the best bar.
The beer that Simon was keen to try was Frambuesa y Chocolate, a 7% ABV beer made with raspberries that was quite sour and fruity.
By now it was 5.30pm and this would be our last beer although there were still plenty more from the brewery that we did not have time to taste! There had been a steady turnover of customers during the afternoon including cyclists enjoying the better weather but Simon and I may be among the few beer enthusiasts able to claim they spent the whole afternoon in the Hof ten Dormaal Tasting Room and Brewery!
By the time we left at 6pm the low sun provided a nice light on the pond across the road from the farm. We set off to retrace our steps to Tildonk Bridge. The Janssens family had really looked us after on this visit but the icing on the cake was when a car stopped in front of us and
driver André indicated for us to get inside.
André handed me a bottle of Hof ten Dormaal cider he had mentioned earlier as originally aimed at the USA market. Once on our way Andre spotted the Leuven bus approaching at a junction. He drove us just past the bus stop, trapping the bus so that we could board immediately! The bus took us to Leuven station, giving us a chance for a break, at our nearby hotel, before setting out again for our last evening in Leuven.
