Modeste
Bier Festival 2017
As
in the last years, the festival is organized by Antwerps Bierollege in
collaboration with Zythos and de Koninck brewery.
As
a start, I prepare before going to a beer festival, check the list of beers,
see what additional information are available, check the app. Etc. This may
sound boring but is necessary – like most people I have limited capacity and I
want to make the best out of my visit. Life is too short to drink bad beer (or
the beer style). This said, it requires some time.
This
year’s Modeste was a bit of a negative surprise for a start. Final breweries
list was resealed only on Tuesday before a start together with a non-final beer
list. Festival app was released on Friday during the day. Final list of beer
was on Facebook on the day of the festival.
If
you add to this that the festival app, even if it is providing a full list of
beer is sending you directly to untapped for a beer details, you get an overall
feeling of the last-minute event having organizational problems and trying very
hard not to screw.
I
don’t remember this type of problems from the last year event.
For
a summary – 38 breweries in total, some
breweries/beers were accessible only one one of the two days). This time almost
all breweries are Belgian. This is good news though. Leffe and co, have nothing
to do here. Only honest craft beers. Very interesting selection, quite a few I
haven’t seen and some I respect a lot.
Like
last year, the event is held next to the de Koninck brewery and one can imagine
a great combo doing both festival and brewery visit on one day.
Another
negative point was a security guard do not let me in the festival. Not because
I have some dangerous substances, but because the critical mass of people has
been reached. 15 minutes waiting for a beer. And, please trust me – you don’t
want to be the one between me and my beer on Saturday afternoon.
WTF?
Honestly,
I was there on Saturday at 3 pm. And I admit the situation was even worse when
I was leaving around 7 pm. The line of people awaiting entrance was hitting
60-70, making it approx.. 1 hour to get to the festival. I don’t know what
safety issue, regulatory stuff, discussion have led to this disaster, but in a
couple of years of going to be beer festivals in few countries – I have never
seen something like that before.
Another
think I don’t understand – why can I pay for a beer using a real-life
money and I need to buy tokens to get a burger?
OK, it is like the next level
of complication – either you do the same rule for everything or you leave it.
Especially in the outside part breweries were mixed with food stands. Mixing a
currency on top is weird.
So
much on the negative site.
On
a positive – the organizers have made a great job by inviting the brewers that
have something to say. It may sound funny, but the truth is that beer is an art
– you may brew a beer for years. Even a good one. But there is a clear-cut
border separating good, solid breweries and the artists. Whereas the first will
often deliver you a flawless experience; seconds will give you a beer to
remember. Kind of a mass stab.
And
I am happy to say that some of the beers were here during the MBF17.
Here
are the beers I had (and just to remember – with some exceptions, I will
concentrate on brewers I have never tried before).
---
Bronckhorster
(The Netherlands)
This
was very interesting. I have never heard of the brewery before. It is either
going to be one of the most awesome breweries I have met before or one of the
biggest disasters. The beer list was awesome, with a strong part of new wave
styles including barley wines and imperial stouts.
To
keep the long story short – I have tried two beers:
Terra-Incognita
(barley wine, 12% ABW) and a Populus6921 (Quadrupel, 11% ABW) and they were
both great.
Terra-Incognita (barley wine, 12% ABW) is American interpretation of barley wine. Dark amber colour, medium
carbonation, aroma of honey and dried plum, spices. Flavour is more bitter,
with well balancing vanilla, caramel and malts. Simply great.
Populus6921 (Quadrupel, 11% ABW) is another stunning beer. Amazing combination of typical, dense, licorice Quad…
hopped to the limit! I don’t even want to know what number of hops you need to
add to counter dense aromas of quad, but it was worth it! Complementary aromas
of dried fruits and dark chocolate/espresso also do the job. Without any exaggeration
– why would I ever care about Westvletteren XII again.
In case of any doubts - this is the Brewery of the festival for me!
---
Tall Poppy Brewing Company – An Then Stuff happens
(brown porter). Unfortunately, this was really the moment the stuff
has happened – I have chosen a beef before the average. Bit creamy, bit of
chocolate a tad watery. Without any clear flaw but just too weak to stand out.
---
De Dochter van de
Korenaar –
L´Ensemble di Montalcino (barley wine)
This clearly
was the barley wine festival (at least for me). De Korenaar deserves a word of
explanation – for me this is probably top 5 of Belgian new wave brewers. Their “Belle
Fleur” was first good IPA I had in Belgium. None of their beers were ever disappointing.
Same this time. L´Ensemble di Montalcino smells with toffee, pine and caramel.
Flavor is malty caramel, some fruity notes and light bitter finish. Another
very good beer.
---
Tall Poppy Brewing Company – An Then Stuff happens
(brown porter).
Unfortunately, this was really the moment the stuff
has happened – I have chosen a beef before the average. Bit creamy, bit of
chocolate a tad watery. Without any clear flaw but just too weak to stand out.
---
‘t
Verzet – Kameradski Balsamico (hybrid of RIS and Flemish sour ale).
This was
something that I couldn’t imagine. RIS and sour ale? Yep. This works but it is
not everybody’s case. First surprise is that a sour beer kept all typical RIS
notes - roasted malts, coffee and dark chocolate. This must have been an
amazing RIS. But then it was changed in a vinegar-like liquor. Complemented
with fruity berries and wine aromas. For me this is brilliant. Also, another proof
that you need a good and heavy starting material for beer experiments.
To
make it clear – all the vinegar part comes at cost – after finishing I was
convinced that the beer just perforated my esophagus. And it was worth it.
Beer
of the festival!
D`Oude
Maalderij – Homo Beerectus 3 Hop hanker Sorachi Ace (blond).
Knowing me, you
may be surprised – this is very good blond beer. But none that could win the
competition in its own style – why, because addition of Sorachi Ace have
complemented it with fruity and characteristic herbal notes that, on one hand
do not belong to blonde style, but on the other made this one really enjoyable.
Very nice and refreshing beer.
---
De
Koninck – Black Pearl (RIS aged in rum barrels).
It is a funny story with De
Koninck brewery. If you ask me about a solid Belgian beer, that would be de
Koninck. On the other hand, I couldn’t name a single beer from them being great
or above the average. Black Pearl has potential to change that. I know that the
beer is a bit of an overkill, barrels have given a crazy, strong rum aroma and
taste which may be unacceptable for many. Still, this is a step in the right
direction. Nice festival end.
BWT - I have no idea what the cool in line saturation means...
