Duff Beer is real!!!

Yes folks you read correctly......Duff Beer from The Simpsons is now a reality!!!

A brand new beer called "Duff" is apparently now being brewed by the Belgian brewery Haacht, and it even has the correct label from the Simpsons cartoons. This was previously reported on the Belgian Beer Board, and has even been rated on the website "RateBeer". It is currently being sold online in Italy at the moment, but buying this from specialist beer shops in Belgium shouldn't be a problem soon I hope.

Being a huge Simpsons fan, this is great news!

In the not too distant future I will try to purchase some of this beer and review it.

Cheers.

Carl Dickson.

Ipswich Beer Festival 2008

It's not long now until that time of year when my local branch of CAMRA turns the Corn Exchange building in Ipswich into a giant pub! Yes the Ipswich Beer Festival is coming up next month (24th - 27th September), and due to the success of the German Bar last year, we will be once again serving German beers this year.

Also a date for your diary is Friday 26th September. On that day we are proud to be able to bring you another German Oompah Band for the evening entertainment. Plus not forgetting that yours truly will be donning the lederhosen again for that one day only!

The German Beer List for this year's festival has recently been received, and I must say that it looks pretty good. Speciality beers from the Rhein-Ruhr, Franconia, and Bavaria regions, including plenty of Weissbier (wheat beer) too.

Now if anyone wants a sneak peak of the beer list, I will have the list with me during the summer beer festival at the Dove Street Inn in Ipswich next week. I will be there on Thursday evening (28th Aug), Friday evening (29th Aug), and Saturday afternoon (30th Aug).

Cheers!

Carl Dickson.

Belle-Vue Kriek - a proper cherry beer (the proof!)

The Dove Street Inn pub in Ipswich is one of only 2 establishments in my home town which serves the delights of Belgian beer. Two of their biggest sellers is Leffe Blond, and Belle-Vue Kriek. Both are from the now-biggest brewery in the world, Inbev.

Leffe Blond has always been a good, but not excellent, spicy abbey beer. However the Belle-Vue Kriek is one that I've always been worried about. As this is a very commercial cherry beer from a company that needs to closely keep an eye on it's finances, the question always was.....Is this a cherry beer made with proper fruit, or with just syrups added?

And now I have the proof!!!

I am very pleased to say that Inbev does indeed use proper cherries in their Kriek beer!
Filip, owner of the Belgian Beer Board, has recently discovered this via a flemish finance channel piece on Inbev. They were allowed to go inside the brewery, and they filmed cherries being added to a huge vat of lambic beer. A very nice sight indeed.
The photos and a small piece from the broadcast can be found at the below link......

http://belgianbeerboard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=393&Itemid=88888994

So there you have it. Belle-Vue Kriek does seem to be a proper cherry beer.

Cheers!

Carl Dickson (Bier Coaster! Site Admin)

Wecome to Bier Coaster!

Welcome all to my web page "Bier Coaster!"

If you enjoy sipping the delights of Belgian, German, or any other International Beer, then this is the site for you.

I will be posting the latest news as I hear it, giving you all the details for upcoming beer festivals and other events concerning Belgian/German beer, and reviewing the breweries, festivals, and pubs/cafes which I visit throughout the year.

So that's about it, and I hope you will enjoy reading the articles published on this page.

If you have any news or information which you would like sharing, or if you wish to be kept up to date on the latest postings to this webpage, drop me an email at.....

biercoaster@googlemail.com

Prost! Sante! Gezondheid! Cheers!


Carl Dickson.

Bier Coaster Site Admin