From 2014: Poperinge pairings, tattoos and a meal to remember."

I'm being petulant because the pandemic postponed Poperinge's triennial Beer and Hop Festival, and so this week I'll be flooding the blog pages with reruns of past visits. Here's a throwback to 2014.

Remember the rainbow? By Saturday morning, Poperinge was clear and temperate, and the tasting stations were operating on the Grote Markt. Those wishing to sample would buy a small glass (to keep or bring back for a refund) and tokens, then redeem the tokens for beer and food portions. Only those beers certified as using Belgian-grown hops were on the list. Local chefs conjured interesting dishes, including a Waterzooi soup using stock made with dry-hopped Poperings Hommelbier.

Before the merriment could start in earnest, there was a cash flow issue to be resolved.

In the afternoon, something new for me: A marching band "tattoo."

For those doubting its place as part of a hops festival, consider the definition:

The word "Tattoo," is derived from "Doe den tap toe", or just "tap toe" ("toe" is pronounced "too"), the Dutch for "Last orders". Translated literally, it means: "close the (beer) tap". The term "Tap-toe" was first encountered by the British Army when stationed in Flanders during the War of the Austrian Succession.

The beer taps were not closed prior to the tattoo's commencement. Somewhere behind the throng is a beer trailer.

Four marching bands participated, and the tattoo was far more enjoyable than I'd have imagined.

Saturday was slated as the occasion for our blow-out meal, and as usual, Café de la Paix was chosen as the venue. You can read a full description of my religious experience here.

Five years ago today: "2014 Euro Reunion Tour, Day 6: Sightseeing and Schlenkerla."

The 2014 Euro Reunion Tour began on September 10 and lasted through the 23rd. Friends joined us on an itinerary from Berlin through Bavaria to Belgium, and the trip was a lifesaver as well as a life-changer.

Recalling that Bank Street Brewhouse launched in 2009, the trials and tribulations of NABC's ill-fated expansion kept us from traveling abroad in 2010, 2011 and 2012. To be succinct, it was demoralizing.

By 2013 the indie biz trench warfare had stabilized sufficiently that we made it to England, then in 2014 came the long-awaited return to the continent, one glorious day of which is described here.

The kitchen at BSB had closed in May of 2014, and an effort was underway to shift operations to a taproom model amid mounting disagreement between owners, but in retrospect it seems certain that more than any other single factor the Euro Reunion Tour finally convinced me to begin the transition away from NABC. The business divorce began in earnest at the beginning of 2015

Duke Ellington's famous assessment: “Music is my mistress, and she plays second fiddle to no one.” For me it's Europe, not music. Many readers would have guessed beer, but this wasn't ever the case. It's deeper than just one aspect.

The brewery expansion project required me to be an American, and I gave it my best, and yet ultimately my heart was lodged elsewhere. We must be who and what we're intended to be, and I'm a European mistakenly dropped by a drunken stork in flyover America near Louisville.

It's an existential dilemma, one I've been grappling to make sensible since the early 1980s, and the process is okay by me for so long as I'm not compelled to pretend otherwise.

And now, five years ago today ... in Bamberg, Germany -- probably my favorite city in all of Europe.

---

The Gillenwaters and the Baylors began the day by hiking to the elevated square where the Dom (main cathedral) rests, facing both "new" and "old" residences of the archbishopric.

Shortly thereafter, Jeff and I discussed matters in the post-confessional rose garden.

Foreshadowing?

Various jaunts on a general theme of sightseeing subsequently occurred. Here's the monastery on Michaelsberg hill.

Little Venice along the Regnitz.

The much-reproduced old town hall building is astride the narrow river, which flows on both sides of the structure.

And, a bit of clever detail work, visible to the left in the above photo.

At 6 p.m., we met new arrivals Joe and Kris for dinner and smoky treats at the Schlenkerla tavern (to the right, below).

There we met delectable steak tartare with capers, onions, eggs and anchovies (and later, pork shoulder) washed down with the world's finest smoked lager beer.

More importantly, we met Julius Trum. For an explanation, skip over to my Potable Curmudgeon blog: Schlenkerla's next generation gets an early start.

Ten months later, the Deutsche Bahn makes good and I am delighted.

Last September while vacationing in Germany, we experienced a delay on the Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) out of Wurzburg, which resulted in our arriving in Brugge seven hours late. DB freely acknowledged responsibility and told us we qualified for a partial refund of the fare.

Easier said than completed ... and I had to pay for the wire transfer, but damn it, here it is.

Maybe I shouldn't tell them that the delay afforded an unexpected chance to spend a few hours in Cologne, but it's the principle of the matter, right?

2014 Euro Reunion Tour, Day 8: Deutsche Bahn disintegrates, but we nimbly fall back on Kölsch.

Back home again in Indiana (2014 enigmatic variation).

978 e-mails, two espressos and a can of kippers later, I'm forced to concede that vacation finally is over. We're happy to be home ... sorta, kinda.

I was entirely unplugged for 13 days of Germany and Belgium, and of all the news items reviewed thus far upon return, the one affecting me the most is word of Mike Naville's passing. 

Some years back, Mike was planning a trip to Europe and asked me for a recommendation in Germany. I advised Bamberg, and a stay in one of the upstairs rooms at Brauerei Spezial. Mike went, and while there, he happened upon another American, a beer biz importer acquaintance of mine who graciously showed him around town. Mike's glee in relating this story is something I'll never forget.

Ironically, we stayed, drank and ate at Spezial last week. I thought about Mike's visit and made a mental note to say something to him about Bamberg. Now I won't be able to do so, and life's funny that way, which is why we must live it to the fullest ... and Mike did. 

He'll be missed. The newspaper's Chris Morris offers a good remembrance.

2014 Euro Reunion Tour, Day 14: The unkindest cut of all ...

 ... is having to come home, especially when you have to vacate a room like this one.

In Mechelen, we spent the trip's final night at the Martin's Patershof, a hotel in a former church. I'd come across it while researching less expensive options, and concluded that a splurge could be justified for the evening preceding a transatlantic flight. Consequently, I reserved a "great" room for €179 ($220). It would have been noce to stay in one of the rooms with stained glass windows, but those were a bit too "great" for my blood at €499.

When we checked into the hotel on Monday, the desk clerk informed us that we'd been upgraded to a suite for the same price. This didn't register until we opened the door.

Okay, so they're stained glass reproductions. Still, it's a fifth-floor room and the top of the church. Impressive, indeed.

Wait -- what's that?

It's our first-ever, in-room espresso machine. Gads. Not only that, but the bar downstairs had draft Gouden Carolus and Ename Tripel on draft.

This concludes my account of the 2014 trip. When's next?

2014 Euro Reunion Tour, Day 13: A final Belgian evening in Mechelen, with Opsinjoorke.

The tour group broke apart on Monday morning, and we all went our separate ways. Because Poperinge is the last stop on a local rail line, all of us rode together to Kortrijk before dispersing. Diana and I made for Mechelen, a city of 82,000 located north of Brussels, between the capital and Antwerp.

I visited Mechelen for the first time in 2008, and was intrigued. It is an ideal place for beginning or ending a trip to Belgium. It is interesting in and of itself, and less touristed than Brussels or Antwerp. A relatively new rail line connects Mechelen with the Brussels Airport in ten minutes flat, easily the most economical way to go there. There's a very good brewery in Mechelen called Het Anker, which brews the Gouden Carolus line.

And, as we learned on Monday evening, there is superb Moroccan food at the Ronda restaurant on the Vismarkt, where transcendent tagines and couscous are offered.

Below, the statue and story of the Opsinjoorke. Stay tuned for the hotel tale.

2014 Euro Reunion Tour, Day 12.5: The story of hops in parade format.

In roughly chronological, these photos provide a tiny glimpse of the hops parade in Poperinge, which closes the festival every third year, and keeps giving me reasons to return. 2014 was my fifth parade since 1999, and I sincerely hope there'll be more.

2014 Euro Reunion Tour, Day 12: Is the hop plant satanic?

The National Hop Museum in Poperinge has been greatly expanded since my last visit ten or so years ago.

Poperinge's Hop Museum is located in the old "Stadsschaal" or Municipal Scales. An informative audio tour guides you through four floors of history and culture, all the way from the impressive loft to the concluding ground floor. On your way down, local characters like "The Bagger" and "The Nose" will guide you along the four seasons of the hop, historic documents, photographs, scale models and audiovisuals illustrate both the story of this unique building and that of local hop growing, its past and present.

It is a tradition for hop festival Sunday to have the museum open for tours, including an English-language session at 11:15 a.m. On the occasion of the fest, a pop-up cafe was being run in the courtyard, adding to the enjoyment.

One of the photos is more important to me than the others.

You see our guide in the act of explaining a two-wheeled spouted barrel, and might be forgiven for thinking it's some sort of beer wagon.

Actually, it's a liquid manure dispenser for fertilizing the hop vines. Not only that, but the operation of the manure wagon was left to the capable hands and tongue of a manure taster, who ensured that the fertilizer was not too acidic for use.

(insert joke about local politics here)