AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY

Usually when you have a clear-out, it’s to find some long lost photographs or some other memorabilia  So imagine my surprise and delight when, during a recent tidy up and painting job in our daughter’s bedroom,  I found hidden away a  box of four Bosteels Brewery Pauwel Kwak beers, along with a strangely shaped glass in a wooden stand.  She must have bought it on a trip to Brussels when she was at uni, then sneaked it back secretly. The expiry date on the bottles however was Nov 2012!

As she's now in Glasgow after a telephone discussion it was agreed I would be the guinea pig and try two of the bottles then give her the rest next time we met. 

I poured the first bottle into a normal glass, and, with toilet roll at the ready, had a sip. There was no adverse reaction as this 8% Amber beer with a fruity taste went down a treat.  Having braved the first bottle it was time to be adventurous and drink the second bottle out of the special glass. But let's not get ahead of myself. First, the reason for the glass shape and stand.

Historical Interlude 

Once upon a time in the 18^th century there was an innkeeper called Pauwel Kwak (it means Fat Paul), whose establishment was on a busy road in what is now Belgium. Now along this road travelled mail coaches that stopped at the inn, called De Hoow.  For security reasons the drivers couldn’t leave their coaches so Fat Paul had made beer glasses with a bulb shaped bottom and long neck to fit onto the driver’s coach. This gave them a well-earned beer break without having to leave their coach. 

 ( I’ve just realised typing this, presumably they couldn’t leave the coach for a loo break either!)

The beer was eventually discontinued but revived in the 1980s by the Bosteels Brewery,  which is less than an hour north west of Brussels. They also introduced the traditional glass and a wooden holder, or shoe, to support it.

 

So time for a drink then. Pouring the beer slowly into the long neck revealed quite a lively head.  At first it felt strange holding a piece of wood instead of a glass. It became interesting the further down the head went; the glass emitted a strange glooping noise, not unlike some hot mud springs bubbling up. 

 

Well, so far I have survived two out of date beers - no emergency toilet roll needed. The other two bottles are in Glasgow along with the glass. If they are not drank soon, I’m straight up there.

Historical information based on Pauwel Kwak entry in CAMRA book , 300 Beers To Try Before You Die