Highlight #11: The House of (Beer and) Cheese.

These are in no particular order, did I mention that? OK. Why, then, am I going in reverse numerical order, as if to make a big fat deal out of #1 if I ever actually get there? I don't know. Shoulda coulda woulda.

Oh, hey... do you like beer? Cheese too? I gather it's a big thing these days, pairing beer and cheese. No, scratch that, it's been a big thing for at least a decade now. Hey, you know who else loves beer and cheese? The Belgians. And they are pretty good at both of them. Don't get upset that most Belgians would prefer to drink wine with their meals, including their cheese. That's a global affliction, and Belgium is very close to France. But the beer-and-cheese thing, that's catching on there too.

OK, let's talk about meccas. Not the Mecca but small-m meccas, the kind that all travelers have. They're like bucket lists except you don't scratch them off the list and you don't worry about kicking the bucket. Instead you just feel a pull to visit there one day, or again, or repeatedly. In the Belgian beer world, the Kulminator is a mecca for people who like old Belgian ales. Moeder Lambic Fontainas is a mecca for those who like hops and lambic on draft. Westvleteren is a mecca for those who like the holy and hard-to-get. And so on.

So, how about a new mecca for the beer-and-cheese heads?

I might have been there. In the sprawl that shoots south of Antwerp, there is a town along the A12 road called Aartselaar (which in the competition for Belgian-town alphabetical supremacy is up there with, I don't know, Aalst I guess). In this town is a groovy little shop called Camembière. It's a good name, a name that signals exactly where this is going. Out front the canopy even says, "Kaasaffineurs, Biersommelier." This is a place of expertise.

Philippe Wagman and Mieke Foubert are the proprietors. Philippe is a former construction engineer who followed a childhood dream to be a cheese monger. "I let everything fall down for this, and it's much nicer. ... I wanted to do this since I was 13, but I think my parents didn't take me seriously. And I never got it out of my head. ... I found cheeses amazing. How do you start with cow's milk and end up with so many different kinds of cheese?"

The beer part came later, "about 10 years ago," he said. "I was frustrated when I ate good cheeses and a bottle of wine. I like wine, I have nothing against wine, but I found it frustrating. ... The wine didn't match with most of the cheese I was eating. So I thought, 'Why don't I try it with beer?' And I found some really nice combinations. Everybody speaks about beer and cheese combinations now. Ten years ago it was, 'What are you doing?'"

In Limburg there is a vocational school for professionals called SYNTRA, and it's one of the programs in Belgium offering a "beer sommelier" or zytholog certification these days. Philippe got one to put alongside his long-held interest in cheese affinage.

The question of what to pair with what is the subject of ongoing experimentation, but Philippe and Mieke have no shortage of ready suggestions. Some useful results came out of a judged tasting that put 12 of the country's more interesting beers against a varying selection of three cheeses per beer. The judges then ranked the strongest pairings. The top four pairings, for your reference:

Rodenbach Grand Cru with Grevenbroecker
Westmalle Tripel with Old Brussels
Oud Beersel Oude Geuze with fenugreek Geitenkass
Saison Dupont with Pas de Rouge

I took some Grevenbroecker and Pas de Rouge with me to munch with the chosen beers that evening. Not an organized tasting but I had a hell of a time. And one of these days I ought to scribble something on Belgian craft cheese and its parallels with Belgian craft beer. But not today.

Camembière stocks about 90 beers at last check, with plenty of good taste and an eye toward what pairs well. Also a wide variety of cheeses, plus charcuterie and other nibbles. There is a small table or two for sitting down for a snack, but large groups will need to make other plans. There is a De Lijn bus stop nearby for the ambitious, but those with cars will find it easier. It's pretty close to Steenhuffel, if you want to check out Palm's Brouwershuis tap. Bring some stinky cheese in there with you, while you're at it.
So for me, that's a highlight. More to come. Here's an explanation if you're wondering what I'm up to.

There Will Be a Stille Nacht Reserva Next Year (Probably).

In my latest DRAFT article, I wrote that Kris Herteleer of De Dolle makes the life-experience-in-a-bottle Stille Nacht Reserva every five years. Turns out I was wrong. And right.

From the Mad Brewer himself: "Joe, there is no rule that every five years there should be a release of Reserva Stille Nacht. But next year we plan to have one batch of that. It is brewed yet, but not yet on barrels."

So the angels have yet to take their share, but next Christmas could be a very merry one for those of us lucky enough to find a bottle. We can expect a Stille Nacht Reserva 2010 (following the legends of 2000 and 2005). It's greedy to hope for more.

Those who want to taste what the fuss is about: The Kulminator in Antwerp still had the 2005 last I checked. Bring a friend and share.

Around Antwerp in a Couple of Beers.

The coziness and reassurance of a well-worn, well-warmed pub in October. Being American, I know about bars. And the Belgians can call this a café or whatever they want. But this is a pub.

I'm hiding in the loft at the Paters Vaetje, just across the road from central Antwerp's Cathedral. The "Monk's Casket" has been a familiar friend of traveling beer lovers for years, but this is my first time. Crowds, companions and the nearby Kulminator thwarted my previous attempts. But this time I am early, and alone, and thirsty. And in no particular hurry.

So from my upper-floor table I'm looking down on the punters glued to the bar. They get to choose from any of 102 beers here, so naturally they opt for pils and bollekes. I go for 37.5 cl of Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze at €4, which is a steal. The music has been mellow — Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan — avoiding the overplayed standards. Less mellow is the barmaid. And now I understand the punters a little better. Sorry boys, but the view is better from up here.

Later I head for the Oud Arsenaal. The chalkboard beer list is impressively obscure, but I settle for a three-year-old Rochefort 10. It would be easier to enjoy if there were about 50 percent less smoke and 90 percent fewer people. One small room is all this place has, and there are more people standing than sitting. I reckon the seats, all 16 or so of them, were gone at opening time.

Hard to get comfortable. Hard to have a chat. Hard to think. Easy enough to drink.

Yep. This is a bar.

Update: Moeder Lambic Fontainas Set for Fall Opening.

It's an unlikely spot, sandwiched between an all-day laundromat and a pornographic comic book shop. Maybe not where you'd expect to find one of Belgium's — and therefore the world's — top beer cafés. Yet there it will be.

I first wrote about Moeder Lambic Fontainas back in January. After the usual delays, an army of workmen have finally descended to busy themselves with rebuilding and painting and cleaning and installing. When it's finished, the location at Place Fontainas 10 will offer 40 taps and five or six handpumps (mostly reserved for lambic), plus a selection of 75 cL bottles that will only bother with stuff that ages well. One of the few 33 cL bottles – and probably the largest brewery represented – will be Orval. Otherwise the emphasis is on small craft brewing and sheer quality. Considering that philosophy and a focus on draft beer, no place like this has ever existed in Belgium.

Pictured here we see partners Jean Hummler, Andy Mengal and Nassim Dessicy in front of the facade, which is still mostly graffiti and shambles. Not for long. And that incredible awning, the only redeeming feature from the old front, will remain. Beneath it will be tables for sipping in the shade. Eventually those tables will spill out to Place Fontainas itself, when the city shuts off the street to traffic in a few years. Theoretically.

Those of you who use Facebook (shh!) can see more updates and photos here, including an artists' rendering here. Presumably the two identical girls sipping coffee will have company by the time the place opens in October.

Did I mention that? It's cross-your-fingers, knock-on-wood, seriously hopefully definitely supposed to open in October. Unfortunately not in time to help those attending Belgian Beer Weekend on the Grand Place to find something better to drink (ouch!), but still in plenty of time to find a rhythm before Christmas. There are also plans for a party of some sort a day or two before the Zythos Beer Festival next March.

Now: I'd suggest that the top beer specialist cafés in Belgium are, in no order, Moeder Lambic in Saint-Gilles, the Brugs Beertje in Bruges, the Kulminator in Antwerp, and Delirium in Brussels. Strictly in terms of destinations most visited by geeks.

I'd also suggest that come October there will be another place to round out a clear Top 5 — and it will be another Moeder Lambic.

Christmas is the Best Time of the Beer.

What's your favorite winter warmer? You know: brandy snifter, fireside, beagle dozing at your feet, and so on.

Here's a piece from the Philadelphia Daily News on Christmas and winter beers. He gets a bit ga-ga over Corsendonk, which is OK. Bush Noel and (Heineken-owned) Affligem Noel aren't to my taste, but I guess you can get away with sweet-and-simple in a holiday beer. Nice that Stille Nacht gets a mention.

I can say without a doubt that the best Christmas beer I've ever had is a Stille Nacht Reserva at Kulminator in Antwerp. Actually that's tied for first place with the second time I had a Stille Nacht Reserva at Kulminator in Antwerp. For a sweetish beer Stille Nacht already has some complexity, but with the Reserva the oak performs some sort of Christmas magic that I do not claim to understand. This beer will make you believe in Santa Claus.

Lately I've been enjoying the hell out of St. Bernardus 8, which knocks the socks off of most holiday beers anyway. Rich malt, dark fruit and stewed apples aroma, incredible balance for high drinkability. It fits in the winter warmer category for me. Bought a case and unfortunately I'm tearing through the stuff like it's going out of style. Which it's not. Ever.

My neighbors and I are planning a Christmas party. We aim to celebrate with a keg full of "good wishes" from the Dupont brewery. Want to come?