By Koen “Nessie” Langerak

Foreword

Hello hello!

I’ve often dreamed about having my own restaurant/cafe, and fact is that I still sort of do sometimes. I’m also not usually very proud of just life, but getting inhammered as Oppertapper with this amazing group of friends was an achievement that I will always be very proud of. Anyways.

So far this year, I’ve tried juggling a bit with what the people want (cringe ass leden jkjk) combined with a personal passion. And it’s so much fun! My fellow board members will definitely not agree, but there are few things as fun as ordering so many interesting-looking beers even if I don’t have the space for it. They won’t give me space in the Q (which is completely fair), so I have gotten pretty good at stacking them :).

All this yapping was just to say that I have wanted to make a little menu for all the things behind the bar. This is useful for you, for if you want to order something, but also for if you are tapping and getting asked for a recommendation! It is also useful for me, because it is a little passion of mine and I need to yap somewhere! This menu will start off with a ‘drink of the month’, where I will yap about a/multiple drink(s) for a bit. Hopefully at the end of the year, ill leave you guys with a little menu booklet :). Anyways, thanks for tapping, doing any other shift OR just being there and being amazing! Love you guys!

Nessie

Drink(s) of the month – brewery

Lindemans

The Lindemans brewery located in Belgium, near Brussels, is a brewery my girlfriend and I have been to a lot in the past year. This place near Brussels was has a special gift, which makes for a lot of competitors (like Timmermans, Boon) in the same region. Why not just move away from the competition? 

Well, they can’t! They are brewing using a process called ‘open fermentation’. What does this mean you might ask? Or not, but I’m telling you anyway :). Usually, breweries have their own yeast that they made in the lab, or found naturally and now use. However, in the neighbourhood of Lindemans, you are literally walking through yeasts. They are in the air!!! They literally leave the wort, which is the unfermented beer broth, open in a room and they leave the windows open. They lure the yeasts inside, by having multiple wooden planks around the open vat, because the yeasts want wood. 

Last fun fact about the breweries in this region: they can only brew in the fall and winter months, since the ratio of wanted yeasts is not correct in the summer. It would simply not work, since the beer would be taken over by other yeasts. So when we were at Lindemans during the summer, they were putting all their staff to bottling so many beers a day.

Lindemans dark cuvée rené – cognac blend

Lindemans works with old hops, which means a non-bitter taste. They leave their beer for 1 year, 2 years or 3 years. Then for their final product they usually mix all of these together, with a natural flavor. In the case of the cognac blend, they don’t mix. They riped the beer in a wooden vat for two years. The yeast actually sort of use the wood, so the taste in the wood can be tasted in the product. After these two years, the beer is riped in wooden vats that were used for cognac storage for 20 years. This means that the cognac can be tasted in the final product. 

It is the most expensive beer we have, but it is definitely worth it :). Your Oppertapper is probably down to get one together, just ask them!