Show 50: The Voice of Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Welcome to the new phase of Speaking of Beer: leaner (except when it’s bloated), meaner (except when it’s nice), and more focused (except when it wanders).
Today’s episode is a special Beer As Folk interview with Jef Verserle of Belgium’s Brouwerij Van Steenberge, best known for their outstanding brews Gulden Draak, Piraat, and Augustijn. The brewery has been in Jef’s family for seven generations, so as you can imagine he has a lot to talk about. The history, the philosophy, and the craft, both ancient and modern, of a world-class brewery all get a go-round in this conversation. So pour up a nice tall Gulden Draak (my personal favorite), or any of the other Van Steenberge beers, and enjoy the show!
June 14th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Wonderful show! I had the opportunity to visit Van Steenberge Brouwerij in the company of Paul Van Steenberge and my friend Chantal De Smedt (Gilder Ale ) four or five years ago and I can testify , these guy’s have beer in their blood.They are an inspiration to all other small independent brewers.
Too bad we can hardly find Augustin in Brazil anymore, hey jef don’t forget us south of the border, we love your beers!
June 17th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Even with the skinnied down format, you’re still giving us things we can’t get from the other beer related podcasts. The others I’ve listened to are either endless tastings of beers that blur together or that lap back on themselves, or they have low signal to noise ratios. Don’t feel compelled to fill a preset amount of space. When you’ve got something worth sharing, we’re still listening (the magic of RSS).
June 17th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Marcelo: Thanks for the good words. Keep your ears peeled: Indica will definitely be making an appearance down the pike. Promise.
SOBro: Thanks, sounds like you and I are on the same wavelength with regards to the freedom podcasting brings to the proceedings. And we’ll test out the whole “worth sharing” criterion on the next episode…
June 21st, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Charlie… I have to hand it to you… This was a brilliant addition to your episodes. I loved the line… “InBev are bankers… Not brewers”.
I especially loved his story about how his grandmother told the grandfather that she was not leaving the brewery… EVER!
I will highly recommend this show to others! (Except for that hideously long plug for some some Sci-Fi fiction show that wants to win an award at a gaming convention??? WTF???
)
G
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:50 am
Groucho: Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for spreading the word! Jef was fascinating and chock full of hardcore brewing wisdom…it was basically “turn on the mic and let ‘er rip.” I agree with you on the InBev comment…there was a nice subtle venom in the way he said “bankers” that was classic.
Oh, and it’s still not too late to nominate The Beer Report for a Parsec Award (you don’t have to be sci-fi…SoB was up for one last year in the Best “Infotainment” category). You guys could go to Dragon*Con and hang with the gamers…it’d be classic!
July 13th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
[...] Charlie the Beer Guy’s interview with Brouwerij Van Steenberge [...]
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Charlie, I agree with all above. This was a great episode. Just listened to it today, as I am a bit behind on all my podcasts. Jef was a hoot! I love people who are passionate about what they do. While listening I fired up google, located a local store that sometimes carries Van Steenberge beers and have already emailed an inquiry to them about getting some Piraat and Gulden Draak! Thanks to you, I am sure I will be tasting another great beer soon!