eurotrip 2011: drugs

Belgian Beer

Belgium and the US have the best beer scenes in the world as far as I'm concerned. Below is a list of the beers I took notes on, which is most of the beers I tried. I've put stars next to those I strongly recommend, and alcohol by volume in parentheses. Some notes or stories included as well.

Belgoo (6.6%) - quaffable and crisp, slightly appley.

Boon Lambic Marriage Parfait (9.9%) - smooth, sour and dry. kind of like a sherry. citrus and floral notes on the nose.

Brugge Zot - a locally brewed blonde. good, but nothing spectacular.

Cuvee de l'Ermitage (7.5%) - light and smooth, dry, fizzy. citrus, floral, pepper.

Duchesse de Bourgogne (6.2%) - like a sparkling red wine, sweet and sour, fizzy.

Gueuze Girardin 1882* - a funky delight, sour and tart. very dry.

Gueuze Tilquin (4.8%) - crisp, smooth, and tart. sour cherry.

Kasteel Rouge - cherry bomb in taste and smell. deep red colour with a pink head.

Noir de Dottignies (9%) - bitter, coffee/toasty, lightly floral. a bit watery.

Rochefort 6 - don't bother with this dubbel, just get the quad.

Rochefort 10* (11.3%) - thick and oily mouthfeel, caramel and fig taste. amazing stuff.

Timmermans Kriek (4%) - another cherry bomb.

Troubadour Magma* (9%) - outstanding Belgian IPA, on tap with a nice patio. spicy, sourdough, orangey.

Westmalle Tripel (9.5%) - smells include honey, bread, lemon and apricot. tastes like a dry white wine, peppery and bitter.

Westvleteren 12* (10.2%)- Smells of caramel, cherry, and raisins. Tastes similar, very smooth, sweet, toasty, and not very boozy. I'd been lusting after the #1 beer on beeradvocate.com's rankings for years. The Trappist monks who brew it don't do any marketing, so the only way to buy it from them is to arrange an appointment to drive to the brewery and pick up a maximum of 2 cases. So it is very rare and expensive (which probably influences the rankings). I splurged and spent 12 euros on a 330ml bottle. It was definitely outstanding, but probably not worth the cost of three bottles of the fairly similar Rochefort 10.

French Wine

I actually don't have much to say about the wine. There was lots of it, it all tasted good, and it wasn't very expensive. But I'm much pickier about beer than wine.

Dutch Drugs

At first it was weird walking through a city street and seeing and smelling lots of marijuana, but I got used to it pretty quickly. That's how the rest of the world should be. You can walk into coffeeshops all over town and order pre-rolled joints (3.5 to 8 euros, from what I saw). You can sit down in the shop to smoke, or just take them to go and smoke on the street. Mushrooms were also widely available.

eurotrip 2011: sex

I walked through the Red Light District twice, both at night. There were lots of women in the windows, many of them very lovely, some not so much. They often tapped on the glass to get my attention, or even opened their door invitingly. After walking through, my friend said he'd never been hit on by so many cute girls in his life. It was a weird experience.

I'm uncomfortable with prostitution. It seems too much like slavery. I'm sure some of the women are college girls with expensive tastes and a wild streak, but most of them must be forced into this, either through coercion or desperation. Whatever the formal arrangement (I gathered that the women rent the windows for ~150 euros per night, and charge ~50 euros for 15 minutes), much of the business seems to be controlled by organized crime.