We spent today in Leuven, approximately 20 min (by fast train) from Brussels. Leuven is a university city, home of the Katholische Universiteit Leuven. The university in Leuven is pretty old, dating to the 15th century, known as a center of learning throughout Europe. Our main purpose for visiting was to tour the Domus brewery, home of Condomus (he he) and Nostradomus (ha ha) beers. Gudrun and I also wanted to scout Leuven out a bit to see if it might be a better “home” location in Belgium than Brussels.
As a university city, Leuven has many small eateries that cater to students. In other words, inexpensive food. We saw the same thing in Ghent, which is another university city. Ghent has more medieval structures, and a wonderful 14th century cathedral that houses important artwork and is built on top of an 8th century church (which you can visit in the catacombs of the cathedral).
Leuven, in the time we were there, didn’t seem as geared to it’s history (although it was evident), and seems to be making a bigger push toward being known as a “beer capitol”. Oh yeah, it’s home to Stella Artois, “the largest brewery in the world” of InBev fame (or infame?). At the tourist information center located around the corner from the city hall, we were given a beer map of Leuven. They are apparently trying to be known as the world’s “beeriest” city; Portland could easily take that title based on breweries alone.
Leuven might be a more central location than Ghent, but then Belgium is only the size of Maryland, so for us northwesterners, everything seems close together. So, dear reader (I’m pretty sure there is only one of you), if you have opinions about where we should stay, please let me know in the comments!
On to the Domus tour. Domus is located in the center of Leuven, near the cathedral (a gothic cathedral built in the same style as the one in Cologne, but much smaller) and the town hall. Domus is a small brewery, equipped with a wonderful old brewing system (which they are going to upgrade). They usually brew two 300 L batches during each brew day.
Our tour guide, Bart Landuyt, was wonderful. He is a brewer, runs his own brewery that focusses on experimental beers, and works in the Laboratory of Functional Genomics at KU Leuven. After the tour, Gudrun and I spent most of our time during the tasting (Condomus and their special Christmas beer, Engel) chatting with Bart about beer, his brewery, and potential visits with people at KU the next time we come. We couldn’t have stumbled into a better contact!
Domus beers are (unfortunately) only served at the brewery. So don’t be tricked. I had a Nostradamus beer at the Oak and Ivy in Mac – this is NOT the same as Nostradomus (note the tricky spelling). Domus doesn’t even really keg their beers. Instead, the put the finished beer into large, sanitized plastic bags, that are then put into serving tanks. The beer is then drawn from these tanks, through a pipe system, to the bar. This reduces contact with oxygen, so beer remains fresher longer – evidently this is becoming something of a trend, at least in Europe.
So the beers. Condomus is a pilsner, clear and golden in the glass with a thick white head. It’s aroma was mostly malt, with just a hint of DMS. The flavor was malty with a good bit of bitterness (it is 40 IBU). I don’t really remember the Engel as well – I was really chatting with Bart at the time. It is darker – brown with ruby highlights, and not a very long lasting head. Gudrun thought it smelled of licorice. I thought it smelled sweet and malty, which was the main flavor.
