On a sparkling morning in late September three years ago, I arrived in Vichte, West Flanders, to tour the wonderful old Verhaeghe family brewery, where they make the classic Flanders roodbruin, Duchesse de Bourgogne. Tour guide Katrien Martin and owner/brewer Peter Verhaeghe showed me the brewery and cellars, and we tasted through a line-up of their beers—all of them, or so I thought. Yet when I was preparing to leave around lunchtime, Martin mentioned a café nearby where I could have a glass of their pils.
Pils? I had just toured the whole brewery, and nowhere did I see any mention of a pilsner.
I found the restaurant and was served a luminous glass of liquid gold with my steak-frites. The glass, of course, was embossed with the brewery’s ornate crest, typical for Belgium. The beer had a curious quality—sweetish malts, zesty hops, a mineral note, and a quick, dry finish. It bore some resemblance to German pilsner, but the malts, the minerality, the finish—they were unusual. It was excellent, and I wondered why they didn’t talk about it.