Portugal: Madeira Wine & Beer

The last of our Funchal adventures brought us to doing something we're more than good at…drinking! I don't know how it happens, but in almost every city we've visited in Europe, we've found ourselves in a bar or at a winery, enjoying the fruits and brews of the local area. I'm far from complaining...just a funny observation of the kind of travel experiences we tend to gravitate towards. As the day was winding down Madeira, we made a stop at The Blandy Old Wine Lodge, one of Funchal's oldest wine making companies. A wine tradition of Madeira since 1811, Blandy's Wine Lodge is known for having 2 beautiful tasting rooms, a plethora of traditional Madeira wine, and wine-making areas on site. 

Madeira wine is quite different from the wine D and I are used to drinking. They're all fortified, grown on the mountains of Madeira, tend to have strong flavors, and boast higher percentages of alcohol. Madeira produces a wide variety of wine styles from dry wines that are used as aperitifs to sweet wines to be consumed with desserts. They're also noted for having a unique wine making process, heating the wine up to temperatures as high as 140°F and deliberately exposing the wine to oxidation. Because of this process, Madeira wine is often robust and can endure long shelf life, even after being opened. During our visit, we were able to taste 2 different kinds of popular Madeira wine…one sweet and one medium-dry. While I'm usually a fan of almost any wine you put in front of me, D and I didn't fall in love with Madeira wine. The flavors were great, but the tiny samples we drank were potent. Very syrupy and very alcoholic (the two varieties we tried were 19% and 18% ABV). Would I still recommend taking the time to visit Blandy's and experience true Madeira wine? Absolutely! When in Portugal, right?

After our wine stop…we had a late lunch at a quite cafe in town (banana-covered black scabbard fish--a traditional Funchal dish--good, but strange) and then started making our way back to the ship. While walking, we stumbled upon Beerhouse Madeira, a brewery right on the bay with great views of the Funchal shore. The boys were itching to grab a pint in this idyllic setting, so we stopped in, had a glass, and took some photos around the brewery. Beerhouse Madeira was quite a lucky find. Come to find out, their in-house beers are brewed according to German Beer Purity Law and include no chemical products or preservatives…just water, hops, rye malt, and yeast. After the first few sips, we started to wish we'd had our late lunch there! Very tasty brews and gorgeous views to boot! Worth a stop, for sure. Well, that's all from Portugal! Next stop, Málaga, Spain!

In Bruges: Part 3

I started writing about our first trip to Bruges almost a year ago. Then, other fun trips happened and I started writing about those instead. Why? Because I'm traveling too much for my own good and I can't wait to show you every destination we've been. I'm also suffering from overzealous travel blogger syndrome. I keep getting ahead of myself! If you need a refresher about the first of many Bruges trips we've taken, you can find those posts here and here. Now...more from Bruges.

On our first full day exploring Bruges (because those last two posts were just of our first night there...too much fun for one post!), the weather wasn't cooperating. We woke up to fog and rain and my heart sunk. I hate exploring new towns in the rain. Holding a camera and and umbrella just doesn't work for a photography enthusiast. Thankfully, after we ate breakfast in our charming B&B style hotel, the rain let up and the fog dissipated...just a bit. We started our tour of Bruges with a walk around the town. Bruges is pretty small, so it didn't take long to cover all its best parts. We jaunted in and out of numerous chocolate shops, stopped in for coffee and waffles to warm our cold bodies, and bought a few bottles of beer at a fun bottle shop just off the Markt square, but the highlight of our afternoon was visiting the De Halve Maan Brewery for a tour and a glass of their famous Bruges Zot! Our tour guide was HILARIOUS and gave one of the best tours of a brewery I'd ever taken. Not only was she super knowledgeable about Bruges' only remaining in-city brewery, but she answered all my burning questions about the Flemish culture and the filming of the movie In Bruges a few years back. Talk about being a nosy tourist! ;) She happily indulged me and made our Bruges beer touring experience just that much more enjoyable.

I am completely IN LOVE with everything about Bruges. The architecture, the canals, the chocolate, beer, pommes frites, and waffles...what's not to love? The city does a lovely job of making you feel like you've time-warped back to the 12th century. Like a page right out of some old storybook sitting on a dusty shelve. We loved Bruges so much that we ended up making a second trip back there for the Bruges Beer Festival just 3 months later. What can I say? We can't quit you, Bruges! Be on the lookout for more Bruges lovin' in posts to come. :)

In Bruges: Part 2

This post should probably be entitled "That time we drank our way through Bruges," but for the sake of not sounding like a complete drunk right off the bat, I saved it for the first sentence. The rest of this post however? Just stop reading now if you hate having fun. Anywho, D and I had an absolute blast in Bruges. It's probably one of our favorite cities in Europe (behind London, Paris, Rothenburg, & Prague). The photos from Tuesday's post were glimpses of just part of our first night...the photos in this post are what happened after we did all the cutesy Christmas market things...and what we continued to do every night thereafter. DRINK BEER. Before moving to Europe, I wasn't much of a beer drinker. Wine...YES! Beer? A Bud Light Lime was about all I could stomach. I know, eww. After moving to Germany, the German Hefeweizen (a wheat beer) began to grow on me. I found myself quite enjoying the half-liter Hefe's I got served on a regular basis at every restaurant around town. I even thought drinking a liter at Oktoberfest was no big thing. Bring them on! BUT, then we took our first trip to Belgium...Bruges to be exact...and I haven't drank a German Hefeweizen since. Belgian beer is lightyears better than German beer. And so much more complex. They're really barely comparable. You can get Belgian beer in almost every flavor under the sun...from the stout dark porters that taste like espresso and caramel (my personal favorites) or the fruit beers that taste like strawberry, raspberry, and even weirder, banana & coconut. I tend to stray away from the fruity ones. If I wanted a fizzy fruit drink, I'd order a Fanta. Beer, on the other hand, has to pack a punch. And most Belgian beers (aside from those fruity ones) range in alcohol content from 6%-13%. Ironically enough, the tastier ones tend to be 10%-13% alcohol by volume. Precisely why limited and leisurely drinking when Belgian beer is involved, is recommended.

Do you think D and I followed those recommendations our first Belgian beer go 'round? Not hardly. D's got the dog poop boots to prove it. But that's a story I'll save for later. For now, feast your eyes on one of our favorite bars in Bruges...Cambrinus!

A few things to note if you're planning on drinking the night away at Cambrinus:

1) If you want dinner, make reservations. The place is super popular and gets packed quickly. If you're coming just for the beer, there's a decent amount of bar space, as long as it's not already full. If full, be patient. Tourists often come in for just a drink before heading off to other restaurants for dinner, so seats at the bar will open up long before a table will.

2) The Cambrinus beer menu is extensive. Over 400 different beers are served here (some on tap, most in bottles) and the list is ever-changing. As overwhelming as that sounds, never fear. The bartenders give GREAT suggestions and are very knowledgable on all the varieties of Belgian beers.

3) As with trying any new kinds of beer, start your night from light to dark. Unless you're a pale ale, pils, blonde, white, or triple beer fan. I do urge you to at least try a good dark or amber Belgian beer. They hold the most complex flavors. I'm a dark beer convert, for sure. 

4) Keep it to a 3 beer maximum. 2 drinks if you're a lady, or especially unfamiliar with Belgian beer and its potency. Snack or consume a meal before and after you drink. Trust me. If you stick to the fruit stuff (not recommended), it'll take more than 2 beers to get a buzz on. Most fruit beers are only 2%-4% alcohol by volume. Although, you'll be in for a sugar tummy ache later.

5) Steal coasters. We grab a coaster or two from every bar we visit around Europe, kind of as souvenirs and memorabilia for our future "bar/rec room". Try and snag the ones of the beers you tried and liked. Our stack of coasters is becoming mountainous. *Note, we do not condone stealing in any other capacity. Coasters are where we draw the line. :)

As for our favorite Belgian beers...whew...that's a hard one. D and I both have similar tastes in the Belgians...dark, bold, and non-hoppy. Our {current} top 10 (in no particular order):

1) De Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva Vintage 2008 (10% alcohol- hard to find, tastes like heaven)
2) De Struise Tsjeezes Reserva Port Edition (10% alcohol- also kind of hard to find)
3) De Struise Black Albert (13% alcohol- coffee, chocolate, dark fruits flavor)
4) La Trappe Quadruple (10% alcohol- Trappist malty beer, fig & dark fruit notes)
5) Triple Karmelite (8% alcohol- smells like flowers, the only triple I really like)
6) Westvleteren 12 (10% alcohol-highly coveted Trappist beer brewed by monks)
7) Gulden Draak Dark Triple (10.5% alcohol- spiced, creamy, & raisiny)
8) Rochefort 10 (11% alcohol- Trappist beer)
9) Bush Amber (12% alcohol- spicy malt beer)
10) Bush Noel (12% alcohol- Christmas beer)

I promise the next Bruges post won't be as beer heavy. But, there will still be beer. I told you, not much to do in Bruges but drink! Cheers to the weekend, friends! Drink responsibly. ;)