Image of the Day

[randy_byers]

My God! It's full of lambic!

This is another shot from the Cantillon brewery in Brussels, this one taken by reverendjim. Have I mentioned that the visit to the brewery was one of the high points of my trip? Did I mention the huge, riveted (not welded), open-air, red copper vat in the attic where they expose their wort to wild yeast? Something I'd been hearing about for years, but it was still awe-inspiring to see this strange and beautifully-crafted machine of human industry, which results in such strange and wonderful brews.

And I am now back from Thanksgiving weekend in Oregon. My travels are behind me for now, although there are almost certainly trips to come in the next year -- three of them in the process of formation even now, including one to Corflu in Sunnyvale, California and one to Worldcon in Reno. This trip was fantastic all along the the long and winding way. It's great to be home. I need to get my head (and my routine) back on and maybe do some writing. For now I'll just post an "angsty album cover" photo, as Jim described it.

How is everyone? I suddenly feel like a stranger here! I need to get regrounded.

Comments

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Welcome home, and back to the electrons, too.

Me? I'm still going with the flow.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that things are still flowing for your father. Hope you've been able to relax a bit in the wake of the crisis.

[mvt.livejournal.com]

So jealous. Sometime come back to Toronto and a bunch of us will do a brewery tours. And maybe eat some good food.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I definitely want to get back to Toronto again (this was my second visit), and breweries and food sound like a good agenda.

[reverendjim.livejournal.com]

Nice photo!
I think I've figured out what some of the "barrel codes" mean. On their Facebook page Cantillon have mentioned when they've been brewing and referring to them as N1, N2, etc. So I suspect they use a letter for each brewing season and then a number for each brew; meaning the M8 and M14 on those barrels mean they were from differing brews from last year.
With the L at the top as "Lambic"? Bog standard? Not sure. It's all possible.
(Oh, got the cash from Mark, ta muchly.)

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Having a batch code certainly makes sense. Wonder how many different batches they have going at any given time.

[reverendjim.livejournal.com]

Presumably it's mostly from the last three years, with less of the older stuff. Not sure how many brews they actually do in a "season"; every few days for a couple of months at a guess.
They did say the other day that they'd cancelled a planned brew as it was too cold. It sounds like the wild yeast doesn't like it too chilly so wouldn't "take" when they left it overnight.