Fuck Bush – USA Criminel

The above chapter title is spray painted on a wall near the hostel, obviously not by someone who speaks English very well, or writes it well at any rate. I agree with the sentiment either way.

I judged the surrounding city too harshly I think. Up until 5 blocks or so from my hostel it is fairly well kept city territory. After that, it is indeed the slums, but better slums than I first took them for. Ironically, I was walking down the street toward my hostel as I was I in the midst of making this judgement, and right as I was having this thought I happened to notice a wallet lying on the street, contents vacant. Still, I think that was just bad timing for the streets case.

Perhaps some of my paranoia has simply been me seeing what I fear most to see. I arrived back at the hostel tonight past when I went to bed last night. I bought what I had hoped but doubted was the top rated beer listed on beeradvocate.com in a shop today. As it turned out my instincts were not far off, as it turned out to be the wrong beer, but #11 on the list anyway. Poor Allan. I’m drinking it as I write in fact, but will hold judgement for the end.

But I swear, Belgium does beer every bit as good as it has a reputation for. Five beers I have tried here, and the worst I could call any of them is average, and even the one “average” beer I had might have deserved a better rating. If not the best beers (though debatably they may have those too) Belgium beer has been of a consistently high quality. The only bad beer I’ve ever had from Belgium was Hoegaarden, the disgusting ginger-tasting beer I described tasting in Scotland. It’s quite popular here somehow, though I don’t understand why.

I discovered in Scotland that I enjoy the taste strong ales carry, only to find Belgium happens to be packed to the brim with strong ales. Chimay, a lovely dark and strong brew was 18 proof. The St. Bernadus abt 12 that I’m drinking is 20 proof, and Trappists Rochefort 10 is 23 proof. In Scotland I joked with my brother that a pint of Skullsplitter, the Orkney Brewery’s 16 proofer, would knock you down a peg. Clearly I’d never been to Belgium. But we all live and learn.

As for the St. Bernadus abt 12, I think I am prepared to judge. Dark and chewy, full of flavor. It is almost more than the tongue can handle. Yum.