Although Tim De Roeck is from the Belgian coast, he’s proud to call Ghent his home.
It’s a city with a reputation for festivals. The Gentse Feesten – a 10-day extravaganza of music, theatre and art – is the biggest street festival in Europe. Film Fest Gent is one of the most prominent film festivals in international cinema. Then there’s the Light Festival. Ode Gand. The Gent Jazz festival.
Up until fairly recently, however, Ghent didn’t have its own beer festival.
The Gentse Biervereniging – the Ghent Beer Association – have changed that.
“I remember the first Ghent beer festival five years ago,” says Tim, who is now the Association Chairperson. “It was my first year as a member and I remember thinking that we could do better. The next year I was part of a new festival committee.”
At the time Tim began developing the association – one of the 45 local beer consumer groups under the Zythos umbrella – the city’s first brewery for years had just opened. Today, Brouwerij Gruut continues to fly the flag from de Grote Huidevettershoek (although much of their output is brewed on contract at Brouwerij De Brabandere). There’s also De Wilde Brouwers, a new 200 litre microbrewery which operates very much under the radar as the brainchild of Denis De Wilde.
BEER BY ASSOCIATION
“I had membership card No.3”, says Tim of his early involvement in the beer club. “There wasn’t much written on it.” That was back in 2009 when just a handful of people wanted to develop the beer scene in the city. Today the Gentse Biervereniging boasts 120 paid up members.
The future of the beer club is often up for discussion among beer lovers in Ghent. The city’s beer festival grows every year and Tim is driven to ensure his time at the helm sees long-term benefits. “We’ve been working really hard on securing the financial future of the association and we’re hoping to formalise the club into a VZW,” says Tim (a VZW is a social enterprise in Belgium with various liability safeguards).
“We’re also busy rolling out a new social media strategy that will ensure our current members are constantly up-to-date with our activities and all the information about Ghent beer festival.”
MUSICAL TASTE
Tim spent seven years going to evening classes in de Lange Violettestraat learning to cook at CVO Ghent and when I first chat to him over a beer in his own house, he’s converting leftovers from the week into a zucchini and cauliflower soup.
The old bottles of Orval on display (one is from 1982) and his extensive cellared collection demonstrate that this is someone who takes his beer seriously.
Tim also takes his other interests seriously. Not just cooking, but choral singing. He is a member of the Schola Cantorum in Ghent and regularly performs at St. Baafs Cathedral.
This shared love of singing and beer began during the ‘Massa Cantus’ at University – essentially a grueling mass-organised piss-up for student clubs at the beginning of the academic year. He still attends to this day so he can relive old memories and collect the souvenir mug.
“The last few editions were at the St. Pietersplein but before that it was held at Flanders Expo, the ICC and on the UGent campus of De Sterre,” he recalls. “It’s always been with Rodenbach.” It sounds both fascinating and terrifying.
GHENT BEER FESTIVAL BEER GEEKERY
There were 850 people who attended last year as opposed to 1,350 people this year.
Given how busy he was on the day he didn’t have a lot of opportunity to sing at this year’s Ghent beer festival. Or to cook. Or even to taste beer. The 2015 edition was the best attended Ghent Beer Festival ever, taking place in the tree-lined garden at the back of the VIP School on Martelaarslaan.
“There were 850 people who attended last year as opposed to 1,350 people this year,” he says. “We also had the most extensive beer list we’ve ever had: 160 different beers.”
Every year at the Ghent beer festival the Gentse Biervereniging put a ‘guest’ country in the spotlight. Last year, it was the Netherlands. This year, the honour fell to the United States of America and due to the abnormally warm weather you might have mistaken this sunny Belgian school yard for a Californian park.
Beers with an affiliation to Ghent were the first to go: Ouwen Duiker from the three Gentenaars who gypsy brew under the name of ‘Hedonis Ambachtsbier’ at Brouwerij Maenhout; Louis XVIII from Ghent’s newest brewery, De Wilde Brouwers; and Zipacna which is contract brewed for one of the members of the Gentse Biervereniging at Brouwerij Anders.
Brands normally unattainable by beer geeks in Ghent – Velvet Glove, an American Imperial Stout from Iron Fist Brewing Company; Guava Grove Saison from Cigar City Brewing in Florida; Black Bear XX Stout from Alameda Brewhouse in Portland, Oregon – were also quick to disappear.
There’s certainly plenty of choice for everyone, but the beer list does read like something from an online beer rating website. Brewdog, Emelisse and Weird Beard are all there. There’s Zhůřák Asfalt Extreme Stout 20° from Czech brewery Pivovar Zhůřák.
Even the Belgian beers on offer – Alvinne Beer Geek Wedding; the HORAL Oude Geuze Megablend; the Lindemans/Mikkeller Spontanbasil collaboration – are those which many might seek to tick off a list.
TICKING ON
It’s no surprise then to learn that Tim – along with two others – is the Belgian administrator for Ratebeer. He goes by the name of ‘tderoeck’ and in 2013 entered the top 5 Belgian ratebeerians. He is responsible with the other admins (a Walloon and Swedish guy) for verifying all the new entries for Belgium as well as organising the ratebeer summer and winter gatherings to which people bring bottles for sharing with other ratebeer users. “The summer gathering is usually at my place,” says Tim. “I’ve got a BBQ and a garden.”
Who is one person to tell another how they are to enjoy a beer?
He’s definitely hooked. “I like trading”, Tim says. “Not for what we call ‘whales’ – hard to get beers like Dark Lord – but to try beers from different countries.” For that very reason, he’s also an active contributor to the couchsurfing community, deliberately offering free accommodation in Ghent at his house to travellers willing to bring him a special bottle. “I actually select who I’ll offer my sofa to based on where they are from,” admits Tim. “If there is someone coming from a country from which I haven’t tried many beers, they will get priority.”
I challenge Tim on the issue of beer ticking. Does constant record taking not interfere with the full appreciation of the moment people are in and the bottle people are tasting? “People enjoy beer in different ways,” he says. “I enjoy beer most when I’m thinking about its aroma, its flavours, what the beer is giving me. Who is one person to tell another how they are to enjoy a beer?” Fair point Tim.
Tim’s knowledge of beers across styles and between countries has enabled him to advise in beer selection for the Ghent beer festival, but he credits the association’s festival team with pulling it all off: John Versyck, Erwin Plancke, Jan Van Den Berge, Jerome Eggen, Jochen Merlier and Jolien Ryckaert.
The Ghent beer festival might be the biggest event in the Gentse Biervereniging’s calendar, but it’s certainly not their only one. “At the beginning of every year we host a New Year Reception”, Tim says. “Everyone is invited to bring two big bottles of beer with their names on it which we serve at an open bar throughout the evening. People seek out those who brought the beer by their name and we find it’s a great way to get people talking.”
Another of the association’s activities is to select a beer of the month. The association committee meet to taste various beers and decide together which would be best to champion. “We taste all the beers blind and make sure that they are available at local beer shops like De Hopduvel and Dranken Geers”, he says, referencing the two great beer shops accessible for Gentenaars. “The bars in Ghent are beginning to follow our recommendations. We’re definitely having an impact.”
The vision for the future is to hand the reigns over to someone else. “I don’t want any one person to be relied upon,” he says. “I think next year I will step down as Chairperson.”
And maybe by the time next year’s Ghent beer festival comes around, the Gentse Biervereniging will be a VZW, the social media strategy will have been fully implemented and there might even be some singing?
And who knows? Maybe the ‘guest’ country will be Ireland?
