Zythos, Vapeur and and End to Beer Trip 2014

Waking up with surprisingly little aftereffects of the Night of Great Thirst, we had a quick breakfast and boarded our coach.  We drove for a bit and shared some of Hassan’s Westvleteren 8 bottles (so he wouldn’t have to pack them and get them home).  At least by this point we had tasting glasses from La Rulles instead of plastic or paper cups! 

In a small town in the countryside, we arrived at our destination before 11 AM: La Brasserie A Vapeur.  This is an old brewery from around 1902, whose claim to fame is that it is still run by a turn of the century steam engine!  Anchor Brewing can claim the name “Steam Beer” but this place has been actually brewing with steam for over a century.  We luckily arrived just in time to catch part of the mechanized brewing process.  Our group entered the old brewery building to a whistling, hooting, ratcheting mayhem of a great old steam engine.  Pistons scraping and whooshing ou …