Pouring the perfect draught beer in Leuven

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This was definitely my favorite mission in Leuven.



First I had to find my way to Point of Interest 7 from the Leuven Walk app. A handy app with all landmarks and things to do and see in Leuven.

Brewery De Hoorn in Leuven

This turned out to be the old building of brewery De Hoorn. The birthplace of Stella Artois!

It's here that I received my mission. The goal this time was to find a world champion beer drafting in #Leuven and get him/her to teach me how to draft the perfect Stella.

So I posted my mission on Facebook and learned from +Dries De Kimpe that the winner from 2014 was Marjolein Geuens who works at Tarchief and from Katia Warny that the winner from this year Jan Vandenplas works at Bar 9 at the Oude Markt.

Just received a beer mission in #Leuven, the capital of beer in the country of beer. Awesomeness! I'm standing in the...
Posted by The Social Traveler on Friday, July 10, 2015

Off I went in search for Jan but when I got to the bar it turned out that he wasn't in town for the weekend... Bad luck!

I needed to find Marjolein but the bar she works at was closed. I decided to go talk to Liesbeth one of the owners at L café where I had lunch the day before on the other side of the market.

Liesbeth from Bar L

Turns out she's friends with Jan on Facebook and she was kind enough to message him about my quest. I left my phone number and decided to go check the café of M Museum because a little birdy told me that Steven works there who also participated in the competition a few years ago.

Once I got there I was welcomed by the awesome and super friendly staff who had to deliver me the unfortunate news that Steven is in South Africa at the moment... Aarghh!

They then told me to go see Daike at Villa Artois, one of the many bars at the Old Market. He might be able to put me in touch with Marjolein or somebody from the competition's Jury.

The awesome staff from the M Museum bar

Back to the market I went, luckily Leuven isn't too big so I could walk it easily. At the moment I arrived at the bar I received a text from Liesbeth from L café with the phone number of Marjolein which she got from Jan... 

YES!

I immediately called but had to leave her a voice mail. I crossed my fingers and hoped she'd call me back soon because it was already my last day in Leuven.

In the meantime I went to Villa Artois to look for Daike. I was welcomed by Sollie who told me that his boss wasn't there at the moment BUT he could show me how to draft the perfect Stella since he also took part in the competition on a national level. 

I gladly accepted and he walked me through the whole process with a lot of enthusiasm and patience. There are 9 steps! At my second try I managed to draft a presentable beer. Success!

Having a beer with Sollie from Villa Artois

Then my phone rang... Marjolein!

She told me that she'd love to help me but that she was at a wedding but she wanted to come back to Leuven the day after to teach me the ropes. How cool is that! I was going to learn how to pour the perfect stella from a world champion!

And sure enough, the day after we met up and she told me all about her adventures traveling the world to draft the perfect Stella everywhere she went. So cool!

We then went to Tarchief, she got the keys from her boss, and she showed me how it's done with a big smile. I gave it another go as well and we drank a few to celebrate. One does not waste beer! ;-)

Marjolein Geuens, World Champion at pouring the perfect Stella

Want to know how to pour the perfect draught as well. Just watch and learn ;-)




A big thank you to everybody who helped me complete this mission! Couldn't have done it without you.

Cheers! Schol! Santé!