By LUCY BURNINGHAM Published: June 25, 2008 (NY Times online) WHEN Matthew VandenBerghe brings home his favorite beers, he doesnt make room for them in the fridge. He takes them to his beer cellar. Its a pitch-black basement room that stays 54 degrees year round. Sprayed concrete walls conduct the cool ground temperature while creating a cave-like appearance, and water he has had piped in drips down one side, both adding to the troglodyte effect and keeping the humidity between 60 and 70 percent.  read more »

Now this was a great surprise like the Fort Collins beer we reviewed yesterday, it was enjoyed immensely at the Homewood Suites in Overland Park, Kansas just over a month ago Im only now cleaning out my beer tasting notes after a few weeks of inactivity on this blog. Its not like we stopped drinking or anything!  read more »

Christmas Beer: The Cheeriest, Tastiest and Most Unusual Holiday Brews by Don Russell takes on the subject on Christmas beers and winter warmers with gusto.

Russell, the Philadelphia Daily News beer columnist known to many as "Joe Sixpack," ranks his "50 Best Christmas Beers," with Troegs Brewing Mad Elf, Dupont's Avec les Bons Voeux, Samichlaus Bier, De Dolle Brouwers Stille Nacht and Anchor's Our Special Ale holding down the top five positions. There are dozens of other holiday and winter brews in the book, which can help decipher some of the ingredients brewers use to spice holiday beers.  read more »

Casey Hard of Max's on Broadway sent me the list of beers he plans to have on hand for Max's Fourth Annual Belgian Beer Fest. The dates are Feb 15-17, a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The times are 11 a.m....Rob Kasper

A series of beers reviewed by Michael follows for the next couple of days. This will give us the chance to try and drink some more for you. Having tried De Dolle Brouwers Oerbier ( beer no. 32 ), and the Arabier ( beer no. 33 ) at Paters Vaetje, the next one on the list was Dulle Teve. This translates to Mad Bitch. I have to say, whether intentional or not, just the name of this beer emits a sense of fun. It poured an Amber colour with quite a large head (although this could have been as a result of the previous two beers!).  read more »

I enjoyed a pleasant evening of Belgian beer roulette at San Franciscos Toronado Bar a couple weeks back, just doing my thing, pulling the trigger on whatever Belgian beers had the funniest or most impenetrable names. A game like this should only be played by professionals professionals who just got their paychecks, for it is a high-stakes game played with real money. Heres how it played out: VON HONSEBROUCK KASTEEL DONKER BRUIN This was a false move that nearly blew my head clean off.  read more »

Ive only had one other beer from BROWERIJ DE DOLLE our of Esen, Belgium before it was the OERBIER that I absolutely fell on the floor over. The good news is I see their beers at just about every specialty beer retailer I walk into, and I figured it was time to give another one from the lineup a try. The brewery has been pumping these out since 1835, so theres a lot of history inside each of these little bottles. The one I grabbed is called DE DOLLE DULLE TEVE , and its a 10% ABV tripel, a style in every right-thinking Belgian brewers lineup.  read more »