Abbaye de Vauclair
http://www.abbaye-vauclair.fr/
Brewed by Les Brasseurs De Gayant
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Douai, France
The Vauclair Abbey was a Cistercian abbey founded in 1134 by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, located in the North of France. Supported financially by rich families, the abbey quickly prospered and was given several estates and farms, until the French Revolution in 1789, when it was finally demolished and sold as “national property”. Then World War one lead to further damage from artillery fire…..to where today only ruins remain. What remains of the site is an arboretum of apple and pear trees and a medicinal herb garden.
Not the first time I have had a beer from the Abbaye de Vauclair range. Had their Rubis (Ruby) a while back and thought it was surprisingly decent. It was cheap and did the business, so looking forward to their Brune for sure.
Review: 33cl bottle of Abbaye de Vauclair Brune: 6.4% vol.
Bottle from Lidl, France. Cheap, and coming in a nice 33cl stubble bottle.
Pitch black on the pour with a small white head which eventually dies a death. Looks like a black lager more so than a Belgian Brune ale. Not a looker.
The aroma is quite strong in this one, very hoppy smell, very piercing, and very sweet. Must be the dark roasted malts and the fruits.
Getting a slight bitter taste in the mouth, not a problem but noticeable.
Has no real kick or bite to this beer.
Nothing special, pretty boring and bland truth be told. Just the hops and the roasted malts (on the low level) and not much else to write home about. No real flavouring and a bit dry. Disappointing.
Neuchâtel (“Newcastle”) is a small city and the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel located on Lake Neuchâtel, in the shadow of the Jura mountains and facing the Alps, in West Switzerland, not too far from the border of France. The French speaking town has a population of about 34,000 people and was originally part of the Holy Roman Empire and later under Prussian control from 1707 until 1848. (Prussia, a historically prominent German state, in case you didn’t know!!)
As for a day out, Neuchâtel’s has an attractive Old Town, with about 140 street fountains, a handful of which date from the 16th century, and classical Burundian architecture with rows of contiguous narrow houses on three or four storeys and through corridors. The beautiful Alps far off in the distance on view from the lake also offer something to behold. 
PMU Race Cafe 
This place wasn’t to far off the stadium so ventured in. Was intrigued as it had horse racing on, and seemed to double as a betting shop, a first for me to see in Switzerland. Fancied a flutter but unfortunately (or fortunately) it was only French racing so let that pass. 
Was heaving with Xamax fans who were very boisterous and all good fun. Had a few cheap lagers and sat down to enjoy the “show” the home fans were putting on…….smoke bombs and pyro, horse play on the roundabout, all good fun.
Had a few beers, well quite a few, in this bar, waiting for my train. Bar is dead handy as it is right next to the train station which is just damn perfect for me! Bar right at the door, dont have to make any effort so! Managed to grab a 
Small bar, but quite busy, as you can imagine what with it beside the train station. Service wasn’t exactly very friendly, bit grumpy in fact, dont think they were Swiss to be honest. A fella, serving behind the bar, Jesus a smile wouldn’t kill you! The waitress wasn’t much better. Ok we get it, a lot of noisy football fans are in town, but Jesus no one is forcing you to do work in a bar!
The name Xamax (and club nickname) comes from legendary Swiss international ‘Xam’ Max Abegglen, one of the founding members of the club. 
In May 2013 a merger happened between Neuchâtel Xamax and FC Serrières, another side from Neuchâtel, to create Xamax Neuchâtel FCS, to continue top tier football in the city. The quick success continued as the team won back to back promotions to find themselves at the Challenge League division, three successive promotions to the second tier of Swiss football. And then in the 2017–18 season, the club were finally promoted back to the big time, to the Swiss Super League. It was has if the near death of the club had never happened! 
As for Europe they have had some small success, relatively speaking for a small club. In the 1981–82 season they managed to get to the last 8th of the Uefa Cup, beating Sparta Prague, Malmo, Sporting Lisbon along the way before eventually losing to Hamburg, narrowly 2-3 on agg. If you thought that was impressive, well in 1985–86 season they repeated the trick, once again getting to the last 8th of the Uefa, but once again losing out 2-3 on agg, this time to the mighty Real Madrid, not without a brilliant 2-0 home win though. Pretty good stuff I think. They haven’t since reached those heights, but they did knock out Celtic in the 1991–92 UEFA Cup, four of those goals coming from the Egyptian footballing legend, Hossam Hassan, a result I well remember at the time as the Scottish giants were definitely not expecting their trashing, 5-1 in Switzerland. In that competition they were knocked out by Real Madrid, 4-1, but not without a lovely one nil win at home. In the 1987–88 European Cup, they also had an impressive victory over Bayern Munich at home, 2-1, but alas going out 2-3 on agg. So one can see, for a small club, they have had some notable achievements in European football. 
The team play in red with black stripes and line out in the Stade de la Maladière stadium where the club play its home games. Opened in 2007 the ground has a total capacity of 12,500 supporters. The attendance record stands at 25,500 spectators in the undeveloped Stade de la Maladière when, in 1986, Real Madrid came to town in the second leg of the last eight of the Uefa Cup to see the team win out 2-0 which sadly wasn’t enough to overturn the tie. Nowadays the stadium has been renovated to include a shopping centre, a sports halls and even a fire station! But its not all that impressive as the ground has a fucking plastic pitch, urgh! It is owned by the city council. 
Getting to the ground was dead easy as its not too far from the station, and you head downwards. The Maladière stadium is near the lovely Lake of Neuchâtel, and a stones throw from the red bricked Notre-Dame Cathedral that dominates the local skyline, you really couldn’t get a better location for a ground. 
Not the best game in the world, few chances, a lot of slow build up play, and huffing and puffing and hard endeavor, but will little quality on display from both teams.
After that chances were few and far between, with both teams having an opportunity to steal a winner, both the game petered out for a draw. A fair result to be honest.
All was going well for many years, even centuries, until the Nazis got into power. By this stage the company had a substantial Jewish shareholdership, and due to the toxic political atmosphere in the country, they were all expelled and the company was nationalized. 
Brewed for LIDL Germany, which shows how much the retail supermarket is trying to tap into the craft beer scene.
For a stout, it is not as bitter or strong in the taste that it should be, its a bit light in that regards, and I really cant feel the 7.5% vol. but it is tasty enough to allay any of those fears that it might be another limp wristed stout. Good enough to enjoy and goes down the hatch very easy. Also get a lot in the can too, so happy days!
Originally all their beer was brewed by contract by Matt Brewing Company, it was here that they first developed their famous Brooklyn lager. Other beer types were developed in time, a Weisse to an exciting Black Chocolate Stout to a more standard East IPA.
These days the brewery churns out a whole range of beers, from all sorts of the more traditional types of ales to more fruitier versions (Pumpkin ale anyone?), to stouts, wheat beers, and pilsners, selling to thirsty punters all over the globe, from Scandinavia (in partnership with Carlsberg), to the Far East and Australasia, and to mainland Europe and the UK.
Has a nice amber colour on pour with a decent frothy white head. Looks ok on pour. Some slight lacing. Not a bad looking beer.
Founded in 1887 by brothers, Eberhardt and Hans Maisel, Brauerei Gebrüder Maisel is a family-owned brewery located in Bayreuth, a small city on the Red Main River in Bavaria, Germany. The brewery is best known for their wheat beer, Maisel Weisse, and is the fourth largest producer of wheat beer in the country, which is some achievement when you consider how the Germans love their Weissbier’s!
A cloudy look on pour, producing a hazy orange amber coloured beer, with a decent enough white head appearing. Head is frothy and sticks around. Not a bad looker.
Getting all the pure wheat beer tastes, the coriander and the cloves, but ever so soft and fresh on the tongue, Very gentle and smooth in the mouth.
Starting small to eventually becoming a bit of a sensation in the brewing world, with all sorts of high jinks and marketing bull. To their credit they have always tried to push the boat out with exciting and innovative styles, using a wide array of mad and exotic ingredients from chilli, honey, chocolate, hemp, and mustard to name but a few. And generally they do tend to get the basics right……ie. their beers are actually quite bloody good, continuing to rake up a tonne of awards and prizes all over the globe.
Taste is what you would expect from the BrewDog guys, all overloaded with hops, but they are all very manageable and well balanced, and very tasty to boot in this one. 
Over time the brewery has changed ownership, and in 1994, saw a coming together of two old Stuttgart breweries, the Dinkelacker Brewery and Schwaben Brau resulting in The Dinkelacker-Schwaben Brau GmbH & Co. KG been formed.
On the can get a nice logo of the brewery, the Wulle Biere in distinctive red, easy to spot. 
A very smooth beer to drink and you get a lot in the can so plenty to enjoy.
Lapin Kulta (Lapland Gold) is a Finnish beer brand and brewery from the Lapland town of Tornio. Founded in 1873, the brewery is now run by Hartwell Ltd, a Finnish beverage company, as part of the Royal Unibrew group. 
My first beer tryout from Finland. The beer uses an original recipe that dates back more than 140 years ago and brewed from the icy water of Lapland. This should be interesting! 
Also getting some floral hops in the taste that were a little bit too sweet, kind of giving it a soapy taste, which wasn’t terrible just a little strange!
It all started in 1788, when daddy François Piller, owner of the “Zum Lachs” inn, in the town of Fribourg, decides to have a brewery built for his son, who just recently graduated as a Bavarian master brewer, a nice fatherly thing to do (if you have the money!).
Available to buy in Coop, one of Switzerland’s largest discount stores. 
I like it, very smooth, a nice light bodied lager that is so very easy to drink. But fuck all in the bottle! Lots of malts and barley, grains, all balanced very well, mild hops, no bitterness or offensive tastes. 
Arcobräu is a brewery in the Lower Bavarian small town of Moos, in South Eastern Germany, close to the Austrian and Czech borders. The brewery has been owned by the Arco-Zinneberg family for 450 years and is one of the larger breweries in the region with annual sales regularly hitting the 20 million Euro mark. 
Cool looking blue logo, woman with a pitcher on the nice brown bottle. 
Tastes citrusy and grainy, and very light, clean and easy to drink.