Celebrating a Belgian Beer Christmas in Portland
EarthLab Libations, a SE Portland beer truck, is bringing back last year’s Belgian Christmas celebration with Monkless Belgian Ales and taking it international. Last winter when Earthlab hosted the acclaimed Bend, Oregon brewery Monkless (a GABF brewpub of the year), it was such a hit that they decided to make it an annual tradition and invite some of the breweries that inspired them from Belgium.
All time greats St. Bernardus abbey ales, and Delirium Tremens, are joining in on the Belgian Christmas tap takeover this Friday, December 8th. To balance out all these big Belgian and Belgian-style beers, EarthLab has invited Paper and Twine Bakery to setup a booth during the event, with a huge selection of cookies like coconut pecan, preserved lemon lavender, cinnamon caramel, and strawberry pepper, to name a few. But that’s not all, find holiday bread like cranberry orange, blueberry lemon, and traditional, as well as small pies in flavors like peanut cola, and sweet bean & caramel.
Delirium Tremens is famed for their strong and fruity beers with iconic opaque bottles with tiny pink elephants. Jeff Schaaf, NW Sales for Better Beverage Leaders, who represents the Delirium beers around the pacific northwest, is driving down from north of Seattle and bringing beautiful gold rimmed Delirium Noel glasses for anyone that buys a delirium pour!
St. Bernardus is perhaps most famous for Abt. 12, the beer many consider the greatest Belgian Dark Strong ale in the world. But their Christmas Ale is just as influential, inspiring the entire style category of Belgian holiday ales. Rob Lund , the representative for D&V International that brings St. Bernardus into the country, is contributing very limited St. Bernardus Xmas glassware gift packs that will be raffled off every half hour at the event.
Monkless Belgian Ales will have both a brewer and Nick Martin from the sales team attending the Belgian Christmas party. They will contribute 6 different beers to the taplist, bottles and cans to-go, and lot of merch to be raffled off during throughout the night.
“We are very lucky to have a brewery like Monkless in Oregon,” says Earthlab Libations owner Dan Denison. “The vast world of Belgian brewery imports can be a little overwhelming to many craft beer enthusiasts who already have a lot to pay attention to here in the Pacific Northwest. So I think they are making these beer styles much more approachable to people who otherwise might never try or be exposed to them.”
SPECIAL TAPLIST:
Monkless Belgian Ales: Reverie (Pilsner, 5% abv)
Monkless Belgian Ales: Shepplekofeggan (Belgian-style Witbier, 5.4% abv)
Monkless Belgian Ales: Benefaction (Double IPA, 9.6% abv)
Monkless Belgian Ales: Capitulation (Dry-hopped Belgian-style Tripel, 8.1% abv)
Monkless Belgian Ales: Dubbel or Nothing (Belgian-style Dubbel, 7.2% abv)
Monkless Belgian Ales: Meet Your Maker (Belgian-style Dark Strong, 9% abv)
Delirum Tremens: Noel (Belgian Winter Ale, 10% abv)
St. Bernardus Christmas Ale - (Belgian Quadruple, 10% abv)
Plus requisite IPA, Cider, Seltzer and Kombucha on draft if you are feeling something less Belgian-y.
Earthlab is a 1988 Italian Box Truck permanently parked in a tiny food truck lot at 2623 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR 97214, just a block from Foreland Beer’s taphouse ‘The Study’. A draft box opens off the side of the trailer, and a semi-enclosed metal barn roof structure and heaters keep customers warm while eating, drinking, or picking up food and beers to-go. Denison and McDonald curate the taplist like a great beer bar, selecting mass appealing favorites and small breweries they think should have more fans. Monkless Belgian Ales is one of the latter, with a proven cult following that helps power their successful brasserie brewpub in Bend’s Old Mill District.
Monkless is a monk-free brewery that focuses on accessible, and refined Belgian-style beers that strive for authenticity and yeast driven fermentation flavors, occasionally making hybrid versions that explore more modern day styles. Their year-round beers are mostly approachable and very drinkable food friendly sippers with mid-range abv, but for specialty and seasonal releases around the holidays they often go big with Tripel, Quadrupel and Dubbel style beers that will warm your heart.
Earthlab owners Matt Mcdonald and Dan Denison were first introduced to Monkless at Portland’s now closed The Abbey Bar, which is also where they first met before opening the tap truck in fall 2021. The Abbey Bar was one of the last real European beer bars in Portland, and they had Monkless on the regular along with actual imported Belgian beers.
“For a young domestic brewery trying to replicate beer styles that had many decades, or even centuries of refinement, their beers were extremely impressive and much more cost-effective than imports. We've been huge fans ever since,” says Denison.
