Superfoeder: Uiltje x Rodenbach

Warning: this interview takes place inside a giant oak foeder used for aging and maturing Flanders Red Ales. Literally. This is how things go down at the Rodenbach Brewery in Roeselare in West Flanders, considered by many to be the most beautiful brewery in the world. John recently roadtripped with Uiltje Head of Brewer Aditya ‘Paddi’ Parupudi to hook up with Rodenbach’s Stijn Bundervoet to taste the beer they are making together. But don’t call it a collaboration (!) — Stijn is both mentor and guardrails to make sure we don’t fuck up his beer. Half the conversations takes place in the catacombs of the 200-year-old brewery in a forest of 294 foeders. One of those contains the beer that forms the basis of Uiltje’s latest creation: SuperFoeder. Aged for nearly eight years and then matured on sour cherries, it is a nod to Belgian kriek. But it’s not a kriek, just like it’s not a collaboration. Following? Nope. “It’s like the granddad giving his grandkid a small token — Rodenbach is the grandfather of craft, and they’re giving Uiltje a little bit of their beer to say, ‘Hey, go see if your crowd likes this’,” Paddi says.

Read or listen the interview here.