Our 10th country since this Stat Attack started and our 3rd and final ‘Low Country’ (not that Luxembourg is that ‘Low’.
So what is Luxembourg famous for? I hear you ask. Well not a lot that I know about or can find of any great interest. It’s the world’s only ‘Grand Duchy’, so that’s something. Loads of banking stuff goes on in the country, the Radio Station was all we had for ‘pop music’ in the 60’ and 70’s until Pirate Radio’s in the North Sea awoke the BBC. They speck three offical languages and petrol is cheap compared to it’s three surrounding countries of Belgium, France and Germany. Just over 600,000 people live in the country, almost half being foreigners, or at least not actual Luxembourgers.
They produce some great wines, especially sparkling stuff, but the beer scene is pretty pedestrian compared to it’s near neighbours.
Just 23 active breweries, 4 Cideries, 1 Sake producer, but no Meaderies.
Top Brewery triers:
Just 20 rates would get you onto the Luxembourg Leader Board and although I was a little rude about the beer scene it is ‘on the up’ with some interesting stuff being brewed.
Sadly I believe all the Ratebeerians who lived in Luxembourg have now left the site, a pity because the top three all had 1,200 rates or more.
I actually like Luxembourg, been a few times over the years, camping a couple of times, a long weekend in the tourist town of Vianden and stays with our friends who live by the Mosel in Remich. Strangely only reviewed one place and that’s a Supermarket.
First ever visit was during a Hitch Hiking adventure (1975), I was supposed to be going to Munich, but met a couple of Dutch nurses at a random Lux campsite and ended up in the Netherlands for a while. Same trip, I’m in a bar/restaurant in Luxembourg City and a bus load of OAP’s from Bognor Regis come in. Three couples join me at my table (I was sat alone), as the place just ‘filled up’ with them all. They complimented me on my English, one nearly had a heart attack when I told them I came from a little fishing village called ‘Grimsby’!
My 38 beer ratings (@ a pretty poor 2.81 average) has me sat 15th on the countries leader board with @McWorta above me and @SHIG below.
I used to love a Henri Funk (Lager/Pils) back in the day (Mid-1970’s), it was a soft, mellow beer and typified Luxembourg and it’s brewing style in those days. Not too sure what I would make of it now, if the brewery was still standing. I even remember driving passed it just after it had closed down and was beginning to fall apart, brought a tear to my eye!
Took my wife to the Luxembourg National Brewery Museum once, it was crap! I notice they’ve added a Tannery Museum to the place now, and moved it out of the castle into the stables, bet it’s still crap though.
Once this Covid stuff is over a trip down memory lane may well be on the cards, need a few more Saarland rates too.
I can thank @Koelschtrinker and @blackhaddock for much of these. Like Jeremy says the beer scene has a deserved reputation for being a bit pedestrian, though like everywhere these days I’m sure there are some young upstarts causing havoc with their bonkers 14% smoothie sours.
No fascinating stories to report. Have always tended to take a detour into the country for cheap fuel, like many others, and then I’m out the other side. There is a music venue in Luxembourg City which I’ve been to twice, and I once spent a day off walking around the city. Quite a nice scenic place. Would like to experience it again with fresh eyes.
been to Lux a few times but never stayed overnight, in some cases a mere morning on way to Belgium. First time was 2003, a morning stop-off on my way from Switzerland to Belgium. Managed a couple of Lux beers but regional/macro. Think I’ve only once been to a craft bar, 3 or 4 years ago, where I did find a few Lux craft beers but more imports (on draught at least)
Public transport was usually done via the €4 all day ticket, now abolished as all public transport in Lux is FREE! Wish more countries would take their lead…
Luxemburg city has never wowed me, but there’s some nice scenery on the train ride towards Liege
I just have 1 rate and it’s from that sake “producer”. I bought it thinking I was getting a Japan region Aichi here is description:
Sekiya Brewery producer of Black Dot 2015 was established in 1865 based in Kitashitara-gun is located in a mountain valley pass in the Japanese Alps between Nagoya and Nagano. For hundred of years the town was a waypoint and resting place for travelers between the two cities. Sekiya Brewery was established because of the clean water from the mountains and the thirsty travelers crossing the mountains. Now it is a state-of-the-art sake brewery with a tasting room and sake-focused restaurant built out of an ancient farmhouse in town as well.
However we already had it listed under the Enter Sake name which it appears is described as below:
ENTER.Sake is a boutique sake collection curated by music icon and technology visionary, Richie Hawtin. Richie has been exploring the world of sake for twenty years during his extensive trips to Japan. For the past four years, through his ENTER. events across the world, Richie has tirelessly promoted sake as a core part of the ENTER. experience. Originating inside his now dormant residency at Space in Ibiza, Richie created Europe’s largest sake bar, ENTER.Sake, stocked with special sakes not available anywhere else outside of Japan. Now ENTER.Sake is beginning a new phase to bring its sake collection to restaurants, bars, and wine stores across the USA and Europe.
So it’s more distributor but I think does packaging as well?
I used to drive all over that small country trying to find beers. When I left my post in 2009. I was either top rater or top 3, can’t remember to many beers back now.
Hey @SHIG, you certainly didn’t need to go there for cheap fuel that’s for sure. Driving in Luxembourg is great fun once you turn onto the winding, thin stuff away from the main roads, finding new beers not so much fun (until you find some).
The petrol stations often had a decent alcohol section (along with fags and coffee because of the cheap cost compared to the rest of Western Europe), but the beer offerings were usually very poor. I never found a proper ‘beer shop’ on my visits, I just used supermarkets and hoped for the best. Not been to the country since 2018, so it might be a different experience now.
Visited once … day trip from Brussels on long weekend beer tour circa 2002/3 time.
Can’t remember a great deal … recall walking down from the station to the city centre over a large river bridge with the flight path next to it.
Just drank a local macro lager for the bier tick … literally in and out in 2 or so hours.
Didn’t bother purchasing a ticket on top of our Belgian rail pass … free as you like on the way in … not coming back out (its a 15 or 20 minute run to the border station I recall) … some Rene from Allo Allo look a like lunatic guard was in for the kill … I managed to avoid him as did I think one other but most of the group had to pay !
I used to go to this supermarket/mall on the west side near the Belgian boarder and pick up cheap untaxed Trappist beers. Luxembourg was only 45 mins from my apartment in Germany so no worries on gas. Would usually slip just inside Belgium to visit Chris at Mi-Orge Mi-Houblon • RateBeer. Also the mall in Luxembourg had a grocery with a great selection of macro stuff from all over world. Plus next door you could catch a new movie in English at the movie theater. Lastly, after driving up and down the street several times on one of my beer hunts, I finally realized that Brasserie Artisinal de Redange (ratebeer.com) was no more. Lucky for me that after all that time searching the restaurant that took over the location served me their last beer produced as they had last keg on.
Have never visited Luxembourg but I have 14 rates, madeup of 10 from Ramborn cidery, and 4 sakes from Enter Sake courtesy of Grumbo. My top at 4.1 is Ramborn Meadow Orchard
There are only 4 Cideries and 1 Sake “producer” in Luxembourg! The Cidery with most listed is Ramborn with 15. Enter Sake is the sole Sake “producer”.
The top 5 raters for Luxembourg ciders and cideries are:
Did you see my write up on Enter Sake above? Not sure if we should have them listed or not as a producer since I don’t believe they make anything or treat the sake like a beer blendery would. I don’t care really since i need the country tick or the japanese region tick.
A single rate for me - a curious metal bottle of Simon Pils from an independent supermarket in Moscow, which even stocked such exotic things as Welsh craft beer. A few years later the supermarket was acquired by a major federal chain, so now its beer selection is dull as dishwater.
| saxo |72|
My Rating
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