A First on the 1st

I’ve blipped Phil with Belgian beer, but I’ve never blipped just a bottle of beer by itself before, mostly because I much prefer wine to beer. However, while shopping at the Community Food Co-op recently, I noticed this beautiful bottle with Celtic imagery on it (label close up here). Loving that, I then discovered that there was an interesting story* on the label, as well, and that it was a Belgian beer brewed with herbs and spices.

Art, literature, herbs and spices — how could I resist?

Posca Rustica (known as Cervesia outside the USA) is from Brasserie Dupont (Dupont Brewery) in Wallonia, the predominantly French-speaking southern region of Belgium. It’s a gruit ale (gruit is a mixture of herbs and spices used for bittering and flavoring beer before hops were widely used), and according to Wikipedia, Posca Rustica was produced “…for the Archéosite D’Aubechies, an open air museum that interprets life from the Iron Age to the Roman Era. The recipe is based on archeological research.”

That made me even more interested in this beer, as I love open-air museums in general, and that extended period of history in particular, so I looked up the museum’s website and read that “Prehistoric times are illustrated by living environments from the Neolithic Era (first farmers), the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. After stopping off at a Gallic house, you will also have the opportunity to explore the Gallo-Roman period, which is represented by a temple, a necropolis, a villa, and a barge…” I wish we had time to go there, too.

But we don’t, so I will content myself with adding a few more bottles of this very delicious beer to Phil’s our beer fridge, to be enjoyed this summer!

*The Story of Prosca Rustica

The year is 63 A.D., at a Roman encampment near the present-day Belgian town of Blicquy. Nervium Flavius, a Roman soldier recently posted to Gaul, is thirsty. He approaches Eburane [named after her tribe, the Eburani], the young woman in the encampment’s popina [Latin name for bar/resto] and demands his posca, fully expecting to get the sour wine drink loved by all legionnaires. Eburane says she has no posca, but—exhibiting the Belgic knack for adapting to foreigners and their tastes—quickly adds she has Posca Rustica, a locally brewed version.

Too thirsty to argue, Flavius gruffly quaffs the strange, blond, frothy drink. It is not sour, but herbal and wonderfully spiced. It is the Cervesia of the local tribes, the Eburani, Nervii, and Ambiani. Instead of complaining, Flavius gladly finishes the delicious ale. The beer becomes a favorite among all the legionnaires.

To this day you can hear their joy every time a Belgian toasts by saying “Proost!” It comes from the Roman soldiers’ shortened cry, “Prustica!” for their cherished drink of Gallo-Belgica, Posca Rustica!