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THE HINDU

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Theres a beer for every mood

Three men and their

horses

Lionel Haegen, principal brewer of Brasserie de Silly, Belgium, shares his love for the brew
SANGEETHA DEVI DUNDOO

French theatre actor Michel says there is no language

barrier to the art form

beer has four

basic ingredients water, malt, hops
and yeast, all of which are
healthy. You cant go wrong,
grins Lionel Haegen, a sixth
generation brewer from Belgium.
Lionel doesnt exaggerate
when he says he grew up in a
brewery. My great, great
grandfather started the brewery in 1850, he says, talking
about Brasserie de Silly, the
craft brewery in Belgium.
He offers a ready reckoner,
Every four seconds a Silly
beer is sold somewhere in the
world. Their beers are sold
in 35 countries. Hyderabads
MOB (Ministry of Beer), Jubilee Hills, is among them. Lionel Haegen was in town to
get an idea of how our beers
are received here.
In 1850, his ancestors who
were cultivating hops and cereals started brewing. In
winters, not much happened
on the farm, so they began
brewing. In summer, a number of workers would work in
the farm for harvest. The
weather was warm, they
worked long hours and consumed around five to eight
litres of beers per day, shares
Lionel.
With time, brewing took
precedence over farming.
They stopped farming in
1947. He talks about specialty
beers from their brewery in
the Witte, Abbaye, Dubble
and Amber variants. Abbaye
was initially made in monasteries, not always by monks.
Breweries helped monks
brew beer. The Dubble is dark

NAVEENA VIJAYAN

OF ALES AND LAGERS Lionel Haegen PHOTO: SANGEETHA DEVI DUNDOO

and I found people here accepting the stronger Amber

variant, notes Lionel.
Beer is a way of life in Belgium as it is in a few other European nations, he observes.
We drank table beer, which
has minimal alcohol, while in
school. There is a beer for every mood. My choice changes
according to the country, the
people I am with and the
weather. Its never just a
drink. Beer goes with conversation and food. Its refreshing, he smiles.
He states there was never a
pressure to take over the fam-

ily business. There are five of

us in the sixth generation.
Only my cousin and I took to
brewing. There was no pressure. On the other hand, we
were encouraged to study.
There are good schools to initiate one into brewing. You
can become a brew engineer,
he says.
Lionel grew up watching
how beer is brewed, allowed
to ferment and mature naturally. Theirs is an artisan
method, as against industrial
beer where large quantities
need to be produced in a short
time. It takes two months for

beer to mature naturally, he

points out. We use modern
machines now, but the spirit
of making beer is that of
1850.
While in India, hes tried
lager beers and finds them
refreshing in hot weather
conditions. The taste profile
and complexity of lagers is
different from ales that Belgium is known for.
The consumption of beer,
he notes, has decreased marginally over the years in Belgium with the incoming of
soft drinks and other spirits.
Among the Belgian beers, In-

dian Pale Ale also finds a

mention. He shares its story,
The IPA or Indian pale ale
was made for the British,
transported from India. By
the time the beer passed Belgium, it wasnt fresh. It had
lost its original taste and flavour. To avoid this, the brewers added more hops, which
are natural preservatives.
This way the beer stayed
good, but the increase in hops
made the beer bitter.
As he winds up, Lionel expresses his eagerness to take
back spices and see if they can
be used with Belgian beers.

There is something about

the women here. They look
like gazelles... says French
theatre actor Michel, who is
on his first visit to the city.
Michel and group, including
Romuald and Christian
part of the theatre company
Les Goulus presented the
award-winning street theatre performance The Horsemen, in Chennai recently.
Much pretty, much pretty,
he says, slowly shaking his
head. Quite a contrast to the
character of the arrogant
aristocratic baron that he
plays in the show.
The interactive performance had the trio galloping
around on horses crafted
to look just like the real ones.
The show provides a sneak
peek into the practice sessions of three barons for the
Olympics. They picked people from the audience, asked
them to lie flat on the floor,
before jumping across them
all accompanied with funny gestures, witty jokes and
dialogues in Tamil. It
worked, it always works.
Once we take efforts to
speak the language of the
masses, they connect with
us. Its like you are sharing
something real with them. I
remember, once in Taiwan, I
managed to read just about
two sentences in Taiwanese.
The audience laughed,
though they did not understand anything. Probably for
the mere attempt, he says,

Artist at the play The Horsemen Photo. M. Moorthy

laughing.
But language is secondary; it is the expressions
that matter. Michel confesses that whenever he goes to
a washroom, he spends
some time making funny
gestures with his face, until
it makes him crack up. You
can explain a lot of things
with your expressions, he
says on a serious note. That
has probably helped them
bridge the language gap
with ease in all the 31 countries they have performed
in, since 1986. We never
get tired. Despite all that
running around, shouting
and jumping in the show,
we dont feel the stress once
we see the smile on the

audiences faces, says Michel, who has been in the

field for around five decades; his first project at the
age of 19.
Since then, he has always
believed in one theory: Theatre has to come to people,
and not the other way
round. Street theatre is not
meant to be performed on
sophisticated platforms; it
is for everybody, rich or
poor, it doesnt matter, he
says. Thankfully, in Paris,
there are plenty of avenues
for Michel and group.
Around 350 street festivals
happen every year. Thats
enough time for them to
decide where to take their
horses next.

Short Takes
Glad that TV is promoting traditional
Indian outfits

Wish I was a
woman, says SRK

Actor Amrita Rao, who is making her TV debut with Meri Awaaz Hi
Pehchaan Hai, says she is glad that the small screen promotes the use
of ethnic wear. We are going to showcase Indian attires on the
show, said Amrita, stressing that the characters wouldnt be dressed
in an over-the-top fashion. I am so glad that the Indian television is
still promoting the trend (of wearing saris) and still reaching out to
traditional India...
Amrita was approached by many TV channels for various shows,
she wanted to make her debut on the small screen with a
bombastically amazing show.Thats exactly what Meri Awaaz Hi
Pehchaan Hai is, she said. The story is the hero of the project. Its
very non-contrived television. In cinema, you have a captive
audience, but to grab the attention of a housewife, who is in the
middle of her work and to keep her gripped, is a huge challenge, she
said.
In Meri Awaaz Hi Pehchaan Hai, Amrita will play a singer named
Kalyani. Some aspects of her are just like me. But there are others
that are completely different; that perhaps I cant be but can be in
awe off. But I can relate to the love for singing. Asked about the types
of songs she likes to listen, Amrita said: Personally Im a huge retro
buff because that era had melody. Those songs that we used to have
earlier, you can hear them again and again. Anything soulfully
created be it music or acting touches the heart.

On International Womens Day ,

Shah Rukh Khan said he often
wishes to have been born a
woman.Often I wish I was a
woman... Then realise I dont have
enough guts, talent, sense of
sacrifice, selfless love or beauty to
be one. Thank you girls, Shah
Rukh tweeted .Sharing a special
message, he said: I am a fan of all
the women in the world. I love
each one of you equally. More
power to women, more strength to
women and more freedom to
women, to make the choices and
do the stuff they want to do. I want
to thank all the women this
Womens Day.

IANS

Robert Pattinson turns

designer
Actor Robert Pattinson has landed a new
career as a fashion designer. The Twilight
star, 29, who has been very selective with
movie projects in recent years, said his slowpaced acting career is partly due to the fact
that his professional interests have
broadened, reported Elle magazine.
Ive started making clothes. For the last
two years, Ive been visiting producers and
craftsmen. There are already quite a few
pieces. I love doing it, he said. Before
becoming an actor, Robert was a model, so
being dressed in the latest styles has always
been important to him, and his exposure to
couture clothing inspires the pieces he
designs.
My style is influenced by the cities I go to,
sourcing fabrics and local skills. In Los
Angeles, its really easy to work with denim
and do workwear-inspired clothes. In
England, I look more towards wool and
knitwear. What I do is pretty multi-faceted;
clothes for men and for women, things that I
make with friends... But Im not going into too
much detail; I dont want to jinx anything...
PTI
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YK

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