Day 6 • A Day in Chouffe Land.
I finally got to the room at 7:00am, my dad told me that he figured I got 'rolled', stayed at Chris's house, or slept in the car. The memory of the previous nights event quickly faded when the hotel manager gave me a 'present' left by Chris that morning… bottles of '87 Westvleteren, '92 Rochefort and '82 Harvey'sÉ what a nice way to start the day.
We headed to the brewery to met Chris and get a tour
of Achouffe. A short time after our arrival, Dan comes
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by
and announces that he's the guy who locked the door at the hotel. Very apologetic,
he offered to pay for my room. We agreed that a beer that night would suffice.
Dan was there to install new equipment for the expansion of the brewery and
was staying at the hotel as a guest. His home had been broken into recently
and he developed a habit of 'locking the doors'.
After the tour, Chris drove us around the area and showed us the place where the brewery began. A nice trout stream in a very green valley. His brother (in-law) had owned property there and he visited regularly. His wife is from Houffalize and, as they say, the rest is history. Rumor has it that Pierre Celis is going to buy back the brewery from Miller with investment from a Dell founder and a Johnson family member. We'll see…
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Departing
Houffalize, we look forward to our next visit, maybe for the Chouffe's 20th
birthday party next year. Driving through the countryside, my dad reminds me
of the important battle here in WWII. We decide to stop in Bastone to visit
the 'Battle of the Bulge' museum.
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Arriving
in the center of Bastone, we find a Patton tank and a bust of General McAffie
who was in){kind=small}
command
of the
troups. We visit the museum and watch the movie which depicts, using actual
footage, the importance of the battle for the Allies.
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Leaving
the museum, we walk around the memorial displaying the states represented by
the U.S. soldiers. I make the climb up the spiral staircase for a view of the
battleground, aided by maps cast in bronze. I find myself being thankful for
all those who risked, and lost their lives to free Europe, and the German troops
who were fighting for their fatherland.
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