Brasserie De Silly, the first stop on our magnificent food and beer filled tour of Belgium, is located on the banks of the Sylle River, from which the village and brewery take their names.  It is difficult to call it a river, as it is really more of a small creek that one could effortlessly jump over.  The brewery has been crafting beer since 1850, and is on its 6^th generation owners with 39 year old Bertrand and 33 year old Lionel Van der Haegen.  Their cousin is the brew master, and there are already 8 Van der Haegen children of the next generation ready to take the reins once Bertrand and Lionel are ready to pass the torch.

There is so much history in regards to the Brasserie De Silly that it could be written into a small book.  One interesting fact is that it is the only brewery in the area to survive the Germans during the First World War by painting the copper brew kettles black to give them the impression that they were made of cast iron.  Since this is a beer blog, I’m going to end the history lesson and move onto the suds.

Silly is currently brewing 12 beers, some of which can already be found at Binny’s, others of which will be available in the coming months.  What we liked about the Silly beers is the creativity of styles offered.  This tradition of creativity starts with the first beer Silly every brewed, Saison De Silly.  It is a light bodied brown saison, has complex spice notes, and sweet caramel malt flavors.  It is definitely not a textbook saison in appearance or flavor, making this one of the main reasons why this beer is special. 

The next beer to trigger our uniqueness radar was Pink Killer, a light bodied 5% ABV grapefruit flavored beer.  We are not talking about the grapefruit flavor that us hop heads find in our favorite IPA’s either; Pink Killer is unlike anything we have ever tasted before.  This beer has an above average carbonation with a delightful fizzy head, and a distinctive grapefruit citrus flavor to go along with its radiant pink color.  Most importantly, it is extremely refreshing, especially when you have been drinking high ABV beers for most of the day like we had.  We all came to the conclusion that Pink Killer is a perfect beer for a hot summer day.  As of now Pink Killer is not available in the United States, but barring label approval of the menacing pink dog, you should see it on Binny’s shelves by the end of the year.

Silly has far too many beers to blog about in one spot, such as the delicious Scotch Silly and La Divine Tripel.  Silly is an entertaining brewery, as they demonstrated to us by offering a free keg to whoever could hit the toughest target during our archery contest out back of the brewery (Unfortunately after an hour of trying, only one of us was relatively close).  If you are looking for tradition, passion, and creativity, then grab yourself some Silly.