Belgium Beer Adventure

 

Belgium Beer Trip 2002

by Rich Ireland 

Four brave beer drinkers departed for the beer destination of Brussels Belgium on October 30th. Everything went real smooth until we hit Yeager Airport! We were informed that our flight to Dulles was going to be late and we would miss our International flight. Our only choice was to take a plane to Chicago, then to London, Heathrow and then on to Belgium. The only consolation was that we all agreed we had to extend our stay one additional day and we heard that Heathrow had an English Pub where we could get cask conditioned ales! We were to meet our fifth beer drinker in Brussels; he was flying in from Tampa. I contacted him just in time to let him know of the flight problem and he agreed to the extra day as well.

 

            We quickly departed the aircraft in London. It was around 11:00 am local time. We located the “Tap & Spile” Pub in the main terminal. It was your typical airport bar with one exception, British ales on Cask! We quickly went up and ordered a round of Tetley’s Imperial and said a toast to our continued journey. After a few rounds it was time to shove off to Belgium.

 

We arrived in Belgium, hopped the train, walked aimlessly with our luggage until with some assistance we found our Hotel just off of the Grand Place. We had been traveling 22 Hours! Although we were tired, Adrenalin kicked in and we went for a beer at the Poechenellekeller near the Mannekin Pis and dinner at the “Wit Roose” on the plaza. After a few trappist beers at LeRoys, We were ready to hit the sack and did so with great pleasure.

 

We all awoke and were actually feeling pretty good considering. I think we can credit the tall water and mult-vitamin just before bed, which became our regimen each night. Breakfast was a typical Euro-continental thing served at the hotel. We made our way back to the train station to figure out how to get to Beersel, a small nearby town featuring some of the best Lambic and Geuze brewers in the world. It was a pretty easy train and bus ride and within 40 minutes we were in Beersel. We made our way to the “Drie Fonteinen” café, which is a restaurant and a brewery. Tim ordered up Moules a La Geuze (Mussels) and everyone else ate his, sorry Tim. Tim asked for Armand the brewer and he came. He told us he could not give us a tour at the moment, but if we came back at 3:00pm he was hosting a special tour for other guests and we were welcome to join in for 8 Euros each.

 

We decided to take a small road down to an old castle which was going to open at 2:00pm. We found another café and ordered up some snacks and beer. We drank a variety of beers from Kriek, Rodenbach, Duvel and Trappists. The castle did not open on time and Wayne missed his chance to see it.

 

We made our way back up the hill to Find Armand’s brewery which was not adjacent to the café. We found it and we were glad we did. For the next 3 hours, we tasted some of the best Lambics and Geuze in the world. The local little old ladies brought in some great food for us to try. Armand was a gracious host along with his 80+ mom and dad. We learned a bit about Geuze that day.

 

After a another round and some food (Tim had the Rabbit in Geuze) at the café near the castle, we were talked into taking a cab back to Brussels. We got screwed on the cab-fare and I got over it. We then went to the Hotel to freshen up and then made our way to “La Biere Circus”, the essential Brussels beer café (That’s saying something since Brussels has over 10,000 cafe’s!). They had a great selection of Belgian ales and we drank a few. We then went to bed…

 

After our Euro breakfast, we were hoping to take a tour of the Brewer’s museum which was supposed to open at 10AM but did not. This would not happen in America, but neither would Belgian Beer! We checked out of the Hotel Mozart and took the train to Antwerp. When we pulled into the Antwerp station, I thought we had walked onto the set of a Jules Verne movie. The place was eerily ornate. After the punishing walk with our luggage we found our hotel, The Hotel Carlton. We checked in and freshened up. We then immediately made our way to the bus depot to board the #41 bus for Westmalle. After a long bus ride we blew past the Café Trappisten and had to walk back a ½ Kilometer or so. It was worth the walk! The café is just across the road from the Monastery. They serve Westmalle Dubble and Tripel on tap or in bottles. They also serve a half n half Dubble with Tripel. We tried the menu and had a few snacks, took a quick walk around the Monastery grounds, then took the return bus to Antwerp.

 

In Antwerp, we made our way to The “Oud Handelsbeurs” building which was the old stock exchange building; a fairly large and ornate old building. This was the home for the 15th annual “24 Hours of Belgian Special Beer” festival held by the OBP. OBP stands for the “Objectiv Bierproevers” which is kind of like CAMRA in Belgium. This festival is the best way to taste a large variety of Belgian beers in one place and for a reasonable price. The admission is free although in order to drink you must buy a “snifter” beer glass for 3 Euro. The glass makes a nice souvenir. Each 15cl serving is 1 Euro, but most servers filled the glasses past the 15cl mark, and many times they did not even take the token! I could write a separate paper on the variety of beer I tasted during our Saturday and Sunday sessions. The festival was a bit crowded during peak times but thinned out later on in the evening. I highly recommend this festival.

 

Our next stop was the gorgeous ancient city of Brugge. The city is about a 1 Hour train ride from either Brussels or Antwerp. Brugge has been called the “Venice of Northern Europe” because of the meandering canals that cut through the city, which are very picturesque flanked by the very old buildings. For a little more than 5 Euro, you can take a 30 minute boat ride and tour on the canals, which is a “must do”.

 

Brugge is home to two Belgian brewers, Straffe Hendick and De Gouden Boom. If you time the visit correctly, you can visit these breweries. We did not really try to time it right, so we did not do those tours. We spent the first day learning our way around. We toured a few very old Churches. We saw Michaelangelo’s “Madonna and Child”, an awe inspiring marble sculpture on display in one of the churches.

 

Brugge looks like it could be a bear during the holiday season. It was fairly busy during our trip in November! Speaking of bears, Brugge’s best beer café is called Bruges Beertje which means The Bruges Bear. This café is situated off a small side street. The Bear is a legendary beer café in Belgium. The Manager is a woman named Daisy Claeys. The café prides itself on their knowledge and care of beer. The will never serve a beer in the wrong glass. If you want to run into beer travelers from far away places such as The US or the UK, just hang around this pub for awhile. They are sure to stop by.

 

We became temporary regulars at the Beertje during our stay. They had a great selection of beers, sorted in many ways to make your selection easier. In fact most of the café’ we visited in Belgium carry a pretty wide selection of brew.

 

One of the recommended cafés was the called the Erasmus. We made our way there for lunch on our last day. We all went for the recommended special of Belgian endive in a ham and cheese sauce. The owner chatted with us and gave us his beer recommendation. The meal sure beat the cheese and salami snacks we had eaten at just about every café we visited in Belgium.

 

Our last dinner was served to us at a small cellar pub called “Curiosa”. It was a cozy little place to have a beer. Tim and I ordered the Flemish stew which is a hearty beef stew cooked with Flanders brown ale to form a formidable gravy; and as always, Belgian fries (Frites) were served. After dinner we had a few beers then made our way back to our quaint hotel. We all managed to get up early to catch the train to the airport.

 

All in all, our 6 days in Belgium were a “fine” beer drinkers dream come true. We found the Belgians to be very friendly, similar to us West Virginians. They all seemed to know the words to “Country Roads”. The beer prices are very reasonable, and the food prices are about the same as here. Lodging was fairly inexpensive due to the fact that we went off-season and we stayed at 3 star venues. Belgium has much more for me to discover and more beers to try, so I guess I’ll be going back sometime again to drink that beer!