Belgian beer in Belgium

[roastinrich]

You're not wrong Hoppers. I've already got more glasses than I said to myself I could have. I never listen to myself in times of weakness. Oh well. Just have to prey they make it home in one piece.

 

[Jazzman]

Can the mods correct the incorrect grammar in the thread's title......Should read "Belgium Beer in Belgium".

Thanking you in advance, jlm.

Cheer's

(dickheadery aside......Rodenbach. The gateway drug to sour beer.)

No, the grammar is correct.

 

[crowmanz]

So I am finalising the Xmas Europe trip to see the GFs relos, they live in Western Germany, and I have convinced the GF to spend time in Belgium. Flying into and out of Brussels, bookended Belgian beer oppurtunities, with Germany, Netherlands and Luxemburg thrown in there. Got 2 nights in Brussels and 2 in Bruges at the start then 5 nights in Ghent at the end (day trips to Antwerp and back to Bruges if required).

Getting pumped, have a Bridge Road Chevalier Saison in the fridge and brewing my first saison either this week or next.

 

[crowmanz]

So back to the daily grind for me after my trip.

Ended up with 2 nights in Brussels, managed to get to Moeder Lambic and was staying across the road from Brewdog Brussels. Cantillion was closed the day I wanted to go (we got in boxing day Saturday and they are closed Sunday) but I had a couple Cantillion beers off the cask at Moeder Lambic. Plenty of bottle shops to grab some decent beers in Brussels too, grabbed Westy 12 and Roche 10 here plus others. The winter/xmas markets were still on so you could get a beer (in the correct glass) to walk around with, you paid a 2-3 euro deposit for the glass then could return or keep (had to limit the amount of glasses I kept).

Brugge was 3 nights, plenty of beer stuff to do including beer museums, duvelorium grand beer café overlooking the market square, and the De Halve Mann brewery tour. I did the XL tour (19 euro) and was pretty good, you got 3 beers at the end, Brugse Zot, Dubbel and SH Triple (the standard tour only got the Brugse Zot). The SH Quad was sold out at the brewery so I didn't get to try it when I did the tour, but I did pick up a bottle of the 2014 Oak aged Quad though.

Next was Paderborn a small town in western Germany that the GF has relatives in, variety of beers drops off in Germany but the quality is still good if you are a fan of pils.

Cologne was next up. Plenty of Kolsch consumed, although the old wait staff in the bierhaus can be a bit grumpy/abrupt.

Amsterdam was next, did the Heineken experience - was ok but basic brewing info and felt like a big commercial but the non-beer geeks liked it. There is a good craft beer shop right in the middle of town http://bierkoning.nl/ good range of Dutch, Belgian, German, US, UK beers.

Back to Belgium, this time Ghent. Beer variety back to awesome levels. Plenty of beers leveraging off the Ghent name or landmarks in the city, Gentse Strop and Gulden Draak. There is also a brewery in town Brouwerji Gruut - no hops beers, using herbs and spices instead. The brewery had recently moved/is renovating and was operating as a pop up type thing out of a restaurant. Didn't get a chance to head in but sampled their beers in the pubs around town. Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant (Water house on the beer side) is a cosy pub right on the canal in the old part town with a great selection of beers (both on tap and bottles).

Next was a night in Luxembourg, was disappointing beer-wise local restaurants and pubs only had the local Pils. City was cool though.

Dusseldorf for Altbier, again variety almost nonexistent, it is Altbier or nothing (well a big name Pils). Plenty of good bierhaus in the main area. There is also a tour you can do of the 5 bierhauses with a beer in each. There is a decent craft beer store in Dusseldurf that I got to called Holy Craft, the guy directed me to some decent german IPAs and he also had LCPA for 3.70 euro.

Last stop was a night in Frankfurt before our flight out, I didn't have a heap of beer here mainly had the Apfelwien.

All in all had an awesome trip and knocked out 90 new beers on untappd over my entire holiday (also had a week in brissy before I went).

 

[michaeld16]

Ok maybe I'm just a little bit jealous

 

[mr_wibble]

Ah Gulden Draak ... one of my favourite beers.

There's a recipe for it in the book "Clone Brews". We did a side-by-side taste, and it's rather good facsimile.

 

[crowmanz]

Ah Gulden Draak ... one of my favourite beers.

There's a recipe for it in the book "Clone Brews". We did a side-by-side taste, and it's rather good facsimile.

You wouldn't happen to have a copy of the recipe laying around would you?

I picked up a glass pack of theirs which has the regular Gulden Draak and the 9000 quad for under 12euro.

The best Flemish beef stew I had was in Ghent and from memory used Gulden Draak.

 

[Mardoo]

There's a recipe here for the Gulden Draak 9000 and plenty of other Belgian beers. Their recipes are solid, and you don't necessarily have to use their syrups to achieve good results. However, they do have a couple syrups that aren't really duplicated elsewhere.

 

[Bridges]

Thanks for the link Mardoo!

 

[Brewkid]

If you get back to Antwerp, as Molly would say, do yourself a favour and go to a cafe/brew house called Kulminator. Pronounce it like Arnie. Just google it, they have the best back vintages I've ever seen. Just ridiculous.

 

[Dave70]

Probably missing something obvious here, but how do you make candy syrup as opposed to the hard stuff?

 

[mb-squared]

can't quite tell if you are being sarcastic or not; on the assumption it's a genuine question, you'll find everything you want to know about it (and more) here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=114837

 

[Dave70]

can't quite tell if you are being sarcastic or not; on the assumption it's a genuine question, you'll find everything you want to know about it (and more) here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=114837

No genuine question. My sarcasm is never that subtle. Cheers.

To busy printing of PDFs from Mardoos link to notice any others.