Summary of the Oct 2010 Bon Beer Voyage Belgium Beercation
Day 3 Monday October 25th (Sailing from Bruges to Ghent)
This morning we had the pleasure of a relaxed breakfast while being able to enjoy the scenery as the barge sailed slowly from Bruges to Ghent through the canal. We played a few rounds Beer Cap Bingo for some cool prizes.
After another gourmet lunch on the barge we met up with a much smaller canal boat for an informative tour of the historic city of Ghent from the water.
After the canal boat tour we all decided to fortify ourselves with a beer before we headed over to see the “torture” devices at the Gravensteen Castle (now a torture museum).
We headed to the smallest bar in Ghent, Café ‘t Galgenhuis, which is an old “hangman’s” or gallows house turned into a bar.
Here we tried 4 different beers from the same brewery Brouwerij Haacht NV.:
Haacht Wit Bier (Excelsior)- a Witbier of 4.8% abv,
Tongerlo Bruin– a 6.0% abv Belgian Dark Ale and
both the Charles Quint (aka Keizer Karel) Blond and Bruin. The Blond is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale at 8.5% abv and the Bruin was a Belgian Strong Dark Ale of 9.0% abv.
After our visit through the Gravensteen Castle and seeing all the medieval torture devices we could stand, it was time to calm our tortured nerves with another beer.
Our closest stop was ‘t Waterhuis aan de Bierkant. This canal side gem has a beer list of over 150 beers.
We shared:
Reinaert Grand Cru -a Belgian Strong Dark Ale at 9.5% abv by De Proefbrouwerij,
Buffalo Belgian Bitter- a Belgian IPA of 8.5% abv brewed by Brouwerij Van den Bossche,
Gouden Carolus Noël, a 10.5% abv Belgian Strong Dark Ale from Brouwerij Het Anker,
Rochefort 10, a Quadrupel with an abv of 11.30% brewed at the Brasserie de Rochefort and the House Beer Mammelokker, a 6.0% Bruin.
After our visit to the Waterhuis we walked next door to sample some of the 200 types of jenever at ’t Dreupelkot.
At ‘t Dreupelkot we were greeted by Pol, a Santa Claus looking character. We tried the vanilla, the chocolate, the banana and various mixtures of these before we convinced the new jenever junkies in our group to leave the bar!
After our jenever experience, we took a short walk to De Dulle Griet.
After we all saw the cannon we went to the “other” Dulle Griet.
Dulle Griet has over 250 different bottle beers on their menu. Their specialty is their famous “The Max”, which is Kwak from Brouwerij Bosteels poured into a Kwak Yard Glass. As you may know, these glasses are not cheap, so in order to deter sticky fingered visitors from making them into souvenirs, patrons ordering “The Max” must take off one of their shoes as collateral. The shoes is then put into a basket and hoisted to the ceiling by a pulley system. When the glass is returned, so is the shoe! This bar can get crowded, so as a courtesy to your fellow imbibers, if you plan to have a Kwak, wear your odor eaters, please!
While in Dulle Griet we tried:
St. Bernardus Abt 12– a 10.5% abv Quadrupel brewed by Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV.
St Bernardus Prior 8– a Dubbel at 8.0 abv by Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV.
St Bernardus Witbier– 5.5% abv Witbier also from Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV.
Rodenbach Grand Cru– a Flanders Red Ale at 6.00% abv from Brouwerij Rodenbach NV
Bush De Noël– a 12.0% abv Belgian Strong Dark Ale from Brasserie Dubuisson Frères
Geuze Boon a Gueuze– of 6.0% abv from Brouwerij Boon
Gouden Carolus Classic a Belgian Strong Dark Ale -of 8.5%abv Brouwerij Het Anker.
Delirium Tremens a 8.5% abv Belgian Strong Pale Ale– brewed at Brouwerij Huyghe.
Afterward we stopped by a nearby bottle shop where a few of us to the opportunity to do a little beer hunting & gathered up few bottle to bring back to the barge as well as back home.
Dinner tonight on the barge was spectacular, we had salmon…
and we shared a few beers and a few laughs as we reminisced about the day’s adventures.
Next up is Day 4. We will visit 3 breweries then meet our Barge, the Iris, in Bassrode where we will spend the night before heading to Antwerp and Brussels.
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