Belgian Trip photos

BELGIAN BEER

Diaries and photos of our trips to Belgium. Latest at the top

Week in Brugge 6th to 13th March 2009
6th March 2009 Pre ZBF mini festival and Babblefest at the Alvinne picobrouwerij
Upstairs at Alvinne	Charlotte & Jan
Upstairs at Alvinne	SteveG, Caped brewsader & DavidK
downstairs at Alvinne with Urbain of Struisse in the background	Lynn, Martin & Des
Jan, Ruth & ChrisO	Upstairs
Struisse Banner	De Molen beers
7th March 2009 ZBF festival at St Niklaas
Theresa – Just like that!	Millevertus stand
SteveN, Jonathan, Clive & Johan (aka Black Beastie)	Millevertus beers
David & Martin in deep concentration mode	Jonathan, Clive & Johan
Emma, ?, Jonathan & Clive	Paulette’s Dad
Paulette & Mum	Paulette’s Mum
View across the hall	Paulette
Briony & Marcus across the crowded room	Johan
JorisP	Clive
Clive & Johan	Charlotte & Jan
7th March 2009 – Evening in the Brugs Beertje
Tom – new barman in Beertje	Maarten – same old barman :)
Jezza	Clive
Clive & Jezza	Teresa (aka Fatcat)
Clive & Jezza again	Theresa
Christmas in March	The new Straffe Hendrik
Not sure what was going on here!	and again!
? & Peter	Local Liverpool fan
? & Peter	Jonathan
Clive & Teresa	Jezza
Theresa & Jezza	Bram pouring our Anniversary celebration bottle of Bush de Nuit
Theresa & Jezza	The Bush de Nuit bottle
Ghislain a local friend	Chris from Southampton
Clive	Theresa
Clive & Jezza	Teresa
Teresa	Ghislain
8th March 2009 – Kroegske in Izegem
Fireplace with bottle display and mirror on the wall showing bottles above the bar
9th March 2009 – Another evening in the Brugs Beertje
Clive & Teresa at the bar	and of course Maarten working hard
Clive & Teresa at the bar	Tom, Clive & Teresa, poor Tom was suffering an enforced extended stay in Brugge while his girlfriend was in hospital, we hope we helped make the evening more enjoyable for him
10th March 2009 –Trip to Moeder Lambic in Brussels
The bar area	mmmm cheese board!
The window design from in the bar	window design reversed
Wall signs and cheese board	Hofblues beer from ‘t Hofbrouwerijke
12th March 2009 – Back in Brugge in Brugs Beertje & ‘t Poatersgat for our farewell drinks
The Bear	Delirium Nocturnum beer
Andy & Sandy	Charles Quint and Smitsje Kuvee Elektrik on draught beer
Beertje postcard wall with Bram’s latest addition!	Bram not working (taking a well earned break)
Andy & Sandy	De Struisse Aardmonnik
Daisy	Biere de Miel bought for us by Des & Lynn
Des, Lynn & Clive	Rinus in ‘t Poatersgat
Weekend in Antwerp/Essen 12th to 15th December 2008
12th December 2008 Babblefest in the Oud Arsenaal
Thom & Paulette	Johan
Signs on the wall of the Oud Arsenaal	Hmmm no comment - Theresa & Johan
Marge & Black Haddock	Theresa
SteveN, Theresa, Martin & Jezza	Marge & SteveH
Marge, Black Haddock & Johan	Johan trying to eat the Haddock, no wonder it had a puncture!
Thom & Paulette	MatW
More signs	MattS
Signs	Thom & Jezza
Marge, Black Haddock & MatW	SteveH
Jezza & SteveH	Aged Gordons Xmas
SteveH, Black Haddock, MatW & Clive	Cuvee 175 - De Koninck anniversary beer
Black Haddock & Teresa (me)	Teresa & SteveH
Jezza trying to drink Theresa’s beer	Jezza & MatW sharing a beer!
Theresa, Jezza, Clive and that floozy of a fish	Clive in that hat with the Haddock
Haddock wearing the hat, MatW & Thom	Haddock attacking Martin - help, help!
Aged beers from the cellar	Mat in the hat
MatW, David & Matt	Aged N’Ice Chouffe mmmmmmm!
Matt, Marge & Black Haddock	Clive & SteveN with an aged Cantillon Gueuze
Black Haddock, Theresa & the Haddock & Thom	Martin
MatW, Matt & Marge	MatW’s tongue! and David
Jezza, Marge, Black Haddock, Theresa & Thom	Marge & Black Haddock
Martin & SteveN	Marge & Clive
Clive & Theresa
13th & 14th December 2008 Kertsbier Festival at Essen
David & Martin	Paulette, Paul & Thom
MattS, Claire & Black Haddock	Paul, Thom & Jezza
The 5 Santas	ChrisO & Thom
Podge, Claire, MatW & Thom	SteveN, Black Haddock, ? &Marcus
Martin, Emma & Clive	SteveH with 1 antler :)
SteveN, FredW, & SteveH	Gunter
David, Marcus & MatW	Santa SteveH
Jezza & SteveH	FredW
Gunter, Emma, Marcus & Jezza	Paulette – hmm what shall I try next?
Jezza & Tom	SteveH & that cup of tea! :)
Emma, Theresa & Jezza	Thom & SteveH
Lynn, Des & Theresa	Theresa
Thom	ChrisO & Ruth
We talked to this guy at the front of the queue for getting in on the Sunday	Santa Clive
Lorenzo	Gunter
Clive & SteveN	Santas SteveH & Clive
Charlotte & Jan	Santa SteveH
The OBER staff	Gunter’s family
Staff again	Jezza & Theresa
Theresa & SteveN	We’re not sure about this Santa chap!
SteveN, ChrisO, Jan, Charlotte & Ruth	no comment :)
Des & ChrisO	Theresa
Ruth, ChrisO, Clive & Charlotte	Jezza
I think they want us to leave!	Jezza & Jan
Week in Brugge 14th to 21st November 2008
14th November 2008 Babblefest in the Beertje
Ruth & ChrisO in the Beertje	Lupulus
Theresa, Jezza, Emma & Clive in the Beertje	Lupulus label
ChuckC & Jezza	St Bernardus Xmas
SteveN, DaveG & Paul	Ruth, ChuckC & Paulette
Beertje 2	Thom, Emma & ChrisO
SteveN, DaveG, Paul & Sandra	SteveH & Jezza
Ruth, Bram & ChuckC	La Chouffe
Thom & Paulette	Ray
Clive with an Aardmonnik	Clive with an Aardmonnik
Teresa, Theresa & Jezza	Thom & Paulette
Teresa, Theresa, MatW & MartinR	MatW & MartinR
MartinR	MatW
Jezza & SteveN
15th November 2008 Brugge Beer Festival
The Hall	Guilan a local friend
Marcus	David & MatW
Malheur sign	Johan aka Black Beastie
Paul	Podge & SteveH
ChuckC, Podge & Siobhan	Siobhan
15th November 2008 ‘t Poatersgat
The Door	Statue in the bar
Rinus	Claudine & husband locals at the bar
Fabulous atmosphere
Extensive CD selection	mmmm Cuvee de troll!
The fridges	Gouden Carolous Christmas in new style glass
Lindeman Frambois	Gouden Carolous Christmas
De Ranke Pere Noel	Pere Noel bottle
	Watou wit
16th November 2008 The coach trip organised by Jezza with assistance from David & Andy of Bier Mania
De Gans at Huise
The Geese!	Adelardus
Stuart & Pete	SteveH & Paul
Beer mat Geese	Zottegem Kriek
Braven Apostel	Jezza
Emma, MatW & David	Mort Subite Kriek Lambic about 25 years old
ChrisO & Ian	ChuckC & Paul
Warren, ChrisO & Ian	Signs on the wall
De Gans
De Pikardijn at Sint-Lievens-Houtem
Water feature	Antoine the owner
Goldfish	Floreffe sign
Lamb Steak withMushroon Sauce	Potatoes au Gratin
Tartiflette	Eating at Pikardijn
MatW, Ruth, ChrisO, Marcus, Briony & Warren	DaveG, Kathy & Emma
MartinR, Stuart, Paulette, Thom, Pete & SteveN	SteveN, Paulette & David leaving Pikarden
The Pikardijn sign
’t Gaverhopke at Harelbeke
Group photo, left to right – SteveN, Briony, Marcus, ChuckC, David, Warren, SteveH, Emma, Simon, Theresa, Clive, MartinR, Paulette, Sandra, ChrisO, Paul, DaveG, Kathy, Stuart & Thom	The beers
Marcus & Briony	SteveH, Sandra, SteveN & Paul
Bruno in the brewery
picobrouwerij Alvinne at Heule
Barrels	Banner
Stuart, SteveH, DaveG, & Kathy	Pete, Theresa & Stuart
The beers	David
Glen & Jezza	Glen & Davy
Marcus & Clive	Davy & Glen
The beer shop	Brewery Plaque
More shop shelves	Crates
Shop shelves
Kroegske at Izegem and the train journey back to Brugge
MatW & Jezza	Posters
MatW with a lively little number	It may be lively but it is still drinkable!
Jezza & Theresa	MartinR
SteveN
Finishing the day at Brugs Beertje
Anthony	Anthony
Theresa & Jezza	SteveN, ChrisO, Sandra & Paul
Thom & ChrisO
17th November 2008 Aaaah back to our normal relaxing week starting in Beertje
Tongerlo Christmas mat on the pump	Tongerlo Christmas the beer
The Crystal beer	Fantome beer
Bram at work	Maarten not working!
Bram	Maarten
Bram	Maarten
18th November 2008 Beertje
The glass shelves	Bram
No comment!	Maarten working
Your beer sir	Smitsje Halloween
Maarten	Bram
Warren	Maarten
Warren	Warren
It smells OK!	Aardmonnik
Clive, Teresa & Warren	Clive, Teresa & Warren
Maarten	Bram
The draught beers
20th November 2008 Our last night spent in Brugs Beertje and ‘t Poatersgat
Oh no! which do I drink first?	BAB’s own beer
Piet, Pete & Sylvie	Piet, Pete & Sylvie
Rich3 (friend of JimK)	Johan aka Black Beastie
Pete & Johan	Santa Beer
Gouden Carolous & 1 year old N’ice Chouffe on tap in Beertje	Maarten
Rich & two locals	Bram
Johan	mmmm dinner too!
The two bears	Maarten
Johan again!	Maarten again!
Rich	Rich
Xavier of Halve Maan	Aardmonick label centre
Aardmonick label left	Aardmonick label right
Week in Brugge 4th to 11th July 2008
4th July 2008 This was one of our usual weeks in Brugge, when we booked it we did not know that it would also include a mini beer festival at the Brugs Beertje on the Sunday to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the opening of the bar. As we did not need to bring back a lot of beer we decided this time to travel out by Eurostar and to give us a little extra room we went leisure select which includes a meal on the train served at our seats, the staff are well drilled in the procedure for this to enable a very efficient service. The journey was uneventful and as usual the Eurostar tickets included onward travel to any station in Belgium, as they were leisure select tickets this enabled us to travel first class on Belgian Railways so we were able to have a seat which is not always possible in second class. Travelling by Eurostar also meant that we did not have an early start from home like we do when we take the car this meant that although we had been travelling for a large part of the day we were not as tired when we arrived in Brugge as we usually are. After arriving at the apartment we rent we had quick showers to allow us to get to the Beertje for opening time, we knew that after the Sunday beer festival the Beertje would be closed for the rest of our stay so we wanted to make the most of the days that it was open. When we were over in March Clive had been talking to Martin one of the barmen at the Beertje, he had inherited his grandfather’s cellar of old beers and it had been agreed that in exchange for some good English real ales he would swap some of the bottles he had of beers that were not his particular favourites. We therefore went with a supply of 6 beers from a combination of small local breweries to us and some good more mainstream breweries, in exchange Martin supplied two bottles of Bush 12 an Oerbier and a Westmalle triple all of which we believe to have been about 20 years old (more on those later). We had a few beers in the Beertje to greet our friends there and then moved on to t’ Poatersgat to say hello to our other friends there and tomake the most of the time the Beertje was open we moved back there to finish the evening.
Beers Teresa Beertje 25th Anniversary beer Boon Framboise Cuvee de Trolls La Chouffe Watou wit	Clive Beertje 25th Anniversary beer t’ Smitsje Wostyntje Boon Gueuze Mariage Parfait 2003 La Chouffe Gouden Carolus Classic (draught) Gouden Caroulus Hopsinjoor Westmalle Dubbel
Beertje customers from the UK	More UK visitors
5th July 2008 This was the last normal evening we would be able to spend in the Beertje due to the beer festival the following day and the annual holiday closure for the rest of our week there so we decided to stay there for the whole evening. As usual we met some people in the Berrtje from various countries across the world including Geir & Turid from Norway who it turned out were bikers and along conversation about motorbikes between Clive and the couple followed. We also met the couple that run the Urthel brewery and Pete & Sylvia regular visitors from the UK.
Beers Teresa Girardin Framboos Barbar Poperinge Nunnebier Tripel Karmeliet Smitsje Fiori Maredsous 8 Cuvee de Trolls	Clive Cantillon Gueuze Mariau Oude Gueuze Aardmonnik (75cl) Oud Beersel Gueuze Boon Gueuze Mariage Parfait Rochefort 6
Ian?	Struisse - Aardmonik
Us	More UK visitors
Geik & Turid from Norway	Hildegarde Brewer from Urthel
Bas from Leyerth Brewery
Maredsous 8	Smitsje Fiori
Pete & Sylvia	Bram hard at work
UK visitors	That’s not nice Dave :)
Martin	Daisy

6th July 2008 The day of the 25th Anniversary beer festival and due to the special event the Beertje opened at the earlier time of 2pm, a group of babblers including, Us, Jeremy, Teresa, Thom, Paulette, Dave, Debbie and Nellie were there for opening time. The road outside the Beertje was closed and tables and chairs had been set up outside, all of the normal tables and chairs inside had been removed leaving only the benches round the walls some chairs in the backroom and some tall tables, thismeant that many more people could be accommodated. The beers available for the day were limited to the anniversary beer and Malheur10 from the barrels and various 75cl bottles in Beertje 2 and 5 beers on draught, measures were limited to 15cl or 25cl and like normal Belgian beer festivals payment was made by tokens. Within 2 hours the first of the 754cl bottles ran out this was the “Black Albert” and although this was a stronger beer that is normally left until later in the day to try it was very popular amongst the knowledgeable beer people present and as it israrely seen they all made a beeline for it hence the short time of availability.We worked our way through many of the beers available including the following: Clive: Black Albert, Lupulas, Cuvee Elektrik, Saison Dupont, Biere de Miele, Malheur 10 & 25th Anniversary beer from Regenboog Teresa: Femme Fatale, Saint Helene, Biere de Miele, Watou wit, Cuvee Elektrik, Malheur 10 & Saison dupont We then all left to go and have some food and a few beers in t’ Poatersgat where it was much quieter Beers Clive: Drie Fonteine Gueuze, Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor & La Chouffe Teresa: Troubadour blond, Witkap Stimulo & La Chouffe We decided we would then go back to see how things were going at Beertje to find that a llot more of the beers had run out but we did manage to find a few to sample as follows: Clive: Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor, Chimay Wit & Kapittel Pater Teresa: Lupulus, Chimay Wit & Kapittel Pater. To finish the night we went back to Poatersgat for one last beer each: Clive – Pannepot and Teresa – La Chouffe. We then called it a night
The anniversary cake	Pete & Sylvia
The party continued outside	If you wanted to drive down this road, hard luck!
Dave talking to dog owners	Locals celebrating the Beertje’s anniversary
Sylvia, Thom, Jezza & Clive	The special festival glass
	Tom, Daria and their son
Marlene helping out	Podge
Some strange people (Clive, Ian & Johan aka Black Beastie)	Daisy & Clive
Jezza in Poatersgat	Theresa
Clive	David
Teresa, a rare picture of me!
7th July 2008 Beertje is now closed for the remainder of our weeks stay, oh no what are we going to do! Well Black Beastie (aka Johan) was going to take us to De Torre in De Haan but whilst travelling to Ostend on the train he rang them to find that they were closed on this day so we stayed in Ostende to visit some bars that he knew there, we started at Filosoof which has to be seen to be believed, it is not a particularly good place for beers but the owner is an artist and the place is adorned with masses of his work, this includes stuffed fish, nets, paintings and all sorts of strange stuff, we had a few De Konincks here before moving on to the “Dragonfly” formerly know as the Ostend beer café, I loved the décor of this place well at least the dragons hanging from the ceiling holding Orbs that were the lights, again not a huge beer selection, we just had one standard beer each here (De Koninck & Palm) before leaving to try the Bottlje over the road which was closed for refurbishment so back to Filosoof we went for one more De Koninck before getting the train back to Brugge. On arriving in Brugge we agreed to meet up after a quick shower for a meal in Den Huzaar in Vlamingstraat, we had a very nice meal in Den Huzaar and we will definitely eat there again. With Beertje closed we finished off the day in Poatersgat where we bumped into Henry a local that we have seen regularly on our visits to Brugge. Beers Clive: Duchesse de Bourgogne (with dinner), La Chouffe, Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor, Pannepot & St Bernardus 12 Teresa: Duvel (with dinner), Margriet (not a very good beer to the point that I couldn’t drink it), Lindeman Framboise & Waaslander.
8th July 2008 We had planned on going to Brussels toMoeder Lambic on this day until we found out what the train fare would be on a weekday and rapidly changed our minds! So we spent the evening in Poatersgat instead where we met a group of 4 young men from the UK, Jack, Danny, Patrick & James who were just starting to learn about Belgian beer so we had to help them out ;) It was a very relaxing and enjoyable evening which didn’t finish until 2am! Beers: Clive: Oud Beersel Gueuze, De Koninck, La Trappe Quadrupel, Gouden Carolus Classic, Orval, Cantillon Gueuze, La Chouffe & Boon Gueze Mariage Parfait Teresa: Cuvee de Trolls, De Koninck, St Bernardus Triple, St Bernardus Wit & Lindeman Framboise
2 of the young English men	and a 3rd
Other 2 young English men
9th July 2008 A very wet day and an evening in Poatersgat where we met Steve from the USA & Taylor & Adam who where planning a film or TV documentary on small brewers ;). It was also Renus’s night off but he came in for a drink later on and joined us for a chat when his friends left. Another relaxing and enjoyable evening again finishing at about 2am, well we were on holiday! Beers: Clive: La Chouffe, Troubadour Obscura, Oud Beersel Gueuze, Cantillon Gueuze, Helleketel bier & Watou Wit Teresa: Cuvee de Trolls, Double Enghien blonde, La Chouffe, Flierfluter & Saxo
Eli	Steve
Clive & Steve	Frederick now working in Poatersgat
The US film makers	Frederick & Renus
Renus off duty
10th July 2008 Our last day, we started off by making the journey to De Torre with Johan via a train to Ostend and a tram along the coast to De Haan. We stayed here for a few beers whilst watching the owner preparing a huge pan of Spaghetti Bolognese sauce and then travelled back to Brugge to Poatersgat to say goodbye to our friends. Beers: Clive: Boon Gueze Mariage Parfait, Girardin Gueuze, De Cam Gueuze, De Koninck & La Chouffe Teresa: La Chouffe, Lindeman Framboise, Westmalle triple, Watou Wit & Cuvee de Trolls And that was the end of another relaxing and enjoyable week in Brugge
Weekend in Brugge 25th to 28th April 2008
25th April 2008 This trip was partly planned by Jeremy to celebrate his 40th birthday, we had booked the apartment we usually use as it is very close to the Markt and central for all places we would be going to. As it was only a weekend trip we decided to travel by eurostar rather than taking the car through the tunnel. This meant a more normal departure time of 7.20am or it would have been if our taxi had turned up! As we were travelling by train, when the taxi had not arrived by 7.30 we called to find that our booking had not been recorded, we were promised a taxi within 5 to 6 minutes and it duly arrived, as we had allowed extra time we were still able to catch our planned train. We stopped for bacon and egg rolls at a café outside Marylebone station (very nice they were too) before travelling on to St Pancras. After checking in we found Thom & Paulette who were also travelling on the same eurostar but in the next coach to ours. The Eurostar departed on time at 10am arriving in Brussels at 13.03, we had a short wait for the train to Brugge arriving at our rented apartment just before 3pm. After a trip out for supplies from the Supermarket and quick showers we decided to meet up with our friends in the Beertje for the early session which we were originally not planning on doing. We arrived at Brugse Beertje just after opening time to find Jeremy, Theresa, Thom, Paulette, Chris, Ruth, David, Debbie, Nellie (dog) and JoeS already there. We had a short session there also seeing Renus one of the co owners of ‘t Poatersgat who had popped in for a beer before starting work. Beers consumed were Arend Triple on draught, Kapitel Pater on draught and Girardin Framboise all of which we had had before and knew to be good beers, the Girardin Framboise being a particular favourite of mine when I want something that is not too strong When everyone else was going off for dinner we went to ‘t Poatersgat to say hello to our friends in there, we were advised by Renus when we got there that Luc was no longer involved with the bar, after knowing Luc for many years we now have no idea where or when we may see him again. We had a couple of beers here being the draught Chouffe, this is another favourite beer of mine but as it is usually only sold in 75cl bottles I make the most of it when I find it on draught. We were also told that Frederic who used to work in Beertje was now working in ‘t Poatersgat and was currently having a drink in De Zolder before arriving for work, he did arrive just in time for us to say hello and goodbye before heading off over the road to De Zolder. De Zolder is now run by Guy and as it is a part time position for him the hours that the bar is open are not what they used to be, Guy is going to email me details of the opening hours so that I can include them on this site for information purposes. After one quick drink here being a La Chouffe for Clive and a Barbar winterbok for me we headed back to Beertje 2 for the main birthday celebration, it had been arranged in advance with Daisy that we would be able to use Beertje 2 as there were going to be quite a number of us. A large number of the expected attendees were already at Beertje when we arrived, many more arriving before we left these included Jeremy, Theresa, Thom, Paulette, David, Debbie, Nellie, Chris, Ruth, Johan B, Emma, ATPete, Tim, Joris, Peter, Stewart, Tim Webb, Gunter, Caped Brewsader, Andy (Bier Mania), Martin, Gian, Giorgio, Betty, Marco, Steve and anyone else I missed :) As promised a special beer had been provided by the Struisse Brewery which was a Pannepot Grand Reserve which went down very well, it had been a tiring day with the journey over so by about 10pm we were tired and decided to call it a night especially as we had to be up to catch the coach the following day.
26th April 2008 We had planned on having toast and Danish pastries for breakfast but for some reason they did not arrive from the bakery. On our walk down to catch the coach we passed a shop selling filled baguettes and croissants so we stocked up on these instead and very nice they were too. The coach was due to leave at 10.15, everyone was there in good time. Considering the trip had started off as being 8 people in a minibus we ended up with 27 people on a 59 seater luxury coach which was a little on the large side for some of the roads we were to be travelling on! Our first stop was Brasserie Thiriez in Escquelbecq just over the French border where we tried 3 of the beers available on the day being the Ambre?, La Maline and Etoile du Nord all of which were very good. We then travelled on to Het Blauwershof in Godeswaerelde for lunch which was Flemish stew with frites accompanied by the house beer Blauwersbier which came in 75cl bottles so we shared one as we still had much of the day ahead of us. From here we travelled on to In de Vrede in Westvleteren where we spent two hours, I decided to stick with the Westvletern Blonde but Clive tried all three of the Blonde, 8 and 12. As we had travelled to Belgium by train we had decided not buy beers to take back with us which meant that the lack of any beer for sale at Westvleteren other than the presentation packs of 4 beers and a glass did not worry us. It was a beautifully sunny day which meant that the tables outside the café were all full so we had no choice but to sit inside. Whilst we were there the UK premiership football game between Manchester United and Chelsea was being played luckily I had taken a small personal radio with me that Jeremy borrowed to listen to the game but unfortunately Manchester United didn’t realize they were supposed to win for Jeremy’s birthday! After Westvleteren we travelled on to De Dolle Brouwers which was not overly busy and so we were able this time to sit outside and enjoy the spring sunshine, oh and the tug of war going on next door!. I had the Arabier and Clive had the Oerbier and Export Stout, we had a very pleasant time sitting in the sun and chatting not long before we were due to leave the brewer came out with bottles of the Oerbier Special Reserva 2004 to share among us, the general opinion I think was that this was the best beer of the day although not to my taste, this rounded off what was a very enjoyable day out, but it did not finish the day’s activities. On returning to Brugge we went back to our apartment to freshen up, picked up something to eat at the Frituur on the Markt and headed back to Brugse Beertje for the remainder of the evening. Many of our fellow travelers that day didn’t manage to make it back to the Beertje so it was just a small select few that enjoyed the rest of this day. As the group was much smaller we managed to sit at the bar which we always find to give a much better experience. Having taken it relatively easy during the day we were able to enjoy several beers in Beertje before leaving for the night at a little after 2am! Clive started off with a Boon Gueuze Marriage Parfait a favourite of his and followed up with and Urthel Hop-It, an XX bitter, a dangerous Bush 12, Smitsje dubbel IPA (on draught) and a Saison dupont. I wanted to keep this light again so started with the Girardin Framboise, then a cuvee de trolls, l’eau, Barbar, Tripel Karmeliet, Delirium Tremens and a watou wit all of which are regular favourites (well except perhaps l’eau). This finished off perfectly a very enjoyable day which I am sure will become a regular trip in the future with slight variations to the destinations each time.
27th April 2008 After the previous long day we had a relaxed morning in the apartment and watched the Grand Prix before heading off out, apologies Jeremy we didn’t make it to De Garre for your last drink before you returned home. As this was a Sunday we travelled by train down to Izegem to go to Kroegske which is a favourite bar but cannot be visited on many days of the week as it is not open! We arrived shortly after opening time (5pm) to be greeted by Danny and Nadine who always remember us, when we first visited this bar Danny did not have any of his own beers, In November 2006 we tried the first of his beers that is brewed for him at the Alvinne brewery, this time his range has extended to 6 of his own beers being Kroegbier Goud, Pater, Wit, Saison, Tripel and Super we had tried 4 of these before so we had to try the other two! We usually find that he also has other beers that we do not see elsewhere so we always look to see if there is something new we have not had before. We both decided to try the Tripel as our first beer this is made from a recipe designed by Nadine which includes Westmalle yeast and is a nice refreshing beer. Clive then tried the Super and I had a Primula brewed for Lupiline at Alvinne using cascade hops and coriander, we finished off with a Wevelgemse tripel each before catching the train back to Brugge for our last visit to Brugse Beertje this weekend. Back in Beertje we met Thom & Paulette who were still in Brugge and later Chris & Ruth joined us, we did not want a late night as we had to catch a train the following morning, we started off with two beers we had had earlier this weekend being the Girardin Framboise and the Arend Tripel Martin the barman then suggested that if I liked the framboise maybe I should try a Strawberry beer, I have never had one of these and was recommended to try the Oud Beitje, unfortunately I could not get to grips with this beer it was a little too sour for my taste and I only managed to drink half of it before moving on to a Cuvee des Trolls and a Tripel Karmeliet, meanwhile Clive went back to the XX Bitter for his last two beers before leaving.
28th April 2008 Having had an earlyish night we were up bright and early, so early that we walked to the station instead of catching a taxi, we had an uneventful journey home on the midday eurostar, stopping to buy prawns for the cats at Marylebone station we were home by mid afternoon.
Photos of the Brugge weekend: 25th April 2008
Chris & Clive	Theresa & Jeremy
Nellie	Thom & Paulette
Ruth, JohanB, Steve, Jeremy, Joris, Joe & Chris	Emma, Martin & Thom
Crowd in Beertje 2	more crowd
Jeremy still standing?	Paulette & Peter
ATPete & Tim	Gian & Giorgio
Marco & Betty	Stewart, Jeremy & Clive
Teresa & Theresa	Clive & Andy
Giorgio & Martin (always smiling!)	JohanB, Phil & Steve
Joris & JoeS	Steve & Joris
Emma	Thom
Teresa & Jeremy	Clive & Andy
Clive & Andy	Giorgio & Tim
Jeremy with birthday presents	Jeremy
Jeremy & another bottle	Jeremy
Jeremy	Jeremy and birthday shirt
Stewart	Peter
Birthday gift	Clive & Johan B
Clive & JohanB	Nellie
David & Debbie	Theresa
David & Debbie	Clive & Steve
Crowd in Beetje 2	.

Theresa & Peter
Clive & Jeremy	Clive & Jeremy
Jeremy	Jeremy
Peter & Stewart	Andy & Tim Webb


Thom, Theresa, Paulette & Peter

26th April 2008
In Brasserie Thierez	Brasserie Thierez
Brasserie Thierez	in Brasserie Thierez
In Brasserie Thierez	Jeremy, Theresa & Johan
Jeremy	Me, Emma, Theresa, Steve & Johan
Emma, Theresa, Me & Johan	Steve, Jeremy & Emma
Pete & Chris	Andy, Tim & Chris
In Het Brauwershof	Jeremy, Thom & Tom playing games
Jeremy, Thom& Tom playing games watched by Chris	Paulette & Tom In de Vrede
Johan & Joris In de Vrede	Being arty Inde Vrede
The overhead view	De Dolle Brouwers
Clive & Jeremy in De Dolle Brouwers garden	Steve about to eat
Steve	Steve eating mmmmm
Nellie	Nellie
The Oerbier Special Reserva 2004	and close up
Els of De Dolle Brouwers	Kris of De Dolle Brouwers
Joris & Tom	Me
No I really didn’t have a banana beer!	Martin hard at work and still smiling
No comment!	Best man of a stag party in Beertje
Another of the stag party	I think he’s had enough now
Primula in Kroegske	Kroegbier Super
Kroegske’s own beers, Goud, Tripel & Super with an Alvinne Maurootje	Wevelgemse Tripel
Week in Brugge 29th February to 7th March 2008
29th February 2008 This trip was planned to coincide with ZBF so on arrival in Brugge on Friday we decided on a quiet night to ensure we were fresh for the festival on Saturday. As usual we start in the Brugs Beertje for a while later moving on to ‘t Poatersgat to say hi to our friends and have one drink there before calling it a night
Beers Teresa Ename Blonde t’ Smitsje dubbel IPA Bourgogne des Flandres blonde Barbar Winterbok Cuvee des trolls *2 La Chouffe	Clive Vicars generaal t’ Smitsje Catherine Stout Vicardin Tripel Gueuze Pannepot *3 La Chouffe
1st March 2008 We arrived at St Niklaas in time to join the queue for opening time and spent 5 hours there trying several different beers each, for us ZBF is our chance to try beers that we cannot get elsewhere, there were not a great deal there this year that we had not tried before and we found that the venue become far too crowded later on. On leaving ZBF we returned to Brugge to call in at the Beertje for a few before another relatively early night.
Beers Teresa ZBF Cookie Beer - Ecaussinnes Vlaskop - Strubbe Badfride Tripel – ‘t Hofbrouwerijke Balzello - Boelens Belgoo Magus - Belgoobeer Cre tonnerre – de Silly ’t Smitsje Fiori – Regenboog Beertje Girardin Framboise Watou Wit Cuvee de trolls Tripel Karmeliet	Clive ZBF Ultramour - Ecaussinnes Petrus Aged Pale Bosprotter – ‘t Hofbrouwerijke Hofblues – ‘t Hofbrouwerijke Hofdraak – ‘t Hofbrouwerijke Halleschelle – Alvinne Beertje Alvinne Xtra Blonde *3 Tripel Karmeliet
2nd March 2008 We decided to go to Brussels to visit Moeder Lambic on the Sunday and spent a very pleasant few hours there. This included a tour of the cellar with Jean, the cellar is being prepared for group tastings in the future and is looking very good. Advance booking of the cellar will be required when it is ready for use. On leaving Moeder Lambic we returned to Brugge again to finish the evening in Beertje.
Beers Teresa Grisette aux fruits des bois (draught) Bloemenbier Achel Blonde Cuvee de trolls Tripel Karmeliet Dragon – a green coloured beer Watou wit Barbar Saison dupont Cuvee de trolls	Clive Gouyasse III Taras Boulba Stouterik 2 Equinox Lambic Cantillon (draught) Goude Carolus Classic (draught) 4
3rd March 2008 This was the first day that we did not spend any time travelling and we decided to spend the evening in the Brugs Beertje where we met up with Des & Lyn who had also been over for ZBF
Beers Teresa Cuvee de trolls Gouden Carolus Easter (75cl *1/3) Barbar t’smitsje Honinge Piet Agoras Tripel Karmeliet	Clive Gouden Carolus Classic Couden Carolus Easter (75cl *2/3) 3 Fonteine Vintage Gueuze Oude Beersel Gueuze t’ Smitsje Dubbel IPA Gouden Carolus Classic Oerbier Speciale Reserva 2006
4th March 2008 Tuesday night in the Beertje.
Beers Teresa Cuvee de trolls Arabier St Feuillien Tripel St Bernardus Tripel La Chouffe St Bernardus Wit Cuvee de trolls	Clive Oud Beersel Gueuze Gouden Carolus Classic Cuvee van de Kaizer 2002 (75cl) Brugse Zot Bruin (www.brugsezot.be) Dolle Brouwers Export Stout Gouden Carolus Classic *3
5th March 2008 I was feeling unwell on the Wednesday so we had an easy day in the apartment. We had planned on visiting Kogge but I did not feel up to it so we didn’t go out until later in the evening. When we didventure out we went to ‘t Poatersgat but I didn’t feel much better so we didn’t stay long and had a very early night!
Beers Teresa Coffee Framboos Ezel wit left for Clive to finish	Clive La Chouffe *4 Ezel wit that I couldn’t drink
6th March 2008 Our last night where we have to say goodbye to all our friends. We had managed to get in touch with our old friends Luc & Monique who used to run Restaurant the Fox in Phillipstockstraat and they had invited us round to their house for Luc’s wonderful steak in Bearnaise sauce later in the evening so we had to ensure our time in the Beertje and t’ Poatersgat did not make us late for our dinner date. We had a few beers and said goodby to all our friends then moved onto Luc and Monique’s as usual the steak was perfect. We left with a plan that we will meet up with Luc and Monique once a year in future but hopefully not on our last night in Brugge again.
Beers Teresa Cuvee de trolls Witkap tripel t’ smisje Blond Gauloise	Clive Bolliker *2 Gouden Carolus Classic Rochefort 6
7th March 2008 A slightly longer journey home this time as queues were announced on the M25 so we came off the M20 early to avoid the problems only to see a reasonably moving M25 in the distance and to get caught in local traffic ourselves, guess we won’t be trying that again.
Photos of the Brugge week: 1st March 2008 at ZBF
Lutje, Jean & Jeremy	Jeremy and tombola winnings
Paulette & ?	Martin
Jeremy looking at the pictures :)	Fred W
crowd at ZBF	David A & Joris
Theresa busy working and not drinking at ZBF!	Paul
Paulette, Thom etc.	Johan
2nd March 2008
Moeder Lambic bar	Draught beers in Moeder Lambic
Moeder Lambic bar	Cellar in Moeder Lambic


Clive & Jean in the Cellar of Moeder Lambic
the workings!	Martin in Brugs Beertje
Clive and Teresa from behind the Beertje bar!	Desiree & Frederick (Ex Beertje barman)
Bram, Desiree & Frederick	Martin being the boss!
Frederick in serious mode	Dolle Brouwers Export Stout
Clive & Eli	Gouden Carolus metal sign behind Beertje bar
Is that the time?	Cuvee van de Kaizer 2002
Xavier of De Halve Maan Brewery	Des & Lyn
Des & Lyn	Visitors in Beertje
?	?
?	Roger from Drakes Brewing California
?	Marlene
Roger	Daisy
Martin	Martin
Martin hard at work	?
Marlene	Clive
Me!	Me
Weekend in Antwerp for Essen Kerstbier festival 14th to 16th December 2007
14th December 2007 Clive had the whole day off on the Friday but I was working in the morning so we met up at Marylebone station to travel to Brussels on the 14:34 Eurostar, our first journey out of the new Eurostar terminal at St Pancras. I think everyone we spoke to agreed that the facilities after check in at the new station were very disappointing, the food that was available was very limited and expensive, what we had was not very good quality either. Considering this was area was specifically modified for Eurostar pasengers we could not understand why this should be. Our journey over was uneventful, we arrived at Antwerp and booked into our hotel and prepared for an evening out. It had been planned beforehand that any babblers in the area would meet up at the “Oud Arsenaal” bar whenever they could get there., we duly arrived to find a few familiar faces with more arriving throughout the evening. It was a very enjoyable evening with some good beers and mad company.
Beers Teresa Pere Noel Achel Blonde Ename Cuvee 974 Tripel Karmeliet Ename blonde	Clive Pere Noel De Cam Gueze Drie Fonbteine Vintage Vinde cereale Rodenbach x2
15th December 2007 Due to the threatened train strikes on the Saturday Gunter had kindly arranged taxis for 24 people from Antwerp to Essen for 12:30 to get us to the festival for opening time. Before this Clive and I had a few hours wandering around Antwerp some of which we spent at the railway station to check out the state of the service and we were very pleased that alternative arrangemenst had been made as we estimate that only about 3-5 trains an hour were leaving Antwerp out of a scheduled 15 an hour and in the time we were there we did not see one train going to Essen. We arrived at the arranged pick up point for the taxis and by the time everyone was boarded we left at about 12:40, there seemed to be some sort of disagreement amongst the drivers of the 3 vehicles concerning the route to be taken as we appeared to leave the motorway at a junction before the expected one for our driver but we arrived at the festival hall ok at about 13:30 arranging with the drivers that we would be collected at 20:00. We then took our places at the front of the queue that did not exist at that time! This was our first visit to this festival and we were very impressed with the work that had gone into setting up and decoratuing the venue, well done to Gunter and his colleagues. We had an enjoyable few hours sampling some great Christmas beers and then left to await our taxi at 20:00, it was rather cold outside so we were not happy to find they were not there, after a couple of phone calls in which they said they were on their way two out of the three eventually turned up at about 20:45, we could have had another beer or two! Our driver informed us that the third taxi was 10 minutes behind the first two so we were not overly worried about the people that had not made it onto the first two taxis, we were however surprised to learn that the third taxi did not turn up until 23:05, I guess there must have been some sort of misunderstanding! We arrived in Antwerp at about 21:30 Clive and I had to catch the 11:59 Eurostar on the Sunday so we decided to stop for some frite and then head back to our hotel, next year we have accomodatioin booked in Essen for the Saturday and Sunday nights, we have yet to decide if we will be travelling out on the Friday or Saturday.
Beers Unfortunately I think we have some beers missing from our list but all of the ones we tried were very good.
Teresa Biere de noel – Abb. Du Val Dieu Christmas (refermented) - Leroy Christmas beer (Crombe) - Strubbe Grobbendonks Kerstbier – Achilles (last bottle ever) Saison Christmas – Glazen Toren Slaapmutske Christmas – Proefbrouwerij Antwerps Kerst – Pakhuis Rochefort 8 Cuvee 2007 – Abb. De Saint-Remy	Clive Tournay de Noel - Cazeau Abbaye d’Aulne Super Noel – Val de Sambre Sint-Bernardus Christmas alle – St-Bernardus Toernichoise Fumee – Millevertus Hiete kriek – De Cam (hot) Special Oerbier Reserva 2006 – Dolle Brouwers Duvel Tripel Hop – Duvel-Moortgat
16th December 2007 We had a good journey back apart from our fellow travellers who from the aroma had obviously been out drinking most of the night before. There were no delays and we managed to get home by about 14:20
Photos of the Essen weekend:
Joris, Steve, Theresa, Don & Cheri	Signs on the wall
More signs	The back of the bar
Fellow babblers sorry I can’t remember your names	The bar
Paulette & Thom	Dan, Martha & Paulette
Jezza & Thom	Theresa & Martin
Theresa & Steve	Stefaan the owner
Clive, Steve & Steve	Drie fonteine bottle
Briony, DaveH & Mat W	Clive, Jezza & Steve
Clive, Jezza & Steve	Dan, Clive, Jezza & Steve
Jezza, Clive & Steve	hmmm can’t take them anywhere: Jezza & Clive
Jezza & Clive examining the evidence!	Theresa, that hat & Dan
An amazing feat of engineering the new lower level platforms at Antwerp station	We don’t have room for a station so we’ll put part of it on pillars above the pavement!
The incredible building that was the old main station entrance before the rebuild	Santa & Haddock!
Santa Jezza, Steve, Santa Clive & Black Haddock Jeremy	Oh, I’m shocked Santa drinking surely not!
Santa Clive, Real Santa & Santa Jezza	Marcus & Santa Clive
The wonderfully decorated hall	Santa was too frightening!
Thom, Clive, sorry I forgot your names ?, ?, ? & Paulette	Clive & ?
Hmm Santa giving the Haddock a drink!	?
The hall and imbibers	What can I say!
Dez, Lynn, two santas & Jeremy	And Mrs Santa was there too
Santa threesome!	oh dear!
Don, Mrs Don & MikeK deep in conversation	That Santa gets everywhere!
Steve & ?	Santa drink in hand
Black Haddock (Jeremy)	Mrs Black Haddock pretending to be Santa
Theresa and Santas hair…..	…..and beard
?, Lorenzo & Jezza	It’s slipped a bit!
Dan, Martha, Dave & MattW	Pouring my Rochefort 8
Martin & Steve – it’s been a tiring day!	The bars
Locals?	Tim Webb
Week in Brugge 16th to 23rd November 2007
16th November 2007 After an easy run over our first day in Brugge saw us in the t’ Beertje as our first stop as usual, where we stayed for a short time before moving on to see Luc’s new bar t’ Poatersgat, this bar is across the road from his old one De Zolder and is about 2 and a half times the size the interior is a little posher with the toilets being mainly marble, we don’t recommend having a fall in there! But we would suggest a visit it is a cellar bar with a great atmosphere. We called it a day early due to the early start.
Beers Teresa Boon Framboise Triple Karmeliet Pere Noel (De Ranke) Avec les Bon Vouex shared 75cl Santa Bie Watou Wit	Clive Gouden Carolus Christmas Aardminnick (Struisse brewery) x2 Corsendonck Christmas Avec les Bon Vouex shared 75cl Kerst Pater (draught)
17th November 2007 We had decided to make a trip down to Brussels by train to go in Moeder Lambic as we really enjoyed our first visit to this bar in September when we were over for Bruxellensis, that weekend we enjoyed the first visit so much that we spent 3 evenings there. This time we arrived and it was relatively quiet, we sat at a table and the minute Jean and Yvan? walked in they both recognised us and greeted us like life long friends despite us only have been in there that one weekend before. It is a very friendly place the owners are exceptionally enthusiastic about their beer, we believe they have only owned the place since February 2007and they are working to create a tasting area in the cellar for small groups which is expected to be ready by February 2008. We felt so at home here that we stayed a little longer than we had planned. On arriving back in Brugge we went to t’ Beertje for the remainder of the night.
Beers Teresa Adelardus Brune Saint Monon Miel Grisette Aux Fruits des Bois (draught) Celtic Angel Barbar winterbok Grisette Aux\Fruits des Bois (draught) Boon Framboise Watou wit Lindemans framboise	Clive Val Dieu III Lambic Cantillon Faro Cantillon Authentique Ambre Gouden Carolus Brune x2 Aardmonick XX bitter Alvinne Extra Blonde x2
18th November 2007 As this was a Sunday we took what has become a regular trip down to Kroegske in Izegem and were pleased to see Danny back behind the bar. Danny informed us that they now have 4 of their own beers being the Kroegske blond, Pater, Wit and Saison and by early next year they will have another two to go with these, we can’t wait! The Spice Boys from Solihull were over in Brugge this weekend, so we also saw them in Kroegske travelling back with them on the train to Brugge for a late night in t’ Beertje.
Beers Teresa Gougasse Tradition Bobeline Brune Kroegske Saison shared 75cl Alvinne Blond Extra tried 75cl Kroegske Wit Hik beer bruin Kerst pater (draught) x4 Watou wit	Clive Noel des Geants Kroegske Pater Kroegske Saison shared 75cl Alvinne Blond Extra 75cl Podge Imperial Stout Aardmonick Moinette bruin
19th November 2007 Following the heavy Saturday and Sunday this was a quiet night spent entirely in t’ Beertje
Beers Teresa Lindeman Framboise Celis wit Girardin Framboise Cuvee des trolls	Clive De Koninck (draught) x4
20th November 2007 We started in t’ Poatersgat this time later moving onto t’ Beertje where we met Chris from Mexico who was spending the last of his money and having a very good time in doing so, Brian and Maddie from the US, Mark & Sue from the UK and Chris a friend of Johan’s and had a very entertaining evening.
Beers Teresa Slaapmutske Blonde Corsendonck Christmas La Chouffe (draught) Cuvee de trolls Saisis Barbar Cuvee de trolls x2	Clive Westmalle Dubbel Alvinne Bruine Rochfort 6 XX bitter Boon gueze Mariage parfait Kerst pater Kaizer Karol Rood x2
21st November 2007 We decided to try a new bar for us and venture to Kogge a very small friendly bar where we were made very welcome until I had a coughing fit and was told I couldn’t die there as it would be too expensive  having recovered we stayed for another beer in this very intimate bar to which we will return, whilst here we met Chris and Catherine an English couple who live very near to Ebsfleet where the new Eurostar station is, I am green! We then moved on to t’ Poatersgat before taking a break to watch the England game and returning to drown our sorrows!
Beers Teresa Malheur 6 La Chouffe (draught) x7 Brugse Zot Duvel	Clive Westmalle triple La Chouffe (draught) x7 Drie Fonteine Gueze Struisse wit
22nd November 2007 Our last night came around far too quickly and as we had an early start the following day we just had time to have a few in t’ Beertje followed by a few more in t’ Poatersgat to say goodbye to all our friends. We met another two English people in t’ Beertje, Peter and Debbie, who surprise surprise, live less than10 miles from our home! And Thiago from Brazil, another South American who was really enjoying himself.
Beers Teresa Lindemans Framboise Barbar Tripel Karmeliet Arend Bonde (De Ryck) La Chouffe (draught) Barbar La Chouffe (draught) Watou wit	Clive Alvinne Extra Blonde Leroy Xmas (draught) x3 La Chouffe (draught) x4
23rd November 2007 Having had a relatively early night we were up early for our journey home. We had an easy journey arriving home by midday local time.
Photos of the Brugge week:
Pump in t’ Beertje – Gouden Carolous Christmas	Pere Noel & Corsendonck Christmas in t’ Beertje
Luc’s new bar t’Poatersgat	Luc’s new bar t’Poatersgat
Luc’s new bar t’Poatersgat	Luc’s new bar t’Poatersgat
Just round the corner from Chez Moeder Lambic we found this building which we believe is a prison	The Spice Boys in Kroegske, Izegem
Danny & Nadine the owners of Kroegske and very welcoming hosts	Sign above the bar in Kroegske, Izegem
Alternative language sign above the bar in Kroegske	and in English too - Sign above the bar in Kroegske
Spice boys with Clive	After leaving Kroegske we retired to t’ Beertje – What a surprise! The Spice Boys with Bram, Clive & Frederic
¾ of the Spice Boys with Clive & Teresa	75cl Chimay blue
Frederic having a break	Bram still working :)
Clive	Clive & Frederic
Teresa & Piers	Spice boys with Teresa
Glasses in t’ Beertje	Kerst Pater & XX Bitter pumps
Frederic, Clive & Bram	Brian & Maddie from the US in t’ Beertje
Johan & Chris	Clive & Teresa
Sue, Johan & Mark	Marlene a regular friend in t’Beertje
Xavier brewer at the Halve Maan brewery in Brugge	Bram working again!
Frederic does work too	Johan
Sue & Mark from the UK	Kogge again
A new bar we tried for the first time this week Kogge in Brugge very small and friendly, limited beer range but they do have some good beers	We were sat by the wall this photo across to the bar the other side of the room gives some idea of how small the bar is
Glass display in t’Poatersgat	Debbie in t’Beertje who actually lives just a few miles from us in the UK
Clive & Teresa	Peter & Debbie
Thiago a visitor from Brazil	Me with my new Achouffe hat and La Chouffe beer
Rinus in t’Poatersgat
Weekend in Brussels for Bruxellensis festival 7th to 10th September 2007
Late in the day we decided to book a weekend in Brussels in order to attend the Bruxellensis festival, we got a good deal with www.greatgetaways.co.uk which gave us 3 nights for 2 in the Sofitel hotel including Eurostar for £185 each plus £25 to upgrade to first class on the return journey. We traveled out on the 14:13 arriving in Brussels just after 17:30 local time, we walked to the hotel which was about half an hour from the station, we booked in had showers and headed out to Moeder Lambic for the pre festival Babble Fest. On arriving at the bar we found it very busy, all seats both inside and out were taken but luckily just as we arrived one table inside was vacated so we quickly took our places for what was to be a great evening of good beer chat and great cheese. We had not previously met many babblers so we did not know if any were already there, on speaking to Nassim one of the co owners we were informed that there were two babblers sitting at the end table outside, Clive went out to introduce himself while I guarded the table, the two babblers in question were FredW and Paul who we had met before. A little later in the evening another English speaking couple arrived and once the table next to us was empty they moved there on speaking to them we found that it was Andy and Evie a couple who have posted on the Babblebelt and who were going to be running a German Beer stand at Bruxellensis. The remainder of the Babblers arrived a little later in the form of Thom, Paulette, Jeremy, Theresa, Marcus & Briony even later still Dan Shelton arrived complete with cameraman in tow. The beer menu was very interesting and relatively extensive after having tried several beers Jean the other co owner then produced some old bottles of Stille Nacht from the cellar for us to try hence the rather dusty bottles (see photos) the bottles had all aged differently and the taste varied from bottle to bottle all tasted good but some were better than others. We were all having such a good time we didn’t realize how late it had got and eventually left the bar at about 2am! to head back to the hotel via the friterie Bruxellensis opened at Midday on the Saturday so despite the late night we were there at 11.30 expecting to see a queue and were surprised to see that no one was waiting, in addition the festival was not ready to open as tables and chairs were still being put out. Midday arrived and there were still only a handful of people who by this time had moved to take seats at the tables that were just inside the entrance as due to it being free to enter the festival the entrance was open, although I’m not sure how they could have closed it as it was a very large warehouse type entrance which we were to find was to be used during the day by the businesses that ran from the premises, this included vans, motorbikes and a motorbike with sidecar which proceeded to drive through the venue at regular intervals, requiring the chairs at the end of the tables to be moved to allow access. There was a great selection beers from around the world and over the two days we managed to try a vast majority of them, I will not go into detail here as the beers were listed on the pre festival babblebelt posting. We were not familiar with German beers before the festival but having tried them we found them to be very good, with a variety of tastes, we also tried beers from Finland, USA, Spain and of course Belgium. We met many more babblers at the festival see the photos for details. We had not been intending to stay late at the festival but it was about 18:30 by the time we left to walk back to our hotel for a nap and a shower before once again heading out to Moeder Lambic via the Friterie which is so popular we had to queue for half an hour. At Moeder Lambic we again had a very pleasant remainder of the evening trying even more good Belgian beers but this time leaving at about 23.30 for an early night! Sunday morning we got up and had a wander round the City taking a few photos of the view and some very impressive architecture. Our walk took us towards the festival area and we therefore arrived early again but we knew that we would be able to sit down so after stocking up on some nibbles at a local supermarket we took our places to wait for the festival to open. Luckily we had a supply of beer tokens remaining from the day before so the fact that the person with the tokens was not there at opening time didn’t worry us we just went ahead and continued working our way through the beers we had not tried the previous day. We returned to the hotel a little earlier this time to give us time to rest and shower before heading out once again to Moeder Lambic for our final evening. Just before we left the bar on Sunday Evening Jean explained what their plans were for the place and said how pleased he was with how things were going so far and as a parting gift gave us a 75cl bottle of Caracole Forestinne Ambrosia which we have just had with dinner. Never having attended this particular festival before we had not known what to expect, it was different! There was a good selection of beers, the venue was a little odd but worked well, the food was either bread and cheese or a selection of homemade filled baguettes, quiches etc. the only hot food being chilli, personally we would have liked to have seen more in the way of hot food, maybe hotdogs, frites, or other easy to cook items. The outstanding beer stand of the weekend has to go to Andy who had obviously gone to a lot of trouble to produce the stand which had the look of being a real bar. All in all it was a great weekend; the festival was good we found another great bar in Moeder Lambic Jean and Nassim are very keen, they know their beers and run a great bar which we will be returning to hopefully in November when we are next over for a week in Brugge. The only downside was the fact that Clive picked up a viral infection which kicked in early Monday evening and remained for most of the week, at least it waited until we were home.
Moeder Lambic	Evie & Briony
Marcus & Briony	Theresa, Nassim & Briony
Marcus & Theresa	Clive & Thom
Mmm no comment!	Christmas decorations delivered from the US
Oh dear and it was only 11pm	Paulette
Moeder Lambic	Tom’s balancing act and Marcus trying to put him off!
Teresa	Theresa & Jeremy
Marcus & Theresa	Jean & Marcus
Group Photo	One of those Stille Nacht bottles from the cellar
Group Photo 2	Andy & FredW
Marcus, Theresa & Jeremy	Jeremy studying the bottle
Marcus, Theresa & Teresa
Saturday Jeremy & Joyce White	Paul
Joyce’s son-in-law and granddaughter	Beer festivals are tiring work!
Paulette, Matt Dinges, Jim & Thom	Glass & beer token
Matt Dinges & Jeremy	Jim & Michele
Jeremy, Paul & FredW	Jeremy & Theo from PINT (NL)
Paul & FredW	Jeremy & Sausage!
Maximum zoom on view from hotel window	Was it a sausage or a cigar?
Sunday Cityscape	Cityscape 2
Cityscape 3	Cityscape 4
Cityscape 5	War memorial
War memorial	War memorial
Impressive architecture
Andy’s Dusseldorf beer stand (Germany)	Blaugies brewery
Slaghmuylder brewery	Dupont brewery
Cantillon brewery	Kerkom brewery
Rulles brewery	Grainstore & Belvoir breweries (UK)
De la Senne brewery	De Ranke brewery
Agullon brewery (Spain)	Huvila brewery (Finland)
Thiriez brewery (France)	Franconian beers
High & Mighty brewery (USA)	Theresa & Paulette
Teresa	FredW & Jeremy
Teresa & Clive	Gunter
It’s still there Jeremy!	Beers from Sebastian
Don’t think too hard Thom!	Joris ready to go & Paulette
FredW, Paul & Jeremy posing!	Oh yes they do!
Get your glasses here	Festival poster
Thom	Jeremy
Paulette	Theresa
Clive	An old bottle of Leroy Stout
Moeder Lambic again	Jeremy
Moeder Lambic	Theresa on the hard stuff!
Paulette, Theresa & Jeremy	Teresa & Thom
Visit to Brugge 15th to 22nd June 2007
I am not going to produce a day by day account this time as it basically followed the same pattern as previous visits, So it will be a general report instead with a list of the beers sampled at the end. As usual our first bar on the Friday was the Brugs Beertje where at the start of our week Daisy's draught beers included La Chouffe a personal favourite and Kaiser Karel Rood a new addition to the range, we also visited De Zolder but were very tired so did not stay out late. We were pleased to find out that the Beertje was again open on Tuesdays although this was to change in July and August due to staff holidays. Later in the week one of the draught beers changed to the Liefmans Goudenband which was very entertaining on it's first day on as the staff were having problems pouring it without creating a fountain! This was a blessing in disguise as we were very kindly offered a 20 year old bottle of the same beer which Clive shared with one of our local friends. The next day the problem had been solved and the beer was pourable During the week we saw Peter and Paiva the day before they were due to travel to France for their holiday. Johan was in the UK at the start of our week arriving back in Belgium late on Sunday evening when he came straight to the Beertje to say hello. We also saw several more of our friends during the week and as usual met more new people including Bill & Nina from Florida, Bruce (American), Ron and Gabe (also Americans), Jackie (Dutch living in Scotland), Ian (Scotland) and Paul a Kiwi living in the UK who has recently acquired a pub in our home town which is being refurbished and is expected to reopen in mid July, selling a range of foreign beers. The website for the pub can be found here: www.sausagetreepub.co.uk. We had a very relaxing week and brought back a small supply of beers to add to our existing stocks.
Beers for the week: Clive La Chouffe Fantome Hercule Stout Kaiser Karel Rood Alvinne Extra Blond Watou Wit Drie Fontein Gueuze Saison Dupont XX Bitter Alvinne Bruin Ard Monnik (Struisse) Pannepot Pannepot (this should have a line through the o but I don't know how to get that using html) Rochefort 10 Oude Geuze Boon Mariage Parfait Liefmans Goudenband (on draught) Liefmans Goudenband (1987 75cl) Alvinne Dertig (Erasmus anniversary brew) Stout Bie Duivel beer (Boon) Duchesse de Bourgogne Achel Petrus Bruin	Teresa La Chouffe Fantome Barbar Watou Wit Cuvee de Trolles Liefmans Framboos Leute Bok Petrus Blonde Triple Karmeliet Achel Blond Keizer Karel Blond De Graarl Triple De Graarl Gember Bink Triple Adelardus Slapmutske Blond Westmalle Dubbel Girardin Frambois Waase Wolf Valeir blond St Feuillien Alvinne Dertig (Erasmus anniversary brew) Malheur 6 Slapmutske Night Cap Hellekapelle Duvel Brugse Zot Westmalle Tripel Gouden Carolous Tripel
Bill & Nina in the Beertje	La Chouffe on draught
Fantome and the trademark wonky glass	Kaiser Karel Rood on draught
Tourist photo of the Beertje wall	and again!
Bill	Frederik hard at work



Bram, who by now is a married man	Beertje glasses

Daisy back to her normal self
	Johan and Hilary
Johan	Antony
	Martin
Ron & Marlene	Martin depleting the supplies of Ard Monnik!
Ian & Jackie



Gabe, Ron & Mark in DeZolder	Hiding behind his beer!

The music corner


Martin, me & Bram	Clive & Xavier (Brugse Zot Brewer)






March 2007 visit to Brugge
Beer diary - Brugge 2nd to 9th March 2007
I am sitting writing this while drinking a Kossaat a new Belgian beer from the Lefebvre Brewery a 6.7% blond. 2nd March 2007 We left home at 5.20 am on the 2nd to catch the 7.50 eurotunnel train, as usual the journey went without a hitch. We travelled to Brugge via Noel Cuvelier’s shop near Poperinge to stock up on beers for Clive’s beer talks We arrived in Brugge at midday and we again were allowed straight into the rented apartment. After unpacking, shopping for a few essential supplies and sleeping we were ready for an evening out. Shortly before 4pm we left to eat at the best restaurant in Brugge: the frituur on the markt! After eating we made our way to our usual starting place for a week in Brugge being the Brugs Beertje in Kemelstraat where we had arranged to meet Johan a friend of ours also known as “Black Beastie“. We received the usually friendly greeting from Daisy and Bram who were on duty that night and settled in for the first part of the evening. We had bought Johan the Deep Purple Machine Head classic Album DVD which we duly handed over together with the requested Daily Telegraph that we had bought for him that morning. Another friend of ours Dave was also there and lively conversation ensued. Beerwise we started off with the Saison Dupont that Daisy had on draught and a very nice beer it was too, so much so that we both had another! As we had arranged to meet with Dinae Cat and any other babblers for a brief while at 8pm we decided not to move on to De Zolder for a couple there but to stay put for the evening. Clive then moved on to a favourite Alvinne brewery beer: the Extra Blonde and I had a new one for me the Urthel Hop-It, both going down well (I‘m not very good at the describing of beer tastes and after a week I‘m not sure that I would remember anyway, but I can say that we did not have a bad beer all week) As we were still tired from our early start we did not want too many this evening and tried to keep to some lower strength beers during the rest of the evening I had a Cuvee des trolls, a Barbar and a La Chouffe and Clive had a Cantillon Gueuze and some Kaizer Karel Reds a new beer we had seen in Noel‘s that morning. During the evening Peter and Paivi another local couple we know arrived and joined us at the bar. As expected Diane Cat later arrived and we had a chat with her, we were beginning to tire just before Filipe arrived so after greeting him and his wife we decided to call it a night and head off to bed we think this was at about 9pm but I did not make a note of it.
Johan (aka Black Beastie) in the Beertje, with his Deep Purple DVD and second one for a friend!	Dave & Johan
Bram working	Saison Dupont on draught
Draught Brugse Zot Bruin & Brigand	Draught Brugse Zot Blond
De Koninck a regular draught beer in Belgium	La Chouffe & glass one of my favourite beers, shame it only comes in 75cl bottles
Johan, not sure what he’s doing!	Daisy
Diane Cat	We can still see you Peter!
Paivi, Clive & Peter	Diane Cat
Paivi & Peter
3rd March 2007 As this was the first weekend in March we had planned to go to the Zythos Beer Festival on the Saturday, so we caught the train to St.Niklaas and arrived at about 11.30, the festival didn‘t open till midday so we joined the queue to get in early and try and find tables for the Babblebelt members coming that day. The other babblers were a little later arriving and joined the back of the queue! There were a large number of babblers there, I believe we managed to fill 4 tables. The babblers and others supported the cause of “Come up against cancer” by buying the specially designed T-Shirts with a Bill Coleman design and drinking the beers, as part of the beer proceeds went to this very worthy cause. At times the hall seem to be a sea of yellow the colour of the campaign. There were a large number of babblers from the US present and we realised how lucky we are to live within 4 hours travelling distance of Brugge! Enabling us to visit three times a year. There were in excess of 50 Breweries/beer firms present at ZBF offering in excess of 230 different beers. The festival is free to enter, you pay 3 euros for a specially made glass that is marked to hold 15cl the standard tasting size, the glass may be returned for a refund at the end. Beer is paid for with tokens that cost 1 euro and are purchased from a stand near the entrance. All beers cost just one token regardless of strength. There is a tombola that seems to have a large number of winning tickets, it is usually possible to win items worth more than you pay to enter and the funds from the tombola are used to run Zythos and the beer festival. The first winner in our group was Jeremy who came back with 4 bottles of HIK beer announcing the challenge that this was what needed to be topped on tombola wins, shortly after Clive and myself had a go and came back with a 75cl bottle of Valeir blond for me and a Magnum of Piraat for Clive, easily betting Jeremy! A few further goes produced a T-shirt for me and a bottle of Chouffe (75cl) for Clive, we felt this was enough for the day. Although we had not had a great deal to drink the night before I was feeling a little delicate so we did not have too many beers at ZBF, we had not intended staying too late anyway. Beers we tried at ZBF in no particular order: Ultra Delice - Ecaussine Brewery Celtic Angel - Achilles Brewery Forrestine - Caracole Brewery La Chouffe 4000th brew - Achouffe Brewery Scotch de Silly - Silly Brewery La Divine - Silly Brewery Aardmonnik - De Struisse Brewery Aardmonnik v Aardnon - De Struisse Brewery Maurootje Lauwse Saison - Alvinne Brewery Extra Special Export Stout - De Dolle Brewery HIK blond - Het Alternatief Brewery We left ZBF at 4.30pm and made our way back to Brugge where we went to De Zolder for a short time only drinking De Koninck and Wittekerke Rose before calling it a day. I did take a few photos at ZBF but I try not to use flash if I can manage it so they may be a little fuzzy, but that is the beer effect isn’t it?
Theresa & Thom	Theresa, Dann, Lennart, Jeremy & Paulette
Theresa -it‘s not that bad!	?
Peter	MikeK, Denise & Joris
MikeK, Glenn & Denise	Jeremy, Sean & Denise
4th March 2007 We caught the 16.33 train from Brugge which arrived at Izegem at 17.01, where we went to Kroegske. We arrived in the bar at 5.11pm to be greeted by Nadine, Danny was not there. I started on a Piet-Agoras from the Het Alternatief Brewery (9%) and Clive had a ‘n Maurootje (7%). Danny has added a second house beer brewed by the Alvinne brewery to the one Clive tried in November so his second beer was a Kroegbier Pater (9.5% bruin) and I had a Reinaert Blond (9%), Clive then moved on to a Saison Regal (5.5%) as a final beer here and for my final beer I had a Vondel (8.5%). It was a little quiet here this time maybe all the people who would normally be there went to ZBF, we still had a very pleasant evening here as but the time came for us to leave to catch our train home at 19.14, but this was not the end of our evening! We arrived back in Brugge, specifically the Beertje at 20.15 for a nightcap or five! Being a Saison Dupont, Girardin Framboise, Barbar, cheese snack (no I know that is not a beer!) and Barbar for me and Clive had a couple of Saison Duponts and three Kaizer Karol Reds.
Clive on the train back from Izegem	Me on the train back from Izegem
5th March 2007 As Monday is Luk’s night off in De Zolder we settled in to the Beertje for the evening at 8.07pm and managed to be the last to leave at 1.50am! We kept the beers relatively light as follows: Clive: Saison Dupont, Alvinne Extra Blond, Alvinne Bruin, Podge Imperial Stout, Cantillon Gueze, Oude Boon Gueze Mariage Parfait (8%) and Kaizer Karol Red. Teresa: Watou Wit, Liefmans Framboise, Triple Karmeliet, Barbar, Cheese, Cuvee des Trolls, Brigand *2 (draught) and Watou wit.
Clive‘s Alvinne Bruine	Spot the mistake in this photo thanks to Frederick!
Frederik hard at work	Beertje glasses (2)
Beertje glasses (2)	The Beertje Bear
It‘s not often we are in the Beertje when it‘s empty so I decided to do the touristy bit!	Empty Beertje (2)
Empty Beertje (3)	Clive at the bar in Beertje
Board showing the draught beers	Me at the bar in Beertje
Frederik	Clive at the bar in Beertje again!
6th March 2007 Since the Beertje was closed we decided to try another restaurant that had been suggested to us by Jeremy and therefore went to Koekse. Although we did not order a starter we were presented with winkles and fish which given the chance we would probably have refused, I hadn’t had winkles since I was a child but at least I knew what to do with them! I think we will refuse them when we go there again. We both ordered medium steaks which came perfectly cooked, Clive had a béarnaise sauce that was well made and I had mushroom sauce again this was very nice, we were a little surprised when the meal was served with a jacket potato as we had not expected this but were even more surprised when we were given frites too! The meal also came with a good sized side salad and although a little more expense than the restaurant we used to used (The Fox which was turned into Cambrinus enough said) the food was still good value for money. With the meal I had a Brugs Tarwebier and Clive had a Brugse Zot blond. We then moved on to De Zolder for the remainder of the evening not sure what time we finished but it was not late. Drinks were as follows: Clive: Leroy Xmas (best before 2001) 2, Chapeau winter Gueze (which tasted nothing like a gueze), Gordons Christmas and De Koninck Teresa: Wittekerke Rose, Gouden Carulous Ambrio, Watou Tripel 2 and Gouden Carulous Tripel.
7th March 2007 We started the second night of the Beertje being closed in De Garre where we used to go regularly but had not been for some time, we were expecting to see Johan in De Zolder later in the evening so it was a late start at about 8pm this time. I had a Celis Wit, Boon Frambois and a Corsendonck Agnus and Clive had a Van de Garre, and 2 Gouden Carulous Classics. We then moved on to De Zolder to be greeted by Luk calling us over to say that there were two people there that had heard a lot about us! They turned out to be Des and Lynne from Manchester, Des sometimes posts on the babble belt. It was a slightly heavier night than we had intended including a Genever at one point thanks to Des J. Marlene one of the locals that we see regularly turned up later as did Johan as expected. Beers consumed: Clive: Gouden Carulous Xmas, Vichtenar, Corsendonk Xmas, Petrus blonde, Bush Noel (exp. 2007) and a De Koninck Teresa: Watou Tripel, Wittekerke Rose, Barbar, Watou Tripel and Petrus winter After which we staggered back to the apartment.
Des, Lynne & Johan	Clive behind the bar in De Zolder!
Clive & Luk	Luk!
Clive pretending to pull a beer	Marlene, Yvan? & Des
Clive & me (after midnight so it was now our wedding anniversary)	Clive and me again!
Two locals sorry didn‘t catch their names
8th March 2007 During the afternoon we spent some time chatting in the garden of the apartments with Diane Cat, her husband Chris and one of Diane’s students also called Chris as they were also staying in the same apartments. This was our last night so as usual we split our time between the De Zolder and Beertje calling it a night at 9.50pm as we were leaving at 8.30 the following morning. We started in De Zolder this time where I had one of Luk’s Flemish stews with pasta and beerwise Clive had De Konincks and I had, what a surprise, wittekerke Roses!, we said hello and goodbye to Claudine & Mark two locals that we see regularly but this was the first time this week. Then we said goodbye to Luk but it will only be three months till we are back this time. After moving on to Beertje Clive had De Koninck’s and I had a Cuvee des Trolls and a Barbar, we again saw Des and Lynne and Johan for the last time. Unfortunately Daisy was not there to say goodbye to but Frederik and Bram were, so we said our goodbyes and left good wishes for the other locals who we did not see that night.
9th March 2007 - Departure day Having loaded the car up ready to leave we had an uneventful departure this time, well apart from the roads being closed for roadworks or filming in various places meaning a slight detour was required to leave the city. The filming was for “In Bruges” featuring Colin Farrell, we had actually witnessed some of the filming in the Markt earlier in the week, the film is due to be released in 2008. A steady drive down to Calais saw us arrive in plenty of time to catch our shuttle at 10.28 finally arriving home at just before midday. We entered the house expecting to find destruction from the two kittens, should that be cats? not a year old yet but one of them already weighs 6kg, his sister is slightly smaller at 4kg but we were surprised to see that although they are bigger this time and can get to more places they had been relatively good only pulling down one of my cuddly toys from Brugge on a previous visit. Our neighbour had been feeding them and spending a fair amount of time with them.
November 2006 visit to Brugge
Beer diary - Brugge 17th to 24th November 2006 17th November 2006 We left home just before 5.30 am on the 17th to catch the 7.38 eurotunnel train, the journey went without a hitch. On leaving the train we made our usual detour to Noel Cuvelier’s shop near Poperinge to stock up on beers for the Belgian beer talks that Clive does for local groups in the UK We arrived in Brugge at midday and were able to access the apartment we rent straight away, so we unpacked the car and went to the supermarket for a few essential supplies. As it had been an early start we then had a rest before the evening out. Once rested and showered we made our way to our usual starting place for a week in Brugge being the Brugs Beertje in Kemelstraat. We received the usually friendly greeting from Frederick and Bram who were on duty that night and Daisy who appeared a little later, we then settled in for the first part of the evening. Daisy had two Christmas beers on draught so we duly started off trying one of those in the form of the Gulden Draak Vintage, for those of you who know the regular Gulden Draak beer you will know that it is 10.5%, however the Christmas brew is only 7.5% and therefore much more suitable for an extended evenings drinking! The beer was full of flavour and very drinkable so while Clive tried some alternative beers I stuck with the vintage for a few. Since Daisy now stocks all of the Alvinne brewery beers which are favourites of Clive he moved on to try the Balthazar (9% Bruin) and Melchior (11% bruin) both going down very well. We then decided on a change and I had Barbar (8% pale ale with honey syrup) one of my regular favourites and Clive had a Cantillon Gueuze (5% lambic). During the evening we had conversations with several people including Francis from New Zealand and several of the regulars that we have come to know over our many years of visiting Brugge. As it was our first evening we then moved onto De Zolder to say hello to our other friends in the City. We asked Luc for two Christmas beers which he kindly supplied in the form of St Feuillien Cuvee de Noel (9%) and Bush de Noel (12%). Unfortunately due to Clive having been ill before our trip and the early start our evening was shorter than planned as by 9.30 we left the bar to try and catch up on some much needed sleep.
Johan (aka Black Beastie) in the Beertje, a good friend of ours who can often be found at the bar in the Beertje doing the Telegraph crossword!	Francis from New Zealand
A visitor from the UK	Us on our first night in the Beertje
Us again!	Johan
Daisy the owner of the Beertje in her rightful place behind the bar	Daisy and Bram keep the Beertje running like clockwork
Guilan a local friend in the Beertje
18th November 2006 Having had a nights sleep (well sort of) we ventured out the following evening to see more of our local friends. This time we started in DeZolder at 6.35 pm as we knew that other friends we usually see there do not stay late and happily we were lucky to find them there. We decided to keep things relatively light as it was likely to be a longish evening so I had a wittekerke Rose (4.3% wheat and Raspberry beer) and an Ezel Wit (5.8% wheat) and Clive had a Bolliker (aka De Koninck 5% amber) and a Vichtenaar (5.1% oak aged). At 7.30pm we moved on to Brugs Beertje as Johan one of the locals who is a good friend of ours was going to be travelling to Perth on the Monday to see his girlfriend so it was probably going to be the last evening we would see him. Clive started on Daisy’s other draught Christmas beer which was Tongerlo (6.5% blonde) which according to the Good Beer Guide to Belgium had not been seen since 2002 and I started very boringly on Barbar. Clive then moved onto Alvinne Blond Extra for his next few during which time the curiosity of two identical beers coming out as two distinctly different colours occurred! It later transpired via the Babblebelt message board that this was as a result of a different malt being delivered for the production of the beer which was not noticed until after the brewing process had begun, this was not a problem however as the taste was the same. We met a couple from London this evening Alessandra and St. John who we had a long chat with, long enough for the dreaded camera to appear! Whilst Clive was enjoying the Extra Blond I had a Corsendonck Christmas (8.5%), Watou Wit (5%), Cuvee de Trolls (7% light amber) and a Barbar winterbok (8% bruin). Clive then moved on to Gaspar (8%) another of the Alvinne beers and I went back to the Gulden Draak Vintage we had tried the night before. After all this we decided to call it a day.
Alessandra & St.John in the Beertje visitors we met on our second night	Bram
Alessandra	Us day 2
?	Frederick, another of the Beertje's regular bar staff
visitors	Alessandra & St.John in the Beertje
	Frederick, hard at work
Bram
19th November 2006 This being a Sunday it was time for what has become our regular trip down to Kroegske at Izegem. We caught the 16.33 train from Brugge which arrived at Izegem at 17.01, you walk straight off the arrival platform, cross the road and walk over the canal, when you come to the roundabout you go straight over and find Kroegske a short way down on the left hand side. Be warned if travelling to here in the summer you may find the place appears closed but you will see a small sign on the door to direct you to the garden out the back. Also in winter there is what appears to be a permanent coal filled brazier which can make it very warm at times. We arrived in the bar at 5.15pm to be greeted by Danny the owner who although we had only previously been there on two occasions remembered us. I started on a Boon Framboise (6.2%) a very refreshing and surprisingly unsweet raspberry beer, as a light start Clive had a Vichtenaar. Danny has had his own beer brewed by the Alvinne brewery which is just down the road but they are looking for somewhere to brew it themselves. Of course one of those had to be tried so Clive’s second beer was a Kroegbier Goud (6.6% blond) and I had a Druide Blond (6.5%), Clive then moved on to a Duivel Donker (8% bruin) and as a final beer here Podge’s Imperial Stout brewed by…….. Yes you guessed it the Alvinne brewery. At this point Danny brought out his home brew beer, not the beer that is to be sold in the bar but his own brew, this was split amongst the people talking at the bar which included us, a local who we had seen before and an English couple who moved to Belgium about 6 months previously, the beer was a very pleasant dark beer of 9.8%. For my final beer I had an Urthel Bock (6.5%) we had a very pleasant evening here as we always do but the time came for us to leave to catch our train home at 20.14, but this was not the end of our evening! We arrived back in Brugge, specifically the Beer tje at 21.15 for a nightcap or two! Being a Watou Wit and Girardin Framboise for me and a Tongerlo Christmas, Alvinne Extra Blond and Cantillon Gueuze for Clive.
Clive on the train back from Kroegske	Me on the train
Train journey to Brugge	Paivi & half of Peter!
20th November 2006 We decided that we would spend the whole evening in the Beertje so settled in for the evening at the slightly later time of 7pm. We met two Australians Ben and Jacqui with whom we had a long chat. We kept the beers relatively light as follows: Clive: Girardin Oud Gueuze, Bornem Dubbel (draught), De Cam Oude Gueze, Alvinne Extra Blond, Rulles Brune (75cl), Fantome (75cl) complete with wonky glass - see photos and finishing on a Bolliker. Teresa: Girardin Framboise, Cuvee des Trolls, Barbar, Barbar Winterbok, Triple Karmeliet and Watou wit.
Ben in Beertje	Ben in Beertje
Jacqui in Beertje	Jacqui in Beertje
That wonky Fantome glass!	and from another angle!
guy from NZ	Cas in Beertje
21st November 2006 Since the Beertje was closed we thought we would give Cambrinus another chance to see if they had improved since our visits there in March and June, unfortunately the answer was no. We both ordered medium steaks which came overcooked, very dry and stringy, Clive had a béarnaise sauce that was very thick and tasted very vinegary we can buy a better tasting béarnaise sauce in the supermarket in Brugge than was supplied in Cambrinus. The beer menu remains far too bulky and heavy although the sections on the different beer styles are produced in different colours, it still doesn’t help if you are looking for a beer from a particular brewery. The attitude and atmosphere in the place is not very friendly we have now been there on eight occasions and have never felt welcome, we will not be going back. We only stayed long enough to eat our meal and have one beer each an Alvinne blond for Clive and a palm speciale for me. We then moved on to De Zolder for the remainder of the evening which actually ended before midnight! Drinks were as follows: Clive: Drie Fonteine Gueuze, Petrus Oud Bruin and Saison du pont Teresa: Coffee!, Helle Kapelle, XX Bitter, Brugs Zot Blond and Petrus blond.
22nd November 2006 Another night of the Beertje being closed was spent in De Zolder, it was a very quiet night and ended with Luc getting some old Christmas beers from the cellar. Clive: Brugs Zot Dubbel, XX Bitter, Petrus Aged Pale, and some 10 year old Leroy Christmas beers Teresa: Helle Kapelle, Leute Bok, Cuvee Des Trolls, Pere Noel (2005), Barbar and Ezel Wit
Luc hard at work in De Zolder	Hiding behind the menu won't work Luc!
Matthias in De Zolder	Clive in De Zolder
Luc in De Zolder
23rd November 2006 This was our last night so as usual we split our time between the Beertje and De Zolder but sadly the cold I had picked up earlier in the week decided to really develop this evening and by 9.30 I was flagging and we decided to call it a night. We spent rather longer in the Beertje than initially planned but we enjoyed it immensely, we said our goodbyes to Daisy and Frederick and left our good wishes for Bram and the other locals who we did not see that night. In the Beertje we had: Clive: Alvinne Blond Extra, Corsendonck Christmas, Cantillon Gueze and Gulden Draak Vintage Teresa: Brugs Zot Blond, Pere Noel, Smitsje Honing and Watou wit. After moving on to De Zolder where I had one of Luc’s Flemish stews with pasta we only managed one beer each before I started wilting too much to stay Clive had a Petrus Oud Bruin and I had a Helle Kappelle.
24th November 2006 - Departure day Having loaded the car up ready to leave we opened the garage door to find our way blocked by a huge crane, it became clear that they were expecting to leave the vehicle there all day and possibly longer to carry out some work. I spoke to the driver indicating that they had parked in front of a garage door and we needed to leave, expecting to require the assistance of Nico the owner of the apartment I went to find him and hand over our keys. By the time I had returned the crane had been reversed a little way along the pavement to allow us to leave. A steady drive down to Calais saw us arrive in plenty of time to catch our shuttle at 10.28 finally arriving home at midday. We entered the house expecting to find mayhem from the two seven month old kittens but were surprised to see they had been relatively good and not much was out of place. Our neighbour had been feeding them and spending some time with them (I think this may have been longer than we were expecting as on the first night we were away the neighbours spent the evening watching children in need here with the cats asleep on their laps).