Belgian trips 2008

BELGIAN BEER

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

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