Belgium Trip, Day 6 - Part 1: Morning in Gent

We arrived in Gent fairly early the next morning and headed for the center of town. We were too early for the bars, even in Belgium, so we headed to the St. Bavo Cathedral to see Van Eyck’s Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (which was fairly impressive).

After that, sufficient time had passed that some of the cafes had begum to open. We headed for one of the oldest and smallest cafés in town t’ Galgenhuisje. The bar claims to be housed in the former gallow’s house and was right on the Groentenmarkt…so I believe it and the building dates from the 16^th century. I can imagine the gallowmaster conducting business here waiting for the next victim.

Two floors of bar are crammed into a very small footprint with a restaurant in the cellar (former holding cells for the condemned). Very rustic with old exposed timbers, witches hanging from the ceiling, some tin beer signs, paper money of all nationalities and denominations stapled to the walls behind the bar and Flemish phrases painted on the timbers. The house beer was thick and brown, served in a mug and sold for less than 3 Euro. It was a good way to start your Wednesday!

Most of the bars we wanted to hit weren’t going to open until afternoon so we wandered the streets of old Gent, dodging trams and crossing canals. (The city is gorgeous by the way…rivals Brugge as far as I’m concerned.)

We also visited Castle Gravensteen, an imposing and impressive Medieval castle and worthy of a visit if you care to spend some non-beery time in Gent.

After the castle, we headed back across the Leie River to Het Waterhuis, a café right on the river that had a good reputation for beer. It did not disappoint.

They offered three different house beers. I stuck with a hoppy blonde called Gandavum, Dave grabbed a tawny colored strong ale Klokke Roeland. Both were surprisingly excellent. The cafe was lots of brick and timber, old dusty glasses on a ledge above the bar, beer signs galore and false vines draped from the ceiling. Nice view of the river too.

But there was more! What should I spy on the chalkboard but Rodenbach Foederbier. Fantastic! I ordered one and the server asked me if I was sure I wanted one because this beer was very, very sour. I reaffirmed that, yes, this was the beer I desired. She warned me again about the extreme sourness and asked me if I was really sure about this choice.Again, I assured her that I had an idea what it would be like and said that I was prepared. A third time she tried to warn me…”Bring it on!” I said. I am guessing she has had to take this beer back from unsuspecting tourists in the past…

The Foederbier was amazing. Imagine the difference in degree of acetic sourness between Rodenbach and Rodenbach Grand Cru. Apply that same increase in intensity to the Grand Cru and you have an idea of what you get in the Foederbier. Sour and woody but after the initial shock to the tastebuds, refreshing and wickedly drinkable. Puckeringly sour but ultimately delicious. It may have been the best glass of beer I had in Belgium.

Dave ordered a Timmermans Lambicus Blanche, an unusual cross between the funk and sourness of a lambic and the spicy sweetness of a Belgian witbier. Very unique and very good in its own right.

Bellies full of beer, we moved on, first to the frittur for some frites and then more sightseeing. We killed some time at the Folklore Museum (more time than I wanted but sometimes you have to indulge your travel companion, right?) and waited for 16:00 to roll around when the next wave of bars would open up for us.

Belgium Trip, Day 3: Still More Antwerp

Sunday we slept in a bit due to jet lag, grabbed some complementary breakfast and headed back downtown again. It had been drizzling on and off since Friday but it was still a manageable level of rainfall to handle while travelling by foot. Sunday…it really started to rain.We hit some of the Sunday morning flea markets and then ducked into the nearby Oud Arsenaal for some beers and some shelter. The Oud Arsenaal has been in business since 1924 and, like Quentin Mastijs, looks like very little has changed in the last 84 years. We grabbed some bench seating and checked out the menu. Not an enormous beer list but an impressively chosen one. But I ordered us bollekes of De Konninck to get started since Dave hadn’t had any yet. After that warm up, we delved deeper.

One of my objects during this trip was to get some Faro. This bar had Boon “Faro Pertotale” which was a faro mad eform half old lambic, half young lambic and sweetened with candy sugar. A true rarity, so I ordered a glass. Dave noticed that Rodenbach was the beer of the month and had never had it. Finding out that it was to be served with the traditional side of shrimp for no extra charge only sealed the decision.

The faro was tart and exhibited some light brett funk which was all softened a bit from the added sugar. The beer was quite still, nearly uncarbonated but offered a cider-like drinkability with a touch of finishing dryness. It was really good. The Rodenbach was Rodenbach, tart and acidic but refreshing and smooth at the same time.

And now a word about the privacy of Belgian toilets, especially in pubs and cafes. For men, there is little. Many times, the urinals are in plain site of either A) the women passing nearby to use the toilet or B) the other patrons sitting out in the bar. This is not to say that there is not at least partial obstruction but there are certainly many places where the doors to the WC remain wide open and the urinals are only partially obscured by the angle of the wall or a small half-door. It’s hard to explain but it’s certainly not the privacy of American standards!

Oud Arsenaal took this to extremes. The toilet was basically unisex. The toilets themselves are in tiny separate rooms within the larger restroom area, two are marked for ladies, one for men. But to get to the toilets what do you have to do? That’s right, walk right past the row of urinals! And that’s just what happened to me while I was downloading some urine. Three ladies walked right by toward the toilet. Startling wasn’t the word.

However, Oud Arsenaal was an inviting and cozy place, our server was quite helpful and friendly and outside of Kulminator, it may have been my favorite pub in Antwerp.

After a beer or three, the rain had let up so we headed further in toward the old city. Ducking in and out of shops, the rain had really started to soak us. So we ducked into a bar right next to the Cathedral called the Elfde Gebod (The Eleventh Commandment). This pub is filled with religious statues giving it the feel of an altar or the storage room for the nearby Cathedral. The roaring fireplace helped to take the chill out of our bones but we were looking for something to warm us from the inside too.

I ordered a Rochefort 10, a Trappist quadrupel that weighs in at 11% ABV. Boozy but lovely, it's a nice warmer on a dreary rainy day. Dave got another Trappist ale, the Westmalle Dubbel on draft.

Our server was a good guy named Kurt. He noticed what we were drinking and pointed out that St. Bernardus Tripel was available on draft. He brought us out a sample of the tripel so we could try it. That's a rarity where I live so I ordered the tripel next. Dave got the La Trappe Quadrupel, a beer from the Koningshoeven Trappist monastery in the Netherlands. Big malty beer at 10% alcohol.

After feeling considerably toasty, we thanked Kurt, he gave us his card for a new business venture called Belgium in a Box and we headed back out into the weather. I suggested that Dave needed to see Quentin Matsys so we took the three block walk.

Quentin Matsys was quite crowded this time around so we grabbed a couple seats at the bar. I ordered a De Koninck Tripel while Dave continued the high octane trip with a Kasteel Blond. Both were very good. Next we ordered a Gordon Finest Scotch Ale, mostly because we saw the amazing thistle glasses they served them in. But the ale was very good as well and gave us a rare chance to try a Belgian brewed Scotch ale.

We decided to move on and find some food since it was late afternoon but found we were not in any mood to keep fighting the rain. So we headed back to the hostel. On the way back I spotted a frituur so I doubled back and grabbed a couple orders of frites and brought them back to our room. We had frites and some Chimay Grand Cru cheese on crackers, washed it down with some Timmerman's Fruits de la Foret and some Lindemans Faro.

Antwerp had literally rained on our parade on Sunday but we were still able to get to three great pubs and make the best of a bad situation back at the room. We just tried our best to dry out our clothes, pack our bags and get ready for our drive out to Wallonie the next morning.

Beer Coaster: Rodenbach

I picked up this coaster out of a cafe in Antwerp that I have long since forgotten the name of in 1996. I am guessing the pitch here was to juxtapose one lovely Belgian redhead with another. I remember enjoying Rodenbach on my initial visit and curse myself to this day for not finding Rodenbach Alexander during that trip. Ah, regrets...