Wednesday morning at breakfast we decided we’d like to go to Brugge. It was a good plan. We had rail passes and a good working knowledge of the city, and Brugge is only about an hour away from Antwerp by train. On the other hand, a better memory, or a glance at the guide, would have told us that most of the standout beer places in Brugge are closed on Wednesday. The Brugge Bear (world class beer bar), The Dyver (a restaurant known for beer-food matchups) and the Erasmus Hotel (great beers, good food) all were closed.
The Brugge (Closed) Bear
Brugge is another of the great Belgian beer cities, well worth a visit for reasons other than beer. One of the great 17th century merchant cities, it retains an incredible amount of vernacular architecture. It’s one of my favorite cities for just walking around…
A great beer city should entertain even when some of the strongest attractions are closed, and De Garre certainly made that point. I had never been to De Garre, mostly because it was too crowded the times I tried. De Garre is down a tiny alley, very close to the market square. When we arrived the downstairs room was filled with locals, but the upstairs room was empty. This is a very small building, almost an afterthought, featuring exposed brick and beams, low ceilings, lots of atmosphere. It’s very much a classy operation.
Feeling Better Now
For lunch we ordered sandwiches (ham or cheese, but both is not possible…) and hoped for the best. What we got were delightful: big slices of bread in an open faced format, with fabulous ham or cheese, artfully presented on a large plate surrounded by condiments. Just right…
Beers tried included the house Triple Von De Garre (from Von Steenburg) (Delicious, soft, yeasty, a warm mouth feel); a Celis White (Couldn’t resist); a Drei Fonteneyn Oud Guerze (Penance for the Celis); and a Gulden Draak (at 7.5%, brown, smooth lovely with a fine head, mouth filling, not a corner anywhere).
Soon enough we were off to the station, where we arrived late for our train, found it too was tardy, and we jumped aboard. The late train was the source of a small adventure and a cautionary tale. Berchem is a suburban Antwerp stop, a few minutes from Antwerpen Centraal, at which almost all trains stop. As our train was standing in Berchem I was dozing, heard something in Flemish about Ghent, thought nothing of it. Fortunately Sal and Briony were chatting about going to Kulminatur. A fellow across the aisle commented in English “If you’re going to Antwerp you need to get off… This train is going back to Ghent”. When trains are running late the Belgians often turn them in Berchem to get back on schedule. We did our best Three Stooges imitation in exiting that train asap…
After a quick dinner we were off to Kulminatur for another homecoming. This place is one of the World Temples of beer. Kulminatur has a fine lineup of draft beer and current bottles, but what makes them special is their massive list of aged bottle beer. There’s nothing quite like it anywhere, Dirk and Leen operate a living history of Belgian beer.
The place is small, cluttered, and never seems to change. Well, except for Dirk’s hair style… I’ve been through three distinctly different eras, and each is more startling than the last.
The sad news is that because of huge volume and the labor involved they have closed the Birthday Book to new entries. One of my favorite little things in life is the annual birthday letter from Kulminatur, enclosing a coupon for a free draft beer. With a year to forget about it, the brightly colored envelope always manages to be a pleasant surprise. The program will continue, but only for those already registered.
Kulminatur is a very difficult place to absorb in a single visit. In a way it emulates a visit to Belgium in general: there is so much from which to choose, it demands an organized approach. We of course rejected that and gleefully cherry-picked. We started with draft Karmaliet (8%) and Kasteel Blonde (7%). They were the lightest on tap.
We then dipped a toe into the cellar, for a guerze DeTroch Kriek Chapeau (ten year old) and a Hanssens Guerze Kriek from 2004. DeTroch takes a lot of heat for producing commercial lambics, but this was OK, accessible and quaffable.The Hanssens was beautiful: challenging, tart, complex.
For the final round we enjoyed a draft Gordon’s Christmas Ale from 2003, and a Bush Noel. Lovely.
If one goes to Kulminatur one inevitably collects stories. I remember going in years ago as a callow fellow (at least as regards Belgian beer). I sat at the bar and confidently ordered two different draft beers in succession. I then realized I had done two 12% beers. Fortunately, I asked Leen “I’ve climbed out on a branch and don’t know how to get down. What beers should I have in order to work back to a reasonable session?” Sometimes Dirk and Leen take pity on fools. The first thing she said was “You’re right, we were only going to serve you one more”. Then she threw it over to the locals at the bar, a broad discussion ensued, and a program of beers was agreed to get me firmly grounded for a more reasonable session. That was a memorable evening.
I’ve seen comments about the rudeness of the locals at Kulminatur, and that got me thinking, because my experience has been quite different. I envision a group of foreigners coming into The Great Lost Bear or Novare Res, taking the best tables, speaking loudly in Flemish, and demanding to order drinks in their own language. Some of the welcoming smiles might be a bit forced…
What works for me is take a seat at the bar, be quiet and listen, enjoy your beer, and act like a guest. Sooner or later there is an opening to start a conversation; just make it about them, not you. If that doesn’t work (it often does), what the heck, there’s still a) the beer, and b) a room full of beer tourists behind you.
Walking back to our hotel, I realized that this visit was ending like all my visits to Belgium, with me thinking “How soon can we do this again?”
