Antwerp - Friday 22/6/2018 part 2

My walking route from Ibis Budget Hotel near Antwerp Central Station to Hostel Pulcinella was via City Park and passed the renowned Cafe Kulminator, Vleminckveld 32, visited the previous evening.

Kleine Markt - near Cafe Kulminator

Kleine Markt is overlooked by a statue of Mary and baby Jesus, including a streetlamp, on the junction with Bredestraat, just 50 metres further north-west.

I was able to check in to my spacious first floor room with a view of the courtyard garden by about 6pm. A partial refund of the room rate, due to single occupancy, was a pleasant surprise.

 

BierPassie Weekend XIX - day 1

The advantage of staying at Hostel Pulcinella is that it is only 600 metres from the entrance to the BierPassie Weekend festival in Groenplaats.

The festival opens at 5pm on the Friday. On arrival at Groenplaats, I purchased a Beer Sommelier tasting glass (5 euros) and jetons (plastic beer tokens - 2 euros / 20cl) and picked up a free programme at the entrance. Our group was sitting inside the tent housing Ben's bar.
Andrew pointed me to Keith Moore who was chatting with Johan Van Dyck and Karen Follens the founders of Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie in front of the Seefbier wagon / bar.

Before joining them I used my first jeton for a glass of Super Cadix dry hopped lager from the wagon.

Karen Follens and Johan Van Dyck with Ullage magazine

Page 6 (detail) - Ullage magazine (Autumn 2017)

I was glad to be able to give Johan an Autumn 2017 issue of Ullage magazine which included a photo of an Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie poster and details of the brewery's new taproom / cafe which our group would visit at lunchtime on Saturday.

Keith Moore with Keef Bier

Slightly earlier, Keith had presented them with bottles of Keefbier, with a label based on the Seefbier label but incorporating Keith's bespectacled face insted of the face of 'Seef man'.

Having brought a copy of the latest edition (8th) of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide Belgium with me, I was able to show Johan the entry for Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie, on page 77 of the 'Belgian Breweries A to Z section'. Johan was a bit doubtful about their brewery's 'Tiny' size category although happy that it had not been categorised as 'Miniscule'!
Thanks to Johan for a complimentary glass of Nonkel Pater, the dark and rich 9% abv 'Qua-dubbel'.

Back at Ben Vinken's bar, I used a jeton for a glass of Brouwerij Van den Bossche Buffalo bitter, poured from a 75cl bottle with a cork closure.

 

Aura Brasserie

Most of our group wanted to visit De Peerdestal, a restaurant where the menu included horse steak, but Simon and I decided to revisit Aura Brasserie, Hoogstraat 34, for an omelette.

I found a table inside near the bar with shelves for a variety of Belgian beer glasses. A few draught beers are available here including Antwerp's De Koninck APA (Antwaarpse Pale Ale).

Arriving before Simon, I ordered a St Feuillien Grisette Blonde Bio which was served with a small dish of coated nuts.

When Simon arrived, I ordered a bottle of Het Nest SchuppenBoer (Jack of Spades) - a 'floral and peachy tripel'.

Simon chose a bottle of Brasserie du Bocq Deugniet. The image on the bottle of a cheeky rascal (the meaning of Deugniet) was a surprise. Subsequent research shows that there is an Antwerp connection with the statue, from which the image is taken, being situated near the junction of two pedestrian streets -Korte Gasthuisstraat and Everdijstraat in the 'De Wilde Zee' neighbourhood, immediately south-east of Groenplaats and the Cathedral of our Lady. Barely visible from Google Maps Streetview, the bronze statue mounted on a plinth is the work of Luc Verlee for the city of Antwerp in 1976 according to a comprehensive blog about the city's statues by Alfons Van Camp. Another blog by Lia in Brussels links moustaches and music via John Lundström to this statue which has been 'kidnapped' and recovered on several occasions.

The excellent omelettes we ordered were served with a salad so my decision to order an additional Greek salad to share was somewhat unnecessary.

a view from Vlaaikensgang 'secret' passage

On our way back, after the meal, we noticed an alleyway leading east from Hoogstraat and detoured down it, turning left at a corner to emerge into Oude Koornmarkt. This charming 'secret' passage is Vlaaikensgang.

 

BierPassie Weekend XIX - late evening

Back at nearby Groenplaats we found a table on the west side of the square (on the left side of the plan from the programme).

I visited the Van Eecke (Leroy) Brewery stand (8) at the north end of the square, nearest the cathedral, for a glass of draught Hommelbier dry hopping 2018 'showcasing that earthy, floral Poperinge hop character'.

John, Andrew & Simon - Groenplaats

This Friday was not as warm in Antwerp as it was in the UK and it was nice to have a fleece to wear at our outside table in the square.

Another beer enjoyed at the festival this evening was Waterloo Récolte Saison from the Martin's stand (5).

Billie's Bier Kafetaria

We left Groenplaats before closing time and some took the tram to Dageraadplaats where we had all been the previous night.

However, Simon and I walked the 100 metres to Billie's Beer Kafetaria, Kammenstraat 12.

The choice of 11 draught beers is  displayed on a blackboard above the bar. These are sourced from around the world including AleSmith Speedway Stout (San Diego, USA) and Magic Rock Human Canonball DIPA (Huddersfield, UK).

At Billie's, most of the draught beers are more expensive than many of the bottled beers. Simon ordered a draught Rodenbach Alexander (6 euros) while a bottle of Schelde Brouwerij Hop Ruiter dry hopped IPA / Tripel (4 euros) suited me fine and was a favourite beer of the day.
With the help of SoundHound App it was possible to identify some of the decent music being played including Stoned Jesus (from Kiev) 'I'm the Mountain', Kaleo (from Iceland) 'Way Down We Go' and Austra (from Toronto) 'Lose It'.

My last beer at Billie's from a favourite Belgian brewery was also to my taste, a bottle of 7% abv Antigoon from The Musketeers Brewery Belgian Legends series, costing 3.5 euros.

A page from the beer menu illustrates that most Belgian beers are strong as Taras Boulba (4.5% abv) is included here in the Low Alcohol section!

It was nice to see Billie, who walked into 'his' bar some time after midnight!
Now it was time for me to walk the short 400 metres back to Hostel Pulcinella while Simon had to walk over 2km back to Hotel Ibis Budget, near Antwerp Centraal station.

* - any quoted beer descriptions are taken from CAMRA's Good Beer Guide Belgium (8th edition) - Joe Stange & Tim Webb.

Belgian Beer Trip 2017 - Day 3

The 18th Antwerp Beer Passion / Bierpassie Weekend opened at 5pm on Friday 23 June, 2017.

Sint Andries stroll
 
After breakfast, with seven hours until the festival opens, Dave / Bod and I set off from Bogaardestraat for Antwerp's Museum of Contemporary Art, M HKA. We headed south west, towards the Sint Andries neighbourhood.

We passed a building featuring interesting brickwork and an art nouveau style balcony at the angled corner of Waalse Kaai and Timmerwerfstraat.

We arrived too early for the museum opening at 11am so sat at a table outside Nick's cafe, Waalse Kaai, and ordered a coffee, which was kindly served before their usual opening time. This is a plesant spot with a wide cobbled street lined by trees and the bonus of a classic blue Renault van parked nearby.

The main museum entrance leads into a large room lined with shelves for books and displays including old camera and film related items.

A long table with assorted chairs allows further study of the large format catalogue and other books at leisure.

We ventured further inside to the free section of the museum where 'Olympia' a film of the Berlin Olympic stadium by David Claerbout proved fascinating. Software imitates a camera, moving at a constant slow speed, recording the view of the stadium's exterior and grounds during elevated circumnavigations.

There are two approaches to M HKAFE, the rooftop cafe bar, either by lift, for museum visitors who have paid for admission or from a separate external entrance and several flights of stairs, in our case.

I enjoyed a glass of De Koninck 'Wild Jo' from the bar and we sat outside in the sunshine. A 33cl bottle of this fresh tasting beer cost 4 euros. The bottled beer is fermented with wild yeasts and is named after Joseph van den Bogaert, who ensured the survival of the brewery after WW1.

Seating is also available in a greenhouse but we guessed it would be far too hot in there! An untitled Keith Haring mural painted in 1987 adorns the interior of the M HKAFE. An inspiration for the mural was the work of Tanzania born artist George Lilanga.

Although it was closed for renovation, we passed Antwerp's main art gallery, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts on the way back to the city centre.

Howevere, some sculptures remain on display outside the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. 

Our next stop was at Coffee and Vinyl, Volkstraat 45, where the presence of a red De Koninck caravan outside indicated that beer was also available.

We had a look around the shop which has a huge selection of vinyl records with art displayed on the walls. The Temple of I and I by Thievery Corporation was one of the music tracks played on the sound system.

There were various bottles of beer in a fridge behind the counter and it was nice to be able to sit at the front of the store with a glass of chilled Duvel Tripel Hop Citra (9.5% ABV). Since 2007, Duvel have innovated by introducing a third hop to the Saaz-Saaz and Styrian Golding hops. From a contest in 2016, Citra was chosen as the permanent third hop in preference to Mosaic, Amarillo, Sorachi Ace, Equinox and HBC291. The Citra hop from the Yakima Valley, Washington, is also used at the dry hopping stage.

Before leaving, a trial of the Wild Jo electrical test of hand coordination skills, with a bottle opener as a ring, proved irresistible. My skills were found to be limited, I blame the effect of the strong beer!

Across the road at Volkstraat 40 stands the ornately decorated Rudolf Steiner School building.

Shortly before reaching Groenplaats, the site of the Beer Passion Weekend festival, we walked down Korte Gasthuisstraat and passed an older building signed as Goossens. Antwerp certainly has a lot of interesting buildings sandwiched between less interesting examples. 

Bierpassie Weekend XVIII - Friday opening

By now it was 5pm and the beer festival had started so it was time to pay 5 euros for a tasting glass and programme and buy some 20cl beer tokens at 2 euro each. We exchanged our first tokens at the Delirium bar with Dave choosing Mongozo Banana while my choice was Mongozo Mango. 

At the bar, Martin spotted my Danske Ølentusiaster (Danish beer enthusiasts) cap, a gift from my Danish brother-in-law. With a Danish parent himself, Martin was probably better qualified to wear my cap!

Boulevard Brewing Co Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale was spotted on draught at the Duvel Moortgat bar. My first bottle of this beer proved delicious in 2016 and the draught version was also refreshingly compatible. Tank 7 was a rare example of a non-Belgian beer on sale at the festival.

Keith, John and Andrew (the latter two wearing festival t-shirts from previous years) arrived at the festival to join our table.

Keith Moore lives in Langen, near Frankfurt airport. He kindly shared out a large bottle of the Black IPA, brewed under his supervision at Rheinhessen Brau, Mainz-Ebersheim, for the second CraftBeerMesse in Mainz in November 2016.

The extra label tag for the bottle gives details of the hops used. Cheers Keith!

Leffe blonde is easily obtainable in the UK but there was an opportunity to taste Leffe Royale, hopped with Cascade, from the high counter of the Leffe bar. A further bonus was two sticks of cheese to go with it. Leffe Royale (7.5% ABV) is also available with hops from Australia (Ella), Argentina (Mapuche) and England (Whitbread Golding).

We had been sharing our table with a friendly Belgian couple and when it was time for them to go they agreed to pose with a spare copy of Ullage, the West Berkshire CAMRA magazine, for later perusal.

L to R: John, Mark, Keith, Simon, Dave / Bod, Andrew & Richard

Now there was space for our group of eight to sit down on the table.

Musical entertainment was provided by a jazz band who stopped to perform at various points around the festival. 

My last beer at the festival's first day was Waterloo Recolte. This seasonal beer is brewed at the Mont-Saint-Jean farm, the 'English hospital' of the battle of Waterloo. The Belgian Beer Tourism website describes the 6% ABV summer beer as falling between a white beer and a blonde. The brand has the tagline 'The Beer of Bravery!'.

An Orval nightcap

However, this would not be my last beer of the night as Mark, Dave, Simon and I returned to the hostel bar for a beer before it closed at 1am. Here it was possible to enjoy a 33cl bottle of Orval with its distinctive fruity and bitter taste, for 3 euros after Hostelling International discount applied.  

Twitter links:
@m_hka Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen - Musée d'Art Contemporain d'Anvers - Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp