Brussels feat. Gist - Sunday 30 June 2019

Transferring to Brussels on day four would bring first visits to Gist and Au Laboureur as well as repeat visits to old favourites Poechenellekelder, Delirium Cafe (Hoppy Loft) and Moeder Lambic Fontainas.

Steve and I caught the 11.40 Antwerp Central (top level) to Brussels Midi train arriving 12.31. The standard single fare is 7.40 euros. It took a while to get through the sprawling Sunday market between Brussels Midi / Zuid station and Boulevard Maurice Lemonnier and then it was another 500 metres along the shady side of the street to reach Hotel Barry at Place Anneessens.

We could leave luggage in our rooms before continuing past Moeder Lambic Fontainas, Mannekin Pis and Poechenellekelder to reach Gist at Place de la Vielle Halle aux Bles.

As Gist (meaning Yeast in Dutch) was closed we retraced our steps down Rue du Chene, passing a mural, to reach Poechenellekelder.

Plenty of people were seated at outside tables but we climbed the spiral stairs to find a table near the small bar.

(Photo: Steve Kelly)

By now it was 1.30pm and I ordered a coffee while Steve chose a 37.5 cl bottle of Oude Geuze Boon from Brouwerij Boon (7.70 euro). Bottles of the 7% ABV 'blend of 90% mild 18 month-old lambic, 5% strong 3 year-old beer and 5% very young lambic, which provides fermentable sugars and wild yeasts' are given a best before date 20 years after the bottling date. Steve commented 'Sour. Lovely' on Untappd.

Poechenellekelder is famed for its collection of puppets and figures and also has a fine collection of enamel beer signs. A puppet on stilts attached to the hand rail jiggles his head everytime anyone touches the hand rail when using the stairs to reach the toilets downstairs!

My first beer was Saison de Dottignies by Brouwerij de Ranke from the draught beer menu.

When Simon Grist joined us, having travelled on a later train from Antwerp, we ordered lunch. A Croque Monsieur sans jambon for Steve while lasagne was 'the usual' for me and Simon. The lasagne takes a while to cool down and eventually I nearly finished mine.

I stayed with the saison beer style by ordering a bottle of IV Saison by Brasserie Jandrain-Jandrenouille (6.5% ABV, 4.20 euro) as the last beer here. This is the original beer produced at the brewery since 2007 in a rural location midway between Brussels and Liege.

At 4.15pm we walked back up Rue du Chene to meet up with John, Keith and Richard at Gist which had opened at 3pm.

An outside board by the entrance lists the beers on tap including two on cask.

Inside, the two handpumps are just visible behind a blackboard propped up against them. An elevated stainless steel box section houses the taps for the other draught beers.

The interior includes a mixture of seating and a variety of posters and artwork on the white walls. There are two record decks with LPs underneath at the far end of the bar. Some loud frenzied music was playing that meant it was more relaxing to sit outside. However Steve liked the music here and the music played later was more acceptable to my ears.

Opposite the bar is more seating with sections of blackboard above to display the draught beers individually.

Outside our pavement tables gave a view of Place de la Vielle Halle aux Blés which contains a statue of Jacques Brel. This was visited by passing tourists posing for selfies and further distraction arose from vehicles passing and then reversing nearby after finding that Rue du Chene was closed to traffic.
We spent three hours here and the beers I enjoyed from the draught menu were Mongy Session IPA (4% ABV) by Brasserie Cambier based near Lille, Lupulus Blanche the permanent white beer at Gist and the cask version of Brasserie de la Senne Taras Boulba.

Simon with Jenlain & Jody

After my tip to visit the bar, Simon Grist had spent several hours at Gist on Thursday evening and spoken with the owners Jenlain and Jody. Today it was my chance to chat with them. Jenlain explained that they are able to sell casks of beer within three days so that the quality is maintained. They also check the cask beer carefully each day and will not serve it if the quality has deteriorated.

They started with some casks from the London brewers Anspach & Hobday and are able to use the empty casks to source Belgian beers from Brasserie de la Senne, L'Ermitage and No Science amongst others. Jenlain mentioned that they expect to be involved with serving cask beer at the BXL BeerFest at Tour & Taxis, Brussels on 24-25 August, 2019. Jenlain was interested to see the programme for BierPassie Weekend that we had attended in Antwerp but thought that the festival's 20cl servings were on the large side.

The Gulp // Cask Ale comes to Brussels post by Brussels resident Eoghan Walsh about Gist which had led to our visit includes details of the Gulp cask festival held there on a Friday in May 2019.

It was time for Simon to go to Brussels Midi to catch his Eurostar train back to London so he departed at about 7.15pm. While John, Keith and Richard were keen to visit Poechenellekelder for lasagne and then move to Delirium Cafe's Hoppy Loft, Steve and I had an alternative plan and would meet them at the Hoppy Loft later. Before leaving we had to get photos at the Jacques Brel statue!

Au Daringman

Steve and I walked to Au Labourer via Galeries Royales Saint Hubert pausing for a glance at A la Mort Subite.

Contnuing, we passed Saint Catherine church and then along narrow Rue du Flandre passing Au Daringman at 37, the corner with Rue du Chien Martin.

A la Mort Subite, Au Daringman and Au Laboureur are all featured in Regula Ysewijn's book as authentic Belgian cafes. A visit to Au Daringman is on the cards for my next visit to Brussels.

Au Labourer, Rue du Flandre 108, is at the northern end, at the junction with Rue du Marche au Porcs.

Regula Ysewijn writes 'Today we find an early 1920s decor with wooden wall panelling and a matching bar, all made by Henri Houbaer from Koekelberg, who also created the interior in other Brussels cafes around this time. On the outside of the bar you still find the traditional geuze corkscrew, I have never seen it in such a prominent spot.'

With prominent advertising for Papegaei from Brouwerij Verstraete this was an 8% ABV strong blonde ale that we both ordered. It is brewed with barley, wheat, oats and fresh hops by Adam Verstraete at the Deca brewery in Woesten, near Ypres. We sat at a table inside to avoid most of the traffic noise outside but all the doors and windows were open on this warm evening. The distinctive music playing on the sound system was by Alain Bashung (1947-2009) from En Amont, his last studio album, released posthumously in 2018.

We left at 9.15pm and stopped to take a photo of the Cubitus mural that faces Au Laboureur from across Rue du Marche au Porcs. The scene is of the Mannekin Pis statue but Mannekin's position has been usurped by Cubitus the dog and he is the spectator by the railings.

On the way to Delirium Village we stopped for some Asian food at a new minimalist cafe / restaurant in Rue du Flandre that Steve had spotted with an illustrated vegetarian menu displayed in the front window

Crossing the pedestrianised Boulevard Anspach, Steve noticed the bicycle wheels suspended across the street in connection with the Tour de France which would start from Brussels within a week.

We arrived at Delirium Cafe, Impasse de la Fidélité 4, at about 10pm.

We climbed the steps from the entrance to reach the Hoppy Loft and find the others sat at one of the tables with a top made from a wagon wheel in the dimly lit room.

From the list of 20 draught beers above the bar, I enjoyed a 25cl glass of Zero San, a Brut IPA dry hopped with Nelson Sauvin from Reservoir Dogs (Nova Gorica, Slovenia) costing 5.60 euros.

There were two other beers from Reservoir Dogs, four beers from Oitava Colina (Lisbon, Portugal) and three beers from Beerstorming (Brussels) amongst others.

The Hoppy Loft has plenty of brewery enamel signs on display and there are more on the passageway that leads to the toilets.

One of the cheapest beers (3.80 euros / 25cl) was Delirium Tremens by Huyghe Brewery and this seemed a good reason to reacquaint myself with it!

When the Hoppy Loft closed we joined the lively crowd in the passageway outside. Impasse de la Fidélité is the location for Jeanneke Pis fountain and statue, protected by railings, another photo opportunity!

Moeder Lambic Fontainas is on the way back to Hotel Barry from Delirium Village and this is where I enjoyed my final beer of the night - Noisy Pale Ale brewed by No Science. The 6% ABV Belgian IPA (60 IBU) is brewed with Challenger and Mosaic hops. This was a recommendation from Jenlain of Gist who had called in to his old workplace for a beer. Jenlain pointed out the six handpumps against the wall at the back of the bar and mentioned that he had been involved in expanding the range of beer styles served from these pumps. He also pointed out that there is only limited storage capacity for beers to be served from the handpumps but that KeyKegs could be accommodated. 

With music by the Handsome Family playing on the sound system it was nice to be able to sit at the bar with good beer and good music. As usual the Moeder Lambic staff were reliably professional. 
Hotel Barry is only 250 metres away and I would sleep soundly despite the residual heat and lack of air conditioning in my room.

Antwerp - Comic Murals & Beer Passion - Saturday 29 June 2019

Waking view from Hotel Rubenshof bedroom

Blue skies and high temperatures in Antwerp for the second day of the 20th BierPassie Weekend.

22 Beeldhouwersstraat - listed building

The Beer Passion Festival in Groeneplaats opens at 1pm so there was time for a leisurely walk north from Antwerp Zuid to the historic centre, keeping to the shady side of the street.

As Steve was having a lie in it was nice to wander at my own pace, stopping to take photos en route. Unfortunately it was 15 minutes before 11am opening time when I passed Coffee & Vinyl at Volkstraat 45.

At the junction of Kloosterstraat and Goedhoopstraat you can find the comic mural (stripmuur) Nero by Marc Sleen (1922-2016).

There is also a mural on a junction box showing a Stripmurenroute with the location of other comic murals in Antwerp. To find the other murals on the route could be a project for a future visit to Antwerp.

Kloosterstraat is a good street for finding interior decor and antiques shops.

2 Kloosterstraat - looking south

Continuing along Oever and Hoogstraat I reached the sun drenched Grote Markt.

Den Hopsack

Regaining the shade, I walked to 24 Grote Pieter Potstraat to find Den Hopsack.

Den Hopsack is mentioned in Joe Stange & Tim Webb's Good Beer Guide Belgium as 'a mellow music club serving 50+ beers including De Ranke and Senne'.
There were flyers in the window for a free gig by Lise at 8pm and art by Peter Callens.

As the bar does not open until 8pm I took a photo through the window to record the interior. It looks like a place worth revisiting on a future trip.

Now it was time to look for more classic cafe bars featured in Regula Ysewijn's book Belgian Cafe Culture.

Den Engel (left) and Den Bengel (right)

Cafe Den Engel,  Grote Markt 3, had seats outside in the full glare of the sun.
Regula Ysewijn writes 'Cafe Den Engel (the angel) ... is housed in a guildhall called 'White Angel'. ... The large guild houses on the Grote Markt were reconstructed in the 19th century in neo-renaissance and neo-gothic style to recreate its former glory. The original guild houses were demolished in the 18th century to enlarge the Grote Markt. ... In 1903 it became Cafe Den Engel. The interior with the wooden wall panelling and mirrors is from the same period.'

I was reluctant to sit inside with a coffee so continued into Braderijstraat and noticed that (rhyming) Cafe De Stengel (the stalk) is situated nearby!

Conscience - Jan Bosschaert (panorama)

Wandering down the narrow twisting cobbled street of Oude Beurs involved passing a group on a walking tour and finding another comic mural, at the junction of Wolstraat and Moriaanstraatje.

At the next corner is Cafe de Kat, Wolstraat 22. Again I had arrived at a suitable coffee place 15 minutes too early as opening time here is 12 noon. Regula Ysewijn writes 'The story of De Kat starts around 1912 with first landlady Aurelia who gave the cafe its name. Apart from the tables all other interior dates from those early years. All the elements: the bar, the piano and mirrored wall panelling were designed to match and have the same inlaid wooden detail.'

With over an hour to wait until the opening of BierPassie at Groenplaats,  I retraced my steps as far as Caffe Mundi, Oude Beurs 24, where it was a relief to finally sit at an outside table in the shade and enjoy a flat white coffee.

Back at Groenplaats, the railings would be parted to allow entry at 1pm.

My first 20cl taster was Botanik from the Gouden Carolus Indulgence range which is only available in 75cl bottles. I was keen to try this beer after visiting Het Anker brewery in Mechelen with Simon on 23 March earlier this year. This 8.5% ABV special blonde beer was brewed using barley, wheat and Belgian hops. The ageing process for Botanik included two weeks with four natural botanicals - elderflower, angelica root, cloves and rosemary.
An advantage of this festival is the chance to taste a beer from a large bottle without needing friends to share it with.

Richard, Graham, Tim, Simon and Steve

Friends soon arrived and we were able to find a rare shady spot although it was standing room only.

We were standing near the Brouwerij Huyghe bar where several Delirium beers were served as well as some new limited edition beers - Paranoia and JI.PA.

Paranoia (5.6% ABV) was developed for the French market. I tried JI.PA (6.8% ABV / 45 IBU) but it was not a favourite. However, Keith Moore picked Delirium Black (Oak aged 2019), a 2 jetons (4 euros) 20 cl pour, as his favourite beer of the festival.

We had time for a few more beers before going to De Groote Witte Arend for lunch at 2.30pm.

However, instead of lunching there I went to Aura Brasserie, Hoogstraat 34, an old favourite, for a lunch of omelette, salad and bread accompanied by a 25cl bottle of St Feuillien Grisette Blanche Bio.

A few draught beers are also available at Aura Brasserie which only opens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and often features live music in the evenings.

By the time I rejoined the others in the courtyard at De Groote Witte Arend, they were only midway through their substantial meals.

Draught Brasserie de la Senne Taras Boulba was the 4.5% ABV blonde beer I enjoyed here (25cl glass for 3.5 euro).

We finally departed just before 5pm and headed to nearby Pelgrom at 15 Pelgrimstraat which Steve and I had previously visited on Thursday.

As hoped, the cellars here were reasonably cool although we could not sit in the main cellar area facing the bar this time.

With a range of 24 draught Belgian beers to choose from we were happy to stay here until 7.45pm and sample a few of them. It stayed cool but the noise levels rose when another group joined our table. My favourite beer on this occasion was Troubadour Magma a 9% ABV Tripel IPA (45 IBU) by Brouwerij The Musketeers.

Another Antwerp tradition for our group is a visit to De Vagant at nearby Reyndersstraat 25 for Jenever shots. I accompanied the group there but drank a cup of coffee instead of flavoured Jenever.
The barman was interested to hear our opinion about Brexit and we reassured him that we look forward to remaining in the EU.

An hour later we were back at Groenplaats to spend the last of our beer tokens at BierPassie.
Saisons are my current favourite Belgian beer style and it was a treat to have a glass of chilled Saison d'Erpe-Mere served from a 75cl bottle. This Saison does not use any herbs or spices to create its fruity and spicy profile (7.5% ABV, IBU 35).

There was a lively atmosphere at the beer festival and the Dixieland Street Band did a final circuit before we caught the tram (underground) from Groenplaats to Antwerp Centraal station.

(photo: Steve Kelly)

From here it was a 500 metre walk north past Chinatown to reach Beerlovers Bar, Rotterdamstraat 105.

It was very generous of Simon to pay for our drinks here!

With 12 draught beers available from the tap wall, I chose Embrace the Haze a Double New England IPA by 't Duo costing Simon 4.80 euros (25cl) and served in a stemmed glass branded with the bar's pentangle logo. Cheers!
Beerlovers Bar is a verified venue on Untappd (beerloversbar) so it is possible to use the app to keep track of what beers are on tap etc.. My Untappd (timofnewbury) checkin for this beer also mentioned the 'tinny soundsystem' and was reposted on my Twitter account (@timofnewbury).

L to R: Simon, Steve, Graham, Richard & Keith

We had started off sitting inside at a big table near the entrance doorway but moved outside to a pavement table for our second beers (with Simon still paying the tab).

My glass at the empty seat in the photo now contained Golden Tricky by 't Verzet, a 7.5% ABV, 40 IBU pale ale with tropical flavours from Australian Ella hops.
Around midnight we departed and Steve and I were able to catch a tram back to the stop near Hotel Rubenshof while Simon and the others (less Graham) headed to Dageraadplaats. Graham was staying on in Antwerp while Steve and I would next meet up with the others in Brussels on Sunday.