10 July 2017

Belgian Beer Trip 2017 - Day 4

Saturday 24 June was the second day of Antwerp Beer Passion Weekend XVIII.
After breakfast, Simon, Dave / Bod and I set off from Bogaardestraat for Museum aan de Stroom in Schipperskwartier neighbourhood, north of the city centre, while Mark went shopping.
We passed Boerentoren (now known as KBC Tower), one of Europe's first skyscrapers, completed in 1932.
African antiques caught my eye passing the shop of David Norden at


























Mark had secured a table near the Corsendonk and Du Bocq breweries bar (14). The Corsendonk Grand Hops (2017) was one of my favourite beers at the festival with a 20cl glass, poured from a bottle, costing the standard festival charge of a 2 euro token. The 2017 limited edition beer (31 IBU) contains Mistral D'Alsace, a special hop variety from France and high quality saaz hops. 
Back from his shopping trip, Mark had kindly piled the table with cheese, bread, pate and packets of crisps to be shared by our group. Barry and Karen were there and my arrival was the last for some time as the rest of our group continued to further bars after their meal before arriving at the festival much later. The remaining food then quickly disappeared!
Now it was time for Barry and Karen to leave the festival and return to Brussels by train.
Keith, John, Simon & Richard
The remaining eight of us could now all sit down at the table at the same time.
Mark, Dave / Bod with Ullage magazine, Andrew
Another favourite beer for me at the festival today was King Mule IPA (5.7% ABV) from the Brouwerij Cornelissen bar (17). This had a tantalising flavour that reminded me of plums and myrtle.
Also within easy reach from our table, a favourite special beer to be sampled was available at the De Brabandere brewery bar (11). Petrus Aged Red (8.5% ABV) is a blend of 15% Petrus Aged Pale, pure foeder beer that has been aged for 2 years in oak foeders, and 85% dubbel bruin with krieken (cherries).
Intending to catch the last tram towards their hotel, John, Keith, Andrew and Richard left shortly before the festival closed for the evening. They planned to drink a few more beers at late night bars around Dageraadplaats, nicknamed 'Argument Square' on account of arguments about Brexit that first surfaced on last year's trip, begun on the day after the EU referendum. Meanwhile, staying locally, the gang of four, Mark, Dave, Simon and Tim headed to nearby 't Antwaerps Bierhuiske.

't Antwaerps Bierhuyske


Simon had learned from Sue Thirlaway that 't Antwaerps Bierhuyske, Hoogstraat 14, was under threat of closure.
The bar was lively and crowded but Simon, Dave and Mark found seats at the bar overlooking the sink. Simon embarrassed himself by accidentally knocking a festival beer glass out of his pocket so that it smashed on the floor. This was quickly tidied up and no beer was lost. Happily, Mark was able to supply him with a replacement glass ready for use at the next festival session..
A blackboard at the far end of the bar listed the draught beers available. As well as typical Antwerp offerings of Alken-Maes Cristal pils and bollekes of De Koninck, the list included some American beers - Stone Brewing 'Arrogant Bastard' and Boulevard Brewing Co 'Tank 7' Farmhouse Ale. Since 2016, Stone Brewing of Escondido, Southern California, also brews in Berlin for European distribution. The inclusion of Boulevard is related to the purchase of the Kansas City based brewery by Duvel Moortgat in 2013. 
Sadly the well respected 't Antwaerps Bierhuyske closed on 30 June, 2017, so the photos above may be among the last ever to be taken there.



2 comments:

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