Antwerp - Saturday 23/6/2018

After breakfast on Saturday, I walked about two miles from Hostel Pulcinella, Bogaardestraat 1, to the new Brouwery Cafe de Seefhoek, Indiestraat 21.

Turning left from fashionable Hopland into Kipdorp Vest, I stopped for a photo of De Kroon van Hopland. This bar opened in 1910 and was noticeable for its steel sculpture and crowned devil sign above the corner entrance.

My walking route also passed the impressive dockside Museum aan de Stroom (MAS), previously visited in 2016 and 2017. 

Looking north from Londenstraat's bridge, where tram lines have recently been laid, it is possible to see the Port House, formed of a traditional building straddled by an angular glittering new structure, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. 

On arrival at the Indiestraat 21 entrance to the Brouwery Cafe de Seefhoek, a tour group had stopped to hear about the history of this sizeable industrial building which also houses Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie.

A sign in the street indicates the entrance and that the Brouwery Cafe is open from Wednesday to Sunday at noon.

There are outside tables in the courtyard, some with shades.

Inside there are fermentation vessesl on the left, brewing vessels ahead with a bar in front and on the right a screen had been hung from a balcony to show FIFA World Cup games. Two photos were joined (above) to give a panoramic view.

The full range of Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie beers were available on draught. My first beer here was Super Cadix dry hopped lager, possibly named after Cadixstraat, the next parallel street to the south. This was reasonably priced at 3 euros.

As the others had not arrived at this rendezvous yet there was an opportunity for an indulgent selfie, to include the Super Cadix and highlight my Hop Stuff Brewery t-shirt and Allagash Brewing cap.

John, Simon, Richard, Andrew and Keith arrived in time for the start of the Belgium v Tunisia FIFA World Cup game at 2pm local time.

There was time to order other beers from the bar and the table top menu sheet gave a useful guide to styles, strengths and prices.

Keith Moore had participated in the Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie crowdfunding and this was a good reason for me to try the Crowd Funding Bier which was served in a chalice glass. This pleasant glass of 8% ABV Tripel Blond cost 3.5 euros. However, my favourite beer at the brewery on this occasion was Seefbier.

A technician made attempts to improve the quality of the image on the screen but with sunlight from the windows above he was fighting a losing battle. Happily for Belgium, they would win this match 5-2 although Simon and I departed at half time as an advance party for the Bierpassie Weekend festival. The yellow and green boxed area on the right of the photo (above) houses the toilets for the cafe. We were impressed by this cafe / taproom and with its helpful staff and interesting location in the docks area - it is well worth a visit.

We caught a No. 7 (blue line) tram from the current northern terminus 'Eilandje' to a stop near Groenplaats. Using prepurchased Lijn cards from De Lijn valid for 10 trips, each journey costs 1.60 euro.

BierPassie Weekend - day 2

Barry, Trish & Terry

Barry & Karen, Terry & Trish had arrived earlier at BierPassie Weekend and occupied a table on the east side of the festival enclosure at Groenplaats. Although Mark Geeson was not with us on this trip we had channelled his traditional snack provision service by bringing our own edible supplies for the table including an appreciated box of Ritz crackers. The festival was busy and it was nice to be able to sit down and rest our beers on a table. Thankfully it was warmer than Friday.

The BierPassie Weekend programme marks new beers to the festival with a red asterisk. Brasserie De Silly Green Killer IPA with dry hopping was the first of these to be sampled today, proving fairly bitter as appropriate for the style.

John, Richard, Keith and Andrew(Hilton Antwerp in background)

Eventually, the rest of our group turned up making our group ten strong.

Richard, Karen,Simon,Barry,Trish,Keith and Andrew

During the afternoon I enjoyed several good beers from the festival including Corsendonk Grand Hops and two beers from the Arthur's Legacy series developed at the De Hoorn microbrewery - No 13 Aerts 2016, hopped with Target and Golding and No 14 The boy from IPA.Nema hopped with Cascade, Simcoe and Target.

However, my favourites of the day at the festival were the Malheur 6 with spicy and citrus Saaz hop aroma and

Hapkin a powerful blonde beer with a floral touch of Saaz hop.

It is always entertaining to see different groups of drinkers pass by including stag and hen party groups. A disappointment to notice that the bride to be was offering wine and not beer to her group!

Our table was on the right side of the festival for listening to BigBand Ekeren playing lively music from the bandstand near the festival entrance.
As evening approached, Barry & Karen, Terry & Trish departed, to catch a train back to Brussels where they were staying. Their places at the table were soon filled.

CAMRA's Good Beer Guide Belgium suggests Billekletser, 22 Hoogstraat as an alternative to its former neighbour Antwaerps Bierhuyske which shut in July 2017. While I took 4 packs of beers from Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie and Brasserie du Bocq Saison 1858 back to the hostel, the rest of our group headed to Den Billekletser where I would meet them shortly.

In the basic corner bar of Den Billekletser, I enjoyed a flute style glass of Houblon Chouffe, the Brasserie d'Achouffe 9% abv IPA, hopped with three varieties.

The decor here included a framed collection of beer bottle tops.

From here it was only a two minute walk to De Groote Witte Arend, Reyndersstraat 18, where we all sat in the attractive courtyard and ordered 40 cl glasses of Kriek.
Our next stop, a few steps away, was a Jenever / Genever bar - De Vagant, Reyndersstraat 25, where I sensibly ordered coffee! 
On leaving, Simon and I persuaded the others to join us for their first visit to nearby Billie's Bier Kafetaria, Kammenstraat 12, where we would sit upstairs.

My last beer of the night at Billie's would be a Schelde Brouwerij Zeezuiper, a golden triple with notes of coriander.
The main group would now head to 'Argument Square' (Dageraadplaads) with late bars, like Cafe ZeeZicht, near their hotel (Tryp by Wyndham).