Overlooked by the Cathedral of Our Lady, Groenplaats is the setting for the annual Bierpassie Weekend in Antwerp. The 23rd edition opened at 5pm on Friday 21 June 2024.
Our group supported the festival for a few hours on the Friday (early evening), Saturday (mid evening) and Sunday (lunchtime). Tim and Simon were glad to return after missing the 2023 edition after finding out too late that we had booked travel and accommodation for the following weekend. Richard and Andrew were back as usual but Keith was missing in Germany this year. Paul, Jennie and Linda were attending for the first time.
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| L to R: Simon, Jennie, Paul, Linda & Richard |
On the Friday evening we found a table in Ben Vinken's Beer Sommelier bar which was less busy than usual. Ben and his friends sat at a nearby table smoking cigars.
Entrance to the Bierapassie Weekend costs 10 euros and includes a programme, tasting glass and two beer tokens (each with 3 euro value for a a 20 cl serving). Tim and Simon reused their old tasting glasses and simply bought 10 tokens for 30 euros to start off with. To access the toilets costs 1 euro. N.B. Bubble wrap or similar is useful for keeping your glass safe from one day to the next.
In addition to Ben's bar in the marquee near the entrance, this year there were 16 brewery stands and 3 brewery beer trucks. Glasses are routinely rinsed or replaced before each beer is served. Breweries staff their own stands and at quiet times are happy to chat about the beers served.
A new stand this year was for
Apropos IPA from Antwerp. Tom Snels and Bart Wynants from
Cafe Apropos, Schermersstraat 33, near Mechelsplein and Leopoldplaats, a kilometer away. They collaborated with
Brouwerij De Graal to brew their house beer, a blond 7.5% ABV IPA.
Le Plan-Vermeersch brought a beer truck to the festival. Taking its name from former Belgian rally driver Dirk Vermeersch, who subsequently built up a winery in France and more recently developed a range of Belgian beers.
Keen to try flavoured beers, Tim enjoyed a glass of Le Plan Beat, a 5% ABV red wheat beer with a hint of beetroot.
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| Dixieland Street Band |
During the festival there are several performances around the site by musicians including
Dixieland Street Band (Friday and Saturday) and
Tussen Neus en Lippen, a Dutch brass band from 's-Hertogenbosch known for its
Oeteldonk carnival (Sunday lunchtime).
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| 'Tussen Neus en Lippen' (NL) |
Staying at nearby
Hotel National, Tim was the first to arrive on Sunday morning and his first drink of the day was Floris Framboos, a 3.6% ABV fruit beer from
Brouwerij Huyghe, the brewers of Delirium Tremens.
See you at Bierpassie Weekend next year? While Tim has only been a regular since 2016, Richard, Andrew and Simon have been attending since the festival started and have the t-shirts to prove it!
The festival programme reveals that the 24th Bierpassie Weekend in 2025 is moving to a new venue indoors - the historic
Handelsbeurs building. Once a commodity exchange and later a stock exchange it is now part of an events venue.
