Brussels - Monday 25/6/2018

Day 5 in Belgium would  be the warmest - no jacket required.

My route from Hotel Floris Ustel (Midi) to meet up with the others in Hotel Floris Arlequin (Grand Place) after breakfast was mainly along Avenue de Stalingrad. A dog kept watch on passing pedestrians outside Anne H, Tapissier Garnisseur at No. 17.

Cafe Bebo lies a little further along at Place Rouppe. This is a corner cafe, mentioned in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide Belgium, which obviously deserves a visit in future.

From Hotel Floris Arlequin, Richard led us uphill to Parc de Bruxelles with its lawns, trees, dusty paths and a pool with a fountain.

Richard led us to our destination, Woodpecker, before noon and a majority of our group chose refreshment in the form of an ice cream or a coffee rather than beer on this occasion. This was a pleasant place to relax with background music playing by Fat Freddy's Drop.

We retraced our steps to the park's entrance at Parc Metro station. It was then only a short walk to Bier Circus at Rue de l'Enseignement 57.

We ended up sitting outside on the shady side of the street as the bar had no windows and we preferred to be outside in the warm weather. A blackboard on the far wall of the bar gave details for five draught beers including Dupont Saison (3 euros / 25cl), Hopus Primeur (4 euros / 33cl) and '25 years Bier Circus' (4.5 euros / 33cl). Enamel signs decorate the walls of the bar and tall fridges behind the bar display a range of bottled beers which are listed in a menu.

The 6.5% abv Saison Dupont was a popular beer for the first round at Bier Circus.

We went inside to the restaurant area where most of our group ordered lunch from an appetising menu with a limited range of dishes. Old beer bottle tops are incorporated into the decor in a colourful way.

In contrast to the bar, the triangular restaurant area has plenty of natural light from windows on two sides of the room. A large blackboard shows draught beers and the special dish of the day (15 euros).

The 8% abv '25 years of Bier Circus' special, a favourite Tripel Blond on this trip, was brewed for Bier Circus by Brewerij den Hopperd (Westmeerbeek). As the only non-diner, I was grateful to Simon and Keith for letting me finish off their chips! Everyone enjoyed their meals and for next time in Brussels a meal at Bier Circus will be something to look forward to. Note that Bier Circus opens only from Monday to Friday.

Old LP and EP covers on the end wall were of interest and the music playing included classics like CSN&Y's 'Almost cut my hair' and blues from Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown.

There was time for a third beer before Bier Circus closed for the afternoon and the draught (dry hopped) Hopus Primeur, served in its distinctive glass, was superb.

Apart from the circus theme there are plenty of cartoon characters to spot among the decor including Tintin.and Snowy (Milou).

There was time to visit one more bar in Brussels on this visit and we headed back downhill, past the Cathedral of St Michael & St Gudula, to Delirium Cafe, Impasse de la Fidélité 4. 

On a previous visit the group had discovered a quieter upper floor but this was closed on a Monday afternoon. 

The only way to fit the long bar into a photo was with a panorama. Blackboards above the bar list the draught beers which are served from descending fonts evenly spaced along the length of the bar.

This was a good opportunity to drink a Jack's Precious IPA from by The Musketeers Brewery. A beer from their Belgian Legends series, the glass is illustrated with Jack the Asian elephant, who sadly ended up as meat for a Dutch sausage factory after Ghent zoo closed in 1904.

We found a big table in a relatively quiet area decorated with backlit historic brewery mirrors.

On the way back to the Hotel Floris Ustel, to collect my case, my route passed Het Zinneke, the sculpture of a urinating dog by Tom Frantzen. Also known as Zinneke Pis, it is protected from traffic by a bollard at Rue des Chartreux 35.

Once on board Eurostar, I was able to enjoy a cold souvenir can of Jupiler Pils, purchased from the Carrefour Express, inside Brussels Midi station. The can had been rebranded 'Belgium' (Official Beer of the 2018 FIFA World Cup) and the back of my can had a photo and signature by M. Dembele with a Belgian Red Devils symbol. In three days time, Belgium beat England 1-0 in the group stage to win the group. Both teams progressed to the final 16.