Take fifty brewers and offer 150 beers. Leave the car at home (twelve hours away by ferry!) So many beers, such little time…
The 2nd Brugge Beer Festival was held over a weekend, fortunately the weekend Karen and I were there. We hoped that Lindemans would be there, and they were. Linedemans make a particularly tasty (and strong) Kriek made from cherries and they weren’t the only Criek brewer.
Admission to the festival was free but you had to buy (and keep) a small 15cl glass for 3 Euros and pay for the drinks using beer tokens at 1.25 Euros each, foughly £1. (We bought a special deal for 10 Euros where you got the glass with six tokens. Downstairs in the vaulted halls you could buy a Festival beer, food catering and leave your ankle biters in a creche. This was also home of the beer giant, a cigar smoking slightly crappy corporate logo from the late 40s. (I’ve noticed that lots of continental companies sometimes have naff logos, Van Roy Pils from Weize sticks in my mind.)
Upstairs, the nearly fifty brewers each had a stall on the outer wall of the U shaped hall which was lofty, with exposed timbers above. Each stand had a dual sink glass washing arrangement so they made sure your glass was clean before each tasting. A few beers were two tokens and Karen graciously spared me a token as I had treated myself to an expensive one.
Here is a pleasing snapshot of my glass complete with Lindemans Kriek Cuvée René 5% ABV. Yes, it does have a pink head and it is delicious!
Ah, all is revealed as to the reason for a quick visit to Brugge! While I am sure it is a charming place it is not in the top ten of favourite tourist spots of Europe.
Comment by jmb — November 26, 2008 @ 3:54 am
JMB, the trip was organised by our office social club months back, we only found out about the beer festival a couple of weeks before when Karen started planning things to do on the day.
We would like to go back with David and the Beer Festival is a good draw (if not for pre-teens!) We would organise it ourselves though I reckon.
Comment by Shades — November 26, 2008 @ 7:07 pm