Has it really been 5 years?
The early rise to meet the 07.40 flight courtesy of Mr O’Leary to Charleroi is best forgotten. What cannot be forgotten is the increasingly nasty attitude of the dispatch staff at Edinburgh Airport who must be on a bonus to collect baggage check-in fees at the gate. Some people do try to take liberties I have no problem with ‘one piece of hand luggage’ being enforced, but marginal weight or size limits being enforced as rigorously as I have witnessed of late is simply extortion.
Charleroi has a new Terminal building. Nobody tells Hector anything. I had worked out that the days of the flat rate train ticket to ‘anywhere’ in Belgium had gone. The ticket machine at the Airport did not like UK ‘plastic’.
Hector and Marg arrived in Brugge around 14.00, perfection. The taxi driver took us in the Katelijnen Portal and passed the Ibis where we had stayed last time. I knew that the Gruutshushof Restaurant was approaching so I asked Marg if she remembered her last trip. She remembered there was a lovely little restaurant where we had out Valentine’s Day dinner. ‘You mean this one?’ This was perfect timing as the gushet restaurant appeared right before us. Marg didn’t know we were already booked in for 19.30.
The Hotel Ter Reien was located just north of the Maarkt. I have never stayed in the same hotel twice in Brugge. The place was quiet, the room small. Breakfast was fine for those who wish to eat first thing.
Having missed breakfast and dinner time, there was a need for a late lunch of modest proportion. Marg selected Gambrinus (Philipstockstraat 19) which is a new venue in The Guide. Marg has an uncanny knack of spotting the listed places with no knowledge at all of their pedigree. They had a vast array of bottled Bier as one would hope in a Belgian Bier House. The draft Bier was not so impressive: Drei Fonteinen Kriek seemed a good way to kick of the tour. The price: €7.50, ouch!
This fine Bier from Beersel was dry, sour and fruity. Hector is in Belgium drinking Belgian Bier: superb!
Hector was already feeling the prospect of a revolt in the summertime Hootenanny. A day out at these prices would be crippling.
Marg had declared that frequent stops for ‘coffee’ would be her ideal. In Belgium this means quality bier available too, especially when I get to choose the location. The next stop was Marg’s choice, and so I ended up with a draught Charles of whose origin I knew nothing. It was dark and fizzy. The location was on the SE corner of Maarkt, touristy.
Marg took us window shopping around some chocolate shops. I knew that Staminee De Garre (De Garre 1, Brugge, 8000) was in the lane between the two that had just enticed her most recently. In we go, and a bottle of Cantillon Geuze was soon before me. It has been a while, Paisley Beerfest perhaps when we sold it as ‘Lager’ in the final hour. This Bier is sour, very sour. It is a Bier that requires patience. Lord Clive hates it, Robin loves it. Hector has been ambivalent; however today it went down as if it was an old friend.
With the afternoon rapidly disappearing it was time to go back for a WLD before presenting at The Gruuthushof. The restaurant sits over 20 in comfort where one accepts the proximity of the adjacent couple is such that it is best to ignore them. There were other Scottish voices, English and even French speakers. Who let them into Flanders?
The last visit was February 14, 2006. We had the special menu, it was good value. Tonight we repeated the format. At €42 this would be acceptable. Marg thought Rose Wine by the glass would enable me to keep enjoying the Bier.
t’Brugs Beertje
‘Daisy’s’ (Kemelstraat 5, 8000 Brugge) is Hector’s favourite Bier house in Brugge. Since I first set foot in the place in 1997 I have felt at home. That the Bier menu is massive is an an attraction. That I discovered what has remained my favourite Belgian Bier since then, and they always stock it, means that satisfaction is guaranteed. I had checked out the smoking regulations in Belgium prior to departure: there was a strong suggestion that the place was now non-smoking throughout. Could this be true? It was! I recall on the Bon Accord trip here we were given a room through the back because we had overspilled from the bar. The air there was clean, but to sit in the corner in front of the bar and breathe real air was something one could never have envisaged back in ’97.
There was a prat
There always is. A young chap was holding fort and ‘practicing his English’. In reality he was trying to pick up a charming young female vet who appeared to be alone. There was a Scandinavian couple too. Ah English, the Lingua Franca. They were all well on. ‘I have space in my house, I put people up.’ sadly he also reported how many ‘friends’ he had around the world and how many places he was ‘welcomed’. Heaven forbid a twat like this ever turned up on your doorstep.
The Bier
For Hector, ‘t Brugs Beertje has to include Hanssens Kriek. It was Daisy who introduced Michael and I to it, explaining the lack of labels on the bottles, and how she identified each Bier by a coloured chalk mark. Hanssens is the driest Kriek I have encountered. It is even more sour than Cantillon at Geuze level. The cheeks are drawn together with every sip. Marg deduced I was in discomfort, this is what putting Cherries into Bier is all about. At €6 for a 375ml bottle, expensive. This was the only venue I knew I could be certain of purchasing the Bier. The place would be closed tomorrow and Wednesday, the last chance saloon. Boon Kriek followed which was a complete disappointment. The Cantillon Kriek hit the spot.
They are also closed for two weeks in July. Daisy was not present this evening and so the guys behind the bar worked out that they should be open by the 25th July when we show up. We hope so.
Tuesday
There was meant to be a Curry-Heute, I had my venue located and a back-up too. In the end neither opened and there was great disappointment. The day began frustratingly too when I realised I had left the power cable for my typewriter at home. No electronic outlet in Brugge has the cable for a Samsung Netbook 210Plus.
This became a day of coffee and eventually a wee Bier or two; a wander around the edge of the city ring canal, windmills, canals, the sun was shining, very pleasant.
A return visit to Gambrinus was the first Bier stop of the day. Corsendonk Blond was very fine indeed. Passing the Erasmus Hotel (closed) we stumbled upon 2be. The sign for ‘Wall of Bier’ had me hooked. What a place! There was a small cafe-bar at the end of a lane. Down one side is a set of glass enclosed shelves with bottles and their appropriate glasses. The ‘wall’ extended indoors, it was a trail Hector had to follow. Then the Bier was revealed: Kwak on draught….
It was Bier time, photo time, wind-up time, phone-call time. Robin and Howard had to know about this place, immediately. Marg enjoyed the experience too, hot chocolate, on a stick!
The place is massive. There is an accompanying store, it is one perhaps three levels. Every Belgian Bier must be there. A floor devoted to 75cl bottles, a basement devoted to 375ml bottles. This is ‘Bier Paradise’. However, they shut early.
The other way
From the main canal down from Maarkt I always take the same route, not today. We took the ‘scenic route’ and somehow ended up at De Halve Maan, the Half Moon Brewery. (Walplein 26 Bruges 8000). Back in the days when this was the Straffe Hendrik Brewery this 
venue was a must visit. Hector always remembers Straffe Hendrik as having a similar malty after taste to Kelham Island’s Pale Rider. Alas, neither of these Biers can be highly rated these days.
Wednesday
The first trip to Antwerpen, the account of this excursion appears in its own Post. On the return to Brugge it was still early enough to justify another visit to La Garre en route to Ter Reien. The House bier was offered and accepted. A couple of bottles of Hanssens Kriek polished off the night. Perhaps Curry and Kriek is not a wonderful combination, or was it the cheese…
*
And so to Koln…