Belgian Breweries

I will speak here only about some breweries I have visited. And I know I have to take the time to sit down and write about them because I have a lot of photos and beer trips to tell about.

These two are the first ones I visited years ago.

De Halve Maan (Brugges)

26 Wallplein

Tel: 050332697

www.halvemaan.be

The brewery of the half moon or crescent is situated in the center of Brugges and working since 1856. Two brands are brewed in this brewery, the "Straffe Hendrik" that was the traditional one of the brewery recovered in 2008 with the original recipe and the new one from 2005 that represents the younger generation the "Brugse Zot".

There are guided visits every hour till 4 p.m. In the tour you will visit the old brewery, you will go though the process, malting, drying, cold the beer, bottling... with an excellent explanation. The view of Brugges from the top of the building is wonderful. At the end of the visit you can taste the Brugse Zot blonde. It is nice but I prefer the brun.

The pub has a room to eat and a nice terrace for the summer. I love the paté of this beer and I try to buy a pot every time I go. You can also taste here traditional meals from the area but I normally find the price a bit high. Do not hesitate to order a cheese portion to go with your beer, it is not that expensive, it goes very well with it and it is quite fullfilling.

I recommend you to include this visit when you visit Brugges. If the weather is nice you can take also the boat trip that wil show you the city from the canals.

Westvleteren (Westvleteren)

Sint Sixtus Trappistenabdij

Donkerstraat 12, 8640 Westvleteren

www.sintsixtus.be

Known as the best beer of the world, it has a misteriuos allure and it is the most appreciated Trappist beer.

It is brewed by the monks with a secret recipie and they product only what needed to get the money they need. it is very difficult to get as it is only sold in the abbey previously ordered by phone (you need to call the beerphone), yest, it is called like that. But it is not easy at all, you can only call an especific day during one morning to order the type you can order that day and to collect it the day they have chosen to sell that type, most of the times during the week. Check their page to know when you can call, even if you are able to call and go and collect it, it is still not easy. There are thousands of calls and they do not have a call center, you are actually calling to the abbey so you need a lot of luck to get your call answered. I tried several times during the whole morning (from 9h to 12h) with two phones and did not manage. Good thing is there are no tricks you really need a lot of luck, it does not matter if you call from a mobile phone, a land line, a national or a foreign number, you will have the same chances. If you manage to order you need to provide the plaque number of the car you will use to collect the beer and the maximum is three boxes per car.

No need to say you cannot visit the brewery as it is actually the monastery. But you have the possibility to taste this wonderful beer in the café "In De Vrede" (at Peace) in front of the abbey. You can take some paté or cheese with your beer, both are wonderful and if the weather is nice there is a wonderful terrace at the back. Sometimes, if you are lucky you might be able to buy a pack of six beers in the shop of the café. Cheese, paté and cookies are also sold in this shop, it is at the entrance behind the door, very tiny. One tip, buy as soon as you enter the café as when you leave it could be finished. It is easier to buy a pack of six here (one per person) than to get to order at the abbey, I normally take a pot of paté also. I am not allowed to buy cheese anymore as it is very smelly and fist time I bought it, it was summer and the car was smelling so much...I was forbidden to buy it again.

There are often groups of cyclists there stopping for a beer. If you decide to go by bike from some near village remember that after your beer you will need to come back cycling. Normally the only way to get there is by car as it is kind of in the middle of nowhere.

The monks produce four types of beer, Blond (5.6%), Extra 8º(8%), and Abt 12º (10.2%). The bottles do not have a label and you will recognise the type by the bottle cap, green, blue and yellow, in that order. The fourth type is a lighter one produced for consume only by the monks inside the monastery.

The good news are that the monks want more money now to build their new monastery and they are producing more. A couple of times they have organised promotions and sell their beer in a belgian supermarket one day. Apparently they it was not really the beer as such but the beer gift pack. They have two kinds, one with one bottle and two glasses in a nice box (too expensive for one bottle) and another one with three bottles, one of each type and one glass that it is also expensive for the number of beers but you have at least one of each and the glass. It is also a nice gift and it costs if I remember correctly 21 €. (I am afraid they have raised their prices now...)