Results of my trip to Belgium

Hey everyone,

I just got back from my trip to Belgium that I previously mentioned, and I wanted to let anyone who cares know how it went, and more importantly post some show off pics. So we were in Brussels for 3 nights and we had some absolutely amazing beer. We hit up the best beer bars like Delirium, Le Beer Circus, Le Mort Subite, and Moeder Lambic, and tried so many beers I can't remember them all. Then we went to the Cantillon brewery, which is also fantastic. They give you full access to their brewery, and explain things in a way that would interest even people who already know how beer is made, and then they let you try some of their beer, which is unbelievable. I picked up some of their stuff and got a sweet T-shirt. We also went to Bruges and in addition to doing a movie pilgrimage tour (In Bruges) we enjoyed some beer at De Garre, a great little cafe ('t Brugs Beertje wasn't open yet while we were there). Then we made the pilgrimage. I can now check off one life goal off of the list. I have visited Westvleteren and drunk their beer. It was amazing, as I'm sure anyone who's tried it knows already. I also managed to bring back a couple of their gift boxes, which each come with 4 bottles of their beer and a Westvleteren glass (I ****ed up the pre-order case thing). Then we went back to Brussels, and went to a supermarket (thanks for the tip in the previous thread by the way) and stocked up on as much great beer as would fit in our car. Man I wish I could go to the supermarket and have that sort of selection; Belgians are spoiled. So I ended up picking up beer from 5 of the 6 trappist breweries, as well as a bunch of other great, great stuff (although I wasn't able to find one of my faves, Duchesse de Bourgogne). So after 6 months in Germany I was glad to finally have access to some great beer. So that's my short recap, and here are a few pics of my haul.



Picture Of all the stuff I brought back with me (yes that is Rodenbach in cans).



5 of the 6 Belgian Trappist beers



A set of Westvleteren



Westvleteren "labels"



Westvleteren Box



The stuff I picked up at Cantillon



Alternate version of the first picture


I can't wait to start slowly working through these beers. Thanks for letting me brag a bit about how awesome Belgium is. A piece of advice though for anyone who plans to go, DO NOT drive through Brussels! It is a ****ing nightmare, between the traffic, streets with no signs, the complicated ring road, tunnel, exit system, and streets which change names three times. I wouldn't do it again if you paid me. Well that's probably a lie, I would do just about anything to go back to Brussels and get more great beer. I recommend going there to everyone who can.

Alex

What's your address and what hours are you and your wife at work?

Nice score, man!

Damn, that's the best haul I've seen in a long while. Seriously jealous about the Cantillion. I miss Belgium too...

How did you get all of that home???

html034 said:

I A piece of advice though for anyone who plans to go, DO NOT drive through Brussels! It is a ****ing nightmare, between the traffic, streets with no signs, the complicated ring road, tunnel, exit system, and streets which change names three times.

Click to expand...

Yeaaaahhhh, I should have probably warned you about that... There are actually something like 4 hours a day when its relatively easy to drive through Brussels, and thats with a GPS.....

Nice score! 5 out of 6 Trappist Abbey's?! You lucky dog! I only ever made it to one, I need to go back witch a car. Nice haul, glad the supermarket trick worked out for you. The bottle shops in all of the tourist areas look great, but are overpriced and only have a few beers you couldnt find if you hit 3 or 4 supermarkets!

Glad your trip went well!

So in your 6 months in Germany you didn't find any great beers?

Very nice spread you got there. Is that a Belle Vue Kriek I see there? If so, dont drink it, hide it, only drink it when there is no one around that you have to share it with.
Though Im not a big fan of Belgium beers, Ive just realized how lucky I am. My local "real ale" pub stocks 30 plus Belgium bottled beers. I think Ill try a few tonight.

html034 said:

A piece of advice though for anyone who plans to go, DO NOT drive through Brussels! It is a ****ing nightmare, between the traffic, streets with no signs, the complicated ring road, tunnel, exit system, and streets which change names three times.

Click to expand...

Man you are NOT lying! I drove out of Brussels when I was there last May and it was a nightmare, maybe even worse than Paris. Either way, looks like a great trip to Belgium. Cantillon's brewery was really cool to see and their beer is fantastic.

Also, Germany has amazing beer! Not as good as Belgium's, but still awesome.

I pretty much hate the OP

Those Rochefort's are making my mouth water.

Sounds like an amazing trip. I'd love to see a pic of the Cantillon shirt and some info on the Rodenbach cans too! And curious why no Achel too?

Sounds incredible, I'm very jealous. A beer trip to Belgium is def near the top of my to-do list, hopefully sooner than later. Looks like a great selection you've got, again quite jealous. I do feel pretty good though, even though it may be pricey I think almost all of those are available at bottle shops or bars around here. Congrats on the trip.

smellysell said:

Sounds like an amazing trip. I'd love to see a pic of the Cantillon shirt and some info on the Rodenbach cans too! And curious why no Achel too?

Click to expand...

Yeah I looked for Achel at the store and I wasn't able to find any, but since they produce even less than Westvleteren, I'm not all that surprised. As for the Rodenbach in cans, unfortunately they aren't cans of Grand Cru, but rather the still very lovely standard Rodenbach. here is a couple pics.





And here is my Cantillon shirt

I'm not sure what is more awesome, the cans of Rodenbach or the shirt!