Went to Bruges this weekend for my birthday. My girlfriend asked why I kept taking pictures of my beer. I told her: for Nubblies.
Friday night, went to a restaurant called Den Djiver which was known for making dishes with beer. Had duck liver as an appetiser with Adrian Brouwer to accompany. Had a very clean taste, all malt and no hops. My girlfriend liked it, and it would be the only non-fruit beer she liked all weekend. It was also the lowest alcohol content I had all weekend, at 5%.
Had an Irish rump steak for my main, and it was served with a La Trappe trappist beer. Much higher alcohol content (around 10%), this was a Tripel.
After dinner I had a Rochefort 10 (they didn't have 12) for dessert. One interesting thing I noticed was that when they poured it, into a massive goblet, they poured it straight down so that it foamed up a lot. Apparently that is how Belgians pour, so you must wait for it to settle, to build up the anticipation.
Then we went to a bar where they serve their own beer, Tripel de Garre. Was fantastic, went well with the Gouda they served with it. The bar itself was very good, close to the main Markt but hidden in an alley, no music, well lit, just lots of tables full of people drinking, mostly having this beer.
They also had Gulden Draak on draft, which I was never not going to order.
The next day, we had lunch at a bar called Beirbrasserie de Cambrinus, named after the medieval King of Beer. I saw someone drinking a flight of Delerium so I ordered that instantly. Was dissapointed it didn't have their Nocturnum. Grace ordered Adrian Brouwer but all they had was the Brown (8%) which she didn't like, so I gave her the Delerium cherry beer and drank the Brouwer, pictured.
It was really nice out, so we sat outside and I ordered a Rodenbach geuze. It was OK.
Finally we stopped in a cheese shop and ate some Belgian cheeses. All of them were pretty ordinary-to-bad except the really creamy goat cheese on the bottom left. I had a Chimay because I love Chimay.
In between drinking we did touristy stuff like canal boat ride, climbed the belfry, went to the chocolate museum which was retarded and actually included some exhibits which were built with Playmobil toys.
Picked up some bottles to bring to the hotel and had birthday sex. Went out to dinner that night and drank wine because it went better with the meal, and oh yeah I was fucking wasted and couldn't drink enough water to stay hydrated. Most of the beers above were dubbels or tripels with alcohol rates pretty steadily around 10.
Next morning, we went to a tour of Halve de Maan brewery, where they make Bruges Zot. I had a blonde before the tour and two more after (because the tour included a free beer and Grace didn't like it.)
After the tour (which was cool if you like that type of thing and I do) we wandered around and bought some chocolate to bring back for coworkers. Then I found a bar which served the quadruppel (quadruppel!) that was made at the Halve de Maan brewery. So I drank it. It's beautiful. In the background, Grace is drinking a Leffe Ruby, which she liked. (So it wasn't even as easy as "Get her fruit beer" since most of those, like Kriek Boon or Lindeman's, are way too sweet. But she liked Leffe and Delerium.)
Had moules frites for lunch, with another Rochefort. Never did get to try the 12.
Went back to Camrbinus afterward because we couldn't find anyplace else that had Westvleteren. But they had it. It was fucking awesome. Matched the hype as far as I was concerned, in that it was the best beer I had all weekend out of a lot of beers.
