Belgium Beer

The Belgians are to beer as the French are to wine. This is serious beer drinking territory with hundreds to choose from and often a special shaped glass to go with it.

Beer is good for you or at least this is what St Arnold a Benedictine monk who founded the Oudenburg Abbey in Bruges in the 11 th century claimed. His claim was actually based on fact although it took another 800 years to find out exactly why. During a bout of the plague he told everyone to drink the beer instead of the water and people immediately started to get better. The scientific reason behind this was that the water used in beer was boiled where as the ordinary drinking water wasn't. As a result of this St Arnold was made the patron saint of beer and to this day Belgians enjoy a good glass of beer and are responsible for over hundreds of different kinds of beer produced by breweries all over Belgium. There are now just two breweries in Bruges , De Gouden Boom and De Halve Mann (Straffe Hendrik).

De Halve Mann (Half Moon) brewery has been brewing the local Straffe Hendrik (Strong Henry) beer since 1546. The current brewery building dates from 1856 and was run by four generations of the Maes family all with the name Henry. You can take a tour around the brewery and watch how the only two Straffe Hendrik beers are made both of which (blonde 6.5% and dark 8.5%) are served in the bar attached to the brewery. As part of the tour not only do you get a free sample of beer but you also get to go on the roof of the brewery from which you get an excellent view of the city. The stairs up to the roof are rather awkward and narrow and so it is best to savour the delights of the brew after you come down. For this reason the free sample is available at the end of the tour. You can then visit the bar and enjoy even more of the very reasonably priced beer.

De Gouden Boom (the Golden Tree) brewery has been brewing since 1587 and has been in its present building since 1902. It produces several of the famous Bruges beers such as Brugs Tarwebier, Brugse Tripel and Abdij Steenbrugge. Next door to the brewery is the Brewery Museum housed in the beautifully preserved old malthouse which was in use until 1976. It now displays all the old machines in their original position plus interesting information and artefacts about the 31 breweries in the city which were brewing before the first world war.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© The Pink Fridge Online Magazine 2008 - Bruges & Belgium City Breaks

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