April 28th, 2012

Late that afternoon we stopped at a little side street pub in Bruges, where the waiter suggested Corsendonk Agnes for El and I. It was blonde, clean, fruity and amber-coloured, and it quickly became my new favourite Belgian beer. Even El loved it, and she doesn’t even drink beer.

In Belgium every beer is served in its own glass, and this is my favourite (so far), the blonde Corsendonk Agnus. Tasting notes: clean and fruity!

In the evening the four of us headed out to t’ Brugs Beertje, a bar highly recommended by our friend Grant, a major connoisseur of beer and food (for his blog: http://bowenarrowfood.wordpress.com/)

‘t Brugs Beertjes Bierboetiek (beer boutique???)

I ordered a Triple Klok; it was supposed to be similar to Corsendonk Agnes (my fave so far) but it was too smokey for my taste. Al had ‘La Choufe’.

El wanted to order wine, but compared to the beer selection the wine selection was tiny – one red, one white and some sort of port. After all, this was a Bierboetiek, which I think translates as Beer Boutique, NOT a wine bar. We did a lot of sketching of each other and the people next to us, inspired by all the artists we had seen who seemed to spend a lot of time sketching in bars…

Belgian journal: sketching in the bar, just like Picasso and other bar sketchers!

Belgium journal – a sketch of me (by El) in the pub

Our trip was roughly based on the Beer Route through Belgium, and here it is so far:

• a 300 year-old bar in Brussels
• a la Becasse, a traditional pub in Brussels
• a la Mort Subite, a historic brasserie in Brussels
• the Verdi Bed and Breakfast in Bruges, Belgium
• eating and drinking at the Cambrinus in Bruges
• Brugse Zot and the Half Moon Brewery Tour in Brugge, Belgium
  
• warming up a chilly day in Bruges, Belgium
• shopping for a picnic in Bruges, Belgium
• drinking at the t’ Brugs Beertje in Bruges
  
• dinner at the Cambrinus in Bruges, Belgium
• beer and museums on our first day in Ghent
• beer, food and museums on our second day in Ghent – Part 1
• Ghent SMAK exhibit, the conceptual Bulgarian artist Nedko Solakov
• beer, food and museums on our second day in Ghent – Part 2