Belgian Beer Delights!

First of all I have a confession. This blog should not really be under 'Tonights Tipple', but rather 'Last Months Tipple' as I may have forgotten to hit the publish button!

Not bad for a days shopping

Recently we took a trip across the North Sea for a day of Beer and Chocolate in Bruges. The day was spent sampling the offerings of several different bars, markets and shops. I have already documented where we drank...and where you should visit if you were ever to visit (as can be found here).

On the boat Liz & I sat with a glass of Leffe Brun discussing what we wanted to see and do on our brief visit to Bruges. We agreed that when it came to souvenirs we should bring back chocolate for Christmas. However when it came to talking about beer we made a decision that we would just bring back a couple of glasses for our bar and use the beer budget to sample as much as we could in the bars that we discover! That idea did not last long, as you will see below.

Prior to our trip I did a little bit of research as to the best places to buy beer & beer glasses in Bruges. Considering that every other shop had window displays that will entice any beer lover I was determined to just visit the best on offer, which is only right considering we only had one day to visit the Christmas Market, tourist sites and chocolate shops.

A small corner of the HUGE 2Be shop

If you read my previous blog about Bruges you will be aware of 2Be Bar and the 'Wall of Beer'. As you walk into '2Be' you first see a huge beer emporium before you see the bar. I am not exaggerating when I say that we spent around half an hour exploring this shop...it was so vast, with little stairwells heading down into the cellar and different rooms dedicated to different styles of beer. The Delirium merchandise available was to extensive you would think that they owned this shop!

Liz's Mort Subite 4%

Liz purchased the Mort Subite Kriek beer (Kriek seems to be her go-to beer now) with a matching glass for the bar. Similar to the Kriek Boon & Belle Vue fruit beers, this was quite sweet but a world away from the alcopop fruit ciders that we are used to in the UK (more fruit beer please Morrisons!).

Due to the 'subtle' Delirium promotion in 2Be I decided to pick up a bottle of the Delirium Noel. It would have been wrong not to come back from Belgium in December without a festive tipple. We both loved this beer! This dark beer had an almost red tint to it, which matched the fruity flavours in the glass. After the fruit flavour hits you their is a sweet caramel flavour which really warms you up...a typical Christmas beer, but with the signature strength of a Belgium beer...10%. It turns out that Friends Of Ham Ilkley have this available in December, we shall be having an evening on that soon!

The moorish Delirium Noel 10%

http://www.thebottleshop.be 

The second beer shop we visited seems to be the 'famous' beer shop in Bruges...it was mentioned more than any other in my research. Now walking just off of the main market square you really can not miss this place, as it is called 'The Bottle Shop'. What a place ! One day my aim is to open up a Delicatessen and serve cheese and meats, I have always said that I would have a dedicated beer se
ction, following this trip I may end up taking ideas from this shop. It was different to 2Be as the shop is just one big open plan area with bottles stacked all the way up to the roof. The choice really does put all the UK Beer shops (that I have visited so far) to shame!
What really made this place stand out was the staff, whilst at the till we had a long chat with the sales woman, who became very excited upon our purchase of OerBier...she even admitted that she stocks up by visiting the brewery as opposed to just buying it from where she works, it sounds like a brewery worth visiting!
In this store Liz stuck with her fruit beer theme and picked up a bottle of the Delirium Red, honestly I think this choice was swayed by the chalice covered in little pink elephants. Although once we opened it we were glad that we had purchased it. Honestly, for me this is the king of the Belgian fruit beers. Similar to the Noel, the strength is key, at 8% it really hits the spot. Their is a sweet cherry taste to this, but the sweetness means that for me personally I could only have one or two glasses...where I feel like I can drink the Noel all night, or at least until the 10% strength sends me to sleep.

As mentioned earlier I picked up the OerBier from De Dolle Brewery. I made it a personal mission to find this beer, as I have had this before many years ago and could not remember the name of it, hence why I have not had it since. Walking into the Bottle Shop I spotted the little yellow mascot of the beer, straight away a bottle and a matching glass went into my basket. Similar to the Gulden Draak that we sampled in De Garre, OerBier is a strong dark beer 9.5%. Unlike English Stouts and Porters this beer is more sweet than bitter. The flavours were caramel (noticing a trend here) and the fruit notes were definitely raisins...for the next dinner party we have I would have this as a dessert beer!
If you have a taste for dark beer and fancy something a little different than Mackesons Stout then call your local beer shop and see if this is available.

2015 for me has been primarily a local beer year, looking back on my twitter feed it is full of Ilkley, Saltaire, Leeds, BlackSheep, Theakstons and more recently Roosters beer. I have always picked up small, high strength beers in order to sample what is out there but then stuck to a local pint. After spending the last month drinking only 330ml dark beers I think I will dedicate 2016 to trying expand my palate with high flavour, high strength beer. Anything you recommend I should be trying in 2016?
- Sam