Bruges / Brugge, Belgium: Beer Heaven

OK, Bruges isn't only about the beer, but it is a pilgrimage site for beer connoisseurs. Also, it really is a most charming little medieval town. So charming; and so beautiful, quaint, and historic; that it could be the Disney Epcot version of Belgium. Everywhere you look, there is a consistency in the view that never disappoints. Many towns with historic centers can't keep the modern encroachment out completely; and they tend to be surrounded by modern housing and business neighborhoods. Paraphrasing something I read about Bruges: in some cities you can look and find the beauty, but in Bruges the beauty is everywhere you look.

The reason for the 2 spellings in the title of this post, would be a result of the duality of Belgium. This is a country divided. There is the Flanders region, where people speak Dutch (the Flemish dialect), and Wallonia where they speak French. It is a bit of an uneasy pairing. Brugge is the French spelling. All of the cities have 2 spellings actually. Brussels is the capitol and officially bi-lingual. The Flemish region is a little more prosperous. Not many Americans come here. In reality, there aren't a lot of well-known monuments or museums. There are other cities that may be familiar like Antwerp and Ghent, but you may not know what they're even known for (maybe Antwerp: diamonds).

There are a couple more things Belgium is known for besides beer: Chocolate and World War I. We'll get to chocolate a little later in this post, and WWI in another post, but here are some pictures of Bruges.

Night time in the Venice of the north

Known also for canals...and apparently swans.

This trip did seem somewhat 'canal-focused' as we went to Amsterdam after Belgium.

City Hall

That porch is a great bar with seats behind the tree.

The dog sits there every day apparently.

Feed me!

So beer...what Belgium may be most known for. Belgian beer differs from the purist beer of Germany. "Reinheitsgebot" is the German beer purity law that mandates that only water, barley, and hops can be used to make beer. In Belgium they have no such law, so they infuse much of their beer with fruits and spices and so on. Belgian beer isn't for binging. That would be blasphemy actually. You can be a real beer snob here. They don't serve their beer as cold as American beer because less cold beer releases the scent and you can be like a wine snob and sniff your beer before you drink it. Ice cold beer hides the scent, and therefore the flavor, which is exactly the point with most mass-produced American beer. Also, each brewery designs glasses specific for their beers, each designed to show off, as well as release the scent properly. No drinking from bottles, or God forbid: cans, here. There are over 1100 beers produced in Belgium and we stumbled upon a display of them all. How we didn't know about this beforehand, we can't imagine. Nonetheless, it was nirvana.

The best beers are brewed by monks in abbeys around the country. The Trappist abbeys (Orval, Chimay, Westvleteren, Rochefort, Westmalle, and Achel) produce the ultimate beers in my opinion, and they've formed an organization to protect others from calling their beers "Trappist" (one abbey also exists in the Netherlands and one in Austria). 

My favorite!

Hmmm, which one?

I worship them all.

De Halve Maan Brewery

Brewery courtyard, we took the tour.

Looking for something to take back to the hotel.

Chocolate from Belgium may the the best in the world. They are masters of the craft, but they also enjoy making great sculptures from their chocolate.

Duvel is a great beer, but this isn't beer. That's chocolate.

Too cute to eat...no.

Yes, that's what you think it is.

On our first full day in Belgium we went on a tour to Flanders Fields to see the World War I battle sites. That post will be next and there will be no silly shots. It was a very moving trip. Don't worry though, we went to Amsterdam next and there might be silly shots from there.