Ghent, Belgium

[Crastney]

Tomorrow, the wife and I are going to Ghent, in Belgium, for a long weekend.
Hopefully I'll be sampling some (lots) of the local, and not so local, Belgian Beers.

obviously everyone has their favourite, and I've really only tried a few before now, so please offer me some advice on what to try, and what to avoid, and if you know of any really good bars/pubs in Ghent, please tell me about those too.

Thanks in advance for your knowledgable offerings!

 

[RobWalker]

Rochefort 10, naturally...in small glasses, mind!

 

[Swazi]

The missus and I spent a weekend in Ghent and we loved it. The best bar we went to was the Backdoor @ Sint Amandstraat 26. The best selection of beers and a great vibe. We stumbled out of there at 4am after spending a lot of money on beer.

 

[morethanworts]

+1 for Rochefort (8 or 10). Reasonably well available over here, but I love it.

Orval

Westmalle Tripel has to be a benchmark at the paler end for me, but if I was there, I'd be trying to sniff out the things i couldn't get over here.

Naturally, try the lambics and gueuzes as well, and all the more peculiarly Belgian offerings.

I tried the Rodenbach Grand Cru last week for the first time - I appreciated it, but would I pick it again yet...maybe not. I'm still only really fumbling my way around Belgian beers and I'm suitably jealous!

I'm lucky. One of my locals keeps 100 Belgian beers. I spent an evening with Mark from viewsfromthebar.co.uk (that's his blog) in there last week. He's going over to Belgium for the 3rd time at the same time as you, I think! He's hoping to visit some of the abbeys this time and get a bitter deeper.

Have a fantastic trip :thumb:

 

[Darcey]

Try this place.. its good.. http://www.waterhuisaandebierkant.be/

 

[Crastney]

Waterhuis aan de bierkant - The Waterhouse on the Beerside - we went past everyday, but didn't actually go in. My wife is 29 weeks pregnant, so we went somewhere that we could go without flying, and therefore I also didn't drink to excess.

I tried - Grimbergen Blonde, Jupiler, Duvel, Kriek, Gruut Brun, Westermalle triple, Charles Quint, Ciney, and possibly a few others that I forget.

The Gruut was very strong with a lovely mild herbal lingering aftertaste, sat outside a cafe in the square, in the sun, listening to the bells. Splendid weekend.