Monday 5 March 2012

Podge Beer Tour - Live Blogging

Day 4

Day 3 ended rather messily, three more bars in the centre of Aalst, finishing with a sing song of ye olde English folk songs at midnight in the same bar I started the day in.

This resulted in day 4 beginning slowly with the hangover from hell.

Quick walk round the town and on the bus at 10am for the customary visit to the beer warehouse. Complimentary beers and buy as much as a grown man can reasonably carry.

Back on the bus for a ride to the Haacht Brewery Tap for a drop of the unfiltered yeast beer and away again to lunch at the Het Anker Brewery tap for a few of their beers including the liquorice infused Paasbeer, their Easter seasonal. Alas no brewery tours today as most are closed on Sunday.

Sustained we are on the bus again to another excellent beer cafe, In de Linde , with a beer list strong on Lambics and Geuze.

Final stop of the day is the specialist Lambic cafe, In de Verzekering Tegen de Grote Dorst who opened specially for our group. They are normally only open on Sunday lunchtimes but if you have never visited this place it is vital you get it on your list of places to visit if you like sour beer.

Their list of lambics, gueuze and krieks is as comprehensive as I have ever seen. Bring plenty of money if you want to try any of the long closed breweries aged beers though, they are as rare as hens teeth and priced accordingly.

As the 5 or 6 krieks that I tried over the course of the day blended and matured, my belly was spontaneously fermenting so I turned in early as we reached the hotel at about 9.30 while plenty of my travelling companions hit the town - again.

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