Skip to content

Tag: food

Brussel Breweries Tattoo Tour 2024

Brussel Breweries Tattoo Tour 2024

Published on 15 June 2024

The infamous Brussel Breweries Tattoo Tour was exactly on the birthday of my breweries tattoo this year, the 15th of June. Like for the first and second edition, the turnout for this third edition was great!

In the end, three persons managed to visit and drink in all seven breweries, although in a slightly different order than myself: two needed to catch a train, so squeezed in Surréaliste somewhere in the middle, and another had to go to a concert, so he did the same with La Mule, the then join me again in the last brewery. They truly earned their patch!

Continue readingBrussel Breweries Tattoo Tour 2024
Just a Day in London

Just a Day in London

Published on 5 June 2024

It’s easy to forget how nearby London actually is: just a two hour train trip from Brussels! So even though I already have a longer trip to the Big Smoke planned later this year, I decided to pop over for a day just to visit the British Museum for an exhibition which was about to close very soon. And of course, while I was there anyway, have a couple of beers…

The trip didn’t start off too well: the Eurostar which would take us to London already had a fifty minute delay even before it arrived in Brussels. Apparently there were some signalling problems between Amsterdam and Rotterdam… Since there was no way to make up for that delay en route, and I would miss my scheduled coffee stop, I did something I had never done done on a Eurostar before: visit the bar carriage and get a coffee there!

After arrival, there was just enough time to walk to the British Museum for the exhibition I came for: Legion: life in the Roman army. Being the Roman (military) history geek I am, I found it definitely worth coming over for! There were some artefacts I had only ever seen on photos before, and I quite liked how the visitors kind of followed the career of one specific soldier throughout the exhibition.

After the visit, it was time to enjoy the sun—we were definitely lucky in that department—and sights of London a bit: the parks, the architecture both old and new, the monuments…

The walk ended at Borough Market, the perfect place to grab some lunch. I went for a classic: some Scotch egg with black pudding and pork and Stilton pie from Mrs King’s Pies, apparently already in business since 1853!

Right next to Borough Market is The Rake. It’s a beer bar—well, you could say the OG craft beer bar of London—that had been on my lists for many years, but I just never made it there, until today!

Just a day in London is shorter than you would expect—especially with the long check-in times recommended for Eurostar in London—so I then already made my way to Camden, to be on the safe side. And a visit to Camden of course means a visit to BrewDog Camden! Not a lot of new beers brewed by BrewDog themselves, but the staff recommended me some excellent guest beers!

Basically just across the canal from the station, in the Coal Drops Yard, there is a bottle shop—well, can shop actually—where you can drink in as well: the House of Cans. A really nice selection of canned beers indeed, so since I only had time for one beer, I also bought a couple to take home.

Ten minutes after leaving I had already checked in, and all that was left to do, was to wait for my Eurostar to Brussels. No delays this time, so just fifteen hours after leaving it, I was back home again…

A Beery Birthday in Rotterdam

A Beery Birthday in Rotterdam

Published on 9 May 2024

A midweek public holiday in May was for me an excellent occasion to check out the newest additions to the craft beer scene in Rotterdam. Coincidentally, it was also my birthday, which meant I could claim a free birthday beer here and there…

After taking a very full train—even people standing in the corridors—from Brussels to Rotterdam, I really needed a coffee! There were definitely some decent coffee bars nearer to the station, but to get me closer to the rest of the locations I planned to visit, I decided on Urban Espresso Bar West this time. Breakfast was already more or less digested by now, so I had a nice piece of salted caramel cake with my cortado as an early dessert.

For the main dish, and to add another name to my long list of visited BrewDog bars, I then went to BrewDog Witte de Withstraat. The place was much larger than I expected from a bar in this street, but I was almost alone inside: the sun was shining, and terrace therefore more popular. After finishing my The Big Pastrami One pizza, I spent quite some time here, since none of the other bars I planned on visiting would open before 4pm… And I did get to enjoy my first free birthday beer!

Completely different, and way more local, was Kaapse Will’ns, the newest bar of the Rotterdam brewery Kaapse Brouwers. With just a limited number of taps, it tried to stay true to its origins as a traditional, local bar. Considering the number of people still asking for a Heineken, I’d say they succeeded! Funny detail: one of the tap handles actually says “Heineken“, but it’s the tap for sparkling water…

In the next bar—Bierboutique—the taps with “Heineken” on them actually did serve the horrid beer, and most of the other taps were from the same producer… The bottle and can list however was way more interesting, and I was able to try some more interesting local beers.

As last stop of the day I revisited the BrewDog Rotterdam Outpost. It wasn’t that busy when I came in, but considering the number of booked tables that would later fill up, it was probably smart they actually booked a table for me as well! One of the nice things of an Outpost is a selection of unique beers, brewed on-site. They were actually brewing while I was there! That beer obviously wouldn’t be ready in time to have as my free birthday, so I had another one instead.
For dinner I had the local special Brews Springstew, a six hour slow cooked stew with beef cheek, onion, celery, carrots, and Black Heart stout, served on a bed of fresh fries. Very nice, but I could hardly finish it!

When all the beers were tasted, it was time to head back to the beautiful Rotterdam central station, and take the train home…

Dutch Work Party – Leisure Time!

Dutch Work Party – Leisure Time!

Published on 27 April 2024

Thursday at lunchtime, the Dutch Work Party usually puts down their tools, to then spend the rest of the week however they please! However, even though this time we picked up our tools again on Friday morning, before we decided to do that, we already did enjoy a very relaxing Thursday afternoon!

Thursday

We brought packed lunches, ready to eat on the car train, since our destination was on the other side of the mountain: Leukerbad Therme! Baths inside, outside, hot, cold, or warm, bubbles and massaging jets, slides, and all this combined with amazing mountain views!

In the evening we walked to Taverne Zur Gemmi, a little up the road from the scout centre. I was very surprised to find some Swiss craft beers here! I had both some Thunbier and Haarige Kuh beers. The landlady told me the latter were made by some Scottish brewers in Interlaken, which isn’t surprising if you see the hairy Highland coo on the label…

Friday

After our extra morning of work, we spent Friday afternoon in Interlaken. There is a little craft beer scene there—at least three craft breweries—which I couldn’t wait to discover!

Hüsi Bierhaus is kind of Barrel Brewing’s taproom, so I was able to drink and buy some of their beers there.

At Brasserie 17—not a brewery—I found some more beers from Haarige Kuh.

The last one I would never have entered if it wasn’t for the recommendation of a local beer geek who saw me searching for a brewery: Little Thai is really just a Thai restaurant, but it serves beers by Mountain Madness!

In the evening we had the traditional Swiss cheese fondue, albeit not in the main dining hall with staff and other guests this time, but just us in our private kitchen.

Saturday

Our last full day in Kandersteg the weather was perfect for a hike in the mountains! Unfortunately many trails were still closed after some avalanches and landslides, so like dozens of others, we walked up to the Oeschinensee, and then a little further up to see a waterfall.

Since we had already cleaned our kitchen and handed in the keys, we spent our last evening at Taverne Zur Gemmi again. Just as well, since they had one more Haarige Kuh beer I hadn’t tried yet!

Dutch Work Party – Warmup Day

Dutch Work Party – Warmup Day

Published on 21 April 2024

The first Sunday of a Dutch Work Party is usually spent getting (re)acquainted with the other participating scouts, and a simple hike in the area. Considering the recent snowfall, we decided we wanted to go snowshoeing.

After waking up in the white Alps, having breakfast and preparing a packed lunch, we started looking into the different options for the day.

Plans and mountain conditions don’t always go well together though, and our first choice—going up with the Sunnbuël gondola lift and follow a snowshoeing trail from the top station—fell through: the trail was closed because of the high avalanche risk. The alternative we then picked, was a lower trail starting in the valley.

After strapping the snowshoes to our backpack, the five of us headed off. The trail started out snow free, but sure it would be covered higher up? It wasn’t… We reached the viewpoint—the highest point of our trail—without ever needing to put on our snowshoes.

Back in the centre of Kandersteg, we rewarded ourselves with some pastry at the Marmotte tea room, and a beer in the bar of Hotel des Alpes, affectionately called “Dessie’s” by KISC staff and regulars.

While we were there and on our way back to KISC, it didn’t stop snowing, so by the end of the day, there probably was enough snow on the trail to use snowshoes…