Bomber's Belgian beer spot - The Belga Cafe and Girly White Beer

Morning proles, I'm taking time out from my fantastically busy schedule to catch up with you so BE APPRECIATIVE. Actually, I was going to put a link to my Paypal account there, but couldn't work out how. Well, you've got my address, don't listen to the stiffs, send money through the post so I can afford more beer!

Meanwhile at the batcave....

Bubble and I were out drinking last night in this little place in Ixelles. Brussels, you see, has a pub culture almost as engrained as the UK. This distinguishes it from the rest of Europe (except the UK) but (like the UK) means most of the pubs are rotten shitholes about as welcoming as the place in Coed-y-Brenin that Bubble and I went to a few years back where everyone was speaking Welsh, although we could have sworn we heard english being spoken just before we opened the door. It has become paramount, therefore, to find some decent pubs and this is one reason why we were in Ixelles last night. That and I was tired of being treated like Sparky's bitch anyhow. I suppose he was getting payback for all those chauffer's hat comments but whadayaknow. So, this pub is called the Belga cafe and is on the edge of a big square, which would be much more attractive if it wasn't dominated by a big building site in the middle (actually, in the whole thing) full of machinery from the "DE KOCK" plant hire company (made me snigger anyway). The bar itself is one of probably 8 or 10 on the square, making for good short round pub golf possibilities, although I'd be more enthusiatic once the construction work is over and one could relax / relieve oneself against a tree in the central part of the square before moving on to the 5th hole. The Belga cafe itself is art deco-ey with a decent pavement seatin bit, which would be nice but for the building site view. It's quite big inside and obviously gets a fashionable after-work crowd; styles were eclectic and often amusing. Due to the weather at the moment (too cold for my standard wardrobe of short sleeves, not yet cold enough for big wooly jumpers) I turned up in a rugby shirt and felt immediately dull. No change there then.

Like most pubs in Brussels (whether worth their salt or not, it seems), this one has a reasonable selection of bottled beers and several draft offerings. As we can get the bottled beers in our local supermarket (more on that in a future installmant, but the supermarket booze shelves here are a thing to behold) we went for the un-branded (although probably inbev) "Blanche."

Now I introduce you to your first Belgian beer style. I, for one, thought that Belgian beers were all what we would probably classify at home as "winter ales"; strong and heavy as hell, with the added Belgian character of often being >10% and having been made by monks. This type of beer has the distinct advantage of allowing us to get drunk very quickly safe in the knowledge that we're supporting God's work. How wrong I was (at least about the lack of variety). There are, in fact, only 6 "Trappist" breweries, although admittedly several others that produce similar brews. No, the real glory of Belgian beer making seems not to be in the use of the church to start breweries (although this was a pretty good idea) or the Vatican to moderate tham (err...) but in the sheer variety of beers that this small country produces.

Blanche, or girly white in french, describes wheat beer. You've probably all tried it at one stage and it was probably Belgian. The Hoegaarden brewery is in Flemish Brabant, just an hour or so out of Brussels. The guy who started this brewery (and it was only started in its present form about 40 years ago) is credited with teh rebirth of wheat beer world wide. I always avoided Hoegaarden because I thought that that fucking great big glass made the holder look like such a tit but I admit I'm a fan of wheat beers in general. They're a common feature of Canadian Brewing so we always end up with some after a visit to my all-time favorite retail outlet, the Ontario Beer Store when visiting the in-laws. It's a very light beer, very easy on the throat and good for putting away tons of on a sunny afternoon or when you're late to the pub and need to catch up (Hoegaarden is still 6%, no not soooo girly). It doesn't really taste of much, which I suppose is why they put lemon in it, but it's vastly superior to trailer trash juice and just as drinkable. The problem in the Bega cafe is that they sell it in 25cl glasses, which take as long to drain as the change takes in coming. I spent most of the evening at the bar and now I understand the need for those big glasses Hoegaarden uses, although I know that it's really an optical illusion to make it look like you're spilling a litre into your beard when it's really just a pint. No wonder they're owned by the biggest brewery in the world, but more of that in a future entry.

Richard "DP" Collis, two of his mates (apparently part time brewers themselves...), Smudge and Jules and (hopefully, Rail strikes permitting) Sparky and Emma are over next weekend and we're planning a brewery-attached-to-a-pub trip to keep everybody happy. More later

Bomber out