Belgium - The Recap

Meeting Matt, drinking the world's highest rated beer, eating lunch at De Heeren, drinking spontaneously fermented beers at their home in Brussels, acquainting ourselves with Todd the Mental Beaver, working our way through Kulminator's amazing vintage list, surviving driving in southern Belgium semi-unscathed and meeting Fantôme's brewer are just a few of the reasons that the our time in Belgium was far and above the best few weeks of our lives.

The Ticks 

• Beer
• Frites
• Vintage beer
• Mouse javelins with cheese, celery salt and mustard
• Beer cribs
• Croissants in Lille from Pâtisserie du Lion d'or (of which no photographic evidence exists) 
• Sour beer

The Crosses

• V smelly urinals
• Matt
• The Great Rage of Grote Dorst
• Our lovers tiff in Brussels
• Leaving

The Food 

Our lunch at De Heeren was everything you could ask for in a beery lunch (LINK).  Just phenomenal.

The Beers

It's extremely hard to pick just one between us and equally as hard to select only one each.  However the below is a fairly accurate estimate.

Nix - 2003 3 Fonteinen Oude Gueuze
Matto - De Struise Black Mes
Me - 1987 Stille Nacht
Very Honourable Mention - De Struise Special Kay

The Beer Count - 167

Bank Account: Kulminator-ed in Antwerp

So I should be telling you about the amazing view of Antwerp city from the opposite side of the Scheldt, how good the Antwerp Zoo is or about some great Antwerp speciality we tried.  However, when a place has such an extensive and reasonably priced vintage beer last as Kulminator's, it's hard to consider doing anything else whilst you're in Antwerp.

Kulminator is the most ramshackle bar we've ever seen and was the ultimate place to end our Belgian experience, two times over.

The beers pretty much do the talking here so they can do exactly that.

...and we dropped a few euros on this one to celebrate our final night in Belgium 

The Beers

Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux
Buffalo Stout
Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor
De Struise St Amatus (tap and 2010), Black Damnation: Mocha Bomb, Coffee Club, Black Mes and Special Kay, Pannepot Grand Reserva 2005, Black Albert Batch "0", Kabert
Dubuisson Bush Noel
La Trappe Quercas
De Dolle Stille Nacht 1987 and 1999, Stille Nacht Reserva 2005, Oerbier Special Reserva 2002, 2005 and 2006
Rochefort 10 2003
Malheur Brune
Mikkeller Black
De Troch Oude Gueze