Brudges

Well Brudges was surprisingly fantastic, definitely on the list of places to come back to one day. Being a bit of a beer buff I knew we were in for a treat because Belgium Beers are amazing. There are a couple catagories; the trappist beers and the abbey beers. Trappist beers are run by monks and the money made goes straight back into producing more beer, the left overs are used to fund charities, abbey beers are for profit.

On the bus on the way in we watched this film in brudges. It was odd and seriously this place has a slightly weird vibe but I love it. Did you know that French fries originated in Belgium? They are from southern Belgium, the French speaking region.

Day one when we arrived we did a walking tour of the city, our guide was fantastic, his name is Kai, he is an absolute character who is hilarious and is looking to start his own hostel south of brudges. I believe he is the best guide we have had through this whole trip. We stopped half way for a drink at a café and continued on for the rest of the tour. Afterwards a bunch of us went off for dinner together! Yum :D

We eventually headed home, had a few drinks in the bar and left for the beer tasting evening we had planned with Kai again.

We tried a duvel, chimay, hoegarden, westmalle and orval. These beers have some kick so you don't need many before you are on a different planet :p. Afterwards we were all back in the bar drinking the night away. When bloody good beers are served at 3 euro a pop you have to make the most of it. I know the chimay back home costs 21 bucks for a 750ml bottle where here it only costs 4 or 5 euro. Every beer is served in a specific glass and it goes downtreat :D

Day two obviously started slow but we eventually got up and went for a 5 euro pasta which was massive! We then headed for the local brewery called the half moon. We had a great tour of the brew house and I learnt a bit more for my own brewery, using a whirlpool after boiling to push the sediment to the sides so that you can draw off the clear wort. A few good things we learnt on the tour was that sparkling water is much better to used to sober up, as well as salty things to neutralize your PH. Fermented drinks (beer and wine) as appose to spirits and cocktails are a lot safer because as soon as it hits your mouth you start digesting it and therefore you can judge when enough is enough a lot easier. Drinking spirits and cocktails is not because you only start absorbing it when it hits your stomache and by that time you have had way to much and as soon as you step outside and get some fresh air you hit a wall. I also learnt that beer, wine and bitter drinks are best to use as an apertive so that you build your appetite, drinking sweet drinks makes you feel full and by the time you are ready to eat you have lost your appetite. I thoroughly enjoyed this tour! The lady who ran it was hilarious, the Belgium people sure know how to make a tour fun and interesting at the same time.

Afterwards we headed for some fresh waffles and a bit of a break before the pub crawl.

The pub crawl was good fun, we tried plenty of different beers and they are all seriously cheap as! A great night out, a couple new friends and another place to add to the list of places to come back to!!

-Ryan