Belgian Beer, Trappist Beer, Rauchbier (Smoke Beer or Smoked Beer) from Bamberg, Craft Beer from the USA and Canada, and Real Ale from the UK, and other types of Speciality Beer are promoted on this, the White Beer Travels website. But what's in a name, the site's name that is? All is revealed on the Home Page! Schneider Weisse, a well-travelled, classic Wheat/White Beer, brewed in Bavaria by Schneider. Click on the image to go to their website This Web page covers Belgian Beer Hunts, in Ghent and Namur. Ghent is in the Flemish, Northern half of the country; Namur is the in the French-speaking, Southern half - Wallonia
Belgian Beer, German Beer, British Real Ale, North American Craft Beer and Speciality Beer and Specialty Beer from around the world, are all covered in this White Beer Travels website This White Beer Travels website has been in operation since March, 2002. It promotes Speciality/Craft Beer from around the world: Belgian Beer, German Beer, Craft Beer from the USA and Canada, Real Ale from the UK, etc
 
Click here to reach the "White Beer Travels" Home PageClick here for Speciality Beer and Brewery News. Also check out the "Archives" for "old" news!Click to find details of Beer Hunts that you can joinClick here to get information on Past Beer Hunts organised by White Beer TravelsClick here for information on what to expect on a typical Beer Hunt organised by White Beer TravelsYou are on a page of a White Beer Travels "Pub of the Month". For the current "Pub of the Month" click hereClick here for John White's Beer CV (Curriculum Vitae, Résumé) Click here for past Pubs of the Month, News, etcClick here for downloadable guides to places, breweries and barsClick here for "Links" to other websites. There are many on the other pages of the site, as well!Click here for full details on how to contact White Beer TravelsClick here for information on how the site was built, including acknowledgement of any help receivedClick here for details of the French to English Translation Service offered by White Beer Travels, & for the contact details of organisations that can provide the reverse
Belgian Beer and other great Speciality/Craft Beers, these including Belgian Beer, Real Ale from the UK and Craft Beers from the USA and Canada, are promoted on this, the White Beer Travels website. It is a big site, so to get an outline idea of the contents, click here to go to the site's Contents page
  Würzburg, in Germany, is world-renowned for its "Franken" wines. However, White (Wheat) Beers have certainly travelled to the city. The three different ones shown here are excellent examples. All are brewed in the city's Würzburger Hofbräu Brewery. Click on the glasses to go to the brewery's website, from which the image was pasted

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Your cursor is on a photo taken behind the bar in the Gambrinus Drivers' Museum, a beer transport museum, in Romedenne, in Belgium. Above the bar is the chassis of a 1927, Swiss made Saurer truck, which is the subject of another of Charles's books. Click on the photo to go to the museum's website

This October, 2001 picture was taken by Joyce White, in the Gambrinus Drivers' Museum, at 2a, rue Fontaine de Saint-Pierre, 5600 Romedenne, Belgium, tel 082 67 83 48, www.gambrinus-drivers-museum.be. In it, John White is with Charles Fontaine de Ghélin, the museum's Curator. At the time the photo was taken, Charles was also the Sales Manager for the Caracole Brewery in Falmignoul, near Dinant. John is imitating the chuckle that Charles regularly emits on his superb conducted tours of the museum, whilst Charles is signing his classic book Belgium by Beer, Beer by Belgium (published by Schortgen, co-author Annie Perrier-Robert, ISBN 2879530474). The museum and Caracole Brewery were amongst a number of places visited and where beer was sampled on this Beer Hunt.
This is a photo of the exterior of Le Café de la Place, in Purnode, in Belgium. The place is a good locals' bar, near the Du Bocq Brewery. Click on the photo to go to the Du Bocq brewery's website
  
This is a photo of the exterior of Le Bouffon du Roi, in Namur, in Belgium. Click on the photo to go to the place's website

Le Café de la Place, 5, Grand Place, Purnode, tel 082  25 33 71.

Although Du Bocq Brewery has its own pleasant bar, this place, just down from it, is the brewery tap. Photo by John White, October, 2001.

 

   

Le Bouffon du Roi, 60, rue de Bruxelles, Namur, tel 081 23 00 44, www.night-shop.com/bouffon.

This excellent place has the biggest selection of Speciality Beers in the city: 70+ in bottle, plus some on draught. Photo by John White, May, 2001.
 

A Two Centre Belgian Beer Hunt respectively in Flemish- and French-Speaking Parts of Belgium

This beer hunt for Belgian Beer was a coach trip, with a three nights' stay in Ghent, and the same in Namur. The Hotel Beauregard (1,  Avenue Baron de Moreau, tel 081 23 00 28) was used in Namur, which is a particularly good one. It is housed in the same building as the city's elegant casino. It is spectacularly located, right on the river Meuse and below the city's impressive Citadel.

'This is a photo taken inside 't Hoekske, in Ghent, in Belgium. 't Hoekske is at Kortrijksepoortstraat 1, Ghent. It is close to the don't-miss Speciality Beer and locals' bar, 't Oud Cambridge, at Nederkouter 69, where an excellent selection of Belgian Beer is on offer

In the picture on the left, which was taken by Joyce White, in October, 2001, John White is savouring an 11% Alcohol Kasteelbier in 't Hoekske, a snack bar that opens 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in Ghent.

 

You have your cursor on a box that provides the temperature and a brief description of the weather, in Ghent, at the local time quoted. Click here for a detailed weather forecast for the city

On the general tourist front, the Flemish city of Ghent, is overshadowed publicity-wise by its near neighbour, Bruges, but in fact has more listed buildings than any other city in Belgium. Its world class attractions include: Graslei, the "world's most beautiful quay"; the Castle of the Counts; and St.-Baaf's Cathedral, which houses van Eyck's "Adoration of the Lamb", one of Belgium's "Seven Wonders".

Click here to go to the website of Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant, a top class Specialty Beer bar in Ghent (Gent), the Capital of the Belgian Province of East flanders (Ooost-Vlaanderen)These tourist attractions are matched by superb restaurants and truly outstanding Speciality Beer Bars, including De Hopduvel (Rokerelsstraat 10, tel 09 225 37 29, www.kaffeedehopduvel.be), Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant (Groentenmarkt 9, tel 09 225 06 80, www.waterhuisaandebierkant.be); 't Velootje (Kalversteeg 2-4, tel 09 233 28 34); and the Belga Queen (Graslei 10, www.belgaqueen.be). There is also the must-see 't Dreupelkot (Groentenmarkt 12, tel 09 224 21 20), described by many as the country's best Genever bar. The Belga Queen opened in July, 2003, in the same building, alongside the city's oldest harbour, as the former Het Spijker, "The Staple House", the oldest building on what many guidebooks describe as the "world's most beautiful quay". Like its namesake in Brussels (32, rue Fossé aux Loups (Wolvengrachtstraat), tel 02 217 21 87) and the Grand Café Horta, in Antwerp (Hopland 2, tel 03 232 28 15, www.grandcafehorta.be), the Ghent Belga Queen has very good food, including beer cuisine, and twenty or so beers, including unfiltered Palm on handpump. Note that close to De Hopduvel bar/restaurant there is an associated drinks warehouse, which has a very good selection of beers: Drankencentrale De Hopduvel (Coupure Links 625, tel 09 225 20 68, www.dehopduvel.be).

Your cursor is on a photo taken in De Hopduvel, in Ghent, in Belgium. Note the different spellings for the Lambic derivatives that are featured in it. Click on the photo, to go to De Hopduvel's website
This is a photo featuring Madame Thérèse Abeels of the Belgian Beer Museum (Musée des Bières Belges). The building in which the museum is housed is also used for meetings of "La Guilde des tâte bière", The Beer Tasting Guild. Click on the photo to go to the museum's website
This is a photo taken in Du Bocq Brewery, in Purnode, in Belgium. Click on the photo to go to the brewery's website

Here, David Spencer, a regular White Beer Travels Beer Hunter, is in Ghent selecting something to eat from De Hopduvel's menu, the excellent food here matching the world class beers on offer. In front of David is beer as good as its gets: 3 (Drie) Fonteinen Oude Geuze and Hanssens Oude Gueuze. Photo by John White, October, 2001.

Madame Thérèse Abeels, of the Belgian Beer Museum (Musée des Bières Belges), Lustin, Belgium, serving John a bottle of La Binchoise Blonde. Madame Abeels was the Manageress (Gestionnaire du Musée) of this don't-miss place. With much regret, I can report that she passed away in February, 2006. Photo by John White: May, 2001. This photo appears on page 275 of the 2005 edition of Tim Webb's don't-enter-Belgium-without Good Beer Guide Belgium (www.booksaboutbeer.com, White Beer Travels Web page). Should you be planning a visit, check that the museum is open by ringing +32 (0)81 41 11 02.

Du Bocq Brewery's end-of-visit beer tasting takes place in the brewery's pleasant bar. Here, John has a draught La Gauloise Brune in its distinctive, handled glass. Behind the bar is Emmanuelle, who proved to be a most knowledgeable tour guide. Photo by Joyce White, October, 2001.

Namur is the capital of Wallonia, the French speaking half of Belgium. Shining beer stars in Namur include: Le Bouffon du Roi, see photo and info above; Le Chapitre (4, rue du Séminaire, tel 081 26 04 90), the brew pub Les Artisans Brasseurs, which unfortunately closed down in late 2002; and the restaurant/bar Brasserie Henry/Henry's Bar (3, Place Saint-Aubain, tel 081 22 02 04), a Namur institution which has excellent food and some good beers. Michael Vermeren has an excellent French-language website covering the brewing history of the Province of Namur, www.brasseriesnamuroises.be.tf. Michael also has a website dedicated to his Brasserie La Davoise, in Dave, which is just South of Namur, on the N947: www.ladavoise.be.tf. This produces excellent non-commercial beer for Michael and his friends. One of the beers, Bièresinthe (7%), has wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), the main constituent of Absinthe, in its recipe, Michael being a big fan of Absinthe, see his site www.artemisia.be.tf.

Whilst in Ghent, a visit was made to a world famous Brewing School, within KaHo, the Katholieke Hogeschool (Catholic University) (Gebroeders De Smetstraat 1, tel 09 256 86 10). The rare and outstanding Bingen Bieren, which are brewed at the university, were sampled by the White Beer Travels Beer Hunters. The White Beer Travels Notes on the KaHo brewery are available from the Downloads page.

En route between Ghent and Namur, there was a lunchtime break in the new town of Louvain-la-Neuve, which houses the marvellous Le Brasse-Temps brew-pub and the outstanding La Crêperie Bretonne (200 beers and as many pancakes). This was followed by the visits detailed at the top of this page, i.e. to the Gambrinus Drivers' Museum (www.gambrinus-drivers-museum.be) and to the Caracole Brewery.

Whilst in Namur, there was a coach trip featuring Du Bocq Brewery, in Purnode (4, rue de la Brasserie, tel 082 61 07 80, www.bocq.be), lunch in Dinant and then a visit to the Belgian Beer Museum (Musée des Bières Belges, 19, rue de la Gare, tel 081 41 11 02, www.museebieresbelges.centerall.com) with its 600 beers to choose from and 13,500 bottles to look at, plus around 2,500 glasses.

On the way home the group had a superb pre-booked Beer Cuisine lunch in one of Belgium's, and hence the world's, best Specialty Beer Bars, De Heeren van Liederkercke, in Denderleeuw (Kasteelstraat 33, tel 053 68 08 88, www.come.to/heerenvanliedekercke, White Beer Travels Guide). Prior to getting on the ferry back to England, there was a stop at the Auchan Hypermarket in Grande Synthe, near Dunkirk, which has an excellent range of French Artisanal beers, as well, of course, of wines.

For this trip, all participants received around 160 A4 pages of information: White Beer Travels guides to Namur (27 pages), Ghent (50), Louvain-la-Neuve (17), Dinant (10), the Gambrinus Drivers' Museum (10), the Belgian Beer Museum in Lustin (6), De Heeren van Liederkercke (8), Du Bocq Brewery (12), Caracole Brewery (7), and KaHo Brewery (6); a Trip Itinerary (9); and detailed Trip Travel Information (13). In addition, everyone received special White Beer Travels maps of Namur, Ghent, Louvain-la-Neuve, and Dinant. Some of these guides and maps are available from the site's Downloads page, which can be reached from this sentence or by clicking on the buttons at the top or bottom of this page.

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Belgian Beer, such as Trappist Beer, which is just about the world's most renowned Speciality Beer (Craft Beer), is promoted on this website, along with great beer from all over the world
Home Recces
Schneider Weisse, a well-travelled, classic Wheat/White Beer, brewed in Bavaria by Schneider. Click on the glass to go to their website Click on this bottle of Schneider Weisse, to see that this White Beer has travelled to Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, in Spain's Canary Islands. The photo, by Joyce White, features John White and White Beer Travels Beer Hunt regular, Dr Eric Clow, in the Mesón Andalucia, in May, 2004