I could complain about their colour, but I definitely can't complain about the service from the UK Passport Office. Applied online Tuesday last week; they arrived here in Belgium today - just NINE days later. Amazing! cc. @simoncalder.bsky.social

This is a great book to buy if you come to Belgium regularly & enjoy visiting beer cafes. Most featured cafes offer a 2nd beer free, & you often discover new & interesting places as well as old favourites:

Draft Père Noël 2025 at 't Brugs Beertje. It's amazing. I've had 8 of these since 4pm yesterday, mainly in the interests of research but also cos the perfect photo has so far eluded me. This one is ok though 🤣

Stille Nacht 2020 batch 1. Definitely past its best but still fantastic. This was a great vintage & it's holding up extremely well🎄 🍻

Some excellent Brugge recommendations here, for both food and beer:

Draft St Bernardus Christmas last night at 't Brugs Beertje. Nice glassware too 😊 🍻 🇧🇪 🎄

3rd stop = Lupulus Brewery Tap, Courtil. First visit - we'd reserved for 6.30pm so naturally we showed up at 3.15pm 🤣. Good opportunity to slowly work through the beer list. In the 4 hours we've been here, we've been the only customers for 3 hours 45 mins... 🤔

2nd stop = Baraque de Fraiture, Vielsalm. Continuing east, we hit the lunch jackpot with this fantastic place just off the motorway half an hour south of Liege. Meatballs & frites hit the spot, total bill for two = less than the price of one main at the aforementioned Park Abdij cafe!

1st stop = Park Abdij, near Leuven. Site of a Norbertine Monastery, in theory a great stop if you want a break from the E40. In practice, quite a frustrating place & hard to navigate. Crap cafe service & crazy high end menu meant we didn't bother staying for lunch. The cemetery is amazing though.

Our view for Club Brugge vs Barcelona ⚽️

An important letter from @keithbeard.bsky.social Rest well @megfdavies.bsky.social ♥️ www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

5th & final stop in Brussels = our first concert at Bozar ('Beaux Arts' 🤦‍♂️). Marin Alsop conducting the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra Berlin. Chopin piano concerto & Brahms symphony 4.

4th stop in Brussels = the wonderful Poechenellekelder, for sublime draft St Feuillien Blonde (& 2x draft Chimay Blues & an enormous lasagne 🤣).

3rd stop in Brussels = Moeder Lambic Fontainas. It's still good, of course, but this just confirmed my August view that ML Original is now head & shoulders above Fontainas. Anyway, La Fractale was a very impressive first beer from La Flaque.

2nd stop in Brussels = La Fleur en Papier Doré/Het Goudblommeke in Papier. First time here in a while & good to be back. Draft house saison brewed at De Ranke is fantastic, but I didn't want server to re-use glass (which I'd returned only to be helpful) for 2nd pour without washing it...😮

1st stop in Brussels = Fondation Brel, the place to come for all things Jacques Brel. Interactive, a good opportunity to hear classic recordings, interviews, etc. Free on the BE Museum Pass so worth a look if passing.

This is pretty special: St Feuillien's 900th anniversary (of the abbey, not the brewery) triple. Excellent beer.

We only visited Contrebande (Ixelles, Brussels) for the first time a couple of months ago. We really enjoyed our visit and hoped to return, so this is very sad news:

Lots of updates on our Antwerp Guide, including several new entries, following a couple of recent visits. Still lots to do on future visits but it's getting there! Direct link to the alphabetical list of pubs here: www.beerguideantwerp.com/publist

Lots of updates on our Antwerp Guide, including several new entries, following a couple of recent visits. Still lots to do on future visits but it's getting there! Direct link to the alphabetical list of pubs here: www.beerguideantwerp.com/publist

New Antwerp Guide entry: Syd's Bar, on the Grote Markt - another really good option for great beer in the city centre: www.beerguideantwerp.com/pubs.51

New Antwerp Guide entry: Den Engel, a classic brown cafe on the Grote Markt. You don't come here for an enormous beer range, but for the lively atmosphere, its immense brown-ness and of course its Bolleke: www.beerguideantwerp.com/pubs.50

New Antwerp Guide entry: Gistgeest, an excellent brewpub in Borgerhout (short tram ride from the centre): www.beerguideantwerp.com/pubs.49

Finally, the inevitable side by side, draft (L) vs bottled (R) Stille Nacht 2025 batch 1 tasting. They're quite different, but for now I might have to declare a draw! 😂

First tasting of Stille Nacht 2025 (batch 1) bottled version. Obviously I'll have to research this more thoroughly, but first impression suggests the 2025 is fantastic.

Main reason for coming to 't Brugs Beertje today was serious research on 2025 Stille Nacht (batch 1). The draft version has developed amazingly even since Thursday night, & drinks FAR too easily for a 12% beer...

Back in Brugge for this fantastic Christmas/'winter' beer from Brasserie de la Senne, on draft at 't Brugs Beertje. Cheers! 🍻 🎄

Didn't have time to visit today but this is the newer, second, 'riverside' branch of Het Elfde Gebot in Antwerp. The offer seems very similar to the original. On the list for a future visit.

3rd stop = Syd's, another bar on Antwerp's Grote Markt. 10 drafts, always including at least 4 Lupulus beers, plus around 70 bottles/cans on a really good list. The draft Lupulus Hopera is excellent.

2nd stop = Den Engel, for more vital Bolleke research. Fwiw, it's just €2.90 here (€0.10 cheaper than Den Bengel), & while next door's empty, Den Engel's full with a really buzzy atmosphere. It's obviously the place to be on a Sunday morning in Antwerp.

Goeiemorgen from Antwerp. Today's 1st stop = Den Bengel, for an obligatory Bolleke.

5th stop yesterday = Brewers' Kitchen, on Oude Beurs in the centre of Antwerp - a beer restaurant with a short but high quality beer list & excellent food. We really enjoyed the mackerel & pork dishes + beers from Dochter van de Korenaar & De Mortselarij.

7th stop in Antwerp = De Ware Jacob for sublime draft Avec Les Bons Vœux. We might be here for some time...

6th stop in Antwerp = Grote Markt, with Brabo highlighted against the dark clouds.

4th stop in Antwerp = Gistgeest brewpub. Really lovely place, excellent modern beers & some great guests. I tried five of their beers, all impressive with standout being IPA Bakkes (see photo).

3rd stop in Antwerp = Speciale Belge taproom. Finally made it, to find excellent range of their own beers & stellar guests from the likes of Dochter v/d Korenaar. Such a great place this, well worth the short tram ride from the centre.

1st stop in Antwerp = our 2nd visit to KMSKA (Royal Museum of Fine Arts) for the Donas-Archipenko exhibition. Donas, another Flemish artist we didn't know, met & was inspired by the likes of Modigliani through her relationship with Archipenko. Excellent exhibition.

2nd stop in Antwerp = Beestenbos. Brown-ish cafe with c.50 beers. We'd planned to eat here only to discover there's no food till 5pm. Nice of them to mention this. Anyway, a quick draft Tripel d'Anvers was duly dispatched in the interests of research, before we went to find lunch.l elsewhere.

Breskens Lighthouse under spectacular clouds. The storm may have passed but it's still *incredibly* windy on the Zeeland coast 🇳🇱

Sunrise over open farmland near Moerkerke, just outside Brugge, 8.33am this morning.

IT'S ARRIVED! First tasting of draft Stille Nacht 2025 (batch 1), fresh on this evening at 't Brugs Beertje. Still quite young but full of promise. Further research to follow in due course 😊 🎄 🍻

Great to see Ieper's Menin Gate for first time since completion of its major refurb. Amongst many other things, they've carefully restored the engravings of all 55,000 names. Amazing work by the CWGC.

It was a beautiful morning for another visit to Tyne Cot Cemetery just north of Ieper.

Important Brets crisps update: we were in Dunkirk today & found the cheapest Brets we've ever seen: these FIVE bags for a total of just €5.66! Leclerc Dunkirk Marine, in case any of you happen to be passing...

And it wasn't much better just across the channel in Brugge 🤣

Last time in Cambrinus a fortnight ago they'd draft St Bernardus Tripel - now it's draft Abt. I love tripel, but Abt right now is just perfect 😊 🍻 🇧🇪

😮

Now not so long to wait till CBDS...🎄 🍻 😊

Thanks for writing up. Only spent a day in Liege but hope to return soon now that the trams are running! beereurope.blogspot.com/2025/03/lieg...

BLOG POST: We really liked Liège and wish we hadn't let ourselves be put off visiting for so long. 🍺🍻 boakandbailey.com/2025/10/lieg...