Podge’s Belgian Beer Tours

Christmas in Bruges

Saturday 24 December – Wednesday 28 December 2022

We love Belgium (and winter beers) at Christmas and we love taking a coach full of like-minded people. For Christmas 2022 we are booked in for four nights at the Ibis Hotel on Katelijnestraat in Bruges, from where we will explore Belgium at Christmas-time for five days touring.

Bruges - Minnewater, The Lake of Love, in the Snow.

We are based in Chelmsford Essex and we use Eurotunnel from Folkestone to get to and from Belgium in our UK hired coach. Most of our Travellers join the Tour at our main pick up point outside The Woolpack Pub, 23 Mildmay Road, Chelmsford CM2 0DN and most come from other parts of the UK, and some from further afield, especially USA. Lots of our Travellers stay the night before a Tour (and often the night of our return) at Chelmsford Travelodge only a few minutes walk from The Woolpack or at the Premier Inn near the Railway Station, about a 10 minute walk to the pick up point at The Woolpack. We all usually pop in to The Woolpack the night before departure for a meet, greet and a few beers with Siobhan who is your Tour Manager, Tour Guide and drinking pal for the duration.

Our Galloways luxury coach (49 seater coach with toilet) starts from Suffolk. You can see where our pick up and drop off points are in the detailed itinerary section below.

The full timed itinerary for this Tour is set out below. If you would like to join us please send Siobhan an email or call her on +44 (0) 7722 724 558 for details on how to secure a place and pay the £140pp deposit for this Tour, or if you have any questions about this Tour. Should your plans change, we are happy to return your deposit to you in full provided the date of the return request is more than six weeks before the departure date of the Tour.

Slot Ostende where we spend Christmas Day.

Detailed Tour Itinerary

Day 1 - Saturday 24 December 2022

Very early! Coach departs from Galloways coach depot at Denters Hill, Mendlesham, Suffolk, IP14 5RR.

05.20hr Coach pick up at the Bus Stop, Tesco Store, Pinewood, Ipswich IP8 3TS.

06.15hr Coach pick up The Woolpack, Mildmay Road, Chelmsford CM2 0DN.

07.05hr Coach pick up at Howdens, Unit 4, Moreton Industrial Estate, London Road, Swanley, Kent BR8 8DE.

08.00hr Coach pick up at the pull in outside Dobbies Garden Centre, Opp. Premier Inn Ashford Eureka Leisure Park, Rutherford Road, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4BN.

08.20hr Coach pick up at Shell Garage, Stop 24 Services, J11, M20, Kent, CT21 4BL.

08.30hr Arrive Folkestone Eurotunnel.

10.20hr Eurotunnel Train crossing from Folkestone.

12.00hr Arrive Calais.

13.00hr Arrive at de Vlasschard in Stene, just inland from the coastal city Ostend. This is a neat village local in a picturesque village next to the windmill and church, just outside the Ostend sprawl. Here we can have something to eat, if you wish, and a crack at their beer card of 60+ choices. They have a good selection of locally brewed beers and a very nice choice of 10 on draft. Go for the local Keyte Tripel by Brouwerij Strubbe, or the mighty but brilliant Gouden Carolus Whisky Infused (11.7%abv). We reckon a wheat beer is nice with lunch and they offer here the very good local Sint Bernardus witbier on draft (5.5%abv).

15.30hr Leave de Vlasschard in Stene.

16.00hr Arrive at Streekbierenkaffee Rembrandt in Zedelgem. This is an excellent beer café, especially at Christmas! It is a big standalone roadhouse which has been a café since 1956. The current owners have been here for 20 years and run a great speciality streek (local) beer café with a menu of 150 choices. They have been nominated as a Chouffeleir which is an ambassador for the top-class-serving of beers from Achouffe Brewery. Thus, you will notice the place is alive with La Chouffe gnomes (Du. Kabouters) and of course they serve La Chouffe on draft. This is a spicy blonde beer with coriander notes and is 8%abv. In winter they offer on draft N’Ice Chouffe, a dark winter beer spiced with thyme and curacao (orange peel) whichh is 10%abv. At Christmas they used to have on tap the mighty St Bernardus Christmas beer, dark and also 10%abv. So, may have to try that one too, then.

17.30hr Leave Streekbierenkaffee Rembrandt in Zedelgem.

18.00hr Arrive at our base for the next four nights Hotel Ibis, Bruges. For a number of years the local Bruges authorities have forbidden coaches to go into the centre of the town. They must put down and pick up their passengers at a large car park at Bargeplein which is only a 10 minute walk from our hotel. The good news is that the Bruges authorities do allow coaches to take their passengers to their hotel for the first and last days to drop off and pick up luggage, and we will do this at Oude Gentweg at the rear entrance to the hotel. The evening is free for you to explore this beautiful city with its Christmas Markets for a hot Glühkriek perhaps, armed with a copy of Podge’s Bruges Bar Guide* and accompanying map*.

Bruges Winter Glow - 25 November 2022 - 08 January 2023

This is a nice idea, adopted by a number of places in town and accelerated by the pandemic lockdown. This is a light trail lit every evening at 17.00hrs, and is free of charge. You can follow all or part of the trail which includes eight light installations plus lit up buildings, bridges and towers. There is a map of the trail, but signage is also easy to follow on the ground. There should be a nice display at Minnewater (near our hotel) and at Bruges’ most photographed spot, the Rozenhoedkaai and also the city gates. Bruges also has a floating, artificial skating rink on the Minnewater (Lake of Love) with the pretty turrets of the Kasteel (Castle) Minnewater as a backdrop plus there is a Vorst (Frost) Winter Bar here too. There are two Christmas Markets, one is the smaller, local-craft market at Simon Stevinplein Square, between Zand and Markt square, and the other is the larger one on the main square, the Markt which also has the big see-through igloo thing!

Day 2 - Sunday 25 December 2022

11.00hr SLIGHTLY LATER START! Following a buffet breakfast in our hotel* we board the coach and head off for the day to the town of Goes in Zeeland in the Netherlands.

12.20hr Arrive at the Brewery, Café, Restaurant and Hotel Slot Oostende in Goes in the centre of the town right next to the church. This multi-faceted business has a modernist, industrial/baronial-hall vibe, carved out of an historic building on the site of the old castle (Slot) Oostende, bits of which still exist, particularly the fine vaulted cellars, where we have our beer tasting.

12.30hr We begin with a brewery tour* of both the brewing vessels inside the main building and also the craft brewery parts reached by crossing the lovely living-wall-gardens. This is followed by a beer tasting* of four beers in the beautiful underground medieval vaults. Slot Oostende brew their own beers and also the Emelisse range.

14.00hr We proceed to the upstairs restaurant for something to eat, if you wish, a help-yourself-buffet which includes the following dishes:

Starters:

• Freshly made Tomato Soup • House made Beer Soup • Smoked Ardennes-Style Raw Ham with Melon • A Selection of Bread / Rolls • Herb Butter & Tapenades • Salad with Goat Cheese • Salad with Marinaded Chicken

Main Dishes: • Mini Meatballs in a Mushroom Sauce • Flemish-Style Beef Beer Stew made with Beer • Marinated Chicken in a Peanut Saté Sauce • Fried Cod Pieces with a Remoulade (Tartare-Style) Sauce • Vegetable Lasagne • Vegetarian Quiche • Frites and a Variety of Potato Dishes • A Selection of Vegetable Dishes

Dessert Buffet • A Variety of Sweet Dishes & Cakes • A Selection of Bavaroise (Bavarian Cream) Puddings • Fresh Fruits of the Season

The buffet meal also includes two Slot Ostende beers, the Blonde Jacoba which is a fruity, bitter blonde beer at 5%abv and the Gouden Gans, an abbey-style Tripel at 8%abv.

16.00hr We vacate the buffet room. This is a chance to pop downstairs to the comfy bar for a crack at their beer card which extends to about 50 beers, with a mighty 18 choices on draft, about half Slot Ostende brews and plenty of lovely Emelisse beers. Emelisse Brewery, geographically not so far away, was taken over by Slot Oostende in 2016 and the brewer here, Jen, now brews their beers. You should find on draft Emelisse Barley Wine 12%abv, Emelisse Imperial Russian Stout 11% abv and Emelisse Espresso Stout 9.5% abv. They also have changing taps for special editions and White Label Emelisse brews which usually involve Barrel Aged beers (BA on the menus).

16.30hr Leave the Brewery and Restaurant Slot Ostende in Goes.

17.50hr Coach drops at Bargeplein in Bruges for an evening at leisure in the city (if you still have room!).

Day 3 - Monday 26 December 2022

10.00hr Following a buffet breakfast in our hotel* we leave our hotel on foot to Bargeweg to board the coach.

10.10hr Board the coach parked at Bargeweg.

10.30hr Arrive at Blankenberge, a beautiful coastal resort for their Christmas Markets (Du. Winterpret – Winter Fun) held on the Koning Leopold III Plein, a large square near the station. They have a covered 650m² skating rink which forms the central feature, and their website says “young and old can venture out on slippery ice to their heart's content and enjoy a great winter atmosphere”. Not sure about that! However, they have a large covered winter bar called the Aspen Bar, with barrel tables and seats which might be more our scene. We will have a bit of free time here to have a wander about and a bit of sea air. It’s about an 8 minute walk to the seafront and I know a few good beer bars in the area, which I’ll share with you in case you get thirsty.

12.30hr Leave Blankenberge Christmas Markets.

13.00hr Arrive at the Oud Gemeenthuis in Varsenare. A Gemeenthuis is a Town Hall, so this big place is in the old town hall, but is now a bar which gets lively in the evenings and which apparently is a haunt of local professional footballers from Club Bruges. In the 1940s and 1950s the Jabbeke strait was renowned for the number of speed records set on a measured kilometer of highway as manufacturers wanted each model's maximum speed measured and certified by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium. In the 1950s the Pegaso Z-102 clocked 155 mph. We’ll stay in their Apres Ski area for a quick beer.

14.00hr Leave the Oud Gemeenthuis in Varsenare.

14.30hr Arrive at the Herberg Wijnendaele Wandeling in Torhout for something to eat if you wish. This is a traditional roadside bar, retaining the old name for an inn in Flemish – ‘herberg’. This spacious bar café is situated near the beautiful Kasteel/Castle Wijnendale, a picturesque moated country house in parkland open to the public. Here we will have something to eat and can slake your thirst with their menu of 68 beers – all quality choices. They specialise in Trappist beers with a mighty 19 choices, including some of the rarer bottles and they also have both St Bernardus Triple and the jet black and luscious St Bernardus Abt 12 on draft.

16.45hr Leave the Wijnendale Wandeling in Torhout.

17.00hr Arrive the Café Snelle Duve in Jabbeke. The ‘Fast Pigeon’ encapsulates two great cultural icons being Belgian Pigeon Racing and quality beer. This is a pigeon-fancier-themed cafe which may also be the local centre for the actual racing sport too. They have been here since 2019, have a great beer list and have installed a sort of "pigeon house" where meetings and small events can be held. Lovely traditional geometric Belgian tiled floor. Expect pigeon wallpaper, racing pigeon décor, pigeon carry cases and racing boxes. We break our journey back to Bruges in this quirky little place.

18.30hr Leave Café Snelle Duve in Jabbeke.

18.45hr Coach drops at Bargeplein in Bruges for an evening at leisure in the city.

Day 4 - Tuesday 27 December 2022

10.00hr Following a buffet breakfast in our hotel* we leave our hotel on foot to Bargeweg to board the coach.

10.10hr Board the coach parked at Bargeweg.

10.20hr Arrive at the Brewery Fort Lapin on the edge of Bruges for a brewery visit and beer tasting*. This brewery was started by Kristof in 2011 in an old chocolate factory where owner Kristof used to make refrigeration and electrical installations. He took a brewing course at Gent University and realised his dream of having his own brewery by utilising his skills to build it here. The bunny ears on the bottles and the brewery logo is a reference to this district of Bruges, Fort Lapin, itself named after a fort built in this area in 1664 to protect the town docks and nothing really to do with rabbits! Their first commercial brew here was Fort Lapin, a golden Tripel of 8% abv. This is still brewed and has now been joined by:

• Hoplapin – a 6%abv blonde beer made with Belgian hops.

• Rouge – 6.5%abv a red coloured beer made with hibiscus flowers.

• Dubbel – 6%abv, a dark beer with roasted and smoked malts.

• Quadrupel – 10%abv – this is a beer made with eight types of malt and is spicy including clove, cinnamon and juniper, so is a nice winter-beer.

• Blanche – a 5%abv wheat beer.

• Kriek – 5%abv – made with real cherries, on a base of the wheat beer

• Snowlapin 9%abv – Their winter beer, a dark offering with winter spices of star anise, cloves and cinnamon.

• Witte Van Bruges 5%abv – This is a wheat beer to which hibiscus flowers are added at the end of the cooking process, just for the aroma, not for colour.

• Chocolate Stout (Limited Edition) 6%abv - a black beer made with roasted malts which gives the beer a chocolatey taste.

• Summer Sour (Limited Edition) 4.7%abv. - A beer which uses yogurt bacteria whereby some of the sugars are converted into lactic acid, which gives the beer a refreshing taste.

• “Bruges La Morte” Tripel 8%abv (in 75cl bottles). This is a special Tripel which has had an extra type of hop added at the end of the fermentation, giving no extra bitterness, but adding to the rounded taste. Kristof will hopefully confirm that this beer is named after the famous 1892 symbolist novel by Belgian author Georges Rodenbach. The novel is said to be the first ever to be illustrated with photographs which were black and white images of Bruges and is a melancholy tale where the city of Bruges is a character itself in the novel.

11.50hr Leave Fort Lapin Brewery in Bruges.

12.20hr Arrive at De Zevende Hemel in Beernem. This large café whose name translates as ‘Seventh Heaven’ is near the station has long been a beer-specialist café in West Flanders. They have six beers on tap and a choice of 100 in bottles. Nice religious statues decorate the interior!

13.45hr Leave De Zevende Hemel in Beernem.

14.15hr Arrive at the beautiful De Rysselende Molen Restaurant/Café in Ardooie which is on a crossroads on the main road between Bruges to Kortrijk. This restaurant/café hss a lovely old white brick windmill. The original mill was a wooden post mill, dating from the 1760s, but this one replaced it in 1855. Grain milling ceased in 1989 and it became a protected monument in 1993 and was bought by the current owner in 1996 who restored the mill and created this business in the former mill living quarters. We will stop here for some time in order to have a meal, and a beer or two. The owners have also said that we can have a little tour of the mill itself. Regarding the beer, they have a small beer menu, but it does offer a few local beers for you to try. They have De Poes (Puss) blonde beer from Tielt at 8%abv, plus two beers from the Maenhout brewery in nearby Pittem, being the Koeketiene Triple at 8.5%abv and the nice blonde at 6.5%abv Blinde Mol (Blind Mole).

16.30hr Leave De Rysselende Molen in Ardooie.

17.10hr Arrive at the largest of the Belgian coastal resorts, Oostende for a late afternoon/early evening visit to their Christmas Festivities. Oostende Christmas Markets, known as Winterijs “Winter Ice” has been located at a new venue in the pretty town centre green Leopold Park since 2021, with its lovely lake. Here they have over fifty Christmas stalls and tents selling seasonal goods, warm clothing, poinsettias and tasty international winter delicacies, including, of course, food and drinks. The traditional ice skating rink, which used to be located in the main town square is now here too and is now covered to enable all-weather skating. It is said to be the largest indoor ice rink in Belgium and extends to 1,000 square meters in size. And that is just for the adults. The children have their own adjacent ice rink which is 120 square meters. The Leopold Park is illuminated by more than 170,000 lights and decorated with more than 200 Christmas trees. They also install the most beautiful and largest Christmas tree in Oostende, sparkling with no less than 14,000 LED lights. Many Belgian public Christmas Markets and displays are taking measures this year to reduce energy consumption over this Christmas and New Year and LEDs help with this. This is also the reason that Bruges itself will no longer host its annual winter Ice Sculpture Tents on the Railway Station plaza, because of the huge energy costs involved in keeping all those big ice sculptures and the Ice Bar, frozen. After you have skated around (not really) you can relax on one of the catering terraces along with a tasty snack and a drink such as hot waffles and a gin, or if you can find it, the lovely Glühkriek, a hot, spiced cherry beer, the best one being from Brouwerij Liefmans, in a green paper wrapper.

19.15hr Leave Ostend.

19.45hr Coach drops at Bargeplein in Bruges for an evening at leisure in the city.

Day 5 - Wednesday 28 December 2022

10.00hr Following a buffet breakfast* we check out of our hotel and head off for the last day of our Tour.

10.45hr Arrive at Dranken Vandewoude in Veurne for an opportunity to buy some beers to take home. This is a beer warehouse which we have visited in the past when they were in nearby Pervijse, but they moved here recently. They offer a choice of around 700 beers and specialise in beers from the smaller breweries, which is nice. Here you can stock up on your favourites – having regard to the new limits set out at the foot of this itinerary, but it’s generous enough!

12.00hr Leave Dranken Vandewoude in Veurne.

12.15hr Arrive at the Cafe De Snoek (The Pike) in Alveringem attached to the Museum of Thirst in The Great War which is housed in a pre-First World War brewery. In the Great War 1914-1918 this brewery was reasonably safe behind allied lines out of the range of most German artillery. Like other breweries which survived in this area they prospered here by brewing weak ‘bad’ beer for the Belgian soldiers in this sector. However, the beers here now are considerably better and stronger than they would have been 100-odd years ago and they have over 100 to choose from. They may still do the house beer De Snoek, in brown and a blonde, brewed by De Dolle Brouwers in Esen.

14.00hr Leave Café De Snoek in Alveringem.

14.15hr Arrive at our last stop of the Tour which is a place in Dixmuide called Sports Bar TimeOut for a meal and a beer or two. It is housed within the De Pluimen Sports complex. This is a large, stylish bar and restaurant. They also have a lounge area with a view of the swimming pool. On their website they say that they are a sports bar where you can eat or drink after exercise, or better yet, where you can eat something or have a drink whilst others work out. This is what we’ll do. One interesting feature of this place is a model miniature cycling scene complete with a peloton. It is sizeable at 10 metres long and is a sporty work of art! Made to scale, it was inspired by the 2012 Tour of Flanders, which is a big thing in these parts. The scene depicts the race at the point of the ascent of the famous hill the Oude Kwaremont. Three riders are in front: Filippo Pozzato, Alessandro Ballan and Tom Boonen. They are followed by the other riders, support vehicles etc in the correct order, as they rode up the Oude Kwaremont that day. The reason for all this is because it was Tom Boonen who actually won that year, and they like to toast Tom here. Why not try the beer named after the ‘mountain’ itself 'Kwaremont', which is a blonde 6.6%abv, which is also the gradient of the famous hill. It is sold on draft here. I chose this place because it is Belgium at its quirkiest and because it has a huge beer card which runs to 120 choices. They serve the local Dixmuide beers Drie Mussen (Three Sparrows) and Papegaei.

17.00hr Leave Sport Bar TimeOut in Dixmuide.

18.00hr Arrive Eurotunnel, Calais.

19.50hr Leave Calais on Eurotunnel train crossing.

19.25hr Arrive Folkestone.

19.35hr Coach drop Shell Garage, Stop 24 Services, J11, M20, Kent, CT21 4BL.

19.50hr Coach drop at the pull in outside Dobbies Garden Centre, Opp. Premier Inn Ashford Eureka Leisure Park, Rutherford Road, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4BN.

20.35hr Coach drop Howdens, Unit 4, Moreton Industrial Estate, London Road, Swanley BR8 8DE.

20.50hr Coach drop off Dartford Railway Station DA1 1BP.

21.30hr Coach drop Junction of Lady Lane & Mildmay Road, Chelmsford CM2 0EA.

21.40hr Coach drop Travelodge Hotel, 128-136 Parkway, Chelmsford CM2 7GY.

21.50hr Coach drop Premier Inn Victoria Road, Chelmsford CM1 1NY.

22.45hr Coach drop at the Bus Stop, Tesco Store, Pinewood, Ipswich IP8 3TS.

23.15hr Coach reaches destination Galloways Depot, Denters Hill, Mendlesham, Suffolk, IP14 5RR.

Tour Price is £925 per person sharing a twin or double room

Single Supplement: £280

We regret that we need to charge a single supplement for travellers who require their own hotel room. This is because increasingly hotel room prices are quoted with very little difference between single person or two person occupancy.

Included in the cost of this Tour are:

Hotel accommodation and breakfasts;

Hotel city taxes;

Luxury coach travel on a 49 seater coach with toilet;

All brewery visits, tours and brewery beer tastings;

Entrance fees to attractions, museums and historical sites;

All items marked with an asterisk above and on the individual detailed tour itinerary when issued;

Copies of Podge’s City Bar Guides and Maps for the town where we stay or spend some time;

Still and sparkling water on the coach;

Pick up from one of our agreed joining points on the way to Folkestone or even on the other side of the channel.

Courier Services from Siobhan McGinn, your Tour Guide.

Travellers are responsible for the costs of all food and drink apart from items marked with an asterisk on the detailed itinerary plus all passport and insurance costs.

All itinerary times are local and approximate.

Personal insurance is not included in the Tour price but is required to be taken out by Travellers on Podge's Belgian Beer Tours, as is carrying the free UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) which is the 2021 replacement for the old EHIC. You can still use your EHIC card so long as it is in date, then you need to apply for the GHIC replacement online.

If you have any questions or would like to join us please send Siobhan an email or call on +44 (0)7722 724 558.

All Tours are subject to our Terms and Conditions.

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