Podge’s Belgian Beer Tours

The Great Triennial Poperinge Beer & Hop Festival Tour

Thursday 17 September to Monday 21 September 2026

This great autumn beer Tour takes in the Poperinge Triennial Beer & Hop festival in Poperinge, West Flanders, which is so costly and complex to hold that it is only held every three years in this little town in the middle of Belgium's main hop growing area. This five day, four night Tour is based at the four star Novotel in Ypres, an excellent base just a few minutes drive from Poperinge and with a really good beer bar scene. Cafe Bazaar in Ypres has the best Black Beer menu, probably in the world. And we get to pop in every evening!! Whoo-hoo! Just have a look at Podge's Ypres Bar Guide. We'll visit breweries, brewery taps and beer cafes tucked away in the lovely Westhoek (West Corner) of Flanders, Siobhan's favourite bit of Belgium. All from the comfort of our luxury 49 seater coach. Join us.

The Triennial Poperinge Beer & Hop Festival, hop hats!

We are based in Chelmsford in Essex and we use a UK hired coach to travel. We try to use Le Shuttle (Eurotunnel) from Folkestone to get to and from Belgium, but if not available we go by ferry from Dover to Calais. 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. Podge's Central Chelmsford Map shows suggested accomodation and pubs! 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 and on the way to Folkestone (or Dover if we go by ferry) and picks up at several points, as agreed with Siobhan, as below:

Ipswich, Bus Stop, Tesco Extra Store, Copdock Interchange, Pinewood, Ipswich IP8 3TS.

Colchester, McDonald's, Tollgate West, Stanway, Colchester C03 8RG.

Chelmsford, The Woolpack, 23 Mildmay Road, CM2 0DN.

Dartford, BP Garage (formerly Esso) 474 Princes Road, DA1 1YT. On the return leg we drop off at Dartford Railway Station DA1 1DR.

Swanley, Unit 4, Moreton Industrial Estate, London Road, BR8 8DE.

Ashford, pull in Outside Dobbies Garden Centre, Opposite Premier Inn, Ashford Eureka Leisure Park, Rutherford Road, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4BN.

Folkestone, Shell Garage, Stop 24 Services, J11, M20, Kent, CT21 4BL.

This Tour is currently being built, on the basis of the detailed, timed itinerary set out below. For up to date news subscribe to our monthly email newsletter - there is a form to do this at the foot of this page. The final detailed and timed itinerary will be posted here at least four weeks prior to departure. If you would like to join us please send Siobhan an email or call on +44 (0) 7722 724 558 for details on how to secure a place and pay the deposit for this Tour, or if you have any questions about this Tour.

Day 1 - Thursday 17 September

04.45hr Coach departs from Galloways coach depot at Denters Hill, Mendlesham, Suffolk, IP14 5RR.

05.15hr Coach pick up at Bus Stop, Tesco Store, Pinewood, Ipswich IP8 3TS.

06.00hr Coach pick up The Woolpack, Mildmay Road, Chelmsford CM2 0DN.

07.00hr Coach pick up at Howdens, Unit 4, Moreton Industrial Estate, London Road, Swanley, Kent BR8 8DE. 07.45hr Coach pick up at Pull in Outside Dobbies Garden Centre, Opp. Premier Inn Ashford Eureka Leisure Park, Rutherford Road, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4BN.

08.00hr Coach picks up at Shell Garage, Stop 24 Services, J11, M20, Kent, CT21 4BL.

08.20hr Arrive Le Shuttle (Eurotunnel) Folkestone.

10.20hr Departure of Le Shuttle (Eurotunnel) Train crossing from Folkestone.

12.00hr Arrive/Disembark Calais.

13.30hr Arrive at our first stop the Hof ter Daele in the leafy countryside outside Veurne. This is a new visit for us to a lovely old farm and barn buildings which have been converted into a beer restaurant and grill. They offer a menu of 47 beers including a good spread of locals and two house beers, a blonde and a bruin, served in a ceramic pot. It has pretty outdoor areas with small farm animals. Their grill menu includes our traveller’s favourite meal – Spare Ribs! We’ll stop here for a meal and to slake our great cross-channel thirst.

15.30hr Leave the grill-house-farm Hof Daele in Veurne.

16.00hr Call in at the excellent Deca Brewery in Woesten for a visit to their new tasting room at the brewery. The current brewery was rebuilt in 1920 after the old one was destroyed in the First World War. The brewery has been run by the Christiaens family for the past five generations, and the sixth generation in the form of twin boys made an appearance in 2020. All generations called their first son Georges, and the current brewer/owner is known by his middle name Nicolas but is really called Georges. His father built breweries in Africa and bought Deca brewery to show his African customers a small-scale brewery in action but took over himself here in 1991 beginning the Vleteren and Antiek range of beers. I remember these on visits here on early Tours, the labels featuring a cartoon of a barrel and a lounging, toga-ed Roman. The dark beers to look out for are the Vleteren Alt 8%abv, the Vleteren 8 Bruin and Vleteren 12 Bruin both aged for one year in oak barrels. Quality beers here, lovely family. They have a shop where you can also buy their range of beers.

17.30hr Leave Deca Brewery in Woesten.

18.00hr Arrive at the comfortable and very centrally located Novotel in Ypres. The evening is free for you to explore this ancient but amazingly rebuilt city armed with a copy of Podge’s Ypres Bar Guide* and accompanying map*.

A tasty Hommelbier.

Day 2 Friday 18 September

10.00hr Following a superb buffet breakfast* we head off by coach for a day out.

10.30hr Arrive at Dranken Rojo drinks warehouse in Kortemark where we can fill up with your favourite beers to take home.

11.45hr Leave Dranken Rojo in Kortemark.

12.00hr Arrive at a new brewery, the Terrest Brewery in Houthulst. This is a hop farm which has have recently installed a brewery. High on the Terrest hill (well, high for Flanders!), Johan and daughter Valerie make their own farm beer here. Five years ago, farmer Johan started a brewing course in Kortrijk. Every weekend he locked himself in his barn with his 50L brew kettle on the farm and by trial and error, tasting and re-tasting tried to find a recipe completely in line with his taste. One day he asked his recently graduated daughter if she wanted to join him on a trip to the Netherlands to see a large brewery. She did. Then she also went on the brewing course! They created their beer, Golden Tripel 8%abv. They describe it as fresh, nicely balanced, with several malts but not too hoppy and apparently you can taste the herbs, but not excessively so. The barley and hops for the Golden Tripel are grown on the farm and never leave the farm until it is in bottles. So very ‘short chain’. They also sell directly to consumers, retail and catering. They have recently taken over the brewing of the lovely Plukker beers, formerly brewed by De Plukker hop farm outside Poperinge. These all have the gold hop logo on the bottles, denoting that they are made with 100% Belgian hops and are all organic. The beers in this range are:

 Keikoppenbier - 6.1%abv blonde

 Tripel Plukker - 7.5% abv Tripel

 Rookop - 6.5%abv dark beer

 All Inclusive - 8%abv blonde brewed with 8 varieties of hop

We will have a little tour and a beer tasting here*.

13.45hr Leave Terrest Farm and Brewery in Houthulst.

14.00hr Arrive at De Kippe in Merkem (ask them to open early for us). The Chicken has been here for years on the main Ieper - Diksmuide road. It’s a big grill restaurant with a beer list extending to 70+ beers. They have two house beers, a 6%abv blonde on draft called Kippebier (chicken beer) and a dark one in bottles.

16.00hr Leave De Kippe in Merkem.

16.30hr Arrive at the Rabarberhoeve Rhubarb Farm in Alveringem. Pol and Katrien run a superb farm devoted to Rhubarb, an important local product which is coming back into fashion. They grow a lot of it here and have a shop and bar offering Rhubarb Cider, Rhubarb Juice, Rhubarb Preserve, Rhubarb Pate, Rhubarb Cake, Rhubarb Chocolate Praline and a Rhubarb Beer. Yes. a Rhubarb Wheat Beer. Siobhan will buy everyone a Rhubarb Beer*.

17.45hr Leave the Rabarberhoeve Rhubarb Farm in Merkem.

18.15hr Arrive back at Novotel in central Ypres for a night on the town.

Hop harvesting at Hop Farm Hoppecruyt in Proven

Day 3 Saturday 19 September

10.00hr Following a superb buffet breakfast* in our hotel we head off by coach for a day out.

10.30hr Arrive at the Belhop Hop Farm just west of Poperinge for a tour and little beer tasting*. Hop growing has been traditional for hundreds of years in this area, and numbers of hop farms have reduced, but this farm has been in the hands of the Boeraeve family for 5 generations, since 1903. The young current owner is passionate about quality hop growing for beer. They currently have 8 hectares of hops, both aroma hops (Goldings, Cascade, Fuggles and Centennial) and bitter varieties (Target and Magnum). The mild maritime climate and the Poperinge sandy loam soil give the hops a unique taste which can be detected in the beers brewed with these hops. We will have a visit here and they like to take you into the hop field, and we can taste their home-grown hops in their house beer Saison Belhop which they describe as an aperitif beer made with 100% Belhop hops. This may be brewed by the excellent Toye Brewery near Kortrijk. Look out for the Belgian Hop logo which can be used on beer labels where the beer is made with Belgian hops. In order to promote and showcase Belgian hops, the logo was created in September 2011 at the annual “Lekker Westhoeks” festival. The main condition for its use is that at least half of the hops used for the beer are of Belgian origin. In 2017 the gold logo was created only to be used where the beer is brewed with 100% Belgian hops. Also from 2017 Belgian hop growers signed up to quality conditions which allow them also to use the "Belgian hops" logo to commercialize and promote their hops. We will have a full visit of the hop fields, barn and a taste of their Saison local beer. They also created an excellent non-alcoholic Goeste Hop Syrup. A 100% West Flemish product created by Chef Louis. It makes a lovely lemonade when the syrup is added to (sparkling) water. It’s really tasty and refreshing.

12.00hr Leave Belhop Hop Farm in Poperinge.

12.15hr Arrive at another new visit for our Tours to the Gouden Arend (Golden Eagle) and Werbrouck Brewery in Roesbrugge, on the main square. This place was founded in 2018 by brewer Conrad, his wife Lien and their son Sam. They offer beers brewed with 100% Belgian Poperinge hops and brew:

• Triple Blonde at 7%abv

• Triple Amber 9.5%abv

• Dubbel Brown 8%abv

We’ll have a tutored tasting of their three beers and a talk about the history of the building, the village and the region. I don’t think the brewery is here, so we’ll ask where they are brewed. We’ll also have a meal here.

14.30hr Leave Den Gouden Arend in Roesbrugge.

14.45hr Arrive at De Struise Brouwers Brewery in Oostvleteren for a little look at the brewery and a taste of their exceptional beers. The brewery tap at the old schoolroom is only open for a few hours each Saturday. This is the Valhalla of Black Beers. Struise Brouwers have always brewed a fair proportion of Black Beers, considered amongst the top black beers in the world, according to Siobhan and supported by Travellers on Podge's Belgian Beer Tours for some years now! They have a number of taps here. Struise Brouwers have been very successful since they began on the Ostrich Farm nearby around 20 years ago and opened a beer shop in Bruges and in Woesten, and had good exports to USA and elsewhere. However post-covid the business has struggled, along with many other breweries in Belgium. In January 2025 they announced that they had to drastically restructure and reorient their business. Without these changes, eventual closure would be inevitable. They announced that only through renewal can they come back stronger and continue building toward a sustainable future. We are visiting to support them. Try their big black Russian Imp Stout style beers like Black Albert 13%abv, Black Damnation 13%abv and the luscious Cuvee Delphine 13% abv.

16.30hr Leave De Struise Brouwers in Oostvleteren.

17.00hr Arrive back at Novotel in central Ypres for a little nap, followed by a night out.

St Sixtus beer, at home, in the Trappist Monastery where it is brewed by monks.

Day 4 Sunday 20 September

10.00hr Following a superb buffet breakfast* in our hotel we head off by coach for a day out.

10.30hr Call in at the Nieuwen Appel near Watou. This is a traditional Flemish countryside café with a generous 56 beers on the menu, but even better, they have an even more traditional Boltra court here – and we’re going to play!

12.15hr Leave de Nieuwen Appel near Watou.

12.30hr Arrive in the town of Poperinge for the big day of its three yearly Beer and Hop Festival. The Sunday is devoted to the Hop Pageant street parade which starts at 15.00hrs. Throughout the day until 20.00hr the Lekker Westhoeks food and drink festival takes place on the main square where you can taste and buy local produce to eat there or take away. They have savoury snacks, sweet cakes, all locally made. Look out for the unusual ‘Poperingse hommelknopje’ which are hop shaped chocolates filled with a home-made ganache with Watou Tripel beer with an extra flavour of Poperinge hops. Its form, its filling as well as its name make this chocolate a typical local product. The chocolates come in different sized packs and was invented and is made by artisanal chocolaterie Zokola in Krombeke. Six local chefs will be serving their most delicious dishes in the food corner. There are also plenty of local breweries represented, with 50 beers to try, both well-known and lesser-known beers, including the latest beer from Poperinge, “Soesol” a 6.5%abv blonde beer, conceived by three homebrewing friends known as Brouwmens. Breweries present will be Sint Sixtus Trappist Westvleteren, Terrest Brewery, Jessenhofke, Leroy Breweries, Pater Pitte, Bux Bier/Dikke Jan, Brouwerij Werbrouck, Brouwerij De Poes, Brouwerij Deca, St. Bernardus Brouwerij, Brouwmens, Vliegend Paard Brouwers/Préaris. Free entry. A copy of Podge’s Poperinge Bar Guide and map will be distributed on Tour.* You have an opportunity to find something to eat before the big event of the weekend:

15.00hr The start of the Great Street Hop Procession. This colourful pageant tells the story of the hop in all its facets. More than 1,300 local people take part, several dozen horsemen and various beautiful floats bring outstanding interpretations of, among other things, the foreign hop pickers of old times and traditional hand hop picking. Children represent the friends and enemies of the hop, dressed as various insects. Oh, and my favourite, dog carts, with matching dogs.

18.00hr Leave Poperinge.

18.30hr Arrive back at Novotel in central Ypres for an evening at leisure, or a bit of a snooze.

Day 5 Monday 21 September

10.00hr After breakfast* check out of Novotel, Ypres.

10.45hr 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. This great little bar has been taken over in recent years by Philip Nock, who is doing a brilliant job keeping the beer list up to over 150 choices. Try the house beer De Snoek, in a brown and a blonde variety, brewed by the excellent De Dolle Brouwers in Esen.

12.30hr Leave Café de Snoek in Alveringem.

12.45hr Arrive at In de Vrede in Westvleteren for a visit to this special Trappist Monastery Brewery Tap for the Sint-Sixtusabdij. It had a renovation in 2025 and has new wallpaper, tables and chairs and a new giant glass display cabinet with an old filling machine and old 75cl bottles. The shop had a revamp too, and is excellent by the way. This place is still seen as the centre of the beer world since 2005 when website Ratebeer nominated the Westvleteren 12 the best beer in the world. This tiny producer was swamped. They do not generally sell their beer anywhere else but here. No exports. So when here you need to try the three beers they brew:

• The Blonde – 5.8%abv

• The 8 – 8%abv (dark)

• The 12 – which is in fact 10.2%abv (dark)

You may be able to buy a limited amount from the shop if available, but they don’t usually have all three at once. Lovely outdoor terrace in warmer weather. Great fresh snacks, sandwiches and monastery cheese. We’ll settle here for our last visit of the Tour and have something to eat too. Love it while you can. There are around 20 monks in residence here, and two are actively involved in the brewery. How long before we will say “and then there were none”?

15.15hr Leave In de Vrede in Westvleteren.

16.30hr Arrive Calais Le Shuttle (Eurostar) Terminal.

18.20hr Leave Calais on Le Shuttle (Eurostar) train.

18.00hr Arrive Folkestone Le Shuttle (Eurostar) Terminal.

18.15hr Coach drop at Shell Garage, Stop 24 Services, J11, M20, Kent, CT21 4BL.

18.30hr Coach drop at Pull in Outside Dobbies Garden Centre, Opp. Premier Inn, Ashford Eureka Leisure Park, Rutherford Road, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4BN.

19.30hr Coach drop Howdens, Unit 4, Moreton Industrial Estate, London Road, Swanley BR8 8DE.

19.45hr Coach drop outside Dartford Rail Station, Kent, DA1 1DR.

20.30hr Coach drop Junction Lady Lane & Mildmay Road, Chelmsford CM2 0EA.

20.45hr Coach drop at Travelodge Hotel, 128-136 Parkway, Chelmsford CM2 7GY.

21.00hr Coach drop at Premier Inn Victoria Road, Chelmsford CM1 1NY.

21.45hr Coach drop at Bus Stop, Tesco Store, Pinewood, Ipswich IP8 3TS.

22.30hr Coach drop off at Galloways coach depot at Denters Hill, Mendlesham, Suffolk, IP14 5RR.

The mythical Hop Devil, said to cause damage to growing hops.

Tour Price is £1085 per person price sharing a double or twin room.

Single Supplement £345 if you would like a room of your own.

The deposit payable to secure a place on this Tour is £225 per person.

Send Siobhan an email to find out how to pay the deposit.

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;

Free bottled 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.

All Tours are subject to our Terms and Conditions.

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