Sticke Warriors

Antwerp October 18-21

We took the D Bahn bus again from Düsseldorf to Antwerp. We checked into the hotel and headed over to Kulminator.



We started out with a round of vintage drafts but soon it was time for a flight of Westvleteren XII.



We had 2004, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018 plus a 2013 St. Bernardus Abt 12. The 2004 was pretty good, but other vintages were past their prime. The 2018 was pretty good. We also did a blind tasting of 6 tripels. We only identified one of the 6!

The next morning started out a little rough as we were awoken to this outside our hotel:



They had a before school concert for the scouts with sound checks beginning at 6:30 in front of the central station. It was very loud!

Later that morning four of us boarded a train and headed to Ghent for the day. We started out at Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant.



I started out with a De Bolleke (De Koninck APA), but thinking about it later, I probably should have saved that for Antwerp. From there stopped at Aba-Jour. Their Saison Dupont on tap was in great shape. Duvel accompanied lunch.

We ended up our day trip at Herberg De Dulle Griet, a cool old bar on the main square.




When we got back to Antwerp we met up with the rest of the group at Kulminator for some more vintage beers. The highlight of the night was a sampling of three Imperial Stouts, Black Albert Batch 0, Caulier 28, and Emelisse Imperial Stout.

Saturday began with a walk through an amazing Farmers Market then lunch at De Pelgrim, the tap room for De Koninck.



From there we went and found Speciale Belge Taproom, a new modern bar with some interesting taps. It was a little hard to find as it's buried in an old industrial complex. They said additional signage is on order.



Then it was back to, you guessed it, Kulminator! This group has a special connection to Kulminator as they have been coming here for 20 years. They no longer allow groups, but an exception was made for us. We spend so much time here because you never know when it will be the last time. The owners are getting older and the place is becoming cluttered, like they can't keep up anymore. Only time will tell...

After walking back to the hotel, a few of us headed to a nearby bar, Beerlovers Bar. A young clientele, 20 taps and few vintage beers on their beer list. It's worth a visit.

Sunday started out at Antwerp's second largest brewery, Brouwerijcafe De Seefhoek. It's surprising that a city the size of Antwerp, in a beercentric country like Belgium, only has two breweries!



The beers were decent, and the food is pretty good. They have a nice courtyard that they use as a biergarten in the summer. It's worth a visit but there are more interesting places to spend your time.

Such as our next stop, De Ware Jacob.




They had Avec Les Bons Voeux from Brasserie Dupont. Very good.

We had a quick one at Den Billekletser, followed by dinner and more beer at Billie's Bier Kafeteria. (Kulminator was closed ). The final beer in Antwerp was Alvinnter is Coming, a Barleywine by Brouwerij Alvinne.

My only other visit to Antwerp was an evening in 2010 that was spent at Kulminator. There's a lot more here than that and a lot of places that I didn't even get to. I'll have to get back some day.

 

It's a decent size city without a ton of tourists and most of the ones that are there disappear at night. It's very quaint with interesting views everywhere. We like to bike and hike and there's plenty of opportunities to do those things in the surrounding countryside and hitting several breweries along the way. I just feel comfortable there.

 

The tourists seem to be congregated around Schlenkerla and the Altes Rathaus. Other than that, I don't see the groups all that much. I'll have to try Bamberg some time in March, but that will have to wait for retirement, my wife can't go at that time of year currently.

When I say "without a ton of tourists," I'm comparing it to places like Prague.

I'm sure rarity has some effect on Westvleteren, but it still is a very good beer. The first time I had a XII it was very good. Based on our limited sample, recent versions don't seem to age as well. I'll have to drink the 2017 I brought home from Belgium last year.

 

Let's wrap this up.

October 22 - Amsterdam

I elected to only stay one night in Amsterdam and fly home in the morning. I was ready to go home by then so it was a good decision. I think others were starting to feel the same way.

We took the train from Antwerp, stopped at the hotel and dropped off our bags.

We headed to to Bierproeflokaal In De Wildeman, a nice old bar with a decent tap list.



They had a lot of old signs on the wall and other breweriana on display.



I had a Siphon Brewing Zwaluw (a rye beer), a Weihenstephaner Festbier and an Amstel Bock. All were decent. I also had a smoked sausage that had the texture of raw meat.

From there we headed Proeflokaal Arendsnest, a newish bar with 50 Dutch beers on tap.


(Photo courtesy of Fred Waltman)

I'd recommend this place if you're ever in Amsterdam.

I started out with Gulpener Herftsbock. A tasty bock. While I was drinking it I noticed this sign:



A couple of guys bought a bunch of de Molen biers (10?) I managed two more bocks, De Prael Herftsbok and Oedipus Madeline. The Gulpener was my favorite of the three. I also had an Oldskool Imperiøl Øldskeul, a winter ale. Very enjoyable.

Four of us did head over to the train station to check out the Delirium Tremens bar, but after stopping for a bite to eat, we decided to skip it (as I mentioned, I think everyone was getting a little burned out).

So the next day I headed home. And thus ends my adventure.

I want to thank Fred Waltman (@FrankenBier ) for making this trip available to me and for making all the arrangements. I got to knock a few things off my beer bucket list and drank a lot of good beer! I had a great time and hope to go again some time in the future (2019 is out for me as we're going to Oktoberfest!) I got to knock a few things off my beer bucket lists and drank a lot of good beer!

Fred, feel free to add a post about the couple of days after I left. I saw your Twitter posts and it looks like you went to some good places.

 

Unfortunately we don't see any of the B. United cans here in St. Louis. The Sticke we see here are the 333 cl bottles that are usually a year old. I did bring two bottles of Sticke I bought at the brewery on Sticke day but they've already been consumed.