Imbibing Beer and Flemish Splendour in Ghent

Belgium’s compact size and its efficient transportation network make it a paradise for beer travelers. Say you’re staying in Brussels and want to head to Antwerp or Bruges for lunch and a few cultural excursions, followed by drinks in classic beer cafes. You can easily do that because you’ll be in each of these cities within an hour, give or take a few minutes.

But you wouldn’t be alone in places like Bruges. All the more reason to consider Ghent, a Flemish city home to languid canals, impressive Romanesque and Gothic churches, and quiet cobblestone streets lined with ornate facades. And beer, which is a solid enough reason in itself.

Beer establishments abound, but the flow of time has not been kind to Ghent’s brewers. Breweries once numbered as many as five hundred in the seventeenth century. Today there are but three, two of which (Dok Brewing Co. and Brouwbar) have opened in the past few years. Since beer and history are not as intertwined as they are in other European cities, and since many of you came here more for the beer than the history, I’ll save the colour commentary on Ghent — and why they’re affectionately known as “noose bearers” — for the end of this piece.

Without further ado, here are three classic beer cafes and a gruit brewery to provide you with a place to cool your heels as you explore the cultural treasures of Ghent.

Het Waterhuis aan die Bierkant

You can either take a tram from Gent Sint Pieters train station into the center of town or work up a thirst with a leisurely half-hour stroll along the canal. Either way, Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant, a popular beer cafe overlooking the Leie River, is an ideal place to begin your daily libations. Its low chocolate-brown ceilings, solid-backed mahogany chairs, and well-worn wooden floors make for a cozy tavern experience, while windows that reach up to the ceiling invite you to dig in for a few hours and watch the boats float by. As is the case with so many of Belgium’s beer cafes, the menu is ample, with over 160 beers to choose from. Start the day off well with one of the café’s house beers. You could do worse than Klokke Roeland, a robust dark amber tribute to the bell that rung out in the belfry till 1914. Careful, though: at 11%, this beer brewed by Van Steenberge for Waterhuis will have you hearing bells if you drink too much of it.

De Dulle Griet

Before potentially knocking yourself out for the day at your next stop, double back to the majestic Gothic St. Baafskathedral (St. Bavo’s Cathredral) to view Jan and Hubert van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece (The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb), along with works by other notable Flemish masters, including Peter Paul Rubens. Climb the nearby the fourteenth-century belfry for a glimpse of its carillon and a city vista, then head over to the Vridjdagmarkt with its stately step-gabled facades and statue of local hero, Jacob van Artevelde, fourteenth-century leader of the anti-French resistance. There you’ll find your next stop: De Dulle Griet, nestled snuggly amid the facades along the southwest side of the square.

De Dulle Griet is named after a cannon with a checkered history. Forged in the fifteenth century, the Dulle Griet (Mad Margaret) was deployed in 1452 during the siege of Oudenaarde, a town famous to latter-day beer drinkers as the home of Liefmans and epicenter of the Oud Bruin beer style. The cannon fell into the hands of the defenders, and was only returned to Ghent in 1578. Today it sits idly by, guarding a small niche down the way from the beer café that bears its name.

Like the cannon, this classic beer café is also a bit “mad,” a quirky mix of bric-a-brac décor crowding the walls and dangling from the ceiling, everything from beer signs and scary animal heads to wagon-wheel chandeliers. Dark beams overhead and a grey stone floor below mingle with the dim lighting and weathered tables in a vain attempt to lend gravitas to the whole affair. But even if the atmosphere remains cheerfully whimsical, the staff take beer seriously. The prodigious beer menu is more like a tome, with around 500 beers listed in alphabetical order. Progressively aged vintages of Orval sit side by side with offerings from breweries such as De Struise, Brussels Beer Project, De Dochter van der Korenaar, and several dozen you may never have heard of.

If you find yourself stumped by the overwhelming choices, just order the house beer, Max, and partake of one of the most peculiar tavern customs in Belgium. Max is served in a tall, bulbous-bottomed glass held upright by a wooden stand similar to the contraption you may have seen used to serve Pauwel Kwak, except larger. It is said that the contraption was designed with coachmen in mind. The design made it easy to hand the glass to the coachman, who could set the stand securely beside him for the ride. The whole shebang isn’t cheap to manufacture, and past customers were apparently prone to five-finger discounts, so De Dulle Griet now requires a rather ingenious deposit when you order: one of your shoes.

Gentse Gruut Brouwerij (Gruit Brewery)

A mere decade and change old, Gentse Gruut Brouwerij is the old-timer on Ghent’s proverbial brewery block, in more ways than one. What sets this brewery apart is its use of gruit instead of hops — a tribute to Ghent’s medieval heritage. For those unfamiliar with gruit, it’s the herb-and-spice mixture that brewers used to flavour and preserve their beers in the centuries before hops took over that role. Since gruit was bound up with medieval privileges and taxation revenue, the ingredients that went into gruit were a jealously guarded secret. The mix differed from locale to locale, but often included three main ingredients, Myrica gale (bog myrtle), yarrow, and marsh rosemary, along with a myriad of other herbs and spices like juniper berries, ginger, mugwort, caraway seeds, and aniseed.

Located across the Vridjdagmarkt and behind the Romanesque Sint Jacobskerk, Gentse Gruut is yet another unique drinking spot that shares a certain whimsy with places like De Dolle Griet. Mismatched furniture set among the exposed brick and ironwork is the order of the day inside this space flooded in natural light, while life-sized stuffed “zebra cows” gaze out placidly from a ledge above the bar. It’s all tastefully held in check by the architecture itself, a high-ceilinged warehouse with wooden beams supporting a glass sun roof spanning the structure. Brushed stainless steel horizontal fermenters stack neatly in a steel shelf that makes use of the original crossbeams. The soundtrack is an eclectic mix of soul, cool jazz, trip hop, and Satie. All these elements combine to give the space an airy and hip feel that is entirely original.

And the beers are fine, too. Brewer Annick de Splenter’s gruit beers evince a judicious hand with the herbs and spices, creating a warm backdrop for the beers rather than a shrill cacophony. You can choose from five, a Wit, a Blond, an Amber, a Bruin, and an Inferno (a spiced Tripel clocking in at 9% ABV). They offer flights of two (€4.50), three (€6.50), or all five (€9.50). Since I had already been partaking of the ale at the two places I listed previously, I opted for the flight of three.

Witbiers are spice-driven beers to begin with, so it’s no surprise to find one in Gentse Gruut’s lineup. Creamy yet refreshing, the Wit offers up the aromas you’d expect: orange-lemon with coriander, chamomile tea, and a grassy/peppery wheat note. If anything, the spicing could be more intense, especially given the opportunity that gruit presents. The hazy bronze Bruin reminds me of Lebkuchen (German-style gingerbread) and delivers malt in spades: figs, autumn honey, cocoa-dusted cake, nuts, and a beguiling tea-infused caramel note. The bitter herbs and relatively high ABV (8%) assure that this sweet beer does not become cloying. If you’re in the mood for an elegant beer with a tauter malt body than the Bruin, opt for the Amber. The malt character is similar to the Bruin in its spicy Lebkuchen quality (cinnamon, clove, nutmeg), but a peppery effervescence lends levity to the dark cherry, plum, light caramel, and dark bread.

Bierhuis De Brouwzaele

The Bierhuis De Brouwzaele is off the beaten tourist path, but getting there makes for a pleasant stroll along one of Ghent’s many canals. It’s also directly east of the Museum of Fine Art (MSK) and the Citadelpark, which houses the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (SMAK).

Situated at a fork in the road, the Bierhuis De Brouwzaele is a peaceful neighbourhood gathering place ideal for sipping a beer while reflecting on the artworks you just saw at the museum. Tall windows wrap around the semi-triangular facade, bathing the interior in dappled light. A former brewery, Bierhuis De Brouwzaele’s centerpiece is an impressive round bar housed in a cutaway of an old brewing copper. Woodcuts adorn the dark paneled walls, mingling with the occasional beer sign, potted plants, and dark green fin-de-siècle pillars propping up a mahogany ceiling. Tables out front afford views of the tree-lined canal on a warm day.

The beer list is extensive but not comprehensive — par for the course for Belgian beer cafes. Ten beers on tap include the refreshingly hop-spiced and honeyed Witkap Stimulo, a hazy lemon-gold ale with coriander-clove yeast notes and a spritz of citrus. You can also choose from ten Trappist beers (aged Orval among them), the usual Gueuze and Kriek suspects, and over thirty abbey beers (including the richly textured Ter Dolen Donker with its notes plum, brown sugar, licorice, and spice). Roughly forty more bottlings round out the selection.

A Serving of Ghent’s History to Go with Your Beer

Though no written records of Ghent’s origins exist, a settlement has stood on this site at the confluence of the Scheldt and Leie Rivers since before the Romans arrived on the scene. Water has been a fortuitous ingredient in Ghent’s history and rise to prominence, and not only as a waterway. Ghent’s marshy surroundings were ideal for the grazing of sheep. These sheep produced an abundance of wool, which in turn gave rise to a flourishing textile industry. Wool and textiles transformed the city into a wealthy center of trade, with ornate gabled facades and soaring spires bearing witness to Ghent’s prosperity during the Middle Ages. By the time the thirteenth century rolled around, Ghent numbered some 50,000 souls, making it the second-largest city in north of the Alps after Paris.

But with prosperity came strife. After the Hundred Years’ War between France and England, the city fell under the influence of the Burgundian dukes, who were, to put it mildly, not loved by the proud citizens of Ghent. Worse was yet to come in the form of native son, Charles V, the powerful Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. Though born in Ghent, Charles V had no qualms about humiliating the citizens of Ghent after they revolted in 1539 in response to his onerous demand for more taxes. Charles marched his army into Ghent in 1540 and quickly put paid to the uprising. As punishment, Charles obliged the city’s notables to walk barefoot to his palace — dressed in white tunics and dragging a noose around their necks — to plead for mercy. Charles spared the city from destruction but stripped the city of its privileges. That didn’t faze the citizens of Ghent, who turned the humiliation into a badge of honour. To this day they are known as Stroppendragers, or noose bearers.

Ghent’s fortunes waxed and waned in the centuries after its unfortunate encounter with Charles V. Though it never did recover its position of predominance, Ghent is now Belgium’s third-largest port and home to the University of Ghent and its 40,000 students — which helps explain why Ghent’s abundance of establishments dedicated to beer. That, and a steady stream of visitors local and international who have foregone the tourist hordes of places like Bruges.

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Ghent is all of 35 minutes from Brussel-Centraal, with several departures per hour. You could conceivably have a breakfast of Belgian waffles near Brussel-Centraal, get your train to Ghent, and then have a few beers at each of the places listed above — and still make it back to Brussels in time for a nightcap at any of your favourite Brussels drinking establishments.

Such is the joy of drinking in Belgium.

Related articles

Beer Cafes and Bollekes: Beer for a Day in Antwerp

Belfries and Beers in Bruges

Where the Wild Beers Are: Brussels and Flemish Brabant

Sources

John P. Arnold. Origin and History of Beer and Brewing: From Prehistoric Times to the Beginning of Brewing Science and Technology (1911; reprint issued in 2005).

BeerTourism.com (a website dedicated to Belgian beer).

Lonely Planet: Belgium and Luxembourg (2016 edition).

Websites of the establishments listed here (see links in text).

All images by F.D. Hofer.

© 2020 Franz D. Hofer and A Tempest in a Tankard. All rights reserved.