August 26, 2024

Belgian Beer Café Vignettes: Poechenellekelder, Brussels

Cantillon with its cobwebbed rafters sheltering rows of barrels. The cheerfully riotous Delirium Café. Moeder Lambic with its rare beers. The Morte Subite, elegantly attired in art nouveau. You could spend days or even weeks in Brussels without coming close to exhausting your possibilities for memorable beer experiences. One of my faves is the quirky — and, for English speakers, devilishly difficult-to-pronounce — Poechenellekelder.

Master of Puppets

A one-time puppet theater, Poechenellekelder hides out in plain view across from one of the most famous statues in the world. The café does get its share of tourists, many of whom sun themselves on the large terrace that spills out in the direction of Manneken Pis, but it’s not nearly as touristy as Delirium Café on the other side of the Grand Place.

And it’s unique. The well-worn interior with warm wood tones is given over to a comprehensive collection of dolls and puppets, including renditions of the famous kid outside. But that’s not all. Poechenellekelder is also a riot of old comic strips, dusty hops strewn from the rafters, barrels of various sizes, old photographs and engravings, beer signs, old musical instruments, and even a vintage sled and crossbow. It’s abuzz with conversation in the evening, the dim light limning the puppets ready for their cameo in a cabaret act that could seemingly begin at any time. If you arrive during the day, the best seats are along the Rue du Chêne, where you can divide your time between watching the people outside and inventing stories about each piece of interior décor.

Covering All the Belgian Beer Bases

Poechenellekelder is also a legit beer establishment, but one that’s less self-consciously so than places like Moeder Lambic. You can choose from over twenty bottlings of gueuze, lambic, kriek, and other fruited beers. Nearly half of these hail from Cantillon. If you don’t have time for a pilgrimage to this sacred beer site while in Brussels, you’ll find reasonably priced bottlings like Foufoune, St-Lamvinus, Saint-Gilloise, and Lou Pepe for €33 and under. It’s also worth noting that Poechenellekelder serves both Orval and “Vieil Orval” (which has been aged for a minimum of six months) for folks interested in tasting how the Brettanomyces in Orval develops over time.

Poechenellekelder’s remaining hundred-plus bottlings are like a tour through well-known Belgian classics like Chimay, Rochefort, and Westmalle, along with beers we don’t often see in North America these days. Bink Bloesem, Saison, d’Epeautre, and Van der Ghinste Rood-bruin are but a few examples. The menu is conveniently divided into brown, amber, blond, and Trappist, with plenty of classic brasserie food options that pair well with beer (charcuterie, boudin blanc and other sausages, and Trappist cheeses).

That should keep you busy for the rest of what will surely be an enjoyable evening.

Fun Facts: Poechenelle—From Buffoonery to Ballet to Beer

Poechenelle can mean both buffoon and wooden puppet. The thread that ties these seemingly unrelated meanings together is the seventeenth-century Italian commedia dell’arte, a theater form characterized by masked figures representing social stereotypes. Pulcinella inspired Stravinsky’s one-act ballet of the same name (1920), along with his earlier Petrushka (1911). Poechenelle is a variation of Pulcinella, a humourously subversive stock character originating in this commedia dell’arte tradition.

Known variously as Polichinelle (French), Kasperle (German), Petrushka (Russian), and Punch (of Punch and Judy fame), Pulcinella is a trickster, a rebellious lord of misrule who enforces moral justice with a slapstick. Plays usually end with a ghost, a policeman, a hangman, or the devil dragging Pulcinella away. The stock character eventually migrated from the stage to the marionette theater, which is why today’s Poechenellekelder pays tribute both to the buffoonery of Pulcinella and to wooden puppets.

So there you have it: a little dash of cultural spice to add to your next Belgian beer. Happy beer café explorations, everyone!

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