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Bars and Cafes

Tipple on the Corner

The Corner House

Alan O’Grady opened his bar, The Corner House, earlier this month on Antwerp’s trendy Nationalestraat. He designed it to be the perfect place to pop in for a drink on your way home after work or a place to spend the evening.

This is not a bar which wows you with a selection of hundreds of ales, by bringing brews from Brunei or beers from Beer Sheba.

This is a bar with atmosphere. When I went there to deliver some samples, I immediately felt the impulse to sit down and have a pint, or pintje in the local lingo.

Ginger Beer
Allan @ Work

The Perfect Stella

I ordered a glass of Stella Artois. Many bars and restaurants serve Stella on tap, but not all are the same. The quality can be affected if the keg is old, storage at the wrong temperature, tubes not cleaned properly etc. This one was perfect!

Sometimes, the challenge of pulling a perfect pint, is in fact not that simple. It does help if you enjoy what you serve.

The Tipple Effect

Ginger BeerNew customers are critical to the growth of any new business and we invest in selecting potential clients. I was delighted to receive the order from The Corner Shop for the regular Ginger Tipple and our Ginger Quad.

Ginger BeerI delivered yesterday evening and within a few hours was happily surprised to see pictures of Ginger Tipple in the bar and on the menu. This must be the record, as it usually takes a few weeks or even months for bars to change their menus. The Corner House is featuring the Ginger Tipples as their gluten-free offerings.

Nationalestraat

This long road links the Antwerp’s Old City with the artsy Antwerpen Zuid which is full of Art Nouveau buildings, galleries, museums, bars, cafés and great shops. The road was widened in 1884 and has now been restored and is home to a lot of the city’s trendier shops.

The Corner House is open from 10 am until 3 am, so you can Tipple 17 hours a day!

 

 

Kobe & Kriek

Spéciale Belge Taproom

Ginger BeerA few months ago, a friend of mine introduced me to an new area, not far from the Ginger Tipple brewery called De Pakt. Built out of some industrial buildings next to the old military hospital complex, it hosts a selection of restaurants, trendy shops and an organic rooftop garden. The old hospital is now a hub of modern apartments, businesses and a Michelin star restaurant, The Jane.

It also has a tremendous new beer bar, Spéciale Belge Taproom. Run by four friends, it offers about 13 craft beers on tap and many more in bottles. Selling craft beers from kegs is risky, because you have to finish off the keg quickly, preferably within a week, nevertheless, they have some great ales on draught.

I particularly enjoyed drinking Rye of Sun, a rye saison with a mouthful of funk nut less than a  sour and a lovely hops but less than an IPA with the added dimension of rye. The wonderful creation is a collaboration between Tanker in Estonia and Hedonis in Belgium. The there was the Petrus Sour with passion fruit from  and De Brabandere, where the passion fruit subtly underlies the 2 year old lambic.

Kobe & Kriek

Ginger BeerI have tried to convince them to make Ginger Tipple their gluten-free offering and delivered some of my bottles. They tasted the Ginger Tipple 4, but it was not what they were looking for; the regular Ginger Tipple and the soon to be launched Tipple Quad (11% ABV ginger donker aged with oak) are waiting in their fridge.

One of the partners, Kobe, was very skeptical about the kriek, how could I balance the contrasting ginger and morello cherry flavours? Then at 1:10 am on Wednesday morning he sent me an SMS that he loved it and I should be in contact with him.

He loved the kriek and ordered my last 22 bottles. What can I say? He has great taste! Every customer is important to me, but an order from a craft beer bar with such tremendous selection of excellent beers, made us feel proud.

Straight into the Fridge

Ginger BeerIt’s there in the fridge, only 22 bottles, so if you want one, you’ll have to be quick. Catch one if you can, otherwise you will have to wait until the end of the year when the 2018 vintage is ready.

 

300 Beers

Den Stillen Genieter

Readers of my blogs know that I love to visit Den Triest in Kapelle-op-den-bos when it is open on the first Sunday of each month. Usually when I am there, an older man with long white hair is sitting at the bar silently enjoying some of Mar Struyf’s brews. Little did I know that he was Den Stillen Genieter, Dutch for the silent enjoyer.

Mechelen

Ginger BeerFor many decades until December 2014, Gerard Walschaerts ran a beer bar in central Mechelen which sold over 800 different beers. The bar was called Den Stillen Genieter. This spring, he reopened in a new location, however, with only a selection of 300 beers.

A couple of months ago, when I was at Den Triest, Gerard stopped me as I was leaving and gave me his business card. He had heard about Ginger Tipple and was interested in selling it in Den Stillen Genieter.

To keep it short, we visited Gerard one afternoon and he liked all the Tipples we presented him. He ordered and we delivered!

Boulevard

Ginger BeerI could not resist the opportunity to try one of the many beers on tap and drank a Boulevard Tropical IPA with my son.  Even though I use hops and experiment with them, it never ceases to amaze me how some brewers manage to produce amazing flavours without adding fruits and other additives. In this case, we really enjoyed the refreshing grapefruit and passion fruit flavours from the hops.

Ginger BeerMany IPAs are not much more than dishwater with lots of hops, but Boulevard knows how to make an excellent ale. This is one of the reasons why Duvel-Moortgat invested in them a few year ago.

My only criticism? The foam was too perfect, but then I am jealous of beers with a great head, because Ginger Tipple’s foam does not last very long.

 

The City is Worth a Visit

Mechelen as a destination is an interesting city. For a period it was the capital of Belgium and Holland and vied over the centuries with Antwerp, Leuven and Brussels for commercial and religious dominance. Its Gothic cathedral, St Rumbold, at almost 100m dominates the skyline and the last of its 12 gates, the impressive Brusselsport, dates from the 13th century. The military Casern Dossin was used by the Nazis in World War II as a transit camp for Jews, gypsies and others before they were sent by train to the extermination camps. There is a new and informative museum on that period nearby.

For the younger visitors, there is the Technopolis science museum and a toy museum.

And of course, for refreshments between attractions there is always Den Stillen Genieter!