To beer or not to beer

Happy St. Patricks Day, everybody!!! \o/

To celebrate this special date, I'll tell the story about the day I almost didn't take a beer because I'm terrible on reading maps and I'm a very scared person.

There is a place in Belgium where you can have a very good artisanal beer and very exclusive experience. It's called "De Garre". This is a hidden pub on the medieval city of Brugge. To all the beer enthusiasts and connoisseurs, this is a must go place. There you are allowed just to have maximum 3 cups (that's a rule!). The beer is a Belgium Tripel Ale with 11% alcohol (because of its two times amount of malt), it's produced by Brouwerij Van Steenberge, famous for other big Belgian ales Piraat and Gulden Draak, and you can buy a bottle of De Garre on stores too, however this pub is the only place in the world where you can have it on tap.

The location of De Garre is a little bit tricky, because it's on a hidden alley and you can easily get lost on those beautiful medieval streets of Brugge. When I arrived on the hotel, I received a map of the city's touristic area, then looking at another map (online) where some beer lovers pinned the location of De Garre, I thought it would be easy to find the place.

Turns out that I don't really know how to read maps...

So I walked, and walked, and walked... In circles!!! My husband was thirsty (me too!), and I wasn't able to find the pub. Then my husband decided to read the map by himself. And voilá!! We almost instantly arrived. But in front of the alley, I didn't want to enter, because: first, there was a child making pee there (looks like this is a Belgium tradition!😜); and second, it was too empty (no way there was a pub in there!). I thought "We'll lose our kidneys here!".

I was wrong and scared, so my husband convinced me to go through. And was amazing! Indeed the pub is very unique. With our beer we received also a plate of cheese that paired perfectly. The attention was funny, because my husband tried to speak French and the attendant clearly was able to understand, but just preferred to answer in Flemish or English.


I highly recommend De Garre. It's a lifetime experience and I'm sure every time that I stay in Brugge, I'll be back there.