Waking up in the new Novotel, right in the city center of Ypres; gave us a good feeling. Breakfast was served in a very pleasant and bright patio, as we talked about the wonderful experiences of yesterday, and the program ahead of us. Everyone agreed that the welcome, in all the places we had visited so far, had been so hospitable and friendly.

And off we took towards Esen, a small village near Diksmuide, home of the Dolle Brouwers (the “Mad Brewers”) famous for their strong ales like Oerbier, Arabier and Stille Nacht. The mother of the brewer (everyone calls her Grandmother, she’s a real character) gave us a tour of the brewery, in her very own humorous way, and explained how two of her sons had taken over the old brewery in the eighties when they were students, and how they had won a first prize in a national beer competition with their first beer, the Oerbier ( = Ancient beer) . It is a typical example of an old Flemish brown, a sweet-sour dark ale with a magnificent depth.

The brewery is an example of a “cascade” brewery, using gravity for the transport of the liquid during the brewing process. Kris Herteleer, brewer, architect and painter, was waiting for us in the bar and explained us everything we always wanted to know about all their mad beers.
The Arabier is one of the few beers in Belgium made with dry hopping. This years’ Stille Nacht ( Silent Night) a Xmas beer of 12°. Another grand experience for all of us.

When we left he brewery, we stopped at the “Ijzertoren”, just outside the center of Diksmuide. It is the largest peace memorial in the world and we had time to walk around it and take some pictures.

At midday, we were expected at the brewery- and malt museum “de Snoek” ( “the Pike”) in Alveringem, a small village between Veurne and Ypres. Regnier gave us a tour of the museum. He told us it was so well preserved because, during WW1 it had been in a zone that had never been occupied by the Germans, just behind the allied lines. Soldiers came to rest in the village when they were on leave and they drunk the beer of the brewery. After the war, business was booming because working men came from all over Europe to rebuild the zone that had been destroyed during the war, and they drank the beer of the brewery They kept on brewing there until shortly after WW 2. Then the owners went on as distributors until they shut it down and turned it into a museum. We had lunch there and tasted their beers ( the blond is made at Bavik, the dark at Strubbe in Ichtegem).

Menu Cold meat with veggies and bread and "smout" (porc-grease) Snoek blonde and dark

After lunch, we left for a visit to Westvleteren, the smallest of the six Trappist abbeys in Belgium. It is situated between Veurne and Ypres, just a few miles from Alveringem. We walked around the abbey walls (no one is allowed inside ) and visited the grotto where there is a shrine for Our Mary. The bar opposite the abbey is called “ In de Vrede” (“ In Peace”) and they serve all the beers of the abbey. They also have a very nice cheese and a paté.
Locals come on their bike, as well as the French ( it is very near the borderline with France ) and busses stop there, bringing visitors from all over the world : the place is really famous.

We were granted a couple of free hours in Ypres afterwards, to do some shopping and sightseeing. Ypres is really a nice provincial town, completely destroyed during WW1, but they did a real nice job rebuilding it, including the Belfry on the market square, which had been there since the middle ages.

At 8 PM we walked down to the Menin Gate, which is another peace memorial right in the city center. The names of 30,000 soldiers are inscribed in the marble walls of the Gate and every night, since 1928, the Last Post has been sounded beneath the imposing arches of the Menin Gate.

We were just in time for dinner at Hellekappelle in Loker, a small village on the side of the “ Kemmelberg”, a hill outside Ypres, right on the border with France.
There is a small house brewery where excellent food is served, and where we had a delicious onion soup and afterwards beef stew cooked in Zatte Bie. We tasted all their beers: Hellekappelle, a light refreshing pale, Plokkersbier is blond spicy and hoppy, Helleketelbier is a delicious spiced ale brewed from malt and maize, and Zatte Bie is a black beer, slightly spiced, with a nice burned taste.

Menu Onion soup carbonades with Zatte Bie and mashed potatoes Zatte Bie Ice cream and coffee

Day IV