At 11AM we were expected in the village of Achouffe, so we left pretty early. The Ardennes, situated in the East of Belgium is a very green area with lots of pinewoods and small rural villages. Achouffe houses a very nice brewery with the same name; it has just recently been taken over by Duvel-Moortgat. Tine, the friendly guide, gave us a tour and afterwards we sat down for lunch in the “brasserie”.

The lunch consisted of a local dish “Assiete des Ardennes”, with cold ham, cheese, pâté, and lots of fresh vegetables all accompanied with the Achouffe beers: La Chouffe (8% blonde unfiltered sweet-bitter ale) and Mc Chouffe, a dark sweetish strong ale of 8% also. After a stop at the brewery shop (everyone got a glass and a port-free postcard) we headed for Rochefort.

This town has a very famous abbey called St. Rémy. We admired the building, the gardens and were allowed to have a look in the church. The brewery itself never opens up for visits, but we tasted all the beers sitting on a patio of a nice pub in town. The weather was beautiful; the sky was bleu and stayed like that all week!!

After this nice stop, Dirk took us to Bastogne, city famous for the fierce battles of the Bulge in WW2. When asked by the German generals if he would surrender, general Mc Auliffe, commander of the allied forces, answered shortly “NUTS”.

The monument, an impressive marble arcade carries the names of all US States and names of fallen soldiers.
We also visited the museum, which is a tribute to freedom and democracy.

After the check-inn in the very nice hotel Melba, situated right in the city centre, we went for dinner in the nearby village of Gouvy. The brewpub-restaurant called “Les 3 Fourquets” (= the 3 Forks) is also owned by La Chouffe. After a very nice house brewed wheat beer, called “Surette”, we enjoyed:

During dessert, the lady of the house gave us a tour of the microbrewery.

Day III