We left at 10 AM (so there was still some time before for sightseeing Bastogne) for the city of Dinant.
From Namur to Dinant we drove along the embankment of the River Meuse, one of the biggest rivers in Belgium.

Brewery Caracole, run by François Tonglet, started in nearby Namur in the 1990’s and later moved to these premises in Famignoul. There had always been a brewery on this spot and François takes the credit for having restarted this old brewery and is now still heating water with a wood-fire!! Just like in the old days!

They make excellent beers here. The blonde, called Saxo (8%) is a tribute to Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone and born in Dinant.
The others are Caracole, a strong amber of 8%, Troublette, a spicy wheat beer (6.5%),
Nostradamus, a massive dark ale (10%). Commissioned beers include La Forrestine, a very spicy blonde ale with a piny taste! La Tournée Beaurinoise for the nearby village of Beauraing.

After the tour the tasting went on outside and we sat down for a fantastic BBQ!!
Menu: chicken, pork sausage, steak and excellent vegetables and sauces as well as called potatoes in a spiced dressing. Caracole was served in 75 cl bottles.

The afternoon consisted of a visit of 2 breweries in the more Western Wallonian province of Hainaut: Dupont and Dubuisson.

The first one makes Saison Dupont and Moinette. We sat outside in the garden of the brewery outlet, a small local village pub called ‘Les Caves Dupont’ where the dog is called Moinette, a crossing of a Pugh and a poodle!!

We were served all the beers, including the Saison and Moinette on draught, the Blanche de Hainaut wheat beer, the honey beer called Bière de Miel and the Moinette brune (8%)
The brewery also has a cheese factory and bakery. Some of us bought cheese and had it sealed.

After that we went to the nearby village of Pipaix, to the Dubuisson brewery, makers of the Bush-Scaldis beers.

It’s, just like Dupont, a very good example of an old farmhouse brewery. They are seventh generation brewers and in the 1930’s were the first to produce a 12% amber ale called Bush (‘une buisson’ is the French word for a bush)

We saw the presentation film and dived in the cellars to see the wooden barrels containing Bush Prestige, a 13% oak aged version of the amber ale. Other nice beers are Bush Blonde (10.5%) and Cuvée des Trolls (7%) spiced with crushed orange peel.


After the great tour of the entire brewery, we sat down for dinner. We enjoyed:

After that we headed for our hotel in Bruges. After check-in, Regnier took everyone for a tour of Bruges by night and a pub-crawl at Cambrinus, were we would have dinner on Friday.