After a good breakfast in the very nice Sofitel Hotel we left for Oudenaarde, a town in the province of East Flanders, South of Ghent, where we were expected in the Roman Brewery.

This is one of the largest family breweries in Belgium and they produce some of the finest beers like Ename Abbey Beer and Sloeber Golden Ale. The buildings date from the 1930’s but are in mint condition. The huge old steam engines that used to power the whole brewery have been preserved in what is now the museum part of the brewery. This is truly impressive!

Their pilsner ROMY PILS is their biggest seller. They own several hundreds of pubs all over Flanders and the pilsner is what people drink most. They also bottle spring water and produce a range of sodas and soft drinks. We saw the bottling line and the keg filling line as well as the warehouses. In the majestic tasting room on the first floor we were able to taste all those fantastic beers and Mr. Lode Roman, who had kindly given us the tour of the brewery, along with his commercial director and the brew master, answered all our questions.

We had lunch in the neighbouring village of Sint Lievens Houtem, in a local pub called “De Gouden Leeuw” (The Golden Lion).

After that fine lunch, we were expected in nearby Herzele for a visit to Brouwerij De Ryck.

This old farmhouse brewery has been making a light amber “ Special” for generations. Lately, with the new generation coming into the brewery, things have changed and a new range of beers has been created. “Jules De Kriek” a  sweet cherry beer and “Jules de Banane” (banana beer) as well as dryer kriek called “Kriek Fantastic”. The “Arend” (Eagle) family of beers includes a very good Blonde, a Double and a Triple. Their Christmas beer is also very promising and is marketed as ‘End of the Year’ beer, which allows it to sell better outside of the Xmas period. The cast iron mash tub must be a hundred years old. New fermentors have been installed lately, enlarging the capacity with growing demand. The tour ended where it had begun, in the tasting room witch is an old stable of the farmhouse.

Reception by owner and Brewster, Ann De Rycke, was very friendly, and we were able to taste all the beers.

Back in Ghent, in the late afternoon, Mrs. Danielle Janssens, a very good city guide, led us through the medieval history of Ghent.

The city has now become the second largest in Flanders with a population of nearly 260.000 souls.

We had a traditional “Waterzooi” dinner in the Waterhuis restaurant that evening. A very nice chicken and fresh vegetable stew in a delicious creamy broth was served. This typical dish eats as a soup. We were joined by Jef Versele of Brewery Van Steenberge and two other people of the brewery, Gert Brouns, salesmanager for Flanders and Willy, guide of the brewery and also poet.

They had arranged a surprise: a tour by carriage through the city of Ghent. The carriage, pulled by 2 Brabant horses, took us on a pub-crawl to the best pubs of Ghent!!

What an experience!! We stopped at 4 different locations and visited 5 pubs. Piraat Amber ale 10.5%, Gulden Draak 10.5%, Celis Whitebeer and Breughel were served on draught .

We ended back in the Waterhuis and tasted the new housebeer, “Klokke Roelandt” (the biggest bell of the Belfry Tower), brewed by Van Steenberge.

What an evening!!

Day IV