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Great Beers of Belgium Tour

 Oct. 4-11, 2010

Eight Days, Seven Nights

With Stu Stuart and Brewer Jerry Grant (left) from Mt. Emily Ale House, La Grande, Ore. (Top two photos)

This special beer tour of Belgium features: Three nights in romantic Bruges, a canal boat tour of Bruges, Trappist Abbey visits to Westvleteren, Orval and Rochefort.   Additional brewery visits to Caracole and du Bocq. This is a special custom tour I designed and will be leading for the LaGrande Oregon Chamber of Commerce and the Mt. Emily Ale House.  It is open to the general public, too.  Also included, visits to Our Lady of Beauraing Chapel, Leffe Abbey & Museum and the Café Leffe.  Included are accommodations, air fare, ground transportation, brewery and museum admissions, all breakfasts, three lunches and three dinners.  Price $3495 per person based on double occupancy.  Single accommodations add $425. Price may vary depending on air fare, which is included in this special tour, but not others.  It is being coordinated by Peggy Weishaar of Alegre Travel in La Grande, Oregon. (800) 323-7330.  Deadline to sign-up is Sept. 1, 2010.  Mt. Emily Ale House (staff photo below)

Monday, Oct. 4 – Upon a morning arrival at Brussels International Airport, we board the train right from the airport to the romantic medieval city of Bruges, where we will spend three nights.  We’ll check into our hotel, have a chance to rest, and then have the afternoon to explore the cobblestoned streets of Bruges and be on your own. Tonight, we meet for our welcome dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Bruges featuring cuisine a la biére and an amazing beer menu. (Dinner)

Tuesday, Oct. 5 – Morning is free, and then we meet for a walking tour followed by lunch and a tour at the Halve Maan Brewery.   This afternoon you have some more free time to take in the many sites of Bruges, rent a bike, take a carriage ride or just people watch, while savoring a Belgian beer in a sidewalk café. Later this evening we meet for a tour of some of the most interesting beer cafés in the city. (Breakfast & lunch)

Wednesday, Oct. 6 – We meet at 11 a.m. for a scenic canal boat tour, and then you are on your own for lunch and dinner.  The rest of the day is free to explore, shop, tour museums, beer hunt, etc.  This evening we meet for another tour of the most interesting beer cafés in Bruges. (Breakfast)

Thursday, Oct. 7 - We depart Bruges in our luxury van and we head to the In de Vrede Café at the Trappist Abbey of Saint-Sixtus in Westvleteren, where we’ll have lunch with the elusive, coveted and highly rated Westvleteren ales.   You will be able to see the exterior of the cloistered Abbey.  With any luck, we’ll also be able to purchase some Westys to carefully bring home with us and savor another day.  After a leisurely lunch and afternoon at Westvleteren, we drive southeast to Wallonia and the scenic Ardennes Mountain region to visit more Trappist abbeys and breweries. We will check into the Hotel de L’ Auberpine in Beauraing, where we will stay for the next three nights.  Tonight we have dinner together in the hotel restaurant, which features excellent cuisine and has a nice selection of regional beers, too.  (Breakfast, lunch & dinner)

Friday, Oct. 8--Today we will visit the Trappist Abbey of Orval and tour the ruins of the old abbey, possibly a brewery tour depending on the schedule of the monks, then have lunch and sample Orval 
the brewery tap Auberge de l’Ange Gardien (Guardian Angel), located just a block from the Abbey.  Then it’s off to Rochefort for a tour if fits the schedule of the monks.  At the very least we will see the stunning exterior of the Abbey before we transfer to the nearby and charming village of Rochefort, where you will have dinner on your own and enjoy some Rochefort ales. (Breakfast & lunch)
Sat., Oct. 9 –  – Some years ago, I stumbled across the conveniently-located village of Beauraing, where we are staying, while scouting beer tours and discovered purely by accident why it is so famous.  Turns out it is a pilgrimage site with a fascinating history, no matter what your religious preferences.  This morning, there is an optional visit to Our Lady of Beauraing Chapel, where according to local legend, in 1932 & 1933 the “Blessed Virgin appeared to a group of children.”  It’s an intriguing, engaging and well-documented story: 

Lunch is on your own, then we visit the rustic and intimate Carcole Brewery, Belgium’s only wood-fired brewery, where we will take a tour, meet the brewer and taste all their beers in their stone-walled hospitality room.  You will want to stock up on Caracole styles not available in the United States.  For some of you, this will be your favorite brewery visit of the tour.  It is amazing to me how brewers, such as Francois here, take their time and share their beers one-on-one, slowly with no sense of being rushed.  It is truly representative of their name, Caracole, which means snail in Spanish.  Hospitality is not dead.  It is alive and well at Caracole! This evening we visit the historic and scenic city of Dinant, have some free time to explore, then you are on your own for dinner. (Breakfast)

Sun., Oct. 10 – This morning we pack up depart Beauraing and visit the Leffe Abbey and Museum near Dinant.  After lunch on your own, we head to Purnode, to tour the du Bocq Brewery, brewers of many fine beers, some of them not available in the United States.  If you’ve never heard of them, no worries, you will come to know and love their beers.  This, also, is a really nice brewery tour.

This evening we have our farewell dinner at the Café Leffe in Dinant, situated on the scenic Meuse River and at the foot of the Citadelle, which towers above the city.   Here we will enjoy the fine cuisine and beers of Leffe.  Afterwards, we journey a short distance to our hotel near the Brussels International Airport (BRU) for a good-night’s sleep, while visions of fine Belgian beer dance in our heads…(Breakfast & Dinner)

Mon., Oct. 11 - Breakfast concludes the Great Beers of Belgium Tour.  Shuttle to the airport or continue on your own in Europe.  You may also catch trains at the airport to anywhere in Europe.  Thank you for traveling with Belgian Beer Me! Tours. (Breakfast)