De Garre Bier Cafe, Bruges
July 2018
Trains in Belgium, as with much of Europe, make travelling easy. A 70 minute train comfortably transported us from the busy capital of Brussels to sleepy medieval Bruges. Our bed and breakfast (B&B Con Ampere) was located about a 15 minute walk from the train station which allowed us to gather some initial impressions of the town and wind our away through the main square to our destination. After settling in and meeting with the welcoming and informative B&B owners we hit the streets once again in search of a particular beer café called De Garre.
I initially stumbled upon De Garre while doing some pre-trip research into what to drink, where to eat, when to drink, where to sleep, what to see, where to…drink, etc. Reviews warned that it was easy to pass by which definitely added a certain mystery to the place. As advertised it is located down a short and narrow dead-end alley just off one of the busier pedestrian streets of Bruges (apparently ‘De Garre’ translates roughly to impasse). There is no signage from the street so you have to look for the “Cookies Tapas Bar” sign advertising a neighbouring restaurant and continue down the uninviting passage to earn your prize – the De Garre house beer. De Garre serves what would become my favourite beer of the trip (and perhaps ever!) and also proved to be one of my favourite cafes of the trip as well. Something to note here: uninviting alleys often lead to reputable beer café’s in Belgium!
The ‘secret’ gateway under the ‘Cookies Tapa Bar’ sign that leads you down the alley to De Garre.
Left: front page of De Garre menu (house tripel is on top) Middle: Kim’s Lindemann’s Peche Lambic and my House Tripel Right: view down to the bar from the second floor.
The 11% De Garre ‘house beer’ is a delicious tripel served in a paper weight of a goblet glass recognizable by a large snifter style bowl and thick heavy base. To help with the ABV the beer is served with a small complimentary bowl of cheese which I presumed to be Gouda. The beer’s brewing secret is said to be the huge amount of malt added which enables the beer to achieve the high alcohol content while still being dangerously drinkable. So drinkable in fact that visitors are limited to only two house beers per sitting (enough of a reason for Kim and I to return the next day!). Sadly the De Garre house tripel is only available at the café however I did find one website reselling the magnum bottles available on premises for takeaway at a huge markup. If anyone needs a birthday/Christmas gift idea for me this year look no further. The beer itself is made by Brouwerij Van Steenberge who are also responsible for the more widely recognized “Gulden Draak” and “Piraat” which can be found in Canada but are very different in style and taste from the De Garre I tried in Bruges.
The café itself is cramped, dark, and slightly imposing at first in all the best ways. While I could not find much information about the history or exact age of the café or the building the café has reportedly been there since the 1700’s. The nearby Vlissinghe café has been operating as a café continuously since 1515 so a few centuries is well within the realm of Bruges pub normalcy. The interior includes dark timbered rafters, ghostly portraits hanging on the walls, nonstop classical music, and a tightly wound staircase leading up to the cozy second and third sitting rooms where visitors can look back down over the ground floor tables. It is one of those places where you feel a sense of wonder due to the history, a sense of comfort due to the warmth and coziness of the interior and friendly bar staff, and a sense of privilege because of the secrecy of location and the damn near perfection of the amazing house beer you will have sitting atop your table.
My souvenir goblet from De Garre, Bruges
I loved it so much I painted the front entrance (view as you approach the cafe from the alleyway).