Kerelshof, Mont Cassel (France) REOPENED

Good news people, Big Denis has reopened the Kerelshof in Mont Cassel in French Flanders. Probably one of my favourite drinking establishments......
Cheers!

Great Belgium Beer Tour (GBBT-091016)

The 'Zuiper' Tour
Our 10-day Great Belgium Beer Tour and 6th tour in 6 weeks (!) has just ended in Düsseldorf on Sunday afternoon.
The tour kicked off with a 'training' evening on day zero in Düsseldorf's Altstadt with a beer (or 2) at Schumacher, Füchschen and Uerige, prost!
Where did we go then? We basically did an anti-clockwise loop of Belgium also taking in Northern France (Flandres and Pays de Meuse) and transitting Germany and the Netherlands, took in every Belgian Province and drank at every Belgian Trappiste Abbey! Whoopee!

1. Düsseldorf (Germany)-Achel Trappiste Abbey-Westmalle Trappiste Abbey-Antwerpen & Pelgrom beer dinner-Overnight Antwerpen
2. Bosteels brewery-Bruges (UNESCO)-Bruges Beertjes & Den Dyver-Overnight Bruges
3. Hill 62 & Ypres-Westveleteren Trappiste Abbey-'T Rohardushof Estaminet-Watou-Thiriez Brewery (F)-Mont Cassel, Trois Moulins, Kasteelhof-Overnight Cassel (France)
4. Brunehaut Brewery-Frites!-Rodenbach Brewery-Bruxelles-Overnight Bruxelles
5. Bruxelles-La Villette beer dinner-Overnight Bruxelles
6. Cantillon Brewery & Museum-Silenrieux Brewery-Chimay Trappiste Abbey-Bouillon & Castle-L'Estaminet cafe-Overnight Bouillon
7. European Brewing Museum-Chateau Chamois Brewery-Vauquois Hill (WW1)-Verdun-L'Estaminet Brewpub-Le Lapin que Fume-Le Clapier restaurant-Overnight Verdun
8. Verdun WW1 sites-Orval Trappiste Abbey-Bastogne-La Vieille Forge beer dinner-Overnight Achouffe-Mont
9. Rochefort Trappiste Abbey-La Ferme au Chene Brewery-Fantome Brewery-Achouffe Brewery-La Vieille Forge Beer Dinner-Overnight Achouffe-Mont
10. End tour in Düsseldorf!
    

To all those wonderful people we met along the way, thanks for your hospitality and kindness!
Cheers!

Great Belgium Beer Tour-October 2009 2 PLACES LEFT

There are just 2 places left on our Great Belgium Beer Tour in October.

More details please contact andy@bier-mania.com

Cheers,
Andy

The Great Belgium Beer Tour runs all year and takes in France, Belgium as well as an optional night or 2 in Düsseldorf. More information can be found on our website.

Great Belgium Beer Tour-October 2009 2 PLACES LEFT

There are currently 2 places available (6 people maximum) on our October Great Belgium Beer Tour (GBBT-091016).
This epic 10-day adventure across the whole of Belgium and northern France starts in Düsseldorf, Germany visiting every Belgian Province and Trappiste Abbey and ends in Düsseldorf!
Awesome!
If Düsseldorf isn't a good pick-up/drop-off for you then talk to us and we can sort something out!

This exclusive 'gourmet' tour travels in an anti-clockwise direction and takes in bier-cafes, world class Belgian restaurants, breweries, historical attractions, religious sites, countryside, WW1 and WW2 sites and much much more!

Even if you don't even like beer you will see the whole of Belgium anyway!

Dates
Friday 16 October-Sunday 25 October 2009
Itinerary
Please email us for the full Itinerary.

Cheers,
Andy@bier-mania.com






Photos
The photo on the right is the Grand Place in Bruxelles, taken just last week! On the left is L'Ange Gardien-Orval Trappiste Abbey's 'tap', fresh Orval 6.2 and the 'monks' weaker 3.5, oh, and great cheese as well!


Bier-Mania!'s Great Belgium Beer Tour runs all year. Please email or phone if you are interested in dates. For more information see our website.
Tours for 3-6 people.

Lorraine FM

Lorraine FM. Click onto the link, have a listen and get into northern France! Chill!
LORR FM

What, where is Lorraine is probably what you are thinking.

Bier-Mania! Cultural Beer Tours
We will show you. Awesome.

Our Biere de Garde Special tours run all year. They can be combined with the Ardennes Special for a unique insight into an area of northern France that few tourists really get to grasps with.
The Biere de Garde Special is part of Bier-Mania!s Great Belgium Beer Tour in any case!
Be good to see you on a tour.

Cheers,
Andy

Great Belgium Beer Tour-May 2009

A few places are still available for our Great Belgium Beer Tour (GBBT-090522) this May from Friday 22-Sunday 31 May.

This is a truly epic tour, we only have a maximum of 6 people on the tour making it pretty much an exclusive 'VIP' tour of Belgium and Northern France.
Not only do we include overnight stops in the Flemish towns of Antwerpen, Bruges and Bruxelles but we also get ourselves into the heart of Wallonia and Northern France. We believe that France has its rightful place on any beer tour of Belgium!
We include beer dinners, bier-cafes, WW1 sights, WW2 sights, breweries, chateaux, castles, museums, some great countryside and lots lots more. All tours are also in effect 'half-board' with all main meals included in the price. We also visit every province in Belgium as well as all 6 Trappiste monasteries-we don't do brewery tours at the Trappiste monasteries because we respect the wishes of the monks (if we do then we don't talk about it!).

When we are in the Ardennes (day 8 and 9) we stay at La Vieille Forge, this is a converted 300 year old forgery and run by Tine and Pol, Tine is an awesome cook and we have some excellent food there, usually cooked in a beer sauce! Thanks Tine! The forgery is a great end to our 10-day tour and a chance to unwind and look over where we have been over the last 10 days. Oh, and Pol also brews a mean beer.... (ssshhh!).



We visit some really off the beaten track places, the following video shows the Chateaux Charmois, located in the Pays-de-Meuse countryside just north of Verdun in France, Alain brews an excellent beer, in fact he was trained at Orval Trappiste brewery! Thanks Alain.



The 2009 Tour Itinerary can also be downloaded.
Download Tour Itinerary.

The price of the tour is €2150.00pp, however if we have a full tour then we offer a 10% discount per person, a saving of €215.00pp.
If you are thinking the tour price is expensive, yes it is, however if you consider that the tour is for only 6 people maximum and also what is included and where we visit then you will see that the tour really is an amazing 'experience'! We don't 'do' mass tourism, these are very specialist exclusive tours run by us.

Be good to see you.
Cheers,
Andy@bier-mania.com

Great Belgium Beer Tour ™ (22-31 May 2009) Itinerary

Great Belgium Beer Tour ™
GBBT-090522
Please see the full Example Itinerary.
Contact us for the password.

Cheers,
Andy
Bier-Mania!

Ardennes Special (04-06 July 2008) Tour Photos

Ardennes Special Beer Tour
AS-080704
Great tour, great weather, good time!
Thanks for those of you on the tour for coming along, good to see you all.

Tour Photos
The tour photos can be seen here.

Tour Summary
Friday 04 July
Chimay & Ardennes
Chimay Trappiste-France transit-L'Estaminet/Bouillon-La Vieille Ardenne/Bouillon
Overnight-Hotel de la Poste, Bouillon
Different Beers-around 10

Saturday 05 July
Orval, Ardennes & Belgium Beer Night
Orval Trappiste Abbey/Orval, L'Ange Gardien/Orval, Millevertus Brasserie, Houffalize, Achouffe Brasserie, La Petite Fontaine/Achouffe, Nounou's Cafe/Achouffe, Interpol Brasserie/La Vieille Forge, Belgium Beer Night!
Laugh of the day-Pol's 'Nose Cleaner'!
Different Beers-around 32!

Sunday 06 July
High Fens, Grain d'Orge
Scenic Ardennes drive, Haute Fagnes, Signal Botrange (700 metres), Grain d'Orge Brasserie, Eupen station.
Laugh of the day-Tay making friends with a sheep!
Different Beers-around 3

Bye bye!

See you all again soon.
Cheers,
Bier-Mania!

Ardennes & Bière de Garde Special (15-18 June 2008) Tour Photos

Ardennes & Bière de Garde Special
PM-080615
Sunday 15-Wednesday 18 June 2008
Another great tour!

The Tour Photos are now online, See Tour Photos


Day 1-Sunday
Frankfurt-Grain d'Orge Brasserie-Hautes Fagnes-La Vieille Forge (Belgium Beer Night)

Day 2-Monday
Achouffe Brasserie-Mardasson Memorial-Millevertus
Brasserie-Frites!-Orval-Bouillon



Day 3-Tuesday
Sedan Castle-European Beer Museum/Stenay-Chateau Charmois-Vauquois Hill, WW1-Rarecourt Farm Brasserie-L'estaminet Microbrewery-Le Lapin qui Fume* (who can't smoke)-La Clapier/Verdun

Day 4-Wednesday
Verdun Station END TOUR

*By the way, France has banned smoking in pubs and restaurants, Le Lapin qui Fume (in Verdun) which in English means the 'Rabbit who Smokes' has now been renamed by locals as the 'Rabbit who can't Smoke'! Who said the French had no humour!

Cheers,
Andy

Bruges and Flanders Special™ (08-09 August 2008)

Bruges & Flanders Special beer tour
(BF-080808)
6 PLACES LEFT
This amazing beer tour takes you both sides of Flanders, both Belgium Vlaanderen and the Biere de Garde region of French Flandre, awesome!
A short tour with an overnight in Mont Cassel in France, straight out of a scene from Chocolate, the movie (ring a bell?!).
We also visit the (now) world famous Westvleteren Trappiste monastery for a beer or 2 as well as seeing some WW1 history when we visit Ypres.

Where
West Vlaanderen, Belgium
Flandre, France
Another incredible tour.

Dates
Friday 08-Saturday 09 August 2008

Pick-up
0945/9.45am
Bruges (please contact us for your hotel).

Drop-off
1730/7.30pm
Bruges

Tour Itinerary
Download Tour Itinerary
Email for password
Day 1-Friday
West Vlaanderen & into France

• Strubbe Brouwerij, Echtegem (B)
  
• Diksmuide, Lo...
• Westvleteren Trappiste (B)
  
• In der Vrede cafe, Westvleteren (B)
• 't Rohardushof, Roesbrugge (B)
• Watou
• Mont Cassel (F)
• Kasteelhof Estaminet, Cassel (F)
• Trois Moulin Estaminet, Cassel (F)
• Kerelshof Estaminet, Cassel (F)
• Overnight-Mont Cassel (F)

Day 2-Saturday
Bière de Garde , Ypres & WW1

• Thiriez Brasserie, Esquelbecq (F)
• Het Blauwershof, Godewaersvelde (F)
• In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres (B)
• Ypres town
• Hill 62, Ypres (B)
• Drop-off Bruges

Tour Map
Map

Cheers,
Bier-Mania!™

Bruges and Flanders Special™ (18-19 May 2008)-Tour Photos

Bruges and Flanders Special™
BF-080519
Photos from the from the Bruges & Flanders Special™ last month from 19-20 May are now online.

See BF-080519 Tour Photos

Great to have you along ladies and hope you had a great time!
Cheers,
Andy

Great Belgium Beer Tour ™ (22-31 May 2009)

Great Belgium Beer Tour ™
GBBT-090522
Bookings for next year's May 2009 Great Belgium Beer Tour are now being taken.
Only 6 places available.

See the downloadable Example Itinerary.
Contact us for the password.

Cheers,
Andy
Bier-Mania!

The Brewers and Bier-cafés of Belgium and France-Thank You!

Having just returned from over 12 days of Belgium and France beer tours, I think the Brewers and bier-cafés of Belgium and northern France deserve a BIG THANK YOU!

Special thanks goes to the guys and girls of the small artisanale breweries and the small specialist bier-cafés/Estaminets (you know who you are) who put in some seriously long hours and hard work for us beer lovers!

So next time you pour a glass of beer, say a à santé/Prost to those people that make it happen!

Cheers to you all!
Bier-Mania!

Great Belgium Beer Tour ™ Photos (23 May-01 June 2008)

Great Belgium Beer Tour ™
GBBT-080523
Hello everyone,
Finally recovered from a crazy 3 weeks which took us all the way from London to West Flanders then back to Belgium and another epic Great Belgium Beer Tour ™ (GBBT), 10-days in the beer nervana of Belgium and France, awesome!

Thanks to those six of you who came all the way from the States and a big thanks to the Aussies whose female contribution added a pleasing glamour element to the 3 days you were on the tour across West Flanders!

Tour photos are now online, have a look, Tour Photos

Tour Summary
The tour started off in Düsseldorf on Thursday 22 May 2008 with a meal in Schumacher brewery pub washed down with copious amounts of Altbier. Early to bed!
We then travelled around Belgium and France in a anti-clockwise direction, join up the dots marking the Trappiste monasteries of Belgium and you have in essence a GBBT tour!
So, then, here goes......if you get exhausted reading about it then think about doing it!

Day 1
Achel Trappiste-Westmalle Trappiste-Antwerpen.
Day 2
Bosteels-Bruges-Den Dyver beer dinner-Bruges Beetjes.
Day 3
Ypres-In Flanders Fields Museum-Westvleteren Trappiste-Rohardus Hof-Watou-Thiriez (France)-Cassel-Kasteelhof-Trois Moulin-Kerelshof
Day 4
Dupont-Rodenbach-Bruxelles-Delirium
Day 5
Bruxelles-La Villette beer dinner
Day 6
Drie Fonteinen-Chimay Trappiste-Bouillon-Bouillon Chateau Fort-L'Estaminet bier-cafe
Day 7
France-Brasserie de Chateau Fort de Sedan-European Musee de Biere (Stenay)-Brasserie de Chateau Charmois-Verdun-Citadelle-L'Estaminet brasserie-Le Lapin qui Fume
Day 8
Ossuaire-Douaument Fort-Belgium-Orval Trappiste-Mardasson Memorial-La Vieille Forge beer dinner
Day 9
La Roche-en-Ardenne-Musee de la Bateille Ardennes-Rochefort Trappiste-Brasserie d'Achouffe-la Vieille Forge beer dinner
Day 10
Hautes Fagnes-Mont Rigi/Signal de Botrange (Belgium's highest point)-Germany-German meal and beer!
Prost!


Next Great Belgium Beer Tour™
Friday 29 August-Sunday 07 September 2008.
Or check our calendar at www.bier-mania.com for other dates this year.

Cheers,
Andy

Ardennes & Bière de Garde Special (15-18 June 2008) Tour Itinerary

Ardennes & Bière de Garde Special PM-080615
4 PLACES LEFT
When?
Sunday 15-Wednesday 18 June 2008

The Tour Itinerary for the Ardennes & Bière de Garde Special tour from Sunday 15-Wednesday 18 June 2008 is now out.

See Tour Itinerary.
Email andy@bier-mania.com for password.
Looking forward to an excellent tour!
Cheers,
Andy

Ardennes & Bière de Garde Special ™ (15-18 June 2008)

Ardennes & Bière de Garde Special™
PM-080615


This amazing tour has been put together to mix the Ardennes region of Belgium with the Pays de Meuse region in Lorraine in Northern France, an area most noted for its WW1 Battle of Verdun.
An incredible tour.
Dates
Sunday 15-Wednesday 18 June 2008
Pick-up
1030/10.30am
Frankfurt airport (please contact us for other pick-up points).
Drop-off
0900/9.00am
Meuse TGV station.
This is just 25km south of Verdun and has links to Paris, Lille and of course the Eurostar.

Outline Itinerary
Please note locations are to be confirmed.
Day 1-Sunday
Into the Ardennes, Belgium Beer Night

• Wiltz Beiermusee, (LUX)
• Brasserie d'Achouffe (B)
• Belgium Beer Night
• Beer dinner
• Overnight-La Vieille Forge, Mont (B)
  

Day 2-Monday
Ardennes, Trappistes & Crusaders

• Mardasson Memorial, Bastogne (B)
• Millevertus Brewery, Toernich (B)
  
• Orval Abbey, Villers-devant-Orval
• Bouillon Crusader Castle
• Bouillon town
• La Vieille Ardenne (bier-cafe & restaurant)
• Overnight-Bouillon (B)

Day 3-Tuesday
Castles, Forts, Breweries & Battle Sites!

• Chateau Fort de Sedan, Sedan (F)
• Brasserie de Chateau Fort, Sedan
• Musee de Biere, Stenay
• Brasserie de Chateau Charmois (chateau micro-brewery)
  
• Vauquois Hill (village wiped off the map in WW1)
• Brasserie de Rarecourt
• Ossuaire de Douaumont (& surrounding WW1 sites)
• Verdun town
• L'Estaminet Microbrasserie, Verdun
  
• Le Lapin qui Fume-The rabbit who smokes! (bier-cafe)
  
• Overnight-Verdun (F)

Day 4-Wednesday
Drop-off

• Meuse TGV station

Number Places
Only 8 total.

Map.

Photos from area.

Cheers,
Bier-Mania!

Something new to me is Ambien. It is taken for insomnia and may affect some of you coming over on long-haul flights.
So....
Do you ever get jet lagged on a long trip and then take ambien to help you  sleep? Don't let Ambien addiction happen to you

Bruges and Flanders Special (18-19 May 2008) Tour Itinerary

Bruges & Flanders Special
BF-080518
The Final Itinerary for the Bruges & Flanders Special tour from Monday 18-Tuesday 19 May 2008 will be out within the next day.
Cheers,
Bier-Mania!

Great Belgium Beer Tour™ (23 May-01 June 2008) Update

Great Belgium Beer Tour™
GBBT-080523
The following breweries have now confirmed tours-

• Bosteels brewery (Triple Karmeliet, Kwak, Deus)

• Dupont brewery

• Rodenbach

Final Itinerary will be out within the next day.
Looking forward to an excellent 10-day tour.

Cheers,
Andy

GBBT-080905 Map

Great Belgium Beer Tour
Belgium Grand Prix
Please see the GBBT-080905 Tour Map.
Cheers,
Andy

GBBT-080523

For the Proposed Itinerary for Day 2, Day 3, day 4 of the Great Belgium Beer Tour TM, please see the following-
GBBT-080523 Proposed Itinerary

• Pick-up Bruges
• Den Dyver beer meal, Bruges
• West Vlaanderen
• French Flandre
• Flandre Beer food, Kerelshof, Mont Cassel
• Du Pont, Saison Country
• Rodenbach
• And much more.....
• Drop-off Bruxelles
  

Cheers,
Andy