4:45am my alarm clock goes off, waking me up in our IBIS hotel in Lea Bridge Road Leyton, instantly I am thanking myself for sticking to only a few pints of 3.1% Citra from Brodies in the King William 6 hours previous. It is an early departure time of 5:45am from Leyton Orient Supporters Club as we set off for a day coach trip to Bruges. It’s going to be a long day, we are going via ferry but it’s been over a year since I visited Belgium so it will be worth the coach trip for

366 different beers!!! How am I going to try 366 different types of beer from 97 different breweries! This is the first problem you are faced with when planning a trip to the Bruges Beer Festival. The brutal reality is you have no chance but once you get over that then you’re are in for a great time because the Bruges Beer Festival is brilliant. It all starts with an early Eurostar train journey to Brussels, for those who have never used the Eurostar to travel to Belgium then

A few years back after a work cruise around the waterways of the Netherlands and Belgium I found myself with a few hours to kill in Bruges. I am so thankful that I visited the newly opened T’Brugsch Bieratelier, not only because of the bars charm and great selection of draught Belgian beer but because I met Elien who was one of the most friendliest and coolest people I have had a chat with at a bar! The whole place had this nice vibe about it and it really helped me unwind be

Every time I visit Bruges I think I fall in love with it even more! It was so quick to get from our hotel in Ostend that it took 40 minutes to get from one hotel to the other and cost only 4 euro’s per single. We checked into our hotel (hotel Academie which I have to fully recommend to anyone thinking about going to Bruges for its great location and very high standards!) around 10 am and Bruges was incredibly still and tourist free peaceful , a first and probably last moment

DK Eyewitness, Lonley Planet, Tripadvisor, AA Travel and Michelin all take a back seat for a minute and listen up … There is only one book for the beer thirsty traveler… Roughly a year ago or so I made one of the best purchases I have ever made when it comes to travelling. After having the pleasure to see Podge’s beer bar in action at the Chelmsford CAMRA Summer beer festival I did a bit of a Google on them. For anyone who has never heard of Podge then here is a quick summery

When I am not drinking beer I am working to get money to drink beer and I work in travel for a small ship cruise company. Sometimes I am lucky enough to experience some of our cruises, last year I spent a week sailing the Baltic visiting Stockholm, Tallin, St Petersburg and Helsinki but this year I wanted to see what it is like on a river cruise so off I flew to Rotterdam to join one of our vessels mid cruise. Over a couple of days I visited Rotterdam, Den Haag, Delft, Veere,

Tucked away in a side street in Bruges you will find one of Bruges newest and best cafes, Cafe Rose Red. Ranked as the #2 restaurant on TripAdvisor for Bruges when the food is fairly limited just proves how great this place is! The food they offer i tapas sharer type bar snacks but what makes this such a worldwide huge favorite is its beer list, surroundings and wonderful staff. Downstairs to their family hotel lies one of the nicest cafes I have ever had the pleasure to drin

The last day of our trip away so we got up and packed while watching my new favorite TV show … Hill Billy bare hand fishing! I can only hope this is on British telly when I get home. Some pretty heavy rain (and hauntings!) had kept me up a lot of the night but I guess more importantly it had put us off ice skating in Markt as it was a danger in itself letting me loose on it let alone on a wet slippery ice rink! Instead we had a nice walk to the windmills on the outskirts of B

We started the day with a nice supermarket bought brunch and sat outside the Basilica of the Holy Blood. Today lived up to the promise of what was to be a very busy day and we started it by looking at the beer wall of 2be. It has to be the ultimate holy grail of beer porn! over a 1,000 bottles of beer all partnered with its matching glass (excited? I certainly was!) The cellar shop was equally as mouth watering too but unfortunately I knew it would be some task getting it all

I am currently writing this blog on the Eurostar which happens to be delayed a fantastic hour and half (current update!) after spending three magical days in Bruges with half pint. It is my third trip to the motherland but my first time to Bruges, the previous two trips being Brussels. Being the beer nerd that I am I genuinely get excited about being in Belgium and this trip to Bruges for me has been my best visit yet.  As much as I loved Brussels for its artistic Jazzy buzz