Impressive Bar at the Dulle Griet
We decided to go a little bar hopping here in Ghent, I wasn’t particularly pleased with the Cafe ‘t Galgenhuis because it was so small. There is a novelty of drinking in this kind of place but I think it helps if there is a a bit more atmosphere here. We decided to move of to a different bar. Again, it was recommended by a colleague who has been here several times. It took us a little bit of walking to get there. It was still within the city center though, through the magic of GPS we were able to find it. We meant to visit this bar the last time we were here but for some reason it was closed that day. I wasn’t sure why but at least now we have a chance to visit this place.
Shoe Collateral High Above the Dulle Griet Ceiling
The Dulle Griet is actually a name of a powerful gun which happens to be a displayed nearby but I didn’t really care about the gun. The Dulle Griet we care about is now a bar and apparently, it is a very nice bar. Inside you can feel that it has the typical bar atmosphere which I didn’t get in some of the bars we visited here. It was darker here and honestly, it feels more like a bar than the others. There were the typical stuff stuck to the wall which made for a lot of atmosphere in the bar. We were met by a friendly barman and we didn’t know what to get. We then saw a customer drinking from a very tall glass. My friend immediately knew that he was going to be have that. I went for a more conservative option.
Kwak Max at the Dulle Griet in Ghent
When our drinks came my friend was asked to remove one of his shoes. This was then hoisted up to the ceiling in a basket along with other shoes. We were told that this was a tradition in the bar that challengers to the tall beer glass would have to use their shoe as collateral. I asked what was that all about. It seems that people who would take the challenge would end up drunk and would cause damage to the place. The shoe was just collateral. The beer in question is a Kwak Max and it is served in a very tall but thin glass. We were told by the bar man that a lot of people order that just for the sake of the size of the glass. It contains 1.2 liters of beer. That is a lot for me. Fortunately, I didn’t take up that challenge. Kwak is no slouch either because it contains 8.4% alcohol by volume.
Geuze Boon
My friend being the true alcoholic that he is, finished the Kwak in no time. Apparently, not feeling the effects of the 8.4% alcohol, he managed to redeem his shoe in no time. We were told that the shoe does get returned even if you don’t finish it, but it has become a tradition to hold it hostage for that drink. As for me, I had a rather unique kind of beer or rather geuze. I have never heard of this type of beer before but it sounds strange. A geuze is said to be a lambic beer as kind of beer which is noted for its sour taste. A sour beer? Apparently so. I had a Geuze Boon and it seems to be one of the more well known geuzes. I actually liked it. One thing which turns me off beers is they can be quite bitter. The geuze was not bitter at all. It was sour, the taste reminded me of cider. I was truly surprised that there was that kind of beer. It doesn’t seem to be for everyone though since my friend didn’t seem to like it. To each his own.
I liked the Dulle Griet for the atmosphere of the bar. It helps too that it has an amazing selection of great Belgian beers. It was a pity that there was no food, but we went out for dinner and came back again after that. Wish we had more time at this place.
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