Bruges has a Half Moon of its own!

Oxonians (and avid readers of this blog) will know that my local pub in Oxford is the Half Moon.

In Bruges, the Half Moon is the name of the only brewery still open in the city centre. Their spiel tells you that 30 years ago there were 37 brewing houses in Bruges and implies they are all closed. It seems they're actually just moved outside the city limits (certainly Belgium doesn't seem to produce fewer beers as a result - there are more than 500!). And even De Halve Maan doesn't brew onsite any more.

So it was all a bit touristy, but the stories were good, and 5 euros bought us an hour long tour, loads of insight into the things that make belgian beers unique (the addition of citrus peel, fruits, coriander, anise, or camomile to the brew: apparently 'blond' beers are even made from cornflakes!), a lovely view from the roof and a free house specialty: Brugse Zot (the crazy man from Bruges) before we traipsed back into the cold.

Yum.