As I mentioned before, I changed up my schedule slightly so I could join Joey on the next few stops of his beer adventure!  That had us headed to Ghent next, which also happened to be where Jade was headed as well.  Joey and I took the same train to Ghent and upon arrival decided to have a beer after our long journey.

The architecture in Ghent continued to impress as there was a cool mix of old neo gothic buildings together with some modern ones.  The downtown was super walk able due to the ban on cars in the downtown area.  Only streetcars, bikes and pedestrians are allowed! (Delivery trucks and service vehicles were also permitted but you usually didn’t really notice those.

I checked into my hostel, which was located along the river in a super chill part of town, right across the river from downtown.

After a quick stop at the hostel, Joey and I decided to head out on a brewery discovery walk.  Our first stop was Ghent Gruut Brewery which produced only Gruit style beers, which means they use other herbs and spices instead of hops.  I am not typically a fan of this style, but the beers here were decent.

We then headed a bit further out of town to a cool industrial space that housed a pretty hipstery brewery that was clearly new and flashy.  The beers were more american style focused but still pretty good.

It was a pretty cool spot to hangout!

We then continued to walk around exploring the city further.

I returned to the hostel for a bit for some rest.  I had arranged to meet up with Jade again later in the day and Joey was also down to hang out.  Jade had mentioned that there was a Brewer from Florida in her dorm room that was also doing the beer tour of Belgium who wanted to join as well.  WE all ended up at a cool riverfront bar that was pretty chill.

I had also been using the couchsurfing hangouts feature to see if there was anyone who wanted to hangout in Ghent and I actually got a response from a guy who was living nearby.

I would like to pause here and preface this night as it was the beginning of a great week of beer travels with Joey and John who were all in Belgium for the same reason….BEER!

John was also travelling solo around Europe with an emphasis on beer as he transitions from his previous job as a brewer to his next position!  We immediately hit it off and this was for sure the start of a life long friendship (anyways, onward with the story)

We had a beer or two at this place and then met up with Sparrow from couchsurfing and his friend.  He ended up being a crazy character who made suits for a living and had some pretty famous clientel.  After following him on social media for a bit, it was clear that he was constantly travelling around Europe, making suits for the elite.  The funniest thing is that he actually kind of looked like captain Jack Sparrow.

This was one of my favorite nights, because it started off pretty calm and escalated to a super fun evening.  The picture above brings a smile to my face almost 10 months later just thinking about it.  I say this over and over again, but the thing that made this trip amazing, was the people I met along the way.

Ghent is a pretty small place, and I was initially planning on staying there for two nights, but we got to talking and there is a hop growing region in Belgium accessible by a train line from Ghent. I convinced Joey and John, to join me on a day trip out to Poperinge for a beer focused bike tour!

So despite only being in Ghent for a day, it was a jam packed day full of beautiful buildings, cool people and delicious beer!

Onward to Poperinge!