Staminee De Garre

The entrance to this bar is an alley so narrow it barely qualifies as one — a crack between two buildings off a busy pedestrian street, with no sign visible from the road. The name "De Garre" means "the crevice" in West Flemish, and finding it for the first time feels like discovering a secret passage. A narrow stone corridor leads to a set of stairs ascending to an unmarked brick doorway. Push it open and you're in one of the most celebrated beer bars in Belgium, which is saying something in a country with over 1,500 distinct beer varieties.

The bar opened on April 21, 1984, and the current owner, Carl Ascoop, took over in 1997. Inside, wood-panelled walls, candlelight, and a collection of over 200 Belgian beers create an atmosphere that feels like stepping into someone's very well-stocked living room. But the reason people seek out De Garre is the house beer: Tripel van De Garre, an 11% golden ale brewed exclusively for the bar by Brouwerij Van Steenberge. It uses twice as much malt as a standard Tripel, creating a deceptively smooth, spicy beer that makes you forget you are drinking something stronger than most wines.

The bar limits customers to three glasses. This is not a marketing gimmick — it is a public safety measure. At 11%, three glasses of Tripel van De Garre is equivalent to roughly a bottle of wine, and the steep medieval stairs you arrived on need to be navigated on the way back down. Each glass is served with a small dish of cheese cubes, because the Belgians understand that drinking without eating is a character flaw, not a virtue.

De Garre has no music, no television, and no pretension. It is the platonic ideal of a Bruges bar: hidden, excellent, and slightly dangerous.