Beijing’s Belgian Bar and Trappiste Rochefort 6

BotF had a marathon day in Beijing on Friday, walking the best part of 15 to 20kms through the alley ways and streets of Beijing. Knocked off a few temples and re-visited a few favourite spots. A wonderful city in which to walk – but gees a bloke can get thirsty. Apart from a light beer (unknowingly ordered) at the Napa Bar (see previous review) – BotF had abstained until the end of his walk.

With 20 minutes to kill before catching up with the January Beijing 2009 collective, BotF thought he’d sneak in a quick one at one of the leading purveyors of Belgian beers in Beijing (of which there is a few) – Beer Mania. Beer Mania features a fridge full of about 40 different Belgian beers, including some that BotF hadn’t heard of until visiting Beer Mania. A Trappiste Rochefort 6 was ordered under the premise that it would be relatively light. Now this is a great beer. Dark, rich cloudy, complex – a beer to really dwell upon. It was absolutely the wrong beer to order when you’ve been walking for 4 hours and all you want to do is rip into an ice-cold beer. What the quest for a bottle top will do to a bloke.

The last photo features a sight which is rarely seen in town now, but was less than 150m where BotF was drinking.