Trip Belgium and Holland in Springtime Day 5 Part 2

Friday April 10 afternoon

This day I just had too many photos to post in one blog and I had to leave lots of photos out anyway.

The afternoon was free. You could have staid in town or you could have taken a shuttle bus back to town after lunch on the ship. Our trip leaders make it very easy. 

But yesterday was offered to visit a brewery today for just a few euros. We signed up for that. I am not really sure why we did but probably because iwe are interested to see how something works. It was a good choice. 

 

The Delirium Brewery is privately owned by the Huyghe family. Right now it is lead by the 5th generation.

 

First we get safety vests and an introduction to the brewery, the history and the beers.

This beer got several times the vote to be the best beer in the world. The Pink Elephant seems to be famous.

We were lead around and it was very interesting. What is done with the hobs, the yeast, maybe some sugar, and where those things come from. The yeast is the same from when the first generation started making the beer. It is cultivated here too.

Hops fermenting (? I think)

When that process is done, the liquid is pressed out to continue with the beer. The remnant solids are being used for feeding animals.

From upstairs we could watch robots filling barrels and bottles. The whole process ... cleaning, filling, closing, disinfecting, labeling ... everything by robots with just a few humans needed for the occasional problem. 

And now off to the tasting room.

They had 5 different beers for us on tap to try including the none-alcohol. 

Our driver making sure we safely crossed the street. Time to go back to the ship. We were very impressed with the company. The seem to try hard to be "green". Most energy used is from solar panels and wind power. The water they are using is recycled and purified to be used again and again.

Back at the ship we had an onboard discussion "Belgium Today". A lady had come to explain to us Belgium live ... social, financial, education, etc etc.

This of course was followed by the daily Port Talk (happenings the next day).

Dinner was great as always. The dessert is worth taking just for the looks but the taste is always lovely too.

After Dinner entertainment was "Tunes & Fun". We came a little bit late so were not sure what game/challenge was happening but it included some dancing.

The dancing might have helped with our step-count. Today: 11662 steps. Yeah!