Staminee De Garre

DoubleJ

California

4.29/5  rDev -2.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4 | $$

You think Brugge's streets are small? Come look for Staminee De Garre, which is very easy to miss. Its located in a small alley way which looks like it only leads to one place, but actually leads to a handfull of places, including this on of a kind beer house. It feels old inside, but doesn't "look" like it needs refurbishing.

Tripel de Garre made this place famous, and is the one house beer served. If you're looking to switch from the house beer, two others taps pour (Witte Van Celis, Gulden Draak), plus 120 bottled beers (Boon, Bon Secours, Quintine, Hanssens, Buffalo). I wasn't here to try guest beers though. Part of the experience is watching how Tripel de Garre is served; it's poured into an oversized snifter with a head as thick as the beer itself, and served with a small bite of cheese. At €4 a pop, it's worth the money. The waiter will even take your order from your table and deliver too.

The most unique beer experience in Brugge. Don't miss it, and I mean that both literally and figuratively.

05-20-2013 22:53:42 | More by DoubleJ

VAcrossr

Virginia

4.53/5  rDev +3.4%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

I was lucky enough to revisit Stamnee De Garre after a visit on a beer trip in 2000 back before I was less of a BA. Took a little bit of searching, so if you're heading over to De Struise Beer Shop, it's in a quite narrow alley close by. The beer shop had closed but I was happy to find De Garre.

We got there before folks kept rolling in so we got a seat at the foot of the medieval wooden stairs well worn by the bar staff over the years. It's a real old-world atmosphere and the menu includes a few sausages (the wurst I had was very nice) to round out the menu. There is text in Flemish (I'm guessing), but it wasn't hard to figure out what the house beer was as well as the list of other Belgian brews and lambics. The server asked if we had ever been before, and we said way back over a decade ago, so he immediately said we should have the house beer. Not a bad recommendation, and many others were having it. The triple clocks in at 11% and I think I saw a sign indicating you could have three if I interpreted that correctly. Three would leave you pretty schlonkered. Not a whole lot of lacing once the frothy head subsides over about 15 minutes, and the golden colored triple tasted quite good and not overly sweet or boozy.

I also had a 3F gueze before our family had to leave. My 10-year old son was perfectly happy here, and the table next to us had a toddler, so definitely a family vibe with a crowd that at the time we visited spanned several generations. A decent selection of Belgian-oriented brews on the beer menu, good service even considering it got busy really quick once the sun went down, and good value.

05-16-2013 17:40:24 | More by VAcrossr

Nolen12

Kentucky

4.31/5  rDev -1.6%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

This is my favorite place to drink in Brugge simply because the inside of this bar makes you feel like your back in time. It's very quaint and small and that's what I like about it. Not to mention my favorite beer to drink while in Belgium is their house brew which is called the Triple van De Garre. I simply cannot get enough of this beer. It's so smooth to be a 11.5% beer. They only allow guests 3 glasses of this beer because of how strong the beer is. I met an older woman outside of De Garre around 1130 am who for the last 25 years has went to De Garre everyday when they open at noon. That's dedication right there. The bar is down a narrow corridor and can be hard to find but find any local and they can tell you how to get there. Look for an orange sign that says "Cookies" and a break in the buildings.

05-13-2013 17:00:25 | More by Nolen12

hotsudge

Ontario (Canada)

4.36/5  rDev -0.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

A hidden gem in Bruges! Must visit if in the area. Walk down the alley and surprise you can go into someone's old house and get some world class beer.

We didn't know what to order and the waitress quickly snapped shut our menu's and told us what were having. So glad she did... the triple was incredible.

After a couple drinks it was off to the loo... not so great... but the rest of the visit was what memories are made of.

Just ordered the glass online and wish we could the beer locally. Oh well back across the pond we'll go...

05-12-2013 15:55:49 | More by hotsudge

Kit_Darling

Illinois

4.97/5  rDev +13.5%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $$

The best beer in the world. Order the house tripel. I will travel back to Brugge just to drink this beer! This bar would have scored perfectly all the way around except that the bathroom downstairs smelled bad when people would open the door. I can forgive that though due to the place, people, and their amazing house tripel being so fantastic.

03-05-2013 01:50:26 | More by Kit_Darling

FightingEntropy

Minnesota

4.53/5  rDev +3.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

8/15/12

Only spending a day in Bruges, we had a full schedule of sightseeing. Being fans of In Bruges, we walked to the top of the tower and then did a canal boat ride. Walking along the canal to the brewery, we tried but failed to make the tour at De Halve Maan; we still had a great time sampling their beers in their outdoor cafe.

My plan for the evening was to visit 't Brugs Beertje; however, I missed in my research that the bar is closed on Wednesdays, our only day in town. Not knowing where to go, since the day was also a holiday, Assumption Day, we headed back to our room. After some research on BeerAdvocate with the hotel WiFi, the desk clerk helped us make a call to confirm that Staminee de Garre was open. With success finding a good beer bar, we headed back to the heart of Bruges.

A beautiful brick bar down an alley, hidden from the main road, we wiggled our way through the full bar, hawking a table near the bar. The first round included the house tripel in their own glass, a bittersweet souvenir story in its own right. Each draft comes with a small bowl of Gouda cheese.

In addition to a good draft list, the bottle selection is outstanding as well, and, more importantly, it was all served with exceptional detail and care. They have an immense respect for beer. The only drawback is that we should have eaten dinner beforehand since they didn't offer much besides appetizers. However, sitting and chatting through great beers until we headed out into the dark to witness the fairy tale lighting of Bruges.

Pictures at http://pintsizedrevelations.blogspot.com/2013/02/staminee-de-garre-bruges-belgium.html

02-26-2013 15:11:24 | More by FightingEntropy

redbeeerd

Kansas

4.26/5  rDev -2.7%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

This place has an amazIng atmosphere with the type of old world charm you would hope to stumble upon in a town like Brugge. It's a refreshing retreat from the nearby touristy shopping areas. It's down a narrow alleyway and so can be a bit hard to find.

Although serving the entire establishment on his own, the barkeep managed to get to is fairly quickly and with the friendly Belgian attitude so common here. We ordered two of the house beers - Tripel de Garre for a reasonable €3,5 a piece. They were absolutely amazing, and I would recommend to anyone to give them a try. We enjoyed them so much we ordered a second round, and considered a third. Only our ability to still navigate the small stairs back down and out of the establishment stayed our hand on the third round.

If you don't enjoy this type of place then you should probably stick to the touristy shopping lanes. If you can't palate the beer you shouldn't probably even be wasting your time in Belgium. If you are one of those people, however, I would recommend looking for Charlie Rockets just down the street. It's modeled after Belgian's idea of an American bar.

05-17-2012 09:17:47 | More by redbeeerd

mendvicdog

Maryland

3.25/5  rDev -25.8%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

So even though this place is very hard to find without good directions, this place was packed around 3pm in the middle of winter. It appeared to be mainly locals, but I was treated very well by the staff. There really was not much decoration to this place. Just a few tables and a bar.

I ordered the triple, and the waiter quickly brought it up the stairs to me with a small cheese plate as well, which was nice. Unfortunately, I did not like the beer very much at all.

I didn't have time to try anything else but doubt I would have liked any of their other offerings.

If I had to do it again I would spend more time in Struise and t' brugs beertje and not go here.

01-18-2012 18:42:52 | More by mendvicdog

willseph

Illinois

4.8/5  rDev +9.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

If you're having a hard time finding this place, stop in the Bottle Shop and ask directions or look for the store with the orange awning, it's just to the right of it. Quaint, cozy, and very old-world feeling. Their bottle and draft list is quite impressive, but I was there for the Tripel. In fact, the waitress came over, pointed to it on the menu, and said "You want this."

Prices were pretty reasonable considering what you were getting. They sell magnums of the Tripel to take away, I believe it was 25e when I went, which I thought was pretty reasonable considering it's a gorgeous bottle with delicious inside.

12-07-2011 19:39:12 | More by willseph

DaveJanssen

British Columbia (Canada)

4.06/5  rDev -7.3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

This is a nice little place in a small alley just off the main square. It seems like most everyone in there was there for the house beer. They had a good bottle list as well with pretty reasonable prices, but I don't know how fresh the bottles are as it seems like the turnover is much higher for the house beer. Most of the crowd seemed to be a bit older. The place overall had a mellow comfortable feel of an old pub. I'd say it is worth a visit of you have the time. Not the best selection in Brugge but still good.

06-26-2011 06:51:24 | More by DaveJanssen