They have about the strangest hours of any drinking establishment: They’re open Sundays 10AM-1:30PM and on public holidays. On Sundays you can see people file out of the church across the street and into the café.
Driving by, you’d hardly expect that this place serves great beer, but it immediately felt like a great neighborhood café when we walked through the door. Sitting next to the potbellied stove that heats the single room were a couple cyclists enjoying a mid-ride warmer. Another table held a family taking in some lambics and coffee after church. Across from us at another table sat a group of friends that broke into a Flemish drinking song. It was a fun place to sample some unusual beer.
As some of the usual patrons filed out, the elder Paneels chatted with us. Christine and I don’t speak Flemish, but Maurice spoke good French and pretty good English. They conversed mostly in French, but Maurice was nice enough to say some things in English to me too. A lot of times, though, I was able to understand the French based on a few words, context, and gesticulations. We made a mental note that they would be open on Christmas and continued on our journeys.
Christmas rolled around and we drove back the Great Thirst. It wasn’t all that far away and seemed like a good way to spend the afternoon. We stuffed ourselves with the hotel breakfast and were on our merry way, arriving just in time to beat the church crowd.
We walked in and were greeted like old regulars. It’s sort of like spending Christmas with family. It just happened to be somebody else’s family this time. We settled in with a gueuze and a kriek before the owners came back over to chat with us a bit more. Maurice actually sat down with us, which made me feel really welcome there. I’d seen him sit down and chat with some of his friends and it was great that he treated us the same way. We had our next beers picked out, and with the expression on his face we didn’t need to know Flemish to understand that he thought we should try something different.
One of his recommendations was Hanssens Oude Kriek , and it was an absolute winner for Christine. She considered it her Christmas gift, and her favorite beer of the trip. If you’ve ever had New Belgium’s Transatlantic Kriek, it’s similar in its sour cherry-ness. Delicious.
Christine continued to chat in French with the owner and others nearby, at one point having them in stitches as she tried to explain our dog. It was fun to watch, even without being able to understand a word. Sadly, we decided that we had to leave so we could go drink some more beer in Bruges. Based on Christine’s love of the sour kriek, Maurice recommended another bottle to her (the 3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek). It was pricey, but not unlike buying a nice bottle of wine. Based on our experience with his earlier recommendation, we decided it was worth taking a bottle home.
We added up our bill, flipped through our wallets, and were just a bit short. Bummer. We asked where we could find an ATM and Maurice offered to go with us to an ATM after he closed the café. What an amazingly nice thing to do. As it turns out, Christine had some more change and we just barely had enough. I can’t wait to try that kriek.
We had one more Sunday in Belgium, and we were happy to spend a good part of it back at the Great Thirst. Again, we were treated like old regulars (or obvious alcoholics, I’m not sure). Even more so this time. I mean, they have a very limited schedule and we managed to make it for 3 consecutive openings.
We spent even more time chatting, and this time we met Yves, one of the sons who own the place. Yves is an international PR guy and spoke English very well. It sounds like he’s trying to get the tourism office to promote beer tourism. Surprisingly, no such effort exists. I’m thinking of volunteering to be their test subject for any new beer tours. :)
Time flew as we hung out. We were scheduled to drop the car off at 3PM and it was already past that. Plus, Yves had recommended a restaurant that had a great beer list and a great menu with many beer inspired dishes. We decided to blow off the rental return and just go eat. Good move, because the beer list was indeed amazing and so was the food. I wish we would have found out about it earlier in our trip so we could have sampled more of the menu. I think Yves must have called and told them we were coming because they brought out a few complimentary samplers.
Here’s the bottom line: In de Verzekering Tegen de Grote Dorst is great. It should be on every lambic and gueuze lover’s itinerary when they’re in Belgium. I felt like we got to experience and be accepted into their corner of the Payottenland thanks to the hospitality of the Paneel family.
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| Christine with Kurt and Maurice Paneel | Christine and Maurice |
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| Christine's favorite beer - Hanssens Oude Kriek | |
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