Antwerp – Kulminator
Posted by jwpiper on February 7, 2009
Given its reputation as one of the best places to have a beer in the world, I had to give Kulminator in Antwerp a visit while I was in Belgium. Stepping in, the bar appears tiny. There were probably 5 tables with about 5 seats each and another 5 stools at the bar. It was fairly empty when I arrived in the middle of the evening, so I grabbed a seat at an empty table and tried to scrounge up an aged bottle menu.
After one of the friendly proprietors dropped it off, it took me a while to figure out what to order. There were a ton of interesting beers of many vintages, and mostly at pretty reasonable prices. In the middle of the bar is a large book of beers which declare that in 2004 or thereabouts they had some 4500 beers or somesuch. I doubt the list is up to date, but clearly they’ve got a ton more beers than on their normal menu. A visit to the bathroom proves that probably half of the space in this bar is taken up by the beer itself. The properietor even pulled down a Three Floyds Darklord and a Sam Adams Trippelbock just to show he had them. It actually begs the question whether Delerium Cafe’s Guinness Book of World Records title is appropriate. Seems Kulminator is your best chance at finding just about any Belgian beer just about anywhere in Belgium. My personal favorites which are tough to come by even in Belgium include Westvleteren 12 (didn’t notice if they had the Blond or 8 as well) and several Struise offerings.
I met some folks who I ended up spending the rest of the evening with, and met back up the next day in Brussels. We enjoyed some delicious beers at Kulminator – some aged, some fresh. And I’ll be trying to work in visits to Kulminator on any future Belgium trips.
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