We found our way to HopDuvel and opened the door. We were greated by a loud cheer
“YOU MUST BE KADDEE AND JACK! WELCOME! COME IN COME IN!”
Uuhh. “Hi”.
Our American friend on the bicycle, Stefan, had arrived first. He had been embraced by a group of [hard drinking] locals that had spent the day watching the Tour de France at another pub not far from HopDuvel.
The ring leader of this troop was Ronald. He is the gentleman in the tie in the foreground of the photo. He is a pharmacist that owns a couple of pharmacies in town. The young woman and man with him work for a pharmaceutical company. Ronald is a big customer of theirs. They are out drinking on an expense account, apparently.
Ronald had traveled in the US quite a bit when he was younger. He said that he was always welcomed in pubs where ever he went. Americans invited him to join them. They bought him drinks to hear his stories. He always remembered that.
He said that this was a very “un-Belgian” thing, to invite strangers into the group. Belgians are polite and formal, but cold to strangers, according to him.
So now, whenever he sees Americans in a bar, he invites them to join him and buys them a beer. When Stefan showed up, he welcomed him and incorporated him into the group. Stefan told them that Kaddee and I were on our way on foot and would be there shortly. So when we walked in, they were waiting for us.
It really was a pleasant surprise.
To further illustrate how “un-Belgian” it is to invite strangers into the group, Ronald decided to conduct an experiment. He was going to ask the next couple of people who entered the bar to join them. He predicted that they would decline.
He did, and they did. They all said “uh, we are meeting someone” or “we are just here for 1 drink then we have to go”.
It was an interesting social experiment.
So anyway, Ronald was one of the people that was absolutely flabbergasted that we were in Belgium for 2 weeks and weren’t going anywhere else in Europe. The whole “we’re here for the beer” thing.
With that knowledge, he decided that they were going to buy us 10 beers representative of good Belgian beer. They then preceded to discuss the choices, quite loudly and vociferously, as only a bunch of half-drunken bar patrons can do.
I tried a few times to offer input on what we have had, what was readily available to us in Seattle, and what we would like to try. But it was pretty much ignored. I figured, what the hell.
They ordered us 10 beers and we passed them around and tried them. They were all good beers, but they were all beers I could get in the US. [Our local pub, Beveridge Place Pub, has a very good selection of Belgians.] By the time those beers were consumed, I tried to buy a round but the bartender wanted to go home and was closing up shop.
Alas, HopDuvel was not the opportunity to try more beers that I had hoped it would be. But it was a very fun evening talking and drinking with the locals.
Cheers Ronald!