Delirium

I´ll never forget the day when beer actually tasted good. I had only arrived in Brussels for a few days and my host brother took me for a walk in the historical center of the city. I was amazed by the “Grand Place”, the huge main square of the capital, where the wonderful building of the City Hall is surrounded by smaller beautiful buildings with Dutch architecture. We walked down one of the narrow streets that makes its way to the square and passed a bunch of touristic and charming little restaurants, to which my brother advised me not to go. In the end of the street we found an amazing bar called “Delirium Café”. It was decorated with hundreds of beer bottle caps, all over the ceiling and walls, and the tables were beer wooden barrels. The menu was huge; I had never seen so many types of beer, from so many different countries in one place, before. Well, most beers in Brazil taste bad. You can drink it if it´s really warm outside and the beer is really (really!) cold. But I had never really enjoyed one. But…Belgium is a famous country for beer and I might as well try one. My brother would´t let me walk away until I had tried one, anyway. So I did. And what was my surprise when it actually tasted good. And it wasn´t even really cold, Belgians don´t drink it almost freezing like we do. I had never drunk a beer with such a high alcohol content either. Duvel, which means devil in one Flemish dialect, is really strong and contains 8,5% alcohol. So I finished the night with a Kriek, which is a cherry flavored beer, much softer and much, much lighter than Duvel. . It´s called a "girl beer" and, as a girl, I must say I agree it´s really tasteful. So, that was the day I realized that, just like mayonnaise, in Belgium beer can actually taste really good. That day would change my night life and still makes my wallet smaller, since belgian beer can be truly expensive in Brazil.