Drinking routines in Belgium

When you join in one of the Beer Tastings Can you handle it Tours offers, you get a real nice explanation on beers, a little history on the ones which are served, some fun facts and so on.

During one of the Beer Tastings


Mostly the first beer you get is “Duvel”. Literally translated as “Devil”. For more information why they call this lovely beer ‘devil’ you’ll have to do the Beer Tasting. 

But before starting to drink, the host asks you to wait to do a joined cheer. Now that’s the moment when he (or she) asks you all to shout as loud as you can “Op je mulle” (“Up you moulle” you’d say it in an English way).

Luckily by the end of the evening they tell you what it really means. 

Example of being "out cold"

Risk is that you’re already a little drunk and don’t hear what it’s actually standing for. So, just to help you: “Op je mulle” means literally “In your face”.

Please, for safety reasons, don’t go in a Belgian bar and say this to someone you don’t know… It can get you into a spot of trouble.

The way to say “Cheers” in Belgium is “Santé” or ”Schol”. Short and easy.

But, anything else told in the Beer Tasting is true.

Imagine you being in a bar, it’s really crowded. The music is so loud you have to shout just to make yourself understandable.

And you want a beer from the tap but because it’s too crowded you can’t get close enough to the bar so you’ll have to make an order from a distance. If you just want a normal beer from the tap, that’s what we call a “Pintje”. In Dutch that sounds like a “pinkje”, which means your pinkie. So, you show your pinkie to the barman and he knows what you want! Excellent!

Do not do this when there are only five other dudes in the bar. Then it’s just silly and unnecessary…

Enjoy the beer, check out the website for the Beer Tastings, so you can do them when you’re visiting Bruges!

http://www.canyouhandleittours.com