La Porte Noire

La Porte Noire — or The Black Door, as it is sometimes called by English speakers — has been one of my favourite places for years: a great selection of beers and single malt whiskies, slightly quirky and completely isolated from the outside world. The quirkiness and isolation are mostly due to the fact that this bar is located in the vaulted cellars of a 16th century convent, topped off with some Celticness and fantasy.

A year or two ago the bar changed management, but luckily this did in no way change their love for beer and whisky. Beers — one of which Guinness, as you would expect in a Celtic themed bar — pour from ten taps, and one tap is for cider. Some of those beers are always available on tap — Barbãr seems to be one of them, also available in for an 8% beer dangerously big 50 cl glasses — but others are replaced regularly, so have a look at one of the blackboards with the tap list. Beers by Brussels brewery De la Senne have been a regular on tap for quite a while, but more recently Brussels Beer Project brews can be spotted on tap as well.

The bottled beers served here are on display in three man-sized fridges right next to the entrance. Even though the multi-lingual “Do not open” warnings on the fridge doors are clear enough, some customers just can’t resist the temptation. The selection of bottled beers is certainly a nice one, and even for the regular customer there will be something new to try every couple of weeks. Here again: check the blackboards for any new additions to the fridges.

There are a couple of bars offering some decent single malt whiskies, but few propose a whisky menu as extensive as La Porte Noire. Unfortunately, they do have the (bad) habit of only serving those great whiskies in clunky tumblers, and in big 5 cl measures… However, I’ve been told there will be some changes to the bar in August, which would include new, branded glasses as well. I wouldn’t mind to see a Glencairn whisky glass with the La Porte Noire dragon on it!
Rum lovers will certainly find something to their liking as well.

As you would expect in a cellar, cell phone reception is horrible, and there’s no public WiFi, so you’ll just have to enjoy your drink, your company, and the music. The latter is often live, by the way. For something different, I can recommend the Irish trad music session, which occurs every second Tuesday of the month.

tl;dr

Beers

• 10 beers and 1 cider on draught
• A couple of fridges full of bottles to choose from. But don’t open the fridges!

Bites

• Packets of crisps, some cheese… Don’t come with an empty stomach!

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What have people been drinking here recently?