Enjoying a Belgian Beer at Newark Airport

I (Alex) ended up in early December flying from the US back to the desert from Newark Airport in New Jersey. After passing through all the formalities, I noticed a new addition to the traditional eateries one usually finds in all US airports: the Belgian Beer Café. Yep, that’s what it is called. And on top of everything, this happened to be their opening night. I couldn’t pass such an opportunity and decided to check the place out.

On initial inspection, I was completely flabbergasted since I have never seen a selection of Belgian beers like this one outside of Brussels before. They had it all: Ambers, Dupples, Trappist and Abbey beers, even (unheard off!) Fruit Lambics. A beer lovers paradise in an Airport? These guys must be joking? Well, apparently they weren’t.

The owner, Jeffrey Daunt (Senior Operations Director for HMS Host), explained that since Newark was an international airport they felt that there was a niche to fill by offering high-end Belgian beers. I wondered where they find such a variety of beers. “Not easy, we have to buy from five distributors to fill the bar, but we hope that our customers will enjoy a beer or two before they fly.” Sure as hell, I did, a few to be exact (they had some excellent food as well).

If you are ever in Newark Airport and love beer as much as the other guy, don’t miss the Belgian Beer Café (operates in several countries), you will be reminiscing about it – thousands of feet in the air.

Well, one can’t blame Alex for not being creative when taking photos. Here he is apparently lying down horizo…(hey, wait a minute, was this picture taken AFTER trying out all the beers?)