Leavin' the Holiday Inn Leuven

Advantages: Central location
Disadvantages: How long have you got?

...Where to spend the last couple of days of our holiday in Germany? Easy - Leuven. Yes, I know it's in Belgium. But we were traveling home via Brussels, so it's not as strange a choice as at first seems. No, really. We booked the HOLIDAY INN GARDEN COURT for our last couple of days - handy for the airport, and, let's face it, it would be nice to get my hands on some Belgian beer after enduring all that German stuff! * The hotel should be easy to find. After all, it's only a matter of turning down Tiensestraat from the inner ring road and there it is - 100-150m from the Grote Markt. What they didn't tell us though was that Tiensestraat is a one-way street, and part of it was closed due to roadworks, and another part was closed due to a fun-fair, and to access the hotel meant driving all the way around the ring road and then...

proxam 30.07.2005 · Read review
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Review of Holiday Inn Leuven, Leuven

A modern haven in a historical setting

Advantages: Peaceful, comfortable, great service, nice garden
Disadvantages: No gym, swimming pool

...The Klooster Hotel is a stylish, peaceful upmarket hotel in the heart of the old city centre of the University town of Leuven, filling a needed role in a town which was lacking such a venue for business travellers and the discerning visitor. The hotel is part of the Martin's Hotel group, which runs premier establishments in other locations close to Brussels, such as Genval and Waterloo, as well as in Brugge (Bruges). HOW I FOUND THIS HOTEL Before I describe the hotel itself, allow me to explain how I found this hotel. All three of our children were born in Leuven. The last one had to be induced at 11 days overdue (he was over 5kg when he was born), and while my wife was having check ups, she sent me off to buy something in the centre of town. Walking along the main road, I happened to glance down a narrow cobbled side...

lobourse 18.06.2007 (28.07.2007) · Read review
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Review of Klooster Hotel, Leuven

Become a successful alcoholic

Advantages: Variety of pubs, variety of beers
Disadvantages: Some pubs are overcrowded

...----------IN GENERAL---------- Leuven is Belgium?s most famous student city. Almost 40 000 students live in this little town. So when it comes down to pubs in Belgium, Leuven is legendary. Basically, the town is one big pub. In this relatively small town you will find almost 200 pubs, each with their own specialty. And the great thing about it is that the town is so small you can reach most of them on foot. Other reasons why Leuven is the ultimate pub town: * Closing hour? Never heard of it. After a long night you can even see kids going to school in the morning when you?re leaving the pub. A friend of mine never goes to bed before 5am, and never gets up before 1 pm. (and for the more curious among you, yes, she is only a couple of months from graduating) * Beers! One advice: try as many beers as you can. You...

Bastien 06.06.2002 (10.06.2002) · Read review
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Review of Pub-going in Leuven

Leuven - Beautiful, Accessible, Value for Money

Advantages: Beautiful old town, lots of good, inexpensive, restaurants, near to Brussels, university ambience
Disadvantages: Parking not easy, windy in winter

...Leuven (Louvain) is home to the oldest unviersity in the Low Countries, and is less than 30km to the east of the centre of Brussels. Its town hall (Stadhuis) is one of the finest buildings anywhere, and is at one end of a square where you can sit and drink coffee and watch the world go by. There are several other university buildings of interest, including the old library in Ladeuzeplein. There are several interesting churches, and the Begijnhof is worth taking a look at. Like many places in Belgium, the food is excellent, plentiful and inexpensive. We had a family lunch on Christmas day in the Troubadour restaurant in Tiensesestraat for 35 Euro /head including wine, while good lunches at other times in different restaurants seldom were more than 15 Euro. No mention of Leuven is complete without reference to the Stella Artois...

lobourse 22.03.2005 · Read review
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Review of Louvain (Belgium)

A King Amongst Men

Advantages: Superior taste
Disadvantages: Very strong, you may fall over

...What can I say !? If you're going to job make sure you do it right. And Stella is doing it right. When you taste Stella you're struck by how much of a difference there is compared to other lagers of it’s kind. If the landlord keeps it well then there should be a beautiful creamy head that sticks to the side of the glass all they way down. It has been brewed in the Belgian town of Leuven since 1366. There are two large breweries in Leuven which are the main part of the large Interbrew company, owned mainly by two large Belgian families, who I think are the Artois and Leffe families. The breweries are imaginately called, Leuven No. 1 and Leuven No. 2. Leuven No.1 concentrates on producing the company's ales, particularly the Leffe Abbey range. Leuven No.2 is a large almost fully automated brewery. No. 2 opened in 1992 and has...

Wiggywoo 28.10.2001 (08.11.2001) · Read review
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Review of Stella Artois Premium Lager

Good Yes exceptional No

Advantages: Refreshing. Widely Available
Disadvantages: Not the Best from Belgium

...Stella Artois has come a long way since the time Sebastien Artois's brewery opened way back in 1717. This beer, brewed in Leuven in Belgium in the Bohemian Pilsner style using fine Czech Saaz hops and I also believe hops from England,is a major beverage export. It has indeed become very popular in UK and other Northern European countries.I fist came across it as a young man on a trip to Ostend and later on visits to Leige, Brussels, Antwerp and Bruges. It is sometimes billed as a Premium Belgian Lager and has a price which reflects its so called premium status. It has clear,golden,palate, could be described as refreshing, and has a light hoppy aroma. Its alcohol content is 5.2% so it is a comparatively strong beer. In my view Belgium,which although a very small country about the size of the US state of Maryland...

ashford 20.11.2001 · Read review
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Review of Stella Artois Premium Lager

Lier - The best of Flanders, all in one place

Advantages: Pretty town, attractive buildings, interesting history, outstanding food
Disadvantages: none

...Of all the Flemish towns we have visited, or taken vistiors to, the one which has been the most pleasant surprise has been Lier. Lier is a pleasant town on the river Nete, between Antwerp and Mechelen, but since it is not directly on a motorway seems completely to have been missed all the normal tourist trappings. Lier was an important centre from the 13th century onwards. Such was its prominence that story has it that the inhabitants were offered the chance of having the first university in the Low Countries. Instead, the burghers preferred to have a sheep market, and the universtiy was founded in Leuven instead. This has led to the inhabitants of the town earning the soubriquet "Schapenkoppen" (sheep heads). The most famous building in Lier is the Zimmertoren, on Zimmerplein. The tower, which is part of the original city...

lobourse 05.05.2005 · Read review
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Review of Lier

Reassuringly Expensive But Not The Best

Advantages: Strongly promoted. Quite strong, Wide availability
Disadvantages: Not the best

...Stella Artois has come a long way since the time Sebastien Artois's brewery opened in 1717. This beer, brewed in Leuven in Belgium in the Bohemian Pilsner style using fine Czech Saaz hops and I also believe hops from England,is a major beverage export. It has indeed become very popular in UK and other Northern European countries.I fist came across it as a young man on a trip to Ostend and later on visits to Leige, Brussels, Antwerp and Bruges. It is sometimes billed as a Premium Belgian Lager and has a price which reflects its so called premium status. It has a clear,golden,palate, could be described as refreshing, and has a light hoppy aroma. Its alcohol content is 5.2% so it is a comparatively strong beer. It is advertised with the slogan "...The Beer is Reassuringly Expensive..".trying to appeal to the beer or lager snob in...

ashford 25.08.2001 · Read review
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Review of Stella Artois Premium Lager

An Aussie Offering

Advantages: Strongly promoted. Widely available. Not Gassy
Disadvantages: Not the best lager

.... So there you have it ! An average sort of beer with no really outstanding characteristics but which is well advertised and seemingly still loved by the Aussies.A sort of average beer, despite Mr Paul Hogan's claims, that it is a wonderful gift from "down under".Give me a lager from Prague,Pilsen, Leuven or Bremen anyday rather than Foster's !...

ashford 25.08.2001 · Read review
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Review of Fosters Lager [TV Advertisement]

Stella Artois ? Reassuringly Expensive

Advantages: Crisp taste, high quality
Disadvantages: Expensive!

...As the adverts state, Stella Artois is reassuringly expensive ? and they aren?t wrong there. The whole Stella thing began back in 1717 when the Leuven Brewery in Belgium brewed special ale just for Christmas each year (The star on the logo is a Christmas star, apparently). However people thought that this Christmas lager was something special and so Stella Artois hit the mainstream and is now classed as one of the finest lagers on the globe. How do I know these facts? Well if you buy a multipack of Stella bottles, each bottle has a fact about the lager on the label. So you can learn something new, get drunk, then forget it. The ale is 5.2% which is rather strong for a normal lager and if you have a few two many you will be left with one of those hangovers that make you vow to ?never drink again.? The taste of the drink is where...

Kyz22 28.09.2003 · Read review
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Review of Stella Artois Premium Lager