Beer motivated trip to Belgium... anyone been there?

[philistine]

Hey Dudes,
I'll be in Germany at the end of November for a mates wedding and was thinking of taking a train to Brussels and spending a day or two there doing a bit of beer tourism before heading back home.

Anyone been there before? Anyone got friends there who also like beer and like showing fellow beer enthusiasts what Belgium has to offer?
Where to go to get the best "beer" experience(s)? Brew pubs?Brewery tours?etc?

Any tips would be awesome - cheers!

 

[EalingDrop]

Lindemans

http://www.lindemans.be

Otherwise within the city

Moeder has a great range, particularly lambics such as Cantallion

https://www.moederlambic.com/?lang=en

And this
http://www.beerproject.be

Pop into the local supermarket Carrefour (like Woolies to them), where you can get St Bernardus 12 , Blanche De Namur. Pretty cool to see what normal beer to them is like gold dust here to us.

 

[hairydog]

Spent a memorable time in Germany last year for Oktoberfest,visited the lovely town of Bamberg for two days and spent a lot of time

at the Schlenkellar brewery pub drinking Rauchbier I think it was a Marzen at the time,it was a taste sensation straight out of the wooden

keg and a great feel to the place and a great feed to.Also spent time in Belgium and went to Bruges and did the De Halv Maan brewery tour,

which was great with a cool look back in time of the way brewing was done.Brussells had plenty of bars to visit too hard to visit them all and

see the sights in the short time we had,for me the Sclenkellar was the pick a quick train ride north of Munich.

 

[Simon N]

Cantillon is definitely worth a visit: https://www.cantillon.be/visites?lang=en. Belgian Brewers Museum in Grand Place moderately interesting.

Most of the breweries, especially the well known ones, are outside of Brussels.

 

[koshari]

the belgian beer scene when i was there in 2000 was pretty much a beer cafe scene, lots of table served strong and tasty beers generally served in a fancy glass and some with a timber holder, each beer seemed to have their own styled glass that were as different as the styles served.

of course being continental europe you could also get a bog standard megaswill lager like steller pretty much anywhere.

 

[mongey]

I spent a few days in brussels and 12 years ago .I knew allot less alot beer back then . would love to go back now

that said I did drink a bunch of chimmay and duvel on tap

Antwerp is pretty awesome too if you can manage it

If your into music instruments at all the musical instrument museum in Brussels is a cool visit after a few chimays

 

[philistine]

I AM ******* EXITED

 

[peteru]

Delirium cafe ( http://www.deliriumcafe.be/ ) is worth a visit. Make sure you give yourself a few hours, the beer selection is extensive.

 

[Lobby Lobster]

I AM ******* EXITED

Good for you. I went to Bruges for 3 days back in 2011 and it blew my mind.
Would definitely liked to have spent more time in Belgium.
Advice to us was that Brussels was a bit more like the Canberra of Belgium but we didn’t go there so it may have been an unfair description - 2 million people live there.
You really will be in beer heaven and there will no doubt be great things to see. Food is also great and be sure to try the mussels!
Enjoy! [emoji482]

 

[Wobbly74]

I just did the last weekend of Oktoberfest in Munich which was fun. Currently in Prague at a brewery hotel - accommodation isn't bad, the beer on tap in the bath is nice So another option might be a quick trip to czech. Prague is an amazing city as well.

 

[Wobbly74]

 

[The Ferment Horizon]

I just did the last weekend of Oktoberfest in Munich which was fun. Currently in Prague at a brewery hotel - accommodation isn't bad, the beer on tap in the bath is nice So another option might be a quick trip to czech. Prague is an amazing city as well.

Hi Wobbly74,
I saw the bathtub photos on Facebook. I'm planning a beer holiday middle of next year, visiting Amsterdam (for Carnival Brettanomyces) then visiting Germany, Belgium, Norway, Czech Republic, Finland etc.
Anyway, can you give some more details about the brewery hotel in Prague. By the looks of things, I might have to stay there for a bit, too. haha.

 

[petesbrew]

Definitely get to Brugges if you have time.
As well as the beer and generally getting lost wandering around the old town, a tour of the flanders fields and all the WWI stuff is worth it.

 

[koshari]

I just did the last weekend of Oktoberfest in Munich which was fun. Currently in Prague at a brewery hotel - accommodation isn't bad, the beer on tap in the bath is nice So another option might be a quick trip to czech. Prague is an amazing city as well.

Nip down to krumlov as well.

 

[Sinfathisar]

Loved Belgium, I was there Nov last year.

Delirium was amazing.

 

[Wobbly74]

Hi Wobbly74,
I saw the bathtub photos on Facebook. I'm planning a beer holiday middle of next year, visiting Amsterdam (for Carnival Brettanomyces) then visiting Germany, Belgium, Norway, Czech Republic, Finland etc.
Anyway, can you give some more details about the brewery hotel in Prague. By the looks of things, I might have to stay there for a bit, too. haha.

No probs - pics here too for reference. It's the U Medvidku Brewery Hotel. You have to book the special beer room to get the bath and beer tap. You get 5L/day of budvar included in your room rate.

http://umedvidkubreweryhotel.eurorentals.info/en/

 

[The Ferment Horizon]

Cheers!

 

[laxation]

After you go to Delirium, check out Beer Planet. Great range of beers and not too expensive. Eg. Westvleteren 12 for 12.50 euro instead of 18 like most other shops. This shop is for take away, so you can keep them in your hotel and drink when you're back there relaxing.

I just got back from Belgium and got some tips of places to go here

Strongly recommend Cantillon Brewery - but if you and your group aren't accustomed to wild sours, don't have too much of it. They're pretty funky and if you have a lot you might get sick.

You should also go to Poechenellekelder. It's a great bar right near the piss statue. Good courtyard to sit in as well.

My favourite beers from the trip that I'd recommend:
- Westy 12 (in hindsight, I'd just get 4 of these instead of trying each Westy but up to you)
- Rochefort 10 (almost as good as the 12)
- Westmalle Tripel (best tripel imo)
- Orval
- St Feuillien Tripel (pronounced san foo-ee-yonne so you don't look like a ****** like I did when trying to order it... "One Saint Foil-lie-eene ploise moite")
- Karmeliet Tripel

but that said, they're all amazing.

 

[kuibrew]

My experiences of Belgium beer have mostly came out of the bottle.3 yrs ago In Kaosching(?) Taiwan I drank some delightful fruit flavoured Leffe (?) or Liedermans beers,whilst at the bar at Frites > Hong Kong 2 years ago I got smashed (when the manageress found out I was from Melbourne & the owners from Oz gave me carte blanche to drink anything free of charge) in Wan Chai with my daughter .The pub served exclusively Belgium beer .......There's a court near Waka Waka in central Bujumburra ,Burundi that sells Kriek & Leffe beers & more at premium tourist rate .But in Belgium its best to invest in a monks robe and go for it ...raspberry Bacchus or any flavour they are all great ...Rochefort any number ...excellent drop,,,,Augustin Gran Cru ,Kapittel Tripel from Watou(?) , Piraat ( from memory),St Paul ,Tripel Val-Dieu......the rest is a blurrrrrr
Lastly if ever in Windheok, Namibia plse check out the beers at Joe's Bar its an institution within a beer culture of itself......alas not Belgium but very unique
But Belgium beer either guzzled in Ostende,Ghent,Brugges or in the Ardeinnes (schpelling?) its 1000miles better then drinking sorghum beer in Trebora in Tanzania !!!!

 

[Helles2]

Delirium cafe ( http://www.deliriumcafe.be/ ) is worth a visit. Make sure you give yourself a few hours, the beer selection is extensive.

2000 beers on tap across the bars they own in Delirium lane is fairly extensive

My favourite I can’t remember which bar it was but it had The Hoppy Loft upstairs
All Malt beers bottom floor and everything else on the middle floor

 

[jayred]

Mate get to Bruges
It's such a beautiful city and has a couple of really good breweries and most of the bars have 100's of beers to choose from.
Bourgogne des flanders is a must try, Wish i could get that **** over here
I stayed in brussels for a few days before tommorowland and didn't really like the city too much.
It has it's nice parts but then has its dero parts too and there is a sense of not so save areas
The beers there are great however- Delerium is popular

 

[Alienka]

About a year ago, my girlfriend presented me with a tour to Belgium. I will tell you that Belgium impressed us very much.

 

[duncbrewer]

Bruge beer festival very good in the central square, very pretty city and some great crepes as well. It's got some many beers in the one place to try, it's not like Oktoberfest or Springfest in Germany.

 

[GoodDuck]

Bruge is beautiful! And gives you access to plenty of great drinking establishments and bottle shops. De Halve Maan brewery is easily accessible and does tours and tastings. I also stopped briefly in Brussels to visit the Cantillon brewery (self tours) - walkable from the train station.
From Bruge we hired a car, and drove to the "In Flanders Fields Museum" in Ypres, some of which is very moving. From there we drove to the Saint Sixtus Abbey which brew the Westvletern 12 ( and the Blond and the 8) - The Abbey is closed to the public, but fans of the beers do like to visit the site. Pick up some 12s from the "In de Vrede" cafe across the road. (pretty sure the cheapest price around)

 

[Alienka]

About a year ago, my girlfriend presented me with a tour to Belgium. I will tell you that Belgium impressed us very much. Every evening we went to a new pub and drank new beers. If you want to do beer tourism, then I recommend just going to bars and pubs like we do. But if you want to take a tour, I recommend that you look at this site visit site a couple of tours we bought here and we're delighted. So if you still plan to go to Belgium, then allocate at least a couple of days to view this country, you definitely won't regret it!

 

[MHB]

Personally I would rate the Westy Blond one of the finest beers on the planet!
Mark

 

[zoigl]

I found that getting to breweries was a bit of a problem. They are situated out of town, very little public transport was available, you seem to have 2 options, get a driver, or maybe ride a bike (could pose problems with alcohol)
I found it very difficult to find a beer under 8% abv.
My wife and I did the 4 nations bike ride, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany, the ride took us along the Battle of the Bulge route, there were numerous opportunities to sample the local beers during this ride. So in the main towns you should find bars that will have about 1000 beers available, some seem to have about 100 on tap.
Look out for glasses, there is a fine shop in Bruge, but you will find stalls at markets too. Good luck.

 

[zoigl]

There is a bar in Antwerp which specializes in very old beers. Unfortunately, I only found out about it when I got home. The bar has a sign, "Are you here to drink or taste?" Maybe worth looking up if you are nearby. Some beers are reputed to be 40 tears old.

 

[LRAT]

I was born and grew up in Belgium in a village called Ertvelde (Near Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen). The local brewery Van Steenberge is worth a visit and they produce some of the best Belgian beers: Piraat, Gulden Draak, Augustijn, Baptist, Bornem, etc.
It's a pity we can't buy this stuff in Australia. They do lots of export to the US.
Check out their website: Brouwerij Van Steenberge | Home

 

[MHB]

A nudge for a mate of mine, Jason imports beers mostly from Belgium; they are cold shipped all the way so are in excellent condition.

If you can’t get to Belgium the International Beer Collector is the best option here.
Mark