Going to Belgium
This August, I’ll be embarking on an epic journey across Europe, with some time in Belgium dedicated to exploring the beers I love in their native land. Being my first trip to Belgium, I thought I might reach out to you, loyal Beer & Nosh reader, for some advise: Where to go, what to do, where to eat, what to drink?
I’ll have about a week to dedicate to Belgium, and be traveling my train. I’m looking for any and all recommendations, but really what I’m looking for is access behind often closed doors – tours of ancient (Trappist?) breweries that are revered the world over. My camera and palette are dying to really explore.
So – Know anyone in Belgium? Are YOU in Belgium? Got a favorite bar in Brussels or Antwerp? Best place to get Waterzooi?
Leave comments below, or feel free to email me directly.
Tags: Belgium
May 11th, 2010 at 9:50 am
I tweeted this to you, but figured I’d put it here for other people.
I’m headed there end of this month. The Good Beer Guide to Belgium has been excellent in planning. It’s put out by the UK group CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale).
As for must hits, I hear Cantillon is the place to go. It’s in Brussels. In Brussels, I’m excited to try out Restobieres and Spinnekopke.
I don’t know how you’re getting to Belgium (eg: Thalys versus Eurostar versus other rail), but Thalys has an option called “ABS” if you book through them – it’s “Any Belgian Station”, and allows you to board Belgian rail for two days after your high speed rail trip. It costs a bit extra, but seems to pay for itself.
May 11th, 2010 at 9:52 am
If you go to bruges (which I highly recommend – I spend a few weeks there and it’s an awesome town) try the Brugse Tripel. That was one of my favorites when I was there. But really, you can’t go wrong with any of the beer in Belgium. Even the ones you get can here taste totally different over there.
May 11th, 2010 at 10:12 am
CANTILLON!
May 11th, 2010 at 10:19 am
The Burgundian Babble Belt, is an excellent resource for all things belgian beer, IMHO.
http://ww2.babblebelt.com/index.html
The message board(s) is(are) a wealth of info., advice, and contacts.
so jealous.
May 11th, 2010 at 10:33 am
No clues on belgium but I can offer tips on photography and traveling with gear while making great images as a participant rather than an observer.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:17 am
i second cantillon – it’s a bit of a trek to walk out there from the train station, but well worth it.
other notables off the top of my head: ‘t Brugs Beertje and Staminee De Garre in bruges, delirium cafe and de bier tempel in brussels.
places i wish i hit up: fantome in soy, drie fonteinen in brussels. i would talk to sean paxton and try to get contact information for some of the brewers.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Thanks for putting this out there! I leave in less than 2 weeks for my Belgian beer-scursion so I’ll be stalking these comments for tips :)
May 11th, 2010 at 11:42 am
@katie – please report back on your trip to us!
May 11th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Will do!
May 11th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
I strongly second Good Beer Guide to Belgium.
Most people say Brussels is nothing particular special, but we liked it. Or parts of it were charming. Although, everyone agrees there are some nice bars there. If you like lambics, then that is the area to be in. We used Brussels as a base, as it’s under a one hour train ride to Brugge and Ghent from there.
Poechenellekelder is small and intimate, had a nice beer selection, and some basic food.
I found Delirium Café to be a little loud, but the selection goes on forever. I’ve heard the upstairs bar (there are three floors) is a little more adult, but it was closed the night we went. If you want the good beer, go to the basement.
I also enjoyed Moeder Lambic, which was a little out of the way, but had a more authentic feel as a place locals went to instead of tourists. It is small, but they have some draft lambics that are hard to find elsewhere.
As to the Cantillon Brewery, they have a nice walking tour from the town center to their headquarters. It is a nice stroll. You can find it on their web site.
There are other places that are more famous and likely better, but we picked and chose based on location, day of week (some places were closed on specific nights), etc. So, don’t take exclusions as negatives.
In Ghent, the Waterhuis had a nice water view and was a cozy little place. The Trappistenhuis was also a mellow bar. A little more space, but you could easily enjoy hours in either one. The Adoration of the Lamb in Ghent is the one piece of art I would say you must see while you’re in Belgium.
For Brugge, the place to go is Brugs Beertje, but that place is likely already on your list. The other place we went was Dyver, which is a foodie place with good beer pairings, not a beer bar. We were there for lunch. It is on the expensive side, but was a good change of pace and a nice experience. Especially for my wife, because the food in most of the pubs is not that varied. I remember liking most of it, but some dishes fell a little flat. Not saying it’s a must visit, but worth investigating.
We ended up going to Antwerp. Kulminator is the place to go that everyone talks about. Killer beer selection. I think I stumbled a little bit there. Didn’t really maximize my choices. It can be a little hard to parse those giant menus and uncover the true rare gems. (Same with Delirium) And since it was just me, I restricted myself to smaller-sized bottles, which is a big handicap.
I also went to Paters’ Vaetje. Perfectly fine, but nothing special. I think I went because it was open late and near my hotel.
Both Brugge and Ghent are beautiful little old towns. Well worth the visit and just fun to hang out. We did not get a car and drive to places, but I could see it being a blast. That said, totally not necessary if you don’t want to bother with the hassle and drinking and driving. But if you do, you must get the Good Beer Guide book. It covers everyplace you’d want to visit.
Brussels is nice, but like the Washington, DC of Europe. Antwerp is the least picturesque. However, if you go as far as Antwerp, I would recommend taking the high speed train to Amsterdam. You could probably even make it a long day trip, if you didn’t want to stay over. I think it’s 2 hours each way, but the train is fast and clean and all that.
Beyond the city itself, which needs no additional marketing, a couple of great beer bars and stores there. I went to the Cracked Kettle, where you can find crazy rare US beers for sale at crazy prices, but you can’t find them in stores in the US (like Surly Darkness, Three Floyds Dark Lord). They also sell Westys, which I didn’t actually see for sale in Belgium, but I’m sure I just wasn’t looking hard enough. I’m told a great bar is across the street — Cafe Golum, but I didn’t go in.
May 11th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
@adam Thanks for the great in depth reply!
My copy of the “Good Beer Guide” is already ordered. According to Amazon it should be in my hands early next week.
May 13th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Adam’s summary is an excellent one. My only disagreement is that I personally found Old Antwerp to be gorgeous, to the point that I wish I spent less time in Brussels and more time there.
I will second Cantillon as an absolute “must visit”. If you are a fan of authentic lambic and centuries-old production methodology, this place is like Mecca. It simply oozes with soul.
Another place that I put in the “must visit” category is De Heeren van Liedekercke in Denderleeuw. It’s a bit of a pain to get to from Brussels (you can take the train and then walk about 20 minutes to the restaurant…train stops running at 10PM….no return cab rides available), but it is worth the hassle. Stellar food, unmatched hospitality, and a beer list that will knock your socks off. The focus is on lambic. If you’re lucky (and willing to shell out the $), you’ll get to sample the Cantillon Crianza Helena, Drie Fonteinen J&J Oude Gueuze Blauw or Roos, all of which were produced exclusively for this restaurant.
Also in Brussels, skip Les Brasseurs de la Grand Place. The beers are awful. For retail, I’d also skip the long walk to Beer Mania and stick with the much closer (and better stocked) Bier Tempel.
In Brugge, Brasserie Erasmus is a cool little restaurant in the bottom floor of the Erasmus Hotel. Again, some very solid food with a nice beer selection. Order a De Dolle 21 3×7 Jong if they still have any left. It was brewed exclusively for them in 1998. It’s not particularly great, but you’ll never get to try it anywhere else.
Brouwerij De Halve Maan is kind of cool for the brewery tour, which will take you to the rooftop for the best view of the city. Can’t speak too highly of the beer, though.
Bierbrasserie Cambrinus and ’t Brugs Beertje are both excellent beer bars in Brugge. Both can get extremely crowded, and the latter gets quite smoky, so I’d recommend these two during “off” hours.
At Kulminator, realize that the owners can be very weary of American tourists. They aren’t unfriendly, they just want to make sure you know your stuff before you come in asking for a Westy 12. You’ll want to “warm up” with a few fine selections before asking for anything crazy rare, just to show that you’re not there just to try the #1 rated beer in the world because it’s the cool thing to do.
Adam’s suggestion of taking the train to Amsterdam is an excellent one. For retail, I’d skip the inflated pricing and limited selection at the Cracked Kettle (he trades with Americans to obtain those limited release beers….something you could just as easily do yourself), and instead focus on the nearby De Bierkoning, which has a much better selection. You’ll find a bevy of limited De Molen beers there, along with a good representation from most every Dutch brewer. They also have a solid lambic selection.
While there, you’ll also need to visit the picturesque Brouwerij ’t IJ. You can’t miss it as it is housed in the base of the only surviving windmill in the city center. There’s beers have a unique, bretty funk to them. Some folks refer to them as the Jolly Pumpkin of Europe, due to their signature yeast strain.
If you’re looking for an Amsterdam beer bar, try Bierproeflokaal In De Wildeman. We had a blast there.
Those are my first hand recommendations. I’ve heard good thing about Moeder Lambic, but it wasn’t open when I visited so I can’t attest to it first hand. If I were to go back, I’d take some more adventurous trips (Struise Farm, Westvleteren Abdij St. Sixtus, Chimay, Orval, De Molen, etc.), and I suggest you do the same if you have the time. Hope that helps.
May 14th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Wow that is amazing. Very jealous. I will be going in a little more than a year or so.
As for advice – I will ask my friends who just spent a month there and have friends living there. They had an amazing trip. I know they said overall that Brussels was a good time but was nothing like the small towns you get to not too far outside of Brussels – that is where they really enjoyed things. Besides beer they had an amazing time trying jenever – I will find out for you where.
May 25th, 2010 at 2:39 am
Try the Stella.
June 16th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Cambrinus in Brugge is awesome!
June 25th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Most of my recs have already been pointed out by others. Most cities in Belgium will have stores that sell most Belgian beers that are very good, so check those out. Yes its over-rated for the price, but Westvleteren 12 is definitely worth trying once!
Try to drink all the Trappists (there are only 7 Trappists monasteries that produce beer, 1 dutch, the rest Belgian). My faves are Rochefort and La Trappe (and I’ve tried them all ;)
Brugge might still be very full of tourists in August though :( We went in February and had a great time :) I went again in September and it wasn’t nearly as nice :(
Anyway, hope you have fun!
Jennifer
June 25th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Also, you have to try lot’s of Lambic beer! It’s very hard to find outside Europe. (at least we’ve only found 1 type here in Waterloo, ON, Canada).
July 6th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
We’d recommend Dyver. Alot of the bars on the Markt serve great Belgian beer which goes so well with Belgian mussels and fritjes
July 9th, 2010 at 11:11 am
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