De Struise Brouwers

Glad the Brothers finally made this change and allowed for breweries to be reviewed... Located in very very small town on a non-descript street in Oostvleteren. This is the epitome of small town rural Europe. The school house opens at 2 so plan accordingly. The school house contains its new brewing equipment moving in, a class room, and an office. When you first walk in lined against the wall are tons of De Struise beer and rare De Molen ticks for sale, great prices. Below the beers are display shelfs showing off tons of rare beers they have been brought. The atmosphere is nostalgic and awesome, if not a touch too cold on the day we were there... As we walked in we were greeted by Carlo, one of the owners and the main entertainer of guests. He lead us back to the office where we met Urbain and shared a Mikkeller Jackie Brown. Urbain had some work to do and sent us on a trip to Westvletern with beerpirates to pick up his order of 3 crates of Westy 12! Westvletern is 6km away, located in farm country, beautiful... After we got back form Westy we spent a good 3 hours in the classroom with Carlo tasting every De Struise beer they had. The whole time Carlo provided great insight on how they came up with the beer, name, bottle designs, and general brewing knowledge like how they referment the beer to carbonate it when bottled. Towards the end Urbain showed up and spent plenty of time with us. Additionally, Urbain told us about a excellent bed and breakfast right down the road which was a perfect place to stay.

Bottom line if you're in Belgium you have to go here and hit up both De Struise and Westy. It is immensely informative, incredibly company and conversation with two very smart people, and great drinks.

 

 

The place is opened only from 2 to 6 pm, it's not easy to spot, you really have to know where you're going, the decor is minimalist, but man ! Was it worth it !

Around 30 beers on tap which you can sample in 3oz glasses for 1€ each. That's what I did and managed to taste about 15 in 4 hours.
You can also get 12oz glasses if you wish.
The man at the bar spoke 3 languages and was very knowlegeable.
Great ambiance !

A must if you're in the region.

 

Very cool spot with short but sweet hours. 30 beers on tap with 8cl tastings for 1€ each with an incredible line up including their 26% eisbock

 

 

 

Through a small opening you enter into what looking like a building site, but is really the brewery terrace laid out with tables & chairs and a couple of guys cooking up burgers. They are welcoming and point you into the right direction to the tap room, where there is 20 taps to choose from. A corridor provides a space for the range of 9 or 10 different bottles to be displayed. The beer is that good I brought 1 of everything.

 

 

 

I visited De Struise after a trip to Westvleteren (which is only about 10 minutes away). The place isn't easy to find unless you know where to look, as it's through a walkway and across a concrete courtyard, with no signs on the road. The tasting room was much smaller than I expected, with no bar to sit at, just a few tables crammed with serious beer enthusiasts. It's basically one room of an old schoolhouse. So you're in elementary school, but drinking high octane beer.

Massive beer selection, with styles of all types, and a few options from other breweries as well. De Struise is, in my opinion, one of the more experimental breweries in Belgium, if not in all of Europe, and here at the taproom, you can really witness that fact. They had Messy on tap, which was a unique treat. Yeah, look that one up...a 39% eisbocked Black Damnation.

Service was basic. A guy serving beer. Urbain unfortunately was not there during my visit, as he was at a festival somewhere. A shame, because I did want to meet him.

You're definitely going to want to try to hit up Struise if you travel to (or live in) Belgium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Located in Oostvleteren, in an old school. Actually very hard to find, because of the lack of any signs. You actually enter a regular door, which leads to courtyard, from which you finally enter the school/brewery.

The taproom is located in a classroom with an authentic panel painting, showing the brew process. The atmosphere is very cosy, abandoned old school benches and tables are still standing there, where you are now able to enjoy your beer. You can also sit in their courtyard when the wheather is sunny, go to the next butcher and join a barbecue. They promise to have about 30 beers on tap, which contains a good range of their beer, you can decide between three different glass sizes, 8ml, 15ml and 33ml, which is very comprehensible, taking into account that they serve beer with an abv between 3.5 - 26. They also got some bottles and glasses for takeaway, but don’t rely on their internet site, as they don’t seem to care to hold it up-to-date.

 

 

 

I love this place and it's my favorite stop when I make my yearly beer run to this part of Belgium.
It's cozy, relaxed and a great place to meet other people who share the same love for craft beer. They have a big tap where they always have several of their beers on tap and you can sample them for a very reasonable price.
The times I've been there they're always very friendly and their available beers range from low in alcohol to very high in alcohol....and with high, I mean high:) It's a good thing they have small sampling glasses.
Every time I've been there one of the owners is there and he's always keen to explain stuff or answer questions.
In short...go there. You won't regret it. If I had to make a choice between stopping here in Oost Vleteren OR in West Vleteren...then this is where I go. But of course...you should visit both;)

On a side note: If you want to buy some beer to take home this place may be a hit or miss situation. Sometimes they have several nice beers...sometimes you're just bumming:)

 

 

I love going here to enjoy beer. Every time I have been they have had something awesome on tap. Buying beer to go is hit or miss. Either they have some good stuff or the bare minimum. Get there early if you are looking to buy beer before they get sold out.