Trip Planning - Belgian Breweries Must Visits and Avoids

I don't focus much on breweries while on Belgian trips, but while you are in areas north I would check out Brouwerij 't IJ in Amsterdam, I enjoy their beers. Later check out In de Wildeman , I had a chance to visit there last year and really enjoyed it.
We lucked out at Rochefort when we paid them a visit a long while back, no tour but they did pose for a picture and sign my great beers of Belgium book



Focus on some of the classic bars of Brugge, Brussels , Gent and Antwerpen to round out your trip, Its nice when you don't have to drive to different breweries.

 

Le Trappe is a very nice facility, ideal for lunch. It can get busy on the weekend, so even though they have a lot of staff working it does take a while to get a beer.

The other good thing about it is that it is a short drive/bike ride to Tilburg. In Tilburg I recommend Cafe Kandindsky, who have a fine selection of Dutch & Belgian beer.

 

Most don't really do tours and some require either a reservation or a small group of say fifteen or twenty. With that said, I think you would enjoy Orvel, Achouffe, La Trappe, De Halve Maan in Bruges, Cantillon in Brussels..... there are so many more small out of the way ones like Caracole, Fantome, Rodenbach. Do yourself a favor and buy Tim Webb's Good Beer Guide to Belgium. It is the Bible to beer tourism.

 

it's also nice to see a post that i completely disagree with.
first, Amsterdam's not that close to Belgium. but...if i chose an Amsterdam brewery, it would def be De Molen. De Molen has world-class stouts. i've never really heard anyone say anything positive about IJ's beer. to each his own, i guess.

Ghent doesn't have any classic bars that I'm aware of. Brugge's classic bar is probably one of the more disappointing ones. very overrated and is resting on its Tim Webb-blessed designation from 1-2 decades ago. it's now chock full of hostel and hotel tourists downing delicious glasses of Kwak ad nauseum. Rose Red and De Kelk are not Brugge classics, but are great bars in their own right.

know what's nice? having driven to a number of breweries and had experiences of a lifetime. Meeting Dany at Fantome was excellent. The times I've spent at Struise and De Dolle were legendary in their own right. you get to meet and drink with the brewers and West Flanders brewers treat guests very, very well. would i drive to Rochefort? no. don't see a reason. Orval? heard it's nice and the Orval Green's something i'd like to try. My visit to Chimay was a complete waste of time.

 

Amsterdam isn't that far if you take the high speed train. Only about 90 minutes. ( do you really want to travel all the way to the Netherlands to drink Stouts?) Ij"s Natte and Zatte are good beers.

I'm not sure how many times you've been to Belgium but you can't think of one bar in Gent that is classic? Only one in Brugge? The ambience alone in Brugge makes many of them a classic visit.

I imagine it would be nice to visit a number of breweries for the experience, I would probably do more of it if it weren't for the driving aspect. I like to get the most out of every day while over there, when you drive your drinking is very limited.

Why not take a fresh look at what's available on your next visit? You overall review of the country seems to make it impossible for most establishments to meet an acceptable standard.

 

We just did Brugge a few weeks back and very much enjoyed the bars we visited - no crazy wales, although Rose Red had Zenne Y Frontera for sale. None of the draft selections at any of the Brugge bars were outstanding although I did quite enjoy the De Garre Tripel. Bottle lists were solid and so much less expensive than what I pay in the states. Wish I could have hit the Struise shop, but it didn't fit with our plans. De Struise (saturday only) and De Dolle (sunday only) are supposed to be quite good and aren't too far from one another if you have a car - we did not.

 

De Molen-Amsterdam??? Better check your facts if you're gonna provide advice/suggestions for folks on this site...De Molen is located in Bodegraven not Amsterdam, (the poor guy may have spent an entire day wandering around Amsterdam asking local people "where's the De Molen Brewery?" haha). Your FUBAR on De Molen makes me question whether your description of Ghent & Brugge bars has any merit. Have you even visited Gent? I have & there are several very good "classic" bars!

 

yes, because people just wander the streets looking for bars. that's how things work in the 21st century.
it's 1 hr from amsterdam. in the grand scheme of things, that's nothing.

question whatever you like. i'm quite indifferent to your opinion.
i lived in Belgium for 6 weeks. so i kind of know the country.
stick to your Ghent bars. that's pretty cool. but i stand by what i say. no need to plan a beer trip that involves a visit to Ghent. it's an inferior beer city compared to Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp.

 

Not to be rude, but living somewhere for 6 weeks does not mean you know the country. 6 weeks is an extended vacation.

To the original question... Hof ten Dormaal in Tildonk seems to get overlooked, but it's one of the best breweries I've visited in Belgium (for the atmosphere/experience, not just the beer alone). And I would recommend a trip to Gent regardless, it's beautiful there with plenty of good beer.

 

Everybody can make mistakes. Indeed Bodegraven is not Amsterdam, but whatever.
Being a local to westflanders, I can recommend in the neighbourhood : Struise, Dolle, St. Bernardus, Rodenbach, Alvinne and Westvleteren (just for the sake of being there). In Bruges visit De Halve Maan.
Atomeyes indeed stayed in the neighbourhood, I've seen him behind the bar at the Struise...

 

and, sadly, at 't Molenhof as well

 

sure. plus my other 3 trips to belgium. probably puts me a bit more towards the "expert" column than novice, i'd argue.

sure. Ghent's a great and beautiful city. but he's asking about breweries to visit and avoid, not cities with good (not great) beer.

 

can't go wrong with 't molenhof

 

That's right !
My favourite pub/resto...!

 

mine too if it werent a 2 hour drive up and 2 hour back

 

The good news on Rochefort and many others is that they're totally ubiquitous in Belgium, and that is indeed a genius thing. You don't need a classic bar or brewery visit, you can just go wherever you like.

If that's t'Ij, it's a great looking place, even if I might give the nod to the product of others, I can't imagine having a bad visit.

But for the Belgians, one of the disconnects that comes up with this question is the idea of brewery visits. They're lots of fun, absolutely, just not a focus in Belgium (as said above), for historical reasons. I think that we (I'm American, living here as expat) think in terms of brewery visits because, when we were coming up, that was about the only place to get many of our good beers. There's no need, here, because there have been cafes, restaurants and wherever with wide choice of beer since time immemorial. So, take the pressure off yourself in thinking that you have to get to the wellspring for the authentic experience. You can't visit Rochefort (at least inside) but there's no more Belgian way to have it than sitting in any bar with a nice view onto a city square, or even your own balcony (having bought it from almost literally any shop that sells any beer in the country), maybe with a plate of cheese, maybe with a newspaper or just an hour to kill. (For goodness sake, if that hour is before noon, make it the 6º, not the 10.)

 

it's a classic. a world classic.