I'll be visiting Brussels and Brugge in early August. I love sours and Belgians of all kinds but I'm not up to speed on what's available at that time of year and can't miss beers that I can't get in the US. I'm looking for both beers I can try while I'm there and beers that I can buy to take home to sample with other BAs. Any recommendations on what I should watch for?
Your sour search should begin and end at these two places: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/4777/view=beerfly http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2800/?view=beerfly Bacchus Cornelius in Brugge and delices caprices in Brussels should help too. Chez moeder, delirium hoppy loft, and delirium cafe all have crazy options for sours right now. Do Erasmus hotel in Brugge for some random good sours and struise bottle shop for good suggestions.
For Brussels, I second the above recs for Moeder and Delirium Hoppy Loft/Cafe. I visited all 3 this past Saturday.
You have some great suggestions already, but you should have this thread moved to the Benelux forum for more exposure... Prosit!
Brussels as a city is a shithole, only go there specifically for beer. Visit Cantillon and Chez Moeder. Take a day trip to Drie Fonteinen in Beersel, only a 30 minute train ride and trains run there and back all day (you can also do this day trip from Bruges, where you should stay instead of Brussels). The best bottle shop for holy shit rarity factor/price is Beer Planet. Spend more of your vacation in Bruges, a wonderful little town with an equally impressive beer scene. 't Brugs Beertje is my favorite bar there. Cambrinus is also good. De Biertempel is a good bottle shop right off the main square. Also, make random stops into corner stores. My friend and I found a couple of bottles of 3F Intense Red for 4.50 euro. The guy obviously had no idea what he was in possession of. Cheers!
