Trip to Belgium

Drie Fonteinen isn't really in Brussels and lots of those places don't really do tours or individual visits.

 

Sounds like you have done your planning homework. You really should add De Dolle Brouwers in Esen to your West Flanders visit, one of the best Belgium brewery tours I experienced. Word of advice: Be very careful not to drive after drinking...Belgium laws are very strict & heavily enforced!
Have a fun trip, cheers!

 

That's a great gift, sounds like your wife is a keeper!! The Village of Diksmuide is a great home base for some of the breweries you plan to visit. It is a short 2 kilometer walk from the center of Diksmuide to De Dolle Brewery in Esen.
Enjoy & have a great trip!

 

If you haven't done it already - grab a copy of Tim Webb's Good Beer Guide to Belgium. It will give you a thorough breakdown of breweries, bars, tours, when they are/aren't open, etc. It's essential in trip planning in my opinion.

http://smile.amazon.com/Good-Beer-G...44&sr=1-1&keywords=good+beer+guide+to+belgium

 

Blaugies is awesome. Au Baron is nearby just across the French boarder. It's well worth a stop especially in warmer months when they are serving on their patio.

 

This really is key, can't be emphasized enough because, as @atpca astutely points out, breweries are not typically open for visits. Good for you to do serious ground-laying and arrange to get in, but, a bit part of beer tourism here happens in the bars, cafes and restaurants. This guide is a treasure, for that sort of thing.

Aside: I'm sorry you had to postpone your trip. I insist on the stance of shrugging off recent events as much as possible, getting on with life etc., but, if I'm honest, you'll enjoy things more when there's a bit more of normality to things. It's an odd time here but things will settle out.

 

I'll have one of everything please

 

My last trip, we drove out to Fantome. What an experience! The Ardennes is beautiful! There's so much history out there, and Dany and his wife were really accommodating.

 

Ok, here we go. No tour at Wvesteleren...the cafe is fun and you may be able to buy a couple of six-packs to go.
Although, Ive had a tour, I don't believe Dupont gives tours to the public. If no tour, not much to see.
As for Chimay, you can look around the abbey and it is fun and some photoops but no tour. Go by their cafe a mile away. Fantome is fun and Dany is a great host. Duvel gives a great tour and their tap room is good. They offer everything Duvel Moortgat makes. the things in Brussels are good but there are some great bars. You need to purchase Tim Webb's Good Beer Guide to Belgium. It is THE guide to Belgian beer. Period.

 

If you drive to the ardennes let me know I know some cool places

 

Going to try this in one day:

Bierhalle deconinck
Bourgondisch kruis
In de vrede
Westvleteren abbey
Struise brouwers
Molenhof
Apero
Meeting room
Leuven city

Wish me good luck :-)

 

I live in Brugge/Bruges, 40 minute drive from Westvleteren.

You can't visit the abbey/brewery, but you can drink and buy them across the road. We do have a couple of breweries in Bruges, the most famous one being Halve Maan (Brugse Zot, Straffe Hendrik). We also have a couple of nice bars (de Garre, Brugs Beertje, Rose Red, ...).

Always available to give you a tour in Brugge or guide you to Westvleteren. Also available for trades (have some sour beers like Horal). If you need something specific I can try and hunt it down for you if you don't have time to look for them...

 

thanks for the offer @Euroglot but im native the abbey is just for picking up crates, makes for a nice beer-packed day.

 

Good luck making it past Struise, lots of high ABV temptation there.

 

it took 3 persons and 190 attempts but we managed to get in and order our crates

 

Not that strictly. 2-3 beers is possible, 0,5 pro mille is the limit.