My husband and I are headed to Belgium this week! We're there 10 days--we will have a car and currently have 4 nights in Brussels, 4 in Bruges, and 2 nights TBD (maybe in the east or in Gent or Mechelen?). I'm having a hard time figuring out which breweries I can visit (they all talk about needing 10-25 people on a tour booked in advance), not necessarily for a tour, but to try the beers. Are there breweries where one can do this, and if so, which ones are recommended? We particularly love sours and Flemish reds, so looking at Rodenbach and Verhaeghe in the west, and trying to decipher what to do in the Pajottenland in particular--what breweries can we visit? Is De Lambiek worth a visit? OR should we just go to beer bars in the area/Brussels? Any breweries that don't export to the US that we can either visit or purchase in stores or at bars? I've literally gone through about 60 brewery websites and can't make heads or tails of which breweries we can visit, which ones have tasting rooms/cafes/etc that can be visited NOT on a tour. I'm very spoiled by the beer tourism in the US!! Any guidance in helping us narrow things down is much appreciated!
Great post, I'll be keeping an eye on this as I'm planning a trip as well. Let me add this on if you will... how many places speak English? Are tours given in English? And, alternately, I speak fair German and I'm assuming that would work for me easily, or no?
I can't speak for much of Belgium, but in terms of places I've been to: Language: no major issues in English in either Brussels or Bruges. You'd be far better off with French than German in Brussels, but again, English is overall no problem. Breweries: The only three breweries I have visited all offer tap rooms with on-site drinking, and hours are pretty easy to find. Cantillon, 3 Fonteinen and Brussels Beer Project in Brussels and De Halve Maan in Bruges. Oh, and in terms of places to drink beyond breweries, too many to name! Moeder Lambic (two locations) in Brussels is awesome, was my fave non-brewery.
One place that seems to keep being overlooked for some reason, even though they make great beer and are literally right around the corner from Cantillon, is Brasserie de L'Ermitage, which is another brewery with a taproom. From there you're within walking distance to Moeder Lambic, a bar, and Beer Planet, a bottle shop as well. Plus you're literally passing right past Manneken Pis as well. You could also do a slight detour to BrewDog, another bar, and continue on to Brussels Beer Project from Beer Planet. MAP
If you specifically want to do a tour: Cantillon does have guided tours Friday and Saturday at 11:15, they also have self guided tours where they give you a booklet and one of their employees give you an introduction (both include 2 samples) but are slightly different prices. I personally thought their guided tours was the best I've done as I learned a lot. Check out their website for any other specifics. (closed Sunday & Wed) 3 Fonteinen also has tours on saturdays at 10:30 AM. I happened to go on a friday and got an impromptu tour from Armand (owner/brewer) along with ~8 other people in the taproom. I get the vibe that you may be able to each out to them and try and schedule a tour in advance if visiting on a different day. They were very responsive when I asked about shipping options for bottles I was going to buy and I really enjoyed my visit. its a ~15 minute train ride to from Midi to Lot and 3 Fonteinen is a 5 minute walk from the Lot train station. (open Wed-Sat) Both Cantillon and 3F have bars you can get beers at with awesome bottle lists. De Halve Maan also has tours but I didn't do it when in Bruges. I believe they do daily tours. Bars +1 on Moeder Lambic in Brussels, definitely a must visit if you like sours/lambics. De Garre- bar tucked away in bruges and easy to miss, their tripel is delicious and bar is cash only, has 3 floors t brugs beertje- must visit in bruges, great beer and cellar list. duvelorium- beer cafe on 2nd floor of historic building on main town square in bruges. have a patio that overlooks the square, closes at 6pm.
I believe this has been said in other threads, but you shouldn't expect too many Belgian breweries to do routine organized tours in the same way that American places do. It's just not that much of a thing over there. Exceptions have already been listed above, like Cantillon, 3F, etc. I assume Duvel would at their location south of Antwerp. While in Bruges, I'd definitely recommend De Halve Maan - I enjoyed the tour, they have a large tap room, plus they're pretty generous with the complementary tastings after the tour. I've tried to set up visits at some of my favorite smaller breweries like Prearis and Fantome, but the hours are more "suggestions" than they are hard rules. For your TBD nights, have you considered southern Belgium? While Flanders is pretty much flat, Wallonia is much more scenic. There are nice forests, rolling hills, river valleys, and the area is littered with castles. You could base yourself in Dinant (nice little riverfront town) or Namur (bigger, maybe a bit grittier, but more to do) and easily get to multiple other places. I'd say Orval is a must-stop for the self-guided tour of the old ruins. Caracole is a cool little brewery in an inviting fieldstone building (I think they may do tours as well). Achouffe is further east and somewhat touristy, but I enjoyed the stop.
If you decide to stay in Mechelen, Het Anker does tours, the times are listed on their website. They have a restaurant, and a hotel attached to the brewery (I have stayed a couple of times, it is fairly nice and very convenient). Since you’re into red/browns, Bourgogne des Flandres recently opened a brewery in Bruges, with tours. I haven’t been to Bruges since it opened, but it is supposed to be fun. At the end of the tour they give you the component beers to make your own blends.
As mentioned above most Belgian breweries do not give frequent tours and special tap rooms, bottles etc. are rather the exception than the rule. The majority of tours will likely give you the usual rundown of how beer is made etc. so they aren’t too interesting. So if your goal is to try beers I would recommend largely doing bars. For most breweries, tap rooms, special releases etc. just play less of a role in their business plan. It isn’t even weird for new releases to be unavailable at the source. There are however a few exceptions and several are located in Brussels like Cantillon, L’Ermitage and Brussels Beer Project and in proximity: 3 Fonteinen / Lambiek-O-Droom. These do offer special bottles and dedicated tap rooms. At Cantillon you can always get a tour, self-guided on a work day and with tour guide on the weekend. The other 3 will very likely give one if you ask in advance or even if you kindly ask then and there. Gent has a few brewpubs actually namely Dok, Brouwbar, Humboldt en Gauss + Gruut, listed in order of relevance. You can maybe arrange to visit Totem (if they finished building that one already) so a car & contacting them is needed there it is a fair bit out of anything central in Gent. If you have a car in West Flanders – Struise & Alvinne are definitely worth it, the first is open only on Saturday and for the second one best to contact them. Seeing their facilities is no issue and they have specials etc. I haven’t been there but I hear good things about Microbrouwerij Urthel which is a brewpub & restaurant where they brew small batches, large batches are commercialized elsewhere under the Urthel name. As for lambiek Tilquin is open on Saturdays, Oud Beersel might be but best to inquire as well as for both if you want to see the barrel rooms. In Bruges you can visit Bourgogne des Flandres and De Halve Maan, I have been to neither so I cannot vouch for them, second one is supposedly bit too commercial but then again so are many of their beers. Out of the way of everything and needing a car is also Antidoot now, recently opened they are a farm / brewery which makes wild beer & cider. Contacting them prior to visit is highly recommended.
