Our Second Trip to Orval

After never having visited Orval in 32 years, we have been lucky enough to visit here twice in less than a month! The first time Paula and I went alone and visited the cafe at the entrance to the Abbaye and walked around a little but didn't go on the tour of the Abbaye.

The second time we visited we went with friends Jason and Janine, visited the cafe for lunch and then took the self guided tour of the Abbaye ruins and all.

Check out all the wonderful sites to see at Abbaye de Orval

The Big Book of Beer

Yesterday I picked up a book that I had seen at various places since early December and I had almost purchased several times but kept putting it off. The book is called "All Belgian Beers" , translated into English. All parts of the book are in English, French and German I believe. It is a very, very thick book that is maybe 6 inches by 5 inches by 4 inches and could prove very useful as a weapon. Although it does not have "all" Belgian beers in it, it has 750 or so. Some of the hardest to obtain beers are not included and beers from smaller breweries may not be included if they were not readily available at the time the book was published. They also did not include all seasonable beers for summer or Christmas for the same reasons. The numbers of beers is still very impressive.

The book starts with a brief description of the purpose of the book and ends with some descriptions of the various beer types and the brewing process. In between are 2 pages dedicated to each beer. The left page describes the beer by fermentation type, beer style, ingredients, alcohol level, the proper glass to serve the beer in, the proper temperature to serve it under and some tasting notes and a place for your own tasting notes. The right page has a full color picture of a full bottle next to a beer in the proper glass.

Although some of the descriptions are not very detailed or well thought out, just the volume of data and pictures is pretty imressive and gives me ideas on many many beers that I have not run into before but many that I should. The cost if the book was €35 so it was a little pricey but will make a good addition to our extensive library of books. Ok, the library is not very extensive but this thick book makes it a little more full. Hopefully it is available in the US for thos beer lovers out there as the cost for me to ship one would be a bit expensive. Sorry.

Our Visit to Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval

Today Paula and I took a drive to the Orval Abbaye. We found out it was less than an hour from our flat so we typed the address into the GPS and off we were, sort of. We could not find the exact address but got something close and started to drive. It was about 60 kilometers or so from our place (about 36 miles or so), most of it on the main motorway that takes us to all the main stops in Belgium (Arlon, Antwerp, Brussels, Brugge, etc.). Some of the trip was through the country on some smaller, curvy roads.

We arrived at Orval, just in time to get some lunch. When you arrive, you know you are there as you see a big, weathered old Orval sign pointing to the right. Down a long driveway there is the café to the left, a long row of parking spots to the right and up ahead, the Abbaye and all the related buildings. It is a rather large complex of buildings, not all of which are initially visible from the road.

We parked the car and headed into the café, A l'Ange Gardien, for some lunch and liquid refreshments. The café is nice and rustic inside with old wooden tables to sit at with little bench seats that look like they were from an old church school or from the Abbaye itself as they have little crosses engraved in the legs. There is a warming fire place in the corner of the main room that was glowing and heating us. The room we were in was fairly full at the time we arrived, with a few tables of 10 ore more people each, along with some side tables of 2 and 3 people sitting, eating and drinking.

Paula and I both started off with the Orval 3,5 beer (or Petite Orval) as I knew it. I believe this is the monks standard beer that they would drink during the day as it is lower in alcohol than the standard Orval which sits at 6,2% abv.

Follow this link to Orval.....

Our Beer Pilgramage to Abbay of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren

Once we had solid plans to spend a few days in Brussels and Bruges after Christmas, I quickly called up the Abbay at Westvleteren to see if it would be possible to purchase some of their fine beer. First you have to call the automated phone line and find out what day you have to call back, at what time, and what beer or beers are available for purchase. The availability depends on what has recently been produced and is ready for sale. They seem to alternate what is available and spread it out so that they don’t run out of any one beer for too long.

We found out that we had to call a few days before our trip, 20 December between 9am and noon, to make a reservation and we also found out that the Blonde and 12 would be available. Knowing that the 12 would be available I had a strong feeling it would be very hard to get through on the phone. Both Paula and I called on the 20th and found it very hard to get through but eventually at about 11:30 am or so we got through and made a reservation for 2 crates of the Blonde. The 12 was long sold out at that point.

My original plan was to try to visit the Abbay while we were in Bruges as the travel time from there is a bit shorter than from Brussels but when we got through to the Abbay, the only day we could pick up beer was on the 27th, when we were still in Brussels, but we jumped at the chance to purchase any amount of beer at anytime.

Our appointment was for 2:15 pm on the 27th and we had a drive of about 1 and ½ hours so we left around noon so that we didn’t miss our time. The drive to the Abbay is a fairly easy one as the greatest part of the journey is on the motorways with only 10 or so miles on roads through little towns. Our GPS device got us there very easily, despite a little detour right before the Abbay on some farm roads.

The Abbay is not that well signed or that prominent but when drive up to it, you know you are there. We arrived about an hour early to be safe and we also hoped visit the café across from the Abbay as they usually have the Westvleteren beers for sale but unfortunately the In Verde café was not open while we were there. Probably running under holiday hours.

To help kill some time before our appointment, I got out of the car and did a little walk about the Abbay as they have some walking paths that you can stroll along. I headed down a little dirt road toward what looked to be a grotto. It was about a 100 or 150 yard walk until I got close to the little grotto or outside chapel. When things were really in sight I realized that there were 2 people kneeling or standing at the alter and they were not just people, they were monks from the Abbay. As soon as I saw them I quickly turned around and walked back the way I came so that I would not disturb their praying.

We stayed in a little parking lot at the front of the Abbay waiting for our time to arrive. It looked like the appointments started at 2pm as a few cars started to line up at that point. It seemed very organized as the cars would like up and drive into a horseshoe shaped driveway. At 2:15 pm we drove into the driveway and found only 2 other cars in queue which was nice. The car in front of us had 3 empty crates of beers to return and then he picked up 2 new crates of the Blonde beer. He was in and out in just 3 or 4 minutes. We were also in and out in a very short period of time. When I was first in line, I pulled up to a man that was loading stacks and stacks of crates. I got out, gave him my license plate number and he helped me load my 2 crates into my trunk. After I stopped smiling so much, I went into the little office and paid for the beer. The man who was loading the beers is also in charge of cashing you out. If you bring back empty bottles and a crate, the case of Blonde costs €22 but if you need the bottles and crate like I did, a case costs €34 in total, a steal in my mind seeing that a single bottle of the Blonde sells for about €6 at the cheapest that we have seen at bottle shops. You can even use a credit card to pay for your beer purchase but the quantity that I was able to purchase didn’t warrant a credit card but if I could have purchased more, I surely would have.

Since we were not able to visit the café and we only purchased Blonde on this day, we will surely be back for more trips to the Abbay now that we know how to get here and how the process works.

Take a look at pictures from our Westvleteren visit.

Bruges Beer Bars

Paula and I were lucky enough to visit several of the best beer bars in Bruges including:

As with Brussels, there are several very good beer bars in Bruges that are a must if you travel there for any length of time. We did some research into which bars to head to first and when to do it. I also tried to find out if there were any rare treats in bottle or on tap that would be worth the trek to find.

t’ Brugs Beertje – The first bar that we visited on our first night in Bruges was t’ Brugs Beertje and it just so happens to be the most famous and well respected of all the Bruges bars from what I could tell. As with several of the bars in town, this bar was not easy to find but after a few wrong turns and dead end alleys, we arrived at the front of this cute little bar. There is some cool breweriana in the front windows before you enter the bar.

We arrived at about 6 pm and when we popped open the front door we were greeted by a full house at the bar and all the tables in this room, and a lot of smoke. I didn’t really get a chance to take in the sights in this front area but we were quickly greeted by the owner, Daisy, and told that there should be a few tables at the very back of the bar. We exited the front bar and went into a middle room that looked like a small living room as it had several tables and a fireplace that is now gas burning. As we were walking through I didn’t take in all the sights but there were several large posters on the wall and other old breweriana. We will come back to this room later.

After exiting the second room we found our way into the back bar which had a few open tables so we quickly grabbed one. This back area is really cool. The walls are covered with breweriana mainly from breweries you would recognize but they looked like older labeling. I also spotted a bottle of Victory Hop Devil on the top of one of the walls. There is a bar in the back and a very friendly guy working it but there are no seats at the bar, it is just for serving and there is a table that pretty much backs in the bar.

We were seated for less than 3 minutes when our bartender came around with a large menu in a nice binder and he also pointed us to the 5 drafts that were available. After giving a quick look of the beer menu we each settled on our first beer. My first choice was a Christmas De Kononick on draft but that was out so I picked a Still Nacht 2006 and Paula had a Tripel Karmaliet bottle. Both were served in proper glassware. After taking a few sips of our beers, we started to look around and listen and it appeared that more than half of the crowd in the back area where either American tourists or from England or Australia. It felt like a bar back home to actually understand the conversations going on around us. It was also good to see that a number of the groups around us were studying the beer menu like I was or writing down notes on beers in notepads or journals, again like I was. We even saw a girl next to us writing things down in a special beer journal that was organized by beer styles and all. The one thing that struck me as odd about some of the groups was what they were drinking. We saw a large number of Lindeman’s Peche beer being ordered. With all the other great, real, lambics on their menu, I felt like suggesting something different to them but they seemed happy with their choices so good for them. We each had one more beer for this night, a Bruge Zot for Paula and a Pannepot for me.

The beer menu at t’ Brugs Beertje is very indepth and I could have spent much more time than I did reading it. There was an extensive selection of lambic beers, trappist beers, and even some rare treats that looked interesting. I tried to order one, a 1984 Liefman’s Goudenband but unfortunately that was out.

We returned the following night to another full house, this time around 11pm or so. We found our way to the very back again and were lucky that a couple was just getting ready to leave a table right by the bar so we grabbed it. This time a new bartender came over to us with the menu and a few suggestions for bottles. I asked if they had any bottles of the Struise Earthmonk and unfortunately the last one was consumed a month or so back. Because I asked about this rare bottle, he told me of some other harder to find bottles that they had but were not on the list. We started this night out by splitting a 750 ml bottle of Glazen Toren Canaster Winter Scotch. When the bottle was presented to us in the wrapping paper and all, it turned some heads in the load crowd. Although the crowd the night before in this part of the bar was rather quiet, the crowd on this our final night in Bruges was much more talkative but what do you expect for after 11 pm in a great city like this. Like the night before, a lot of the people in the bar crowd were American or at least spoke English.

After finishing the Canaster bottle, we picked 2 more bottles that were not on the actual beer menu but suggestions from the bartender. We ordered a T’Smisje Grande Reserva which was aged in whiskey casks and also a T’Smisje Calva Reserva and split them. Both bottles were made for the U.S. market but I hadn’t ran into them before leaving for Luxembourg so I thought we should try them now. The Grande Reserva was pretty dark tasting although the alcohol was a bit higher. Although the Calva Reserva was interesting, it was not our cup of tea. The alcohol was much more noticeable in this one and the beer was rather flat but interesting none the less. We then moved onto another bottles to split, a Rodenbach Vin de Cereale which is very limited and comes in at 10%. Since it was now approaching 12:30 am or so, we split this one again. I just can’t get enough of this beer and apparently the bartenders really enjoy it as well as they were happy that I ordered it. About half way through this bottle we were only 1 of 2 tables left, a total of 5 people in this whole section of the bar so they moved us up to the 2nd room so they could lock up the back part. It was about 1am at this point and they supposedly close at 1 am but they were in no hurry to get us out, actually some of the bartenders were having drinks of their own and socializing with us.

After finishing the Rodenbach, we moved onto one last beer for the night, a 750 ml of De Ranke Kriek, a wonderful beer. In fact it was the favorite beer of our one bartender so we talked about it for awhile. We got more into talking and he said that folks from the New Belgium Brewery were recently on one of their beer vacations with employees and he also mentioned that Tom from Monk’s Café in Philly had been there in the past.

I got a laugh out of the other table that was left with us in the back and moved into the middle room. There were 2 guys and 2 girls, all American. They were asking the one bartender about different beers and he served them up a bottle of Deus and some other expensive beers.

After doing more socializing and some drinking, we decided to leave as it was approaching 2am and there was no sign of this place totally closing down although they had locked the front door. When we were ready to leave we got a nice goodbye from our bartender friends and were told we should come back soon. I am sure that we will try. When we got outside of the bar, I took a few pictures of the front of the place and thought it was pretty cool that although all of the curtains had been drawn and the door was locked, you could see some light coming through the windows and you could certainly hear the classical music and socializing going on inside. For a minute I also wanted to head back in but we moved on to our hotel for the night.

Hotel Erasmus
Hotel Erasmus has a few personalities. It is first a hotel, then a restaurant and then a quality beer bar. We were staying here for the 2 nights that we were in Bruges and we made dinner reservations when we arrived on the evening of the 28th of December for that same evening and they were kind enough to accommodate us at 8pm. After we arrived back at the Erasmus from our first trip to the t’ Brugs Beertje, we sat down in the upscale dining room and I was instantly focused on the wall of beer bottles above my head, maybe 200 or so. I read they had a vintage and extensive bottle selection and great food so it was a combination we had to try. Upon getting the beer menu I ordered a Kerkhom Winterkoninkske draft and Paula had a draft of Verhaeghe Christmas. My beer was ok but Paula’s was a real hit with her and I.

For dinner we decided to get a 3 course prix fixe menu that was only about €35 per person. For starters Paula got a smoked salmon dish and I ordered Belgian ham dish which was basically like pruscuitto. Both were very good. For our main courses Paula ordered sole filets in a Gouden Carolous sauce and I ordered the Flemish Grandmothers stew with apple puree and pomme frites. To go along with our main courses Paula ordered a bottle of Achel Trappist Blonde and I ordered a 9 year old bottle of De Dolle 21 which I read was made specifically for Hotel Erasmus for their 21st anniversary in 1988 so the bottle was around 9 years old at the time I drank it and the label really showed its age but the beer tasted very nicely, aged nicely.


Den Dyver

Cambrinus Restaurant

t' Poatersgat

This is a relatively new bar that I read about while doing some research about bars in Bruges but it was not in any books. It probably had the coolest location of any bar we have been to in that the entrance is down a tiny set of stairs down into a cellar. The bar didn’t open until 5pm and when it was closed it just looked like a couple of painted boards with a name on it. You could not tell that there were actually steps under there and you could not tell that it was a bar as there was only a name and nothing else. But when it did open up, we ducked our heads and found ourselves into a dark but well appointed cellar which seemed like a wine cave or something along those lines. Huge white columns all over the place and marble floors, some covered by large rugs. Besides one guy at the bar, we were the only ones there but we still had a good time and based on the beer menu, I think this place would be a good time when the crowds started to roll in later at night.

Paula started with a Pere Noel draft and I had a bottle of Struise Rosse, both very fine beers. My second beer was a Leute Bokbier. The more we stayed at this bar the more we enjoyed it, especially the music. They were playing classic American music. I remember hearing songs from Elvis, the Mama’s and Papa’s and Jackson Brown. The best part about this place is that it is a good 5 minute walk from the main tourist area so the crowds are lower but it is still extremely easy to find.

De ZolderDe Zolder is right across the street from t’ Poatersgat and has an almost equally dangerous entrance down a tiny set of stairs with some well placed beer signs. We also heard good things about the selection at this place and that it has the same owners at t’ Poatersgat so we wanted to give it a shot before dinner. Since it was about 7pm or a little earlier at this point, the crowd was rather light with only about 3 English guys at the bar and a young couple having dinner near us. There was a friendly husband and wife running this place and the bar had a really nice feel inside with a fireplace, hardwood floors, wooden ceilings and honey yellow colored walls. This bar also had a nice mix of American classics playing on the surprisingly high tech stereo system. We could have stayed there the whole night and worked through the beer menu if not for reservations for dinner at Den Dyver at 8pm. Paula had a Petrus draft and I had Christmas draft that I can’t remember at this time and for some reason I didn’t write it down on my geeky beer pad. After our first and only drinks here, we make the 10 minute walk back to our dinner destination.





Check out our pictures from the wonderful Bruges beer bars that we visited on this trip

Brussels Beer Bars

Although it was not the main focus of our trip to Brussels, the opportunity to visit some of the best beer bars on the world was something that we could not pass up on. We arrived in Brussels on 26 December and after doing some site seeing and museum walking, we decided it was time to get a drink or two.

Mort Subite - Out of all the possible choices, we decided to find Mort Subite for a drink. Paula and I had been wanting to visit this bar since we saw it featured on a show, Three Sheets, which we watched all the time on Mojo HD back in the U.S. In this show, the host Zane Lampry would visit a city somewhere in the world and go to the local bars and watering holes to drink what the locals drink. His first bar stop was Mort Subite so we figured we should try it as well. We got there at maybe 5pm or so and it was packed. The bar is narrow but very long so we walked to the back and finally settled on a table at the very back of the bar, right outside the bathroom. Although the location near the bathroom was not a lot of fun with people walking by our tight corner every few minutes, we did get to sit right next to the bars cat, which was sleeping on a little bed on top of some game boards. This cat was also in the Three Sheets episode in Brussels so we felt special to sight right near it. After awhile the cat woke up and walked onto my lap and then to Paula’s lap. It was hanging out near me for awhile and rubbing its little face on the side of my cargo pants. In between playing with the cat and doing some people watching, we ordered a few beers including a Mort Subite Gueuze, Mort Subite Faro and a Bush de Noel for me and a Mort Subite White Lambic and a Kriek for Paula. We also got a nice little cheese plate to go along with our beers and to hold us over before our dinner plans at 8pm. Although the beer selection at Mort Subite it not nearly as extensive as some of the other bars in Brussels, it has a very classy quality to it and social aspect that you don’t get in all bars as a lot of the tables are very close together and they make for close conversations and making new friends. Overall there were about 17 beers in bottle and another 16 on draft and the prices were a little high for some of the trappist and other beers but the Mort Subite prices seemed reasonable. Mort Subite is definitely worth a visit while in Brussels and it is very close to some of the other bars that are worth a visit as well.

Delirium Café – This was the bar that I was most interested in visiting in Brussels as I had read so much about their extensive bottle selection, some 2,000 or more beers. Delirium was also featured in the Three Sheets episode so we really wanted to check it out. The bar is down a somewhat shady looking alley that was filled with a lot of guys and girls just hanging out but it was safe. Delirium is right across the alley from the Floris Bar which is related to the owners of Delirium. We entered the front door of Delirium and were greeting with a choice to either go to the upstairs bar or downstairs. I seemed to remember that downstairs is where all the good beers were located from watching Three Sheets so we headed down there.

We later found out that the downstairs is called the Delirium Café and the upstairs based in the Delirium Taphouse. The Café was very busy but there was still room to walk around and we found a little table in the elevated section of the Café which is no smoking but since there is no wall between the smoking and non-smoking sections, we were basically sitting in the smoking section. I also quickly found out that there was no waitress service here, you had to go up to the bar to get your drafts or bottles. I wasn’t able to get a beer menu right away so I went to the bar and ordered 2 drafts so that we would have time to look through the menu, while drinking a beer, to figure out what to get for our next beer and our next beer, etc. The two drafts I got were a Bush Ambree for me and a Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux for Paula. Both were very tasty treats and helped to give us time to look through the 2,000 beers listed in the menu. I don’t think there were enough menus to go around for everyone that wanted to look at them but I did my best to hoard a menu long enough to look through all of the pages and to try to pick out hard to find and rare treats that we would want to try.

For our next beers I got a Gertrude for Paula which was a nice little hoppy Belgian ale and for me I got a De Koninck Kriek which I hadn’t had in awhile and I really enjoyed. Some of the other bottled treats that I saw in the menu were Pannepot, Cuvee de Ranke, De Koninck Gueuze, Struisse Rosse, Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel, Pannepot Reserva and too many more to list all here. I wrote down some names to try to either buy to take away or have later in the night or later in the trip. I finished the night with a bottle of the Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel which was excellent and although it was not Belgian, I had to try as it is highly rated and hard to find.
Although the Delirium Café has the largest beer selection I have ever seen and probably in the world from what their menu claims, there is a bit of a college bar feel here and it also feels a little like a tourist destination, rather than a beer destination. I guess a place with this large of a beer selection can’t be a secret so you have to take it all when you go here. The bar walks and ceiling are loaded with brewery serving trays which is really cool. I tried to read a lot of them but you get dizzy from leaning back too much.

Moeder Lambic – This bar, that features a lot of Lambic beers, is not in the middle of Brussels but is rather on the outskirts of town and better reached by a taxi or one of the Metro trams that drop you off near here. I had read a lot about this place having a very local feel to it and a nice selection of several hundred beers, including some hard to find Lambics. We decided to get out of the very busy tourist centre of Brussels on our second night in town so we took the Metro here.

After walking around some odd streets trying to find the right way to the bar, we stumbled across it when I saw a big bright Duvel neon sign, always a welcome sight. Moeder Lambic is not big at all with only maybe 8 tables or so and about 6 seats at the bar. We found 2 bar stools at the far corner of the bar, against the wall and backed up against a large table of drinkers but it suited us just fine. The bartender was very friendly and after taking care of a large drink order, he gave us a menu and helped us with our first order. Paula got a bottle of Duchess de Borgougne and I ordered a draft of Cantillon Faro which I had been wanted to try for awhile and heard this was one of the only places to have it. They served the Faro from a little plastic jug that looked like a wooden barrel. After we finished our first round of beers, Paula ordered a draft of the Grisette Lambic that appears to be a mix of blueberry and raspberry. I ordred a draft of Taras Bubla which I had never heard of but enjoyed.

This bar had a really nice cozy feel to it and although we had never been there before, we felt welcomed. They have a large selection of comic books to read if you are so interested. The beer menu is also very extensive and I could have spend awhile looking through it but we were only planning to stay here for a few drinks and then we were off to dinner at about 8pm. Our visit was cut a little shorter than expected as a guy sitting at a table right behind us was smoking unfiltered cigarettes and the smoke was blowing right into our faces and really bothering us and our beers so we used that as excuse to jet off to dinner. The prices at Moeder Lambic were really reasonable and it would be worth another trip here on our next visit to Brussels. It would probably be better to visit during the day or later when seats are easier to obtain. It also looks like they have a little seating area out front for when the weather gets warmer.

The next major stop on our beer bar hunt in Brussels was to be Het Bier Circus but after taking a taxi to the location of the bar, we were greeted with no lights on and the bars down over the windows. I had read that the owners don’t always stick to the published hours of operations and we found that out first hand and after a €20 cab ride. The cab driver ( a minivan) was a little surprised that we wanted him to take us back to the place he picked us up at a few minutes earlier.

After the Bier Circus disappointment, we headed of to the Delirium Taphouse to see what they had to offer. Actually we were first going to head back to the Café but they had a live band there and it was impossible to get a table or any space to have a beer. The Taphouse has a different beer selection than the Café, 25 beers on tap as opposed to about 10 at the Café. I don’t believe there are any bottles available in the Taphouse but you can get the bottles in the Café which is in the basement and just bring them up to the Taphouse. We decided to try a few drafts including a Gouden Carolus Christmas for Paula and an Anchor OSA for me. Yes, a good American beer on tap in a Belgian bar. The prices were reasonable as well and all the drafts were from an overhead tap line system that is similar to what they have at Bridgid’s in Philadelphia for 1 or 2 of their drafts. Although the drafts available were very respectable, this bar really felt like a college campus bar as there were large groups of loud younger looking tourist. I know that makes me sound like an old fart but when you see people drinking 10% beer out of 20 oz boots or 40 oz chalices, you don’t really feel like you are in a good beer bar. If you have the choice of going to either the Delirium Café or the Taphouse, I would stick with the Café and their 2,004 beers and leave the Taphouse for the 18 to 20 year old American tourists that can’t get served back home.

One of our last stops in Brussels was for dinner at the BXL Café which is right off the Grand Place. This was after we could not find room in 2 other dinner choices but the food here was really good and the beer was good as well. I believe this place is owned by a fellow that owns a bar in NYC under the same name, right off of Time Square.

Overall our few days spent in Brussels were definitely enjoyable well worth the drive up from Luxembourg. Although it was very busy when we were there due to being there for the Christmas holiday time, I am sure it is very busy almost anytime you visit as it is a great destination city for both the beer tourist and someone looking for European history.

Check out our pictures from some of the best beer bars in Brussels

The Cantillon Brewery

On our last day in Brussels (28 December), we decided to track down the Cantillon brewery to go on their self guided tour. Since they produce some of my favorite beers and the brewery is so historic, we could not pass up on the chance to visit and taste a few of their spontaneously fermented treats. From our guidebook the brewery looked to be a good 15 or 20 minute walk from the centre of Brussels and since the weather was clear and not too cold outside, we decided to walk it instead of taking the Metro. Well the 15 or 20 minutes turned into more like 30 or more since my expert navigation skills seemed to be left at the bar from the night before. After a few wrong turns, we made it to the brewery and if not for my reading reviews of the brewery before our trip, I would have thought that the brewery was not open as the entrance is very non- descript.

I was very pleased to turn the knob on the front door and to be greeted by a nice crowd of lambic lovers and a nice funky feeling of being inside this historic brewery. The brewery is really a warehouse on a city block and appears to be very original. Upon opening the door you find a tasting area to the left where they pour samples of various beers at the end of the door and they also allow you to purchase a glass of any beer that is currently being sampled. When we visited they were sampling Rose d’ Gambrinus, Lambic, Kriek and Faro. Walk a little further past the tasting area and you find the reception desk and gift shop. The gentleman that greeted us was actually the brewer. He gave us a brief description of the brewing process and then they leave you to the brewery and let you walk through at your own pace. The little booklet they give explains each major room and what happens when they brew but sadly there was no brewing going on this day. Just walking through the brewery was amazing to see how such specialized beer is made.

There are several numbered sections to the tour including the mashing house, room with hop boilers and crushing machine, the granary, cooling tun room, barrel storage, barrel cleaning, the bottling line and the cellar. Going up into the loft for the granary was really cool as it was very very old and funky looking and smelling. The cooling tun area was also cool to visit as that is really where all the magic happens with the making of lambic beer. You can see where the shutters are opened and closed in the roof to let in the wild airborne yeast to help with the fermentation process, spontaneous fermentation that is.

After walking through the entire brewery and taking lots of pictures and videos, we ended up at the tasting bar where we had a few free samples of Cantillon beers including Gueuze, Kriek and Rose de Gambrinus. I also purchased a full glass of the Kriek for a mere €2.

The tasting bar area is very rustic and so is the seating area where you can relax and take in their great beers. There are a handful of odd tables and chairs in the seating area and 2 wood burning stoves that warm the otherwise cold warehouse. While drinking my full glass of Kriek I walked around the tasting area and ran into (no literally) the brewery cat that was walking around and climbing on things. He or she was up on top of a large palate full of Cantillon beer crates. He or she was pretty friendly as you can probably tell from the pictures below.

Overall we probably spent about 2 hours at the brewery and could have spent more time taking in the brewery and drinking their beers but we were on our way to Bruges so we had to leave. We will surely be back for more tours in the future.

Take a look at these funky pictures from the Cantillon brewery