Hi all, I just got back from spending some time in Belgium and France. Wanted to share my experience to help anyone who is thinking of going to Belgium, especially for beer.
My vacation was a family vacation that included my wife, two teenage children and my wife's parents. My Mother-in-Law (MIL) was born in Brussels, Belgium and moved to the USA when she was 19. My wife and I were in Belgium 17 years ago and this was an opportunity to take the kids to Belgium and meet some of my MIL family, drink some great beer and show our kids another country. So we juggled my desire to do beer stuff, my wife's desire to see some castles and do history stuff and doing some kid activities also.
We flew into Brussels and spent 3 nights near the Midi Train Station. From here it was an easy walk to the Grand Place.
Beer related stuff we did was to tour Cantillon Brewery which is very close to Midi Station. We also had a beer at Delirium and also had a few beers at Petite Delirium. Non beer stuff was visiting the Manneken Pis, the Atomium, Autoworld and Beersel Castle.
I think I will post about a Brewery, Bar etc. with pictures and then in a few days post about a different bar, Brewery etc. May be easier for me to do this and post pictures and not have too much to read at once.
Cantillon Brewery
Cantillon was a neat place to visit. They give you a pamphlet about Cantillon and give a brief history of the brewery and then send you off on a self guided tour. Pretty cool to see all of the old equipment they still use and all of the beer in oak casts. At the end of the tour you are given two samples. The first sample is a 3 year old Lambic. This is served still. After that you can sample from one of many varieties that they have. With 6 people we were able to try many varieties with our second tasting. They also only brew in the fall and winter when the temperatures are cool enough for the wort to naturally cool down over night. So the only activity we saw was them labeling some bottles. The only negative was that they were sold out of a lot of there stock. I did buy a bottle of Rosé de Gambrinus which is a Framboise. I did see quite a few of their products at bottle shops and they do distribute to the US.
My vacation was a family vacation that included my wife, two teenage children and my wife's parents. My Mother-in-Law (MIL) was born in Brussels, Belgium and moved to the USA when she was 19. My wife and I were in Belgium 17 years ago and this was an opportunity to take the kids to Belgium and meet some of my MIL family, drink some great beer and show our kids another country. So we juggled my desire to do beer stuff, my wife's desire to see some castles and do history stuff and doing some kid activities also.
We flew into Brussels and spent 3 nights near the Midi Train Station. From here it was an easy walk to the Grand Place.
Beer related stuff we did was to tour Cantillon Brewery which is very close to Midi Station. We also had a beer at Delirium and also had a few beers at Petite Delirium. Non beer stuff was visiting the Manneken Pis, the Atomium, Autoworld and Beersel Castle.
I think I will post about a Brewery, Bar etc. with pictures and then in a few days post about a different bar, Brewery etc. May be easier for me to do this and post pictures and not have too much to read at once.
Cantillon Brewery
Cantillon was a neat place to visit. They give you a pamphlet about Cantillon and give a brief history of the brewery and then send you off on a self guided tour. Pretty cool to see all of the old equipment they still use and all of the beer in oak casts. At the end of the tour you are given two samples. The first sample is a 3 year old Lambic. This is served still. After that you can sample from one of many varieties that they have. With 6 people we were able to try many varieties with our second tasting. They also only brew in the fall and winter when the temperatures are cool enough for the wort to naturally cool down over night. So the only activity we saw was them labeling some bottles. The only negative was that they were sold out of a lot of there stock. I did buy a bottle of Rosé de Gambrinus which is a Framboise. I did see quite a few of their products at bottle shops and they do distribute to the US.
