Pairing Brussels culinary delights with the city’s beers. This time - classic Brussels pottekeis with a bretted saison and classic Brussels gueuze
Read More
Pairing Brussels culinary delights with the city’s beers. This time - classic Brussels américain with a special geuze blend and a classic Brussels-Irish dry stout.
Read More
Behind the scenes at Emaillerie Belge, Belgium’s last producer of enamel beer adverts.
Read More
Pairing Brussels culinary delights with the city’s beers. This time - Neuhaus dark chocolate pralines, paired with Nanobrasserie L'Ermitage Noire du Midi and Brasserie Cantillon Kriek 100% Lambic Bio.
Read More
Cantillon Quintessence 2018’s guest of honour was Shaun Hill of Hill Farmstead
Read More
2017 was a bit of a watershed year for beer in Brussels. Breweries like En Stoemelings and Nanobrasserie L’Ermitage both moved into new and/or expanded facilities. Brasserie de la Senne broke ground on their new site along the Brussels canal. The city even saw its first beershop open north of said canal in Fermenthings. And the beer events calendar has become increasingly busy – new upstarts joining established calendar entries. 2018 looks set to be no different; so to help guide you through 2018, here’s nine events to look out for.
Read More
As the days grow darker and the nights colder, winter is the time of year to huddle close in a pub with a warming drink. Winter in Brussels is no exception. But, instead of a mulled wine or a hot toddy, in Brussels people celebrated the end of one year and the coming of he next with a “Kalibabou” – a hot cocktail of lambic, rum, sugar and eggs. Or, at least they used to.
Read More
I settle into my seat with a draught glass of Redor Pils from Brasserie Dupont, contemplating my lot, and the lot of pils in Brussels. This is a beer style (or at least a family of beers made using bottom-fermenting yeasts at low temperatures) that defined brewing in this city for half a century, but has since vanished along with the breweries that made it so dominant. As brewing undergoes a revival in the city, it is time for the new generation of Brussels breweries to do justice to the city’s beer history.
Read More
In all the years I’ve lived in Brussels, and as long as Cantillon have been organising their annual Zwanze celebration, I’ve never been organised enough to buy tickets for the main event at Moeder Lambic Fontainas before they have sold out. 2017 was no different. That is how we found ourselves schlepping up the hills of St. Gilles on Saturday evening to the original Moeder Lambic.
Read More
It’s early on a warm mid-July evening, and Denys Van Elewyck of Brasserie En Stoemelings is sitting behind the counter of the brewery, boxes piled up behind us and brewing equipment almost ready to be packed up. En Stoemelings, founded by Denis with his childhood friend and fellow Brusselaar Samuel Languy, is about to retrace the timeworn exodus of Brussels breweries from the centre to the periphery. Their brewery, which opened in 2015 on the Spiegelstraat in Brussels’ folksy Marollen district, is moving out and moving up. And, about time says Denys.
Read More
Brussels Beer City is a blog about Brussels and its beer culture. This is not an industry blog. Nor is it a beer review site. There are other, better websites if that is what you are looking for. That is not to say that I will not cover developments in Brussels’ brewing industry, or discuss and rate beers from breweries in Brussels. What it does mean is that I want to write about the city’s broader relationship with beer and brewing – its breweries, its bars, and its cultural, historical, and urban legacy.
Read More