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Self-Guided Beer Tour in Brussels

One of my favorite memories of beer and traveling in Europe was in 2016 when my husband and I were in Bamburg, Germany and did a self-guided beer tour from brewery to brewery, stopping at 7 places in about as many hours. We had a lot of fun, met some interesting people, picked up coasters from the breweries as souvenirs, and enjoyed trying all of the different beers. My husband found the self-guided beer tour on a blog, and we just followed it at a pace we enjoyed. (Notably, I stopped drinking after about the 3rd or 4th brewery as I still had to drive us back to Rothenburg ob de Tauber that evening!).

Fast forward to this July, and my husband, myself, and our 18 year old son will be traveling along with another family in our same age group and their 19 year old son. We will be in Brussels for three days (with one of those days in Bruges). I'd love to find another DIY beer tour to visit several breweries, but I'm not having a lot of luck. I'm less interested in a formal tour, both because of the price for 6 people and because the self-guided tour is just more appealing.

Ideally it would be something we could walk between (or take public transportation/taxi/uber) and just do at our own pace, and that would give us a chance to try several different beers and different locales (breweries/pubs/restaurants/etc). A tour of a brewery is nice, but not necessary.

Do you have any recommendations for your favorite places to enjoy a Belgium brew in Brussels? Maybe I could link up everyone's favorites and create something that way. We are open to all different types of beer and experiences, so please share your favorites! Thanks, everyone!

Posted by
1971 posts

The Cantillon Brewery offer self-guided tours, just a ten minute walk from Brussels-South railway station. Never been there but it looks like a nice traditional brewery and has good reviews, think worth a visit. They brew “geuze” a beer with a special taste and typical for Brussels. https://www.cantillon.be/visites

Posted by
354 posts

I have visited Cantillon Brewery and highly recommend it. Although I do not particularly love that style of beer, the brewery tour I did there was on our own and almost museum-like. Cantillon Is the only tour I experienced in Brussels, but if you are looking to expand out a bit by way of convenient day trips, Gruut Brewery in Ghent is a nice visit (they incorporate a boat tour with it), as well as Het Anker Brewery in Mechelen (also worthy of a day trip) were fun. I would also consider hiring a driver to visit one or more of the Trappist breweries in the area.

Posted by
343 posts

Jazz+Travels, thanks for the list! That is indeed a good place to start from.

Wil and Jay MN, thanks for the tip on Cantillon Brewery. I also like the idea of hiring a driver to visit the Trappist breweries.

Thanks everyone!

Posted by
126 posts

Delirium Monasterium- Not a brewery tour, but a huge bar that takes up a block in downtown Brussels. 100's of choices to taste. It's by the Jeanneke-Pis.

Brouwerij De Halve Maan- Brewery in Bruges. We did the "VIP" tour and got to do 4 tastes at the end. Cool brewery and view from the rooftop. (Booked online in advance)

Bruges Beer Experience- Self guided tour about how beer is made. Pretty cool, but could skip the tour and just go to the tasting room.

Brouwerij Lindemans- 30 minutes outside of Brussels. My wife loves Lambic, so this was a great tour. We really got to see the whole facility. Seeing the "spontaneous fermentation" process was great. (Booked online in advance)

You can also go to Beer Temple or any of the other beer stores in Brussels and just buy a couple bottles for 2-3 euros each and sample within your group :)

Posted by
343 posts

ebonecapone, thanks for your suggestions! I'm reading a lot about the lambic beers and how people tend to love them or not. Looking forward to trying them!