I’ve been traveling quite a lot lately – only a few days after returning from our Yellowstone trip, I hopped on a plane to go visit family in Michigan. Less than 24 hours after landing back in California from that trip, I was back on a plane to Germany for work.
Germany is a frequent work travel destination for me and I’ve explored it quite a bit, so when I realized I would have a layover weekend in Europe I decided to see where else I could get on a Friday after work via high speed train. If I left work at 5 pm I could be in Belgium by 10:20pm so I booked a first class seat on an ICE train and a hotel room in downtown Brussels for the weekend for beer and waffles. Two coworkers decided to join me so I was happy to not be traveling solo in Europe yet again!
We arrived in Brussels a bit late due to mechanical issues with the train and found ourselves walking through town to our hotel among quite a party crowd. The streets in the old part of town are closed to vehicles and people stumbled and danced through the streets as they went from bar to bar. It felt a bit Times-Square-On-New-Years-Eve crazy but apparently that’s just a normal Friday night in Brussels!
Arriving at the hotel at 1 am after a long day of work and travel, we didn’t have the energy to go far for a beer. We wandered into a cafe across the street from the Marriott and ordered a round of Duvel, overseen by the Rodin sculptures on the stock exchange building next door. The party crowd continued around us and was still going strong when we returned to the hotel at 3 am.
The next morning I was up first and decided to wander over to the city’s central square, the Grand Place, for coffee and breakfast. The crowd had changed completely from the night before, now made up of tourists and merchants trying to attract people into their stores. I found a cafe and ordered a coffee and a waffle then sat outside and people-watched for 30 minutes or so.
After my lovely breakfast I wandered around the area, exploring the Grand Place and a few famous landmarks like the Manneken Pis. I also did a mini tasting and shopping tour of Belgian chocolate shops!
Next I met back up with my coworkers for the highlight of the day, a walking beer tour of the city!
We met the tour at a shop called the Beer Temple (de Bier Tempel), which is exactly what it sounds like. Later I returned to buy some bottles that I can’t easily find here in California. Our first stop was just down the street at a bar opened in 1695 called Au Bon Vieux Temps (“The Good Old Days”). Through a small door and tucked in the back of an alley, I wouldn’t have noticed this place if I was just walking around. But that’s why we did the tour – to see these kind of places!
Here we enjoyed the first beer of the tour, focusing on Trappist offerings. We were asked if we wanted blonde, amber, or dark, and served according to our choice. The tricky thing with Belgian beers is that color has little to do with strength or body. In fact, the strongest beer poured was the blonde – the pictured Westmalle Tripel. The folks who chose amber got an Orval, and those who chose dark got a Rochefort 6.
While enjoying our beers, Cedric our guide talked a lot about Trappist beer and also did a great job engaging the people on the tour about what they were experiencing, what they liked and didn’t like about the beer they were served.
Next we hoofed it about a mile south to the destination I had been waiting for. Long on my Bucket List, Cantillon is the real reason I wanted to come to Brussels. Cantillon brews what are widely considered to be the best lambic beers in the world, and as a fan of sour and funky beers I had to see it for myself.
The most memorable and striking thing about the place is the smell. Part musty basement, part wine cave, part oak barrel, part something you can’t put your finger on. It’s not just a brewery – it’s a living ecosystem that produces completely unique beers. Lambics depend so strongly on the environment in which they are brewed that Cantillon has never moved from its original location which opened in 1900. The dust, cobwebs, brewing techniques all contribute to the character of the beer that they produce.
Because of this, moving the brewery is out of the question, so expansion is difficult. The brewing techniques used mean they can only brew in the winter, so these factors combine to limit their capacity. In turn, demand has grown and it’s very difficult to find their beers, especially in the US where distribution is extremely limited. You can obtain Cantillon in the US but it’s usually grey market and quite overpriced. At the brewery, I picked up three 750 ml bottles for a total of 18 Euro. It would cost me $150 for the same bottles from a dubious source at the bottle shop here in San Jose.
After touring the brewery (with my jaw on the floor and a grin on my face the whole time, most likely), we got to taste unblended lambic straight from the barrel. Uncarbonated and at cellar temperature, I savored every last sip. Lambic is aged in barrels and the final product is usually a blend of different batches and ages (and sometimes aged with fruit), so this was a fun way to taste the raw product and something I’ll never get in a bottle.
I would have been happy just sitting there and breathing in the smells of Cantillon for the rest of the day, but after some tastings we had to move on to our final location for the day, a bar called Moeder Lambic. Here we tasted three different Belgian craft beers andpottekeis, a cheese dip made with onions, cracked pepper, and gueuze. Served with toasted sourdough, it hit the spot with the beer tastings!
Since it wasn’t far from our hotel, we actually came back here later in the night. I loved the beer list, the atmosphere, and the people here so it was a natural choice to wrap up the evening here. One of my favorite touches was that they provide a little snack bowl of toasted barley. I had a few beers that I really enjoyed from de la Senne, and a couple more Cantillons – yes they have a bunch of Cantillon on tap. To this American that was just as shocking and delightful as seeing a unicorn bartender.
Believe it or not, all that beer tasting didn’t leave me too loopy (lots of low ABV beers, small portions, and spread out throughout the day), so the next morning I was up and in search of waffles again. I don’t know who decided that the “Belgian Waffles” on typical restaurant menus here in the US were Belgian, but they are nothing like their authentic counterpart. Made from a thicker dough (not a thin batter) and pearl sugar, they are crispy and rich and incredibly delicious. Especially with strawberries and chocolate!
We didn’t have to catch our train until noon, so a bit more sight seeing and shopping filled our Sunday morning.
I only spent 36 hours in Brussels but I managed to cram in quite a lot of sightseeing and culinary delights. I really look forward to going back someday – the people in Brussels were friendly and fun and I’d love to spend more time exploring Belgium!
