Beer Travel – Brussels Part 2

Eureka, the journey goes on. This post is the second one in the Beer Travel log of Brussels. Today’s post is all about Brussels and beer. No further introduction because this post will be long enough already. All the pictures below are courtesy of my brother.

Moeder Lambic Fontainas

Fig 1: Welcome to Moeder Lambic

Moeder Lambic runs two craft beer bars in Brussels. The one we visited was Moeder Lambic Fontainas with 46 beers on tap…

Sure we could not try all the 46 beers. We nevertheless tried Grisette’s Fruits de Bois brewed with wild fruits, Val-Dieu Noël, Tournay Noel, de Ranke Hop Harvest 2012, de Ranke Kriek and de la Senne’s Band of Brothers. If this was not enough yet, we ordered a bottle of Stone’s Old Guardian from 2010. This was my very first Stone brew and I was not disappointed at all.

Maybe some words about the bar. The bar is located in the East of the Grand Place and the interior design is very modern and very well made. We sat at a wooden table at the very end of the bar and had to climb up there one some Westvleteren 12 cases.

Fig 2: Insight Moeder Lambic Fontainas

The bar not only serves a lot of beer on tap but has a huge beer menu as well. To me it seems that the bar focuses mainly on Belgian beers on draught but caries a lot of excellent foreign beers in bottles. Funny enough, if I would have to name two very well made Swiss beers it would have to be BFM’s Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien or Trois Dames Oud Bruin. And those were in fact the two beers they carry from Swiss breweries…

Fig 3: Beer menu of Moeder Lambic Fontainas

Moeder Lambic is definitely a craft bar to visit if you are in Brussels. In fact you could skip all the other bars below but don’t miss out Moeder Lambic. And if you are a bit hungry order a Planchette mixte, a small snack. Maybe some of the best bacon I had in my life. Not only the beer is excellent in this bar but the food is very delicious as well.

A la Mort Subite

Next stop A la Mort Subite. A small pub serving Mort Subite (sudden death) beers located in the centre of Brussels. This bar opened in the early 20th century and the interior is very vintage with some very old wooden tables, wooden chairs which all gives you the feeling of the old days.

Fig 4: A la Mort Subite

On draught are Mort Subite’s Kriek (cherry lambic), Faro, Peach, Lambic white and some other Belgian beers. In addition, you can order Mort Subite’s Gueuze and Framboise in bottles. For a complete list of served beers check out their website. We tried the Faro, Peach, Gueuze and Framboise and they were not bad. However, Mort Subite’s beers are sweet. I like the sweet fruit Lambics as well and if you don’t like the sweet Lambics, visit the bar because of the feeling.

Fig 5: Mort Subite Gueuze

Delirium Café

This is maybe the most visited bar in Brussels. It seems they have the largest beer menu on the planet with over 2400 beers available.

Fig 6: Delirium Café at daylight

This cafe (I would not call this a cafe though) is located in the middle of the city. We wanted to visit the cafe on a Friday evening and the cafe was just filled with a lot of rather young people. To me it looked like a place where young people go out for a drink or two or three… There is nothing wrong with that but this is not the environment I am looking for to enjoy a nice glass of beer in the evening. Or enjoy some craft beer with the distinct pub smell in the air… Maybe I am already too old for this kind of cafe? Anyway, I am not very sad about not drinking a beer in this cafe.

250 Belgium Beer store

This is the only beer store I went to in Brussels and is located at the Boterstraat right in proximity of the Grand Place.

Fig 7: Inside a Belgian beer store

I believe they really carry 250 Belgian beers. For me the most interesting section of the store was the Lambic and Fruit beer department. They carry a lot of Lindeman, Liefman, de Troch, Mort Subite, Cantillon and Boon. I might have forgotten other breweries. We bouth ourself Duvel Groen, Lindemans Pecheresse, Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor, Gouden Carolus Tripel, Cuvée René from Lindemans and a Gueuze made by DeKoninck.

Fig 8: Beer hunting…

By the way, the Cantillon Rosé de Gambrinus and the La Trappe Quadrupel are from a souvenir shop.

I would like to share a funny story here. If you had Belgian beers before you might know that a lot of bottles have a cap and a cork. Basically I was aware of that but forgot to take a corkscrew with me. On the first evening we wanted to try the Lindemans Pecheresse but we could not get the cork out of the bottle. This is why I bought myself a silly Manneken Pis corkscrew as shown in the picture below.

Fig 9: Manneken Pis bottle before opening a bottle of Cantillon Rosé de Gambrinus

I screwed the spiral of the Manneken Pis corkscrew in the cork of the Pecheresse bottle and after some turnings… the spiral broke off. Luckily the spiral was already deep enough in the cork to get the cork out of the bottle. We then wanted to open the Cantillon Rosé de Gambrinus (with a cork as well) and I used the Manneken Pis to get the cap off… and the thing broke as well. We had to ask the lady from the hotel for a corkscrew to open the Cantillon bottle in the end.

Fig 10: Manneken Pis after opening a bottle of Lindeman’s Pecheresse and Cantillon Rosé de Gambrinus

Lesson learned: Take a corkscrew with you or/and don’t buy yourself a Manneken Pis corkscrew… By the way, the Rosé de Gambrinus is fantastic!

I highly recommend to visit the Moeder Lambic and A la Mort Subite bar. Both places serve excellent beers and have a nice ambience. And don’t buy a Manneken Pis corkscrew…

I would like to end this post with the mentioning that there are further beer places in Brussels to visit. I just could not visit all these places within three days. The next and last post in this beer travel log is about a brewery within Brussels. And because this is post number 100, I should enjoy a nice beer after publishing. Stay tuned!

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