Tag Archives: brussels

European Craft Beer Pub Guide

I’ve done a lot of travelling in the past few years and I made an effort to seek out fine craft beer establishments wherever I went. I was reminiscing with a friend the other day and I thought I might as well post a list of my favourite European craft beer drinking establishments. Keep in mind that this is not an all encompassing list, but a list of places I visited and liked. That being said, I truly believe these are the cream of the crop and that any beer enthusiast should seek them out.

Mikkeller – Copenhagen, Denmark
The impressive and cosy bar of the Danish craft beer geniuses. What impresses me most about Mikkeller is their creativity and range. They also server American and other European craft beers in their bar.

‘t Arendsnest – Amsterdam, Netherlands
You could argue there are better beer bars in Amsterdam, but this is this only one that serves only Dutch craft beer. The bar itself is a beautiful wood paneled brown cafe located right on a ridiculously pretty canal.

Delirium Cafe – Brussels, Belgium
It’s grungy, smokey, crowded and you’ll never want to leave. The quintessential Brussels beer bar is famous for it’s massive beer list featuring almost every Belgian beer available. The staff are super knowledgeable and also rude. I remember being scared to order, but it’s worth it in the end.

‘t Brugs Beertje – Bruges, Belgium
The classic Bruges brown cafe. I highly recommend watching In Bruges then heading to this place for a gay beer or seven. It might not be the best beer bar in Bruges, but it’s the classic and a must visit.

Akkurat – Stockholm, Sweden
Surely the best beer bar in Sweden, featuring craft beer from around the world and from Sweden’s burgeoning craft beer scene.

Bir & Fud – Rome, Italy
Serving only Italian craft beer, this place is in the hip Trastavere neighbourhood of Rome. I didn’t know Italy had a craft beer scene until I visited this place, turns out craft is taking off in Italy.

Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fà – Rome, Italy
Across the street from Bir & Fud, this place takes care of the rest of the world and serves top notch stuff from Northern Europe and America.

Craft – London, UK
Can you believe I lived just over a mile away from this place and I only went there twice? I should be punished. Founded in the summer of 2011, this place immediately became the top beer bar in London. They have the very best from all over the world; tons of Mikkeller, English and American stuff.

Brewdog – London, UK
The punks at Brewdog are on a pub opening tear in the UK. The London joint opened in December and has been packed since. Features tons of Brewdog one-off stuff, as well as quality craft from around the world.

Oktoberfest – Munich, Germany
Okay, not a pub, but an essential and amazing experience. I found most German beer halls to be very similar, so why not enjoy them at their grandest scale. I went twice and I’d go again at the drop of a hat. Check out my experience.

‘t Arendsnest in Amsterdam, loved it

Us guys at Brewdog, I miss it so bad

If you can’t have fun at Delirium Cafe, just suicide yourself now

I went to a lot of fantastic pubs in Europe, but these are the standouts from a beer perspective. Let me know if you think there’s somewhere else I need to go, I only need an excuse…

Cheers,

Chris

Delirium Cafe in Brussels

Delirium Cafe in Brussels set the record for having the biggest beer menu with a 2004 strong beer list (it was in 2004). While quantity isn’t always indicative of quality, Delirium Cafe didn’t fail to impress in the quality department. We visited shortly after we arrived in Brussels this past boxing day. Our plan was to pop in for a snack and a first taste of Belgian beer on Belgian soil. However, we ended up staying for five or so hours and left rather sozzled. When in Belgium…

Me enjoying Delirium Cafe

The giant beer menu

The cafe itself wasn’t exactly what we were hoping for. It was underground, dark, and smoke filled, but the beer barrel tables and serving trays plastered to the ceiling grew on us quite quickly. And who can turn their nose up at Delirium Nocturnum and Delirium Tremens on tap? The textbook size beer catalogue was daunting, but made for good reading. It was organized by country, so obviously we checked out Canada. What did we find? Molson Canadian for ten euros a can! Seriously? I’d be embarrassed if some non Canadian ordered this thinking it was a shining example of Canadian brewing. At least there were also a few good examples from Quebec to boost our national esteem.

Molson Canadian for 10 euros!

All in all, I’d say Delirium Cafe is a must visit for beer lovers. The atmosphere is a bit off putting at first, but it’s quirkiness becomes enjoyable (the more you drink). The bar staff weren’t particularly kind (actually, I found most servers in Belgium to be a big bunch of jerks) but they knew their stuff and expediently retrieved obscure beers from their massive storage cellar. Who can argue with a 2004 strong beer selection, most with their own serving vessel? Not I. The cheese board was pretty special too, or maybe I was just really hungry. I love cheese.

Cheers,

Chris

Trays on the ceiling

The atmosphere

Erik was also having a good time

Couldn't shake the wives...

Visiting Cantillon in Brussels

Cantillon is widely regarded to be one of the best brewers of lambic beer in the world. Lambic, if you don’t know, is beer that is spontaneously fermented via wild yeasts that just happen to be in the air. Different regions of the world contain their own unique concoction of wild yeasts floating about, resulting in very unique (horrible) tasting beers. Brussels, and the area southwest of it, are historically considered to have excellent wild yeast strains optimal for lambic brewing. Of course, with modern technology, the beneficial wild yeasts have been isolated and can be purchased by any old brewer. Still, lambic brewing requires a tremendous amount of skill and patience. Done wrong and the taste is horrible, done well and the taste is still one many would consider to be ‘acquired’. Lambics are sour, require years to become drinkable, and are often brewed with fruit, the sugar from which cuts the sourness of the final beer. Cantillon has mastered lambic brewing and continues to produce top notch beers in the last remaining lambic brewery in Brussels. It’s still family run and they use the same equipment they’ve always used, going back to the nineteenth century. Obviously we needed to visit this place.

The Cantillon Beer Lineup

I’ve heard the name Cantillon bandied about with such high regard over the years that I expected a slick operation. Instead we found a hole in the wall warehouse in a suburb of Brussels that looked like it was going to fall apart. It’s old, cold, and there are spiders everywhere (spiders are considered to be great friends of natural brewers because they eat annoying bugs attracted to the sugar in unfermented beer). Amazingly, the tour was self guided and included two free tastes (gueze and framboise) for all of five euros a person. What modern brewery would let you go on an unguided tour? My favorite part of the tour was the fermentation room, which is a room in the attic exposed to the great outdoors via a few portholes. In the room was one giant shallow aluminum tub where all Cantillon beers pick up their wild yeast. I couldn’t believe they would let me in this magic room, especially considering I was a bit sick at the time. Expect the 2012 vintage Gueze to contain hints of Chris phlegm, imparted by a few careless sneezes.

The Magic Brewing Room at Cantillon

The brewery at Cantillon is an amazing place to visit. It’s encouraging to see such a big name brand operating so humbly by nice people in a small, family run shop. It lived up to the hype and then some. If any of your Vancouverites are interested in trying a local lambic, Storm has 12 year aged (forgotten about in the back of the brewery) fruit varieties on sale and they are fantastic.

Cheers,

Chris

PS> If any pretentious North American beer douchebags try to tell you that lambic is pronounced lambeek, ask them why the staff at Cantillon pronounces it lambic? Let’s leave the bad attitude to InBev, shall we?