Cantillon

The experience at Cantillon gets its own heading because it was so unique and so good. We finally made it here on our third trip to Brussels and boy was it worth it. For 5 Euros you get an information booklet to take yourself on a self-guided tour through the facility. They only brew in the winter months and had started about a week before we arrived, so all the equipment was in use and the place was buzzing with activity. It was amazing seeing the process in action and afterwards you got to sample a gueuze and your choice of a raspberry or cherry lambic. They also had bottles for sale that you could drink onsite, so we made ourselves comfortable and sampled several of their delicious beers.

the entrance and tasting area

large copper holding tray for natural yeast to mix with the mash

lots and lots of gueuze

Mike pouring us a taste of the aged cherry kriek

Cantillon could definitely qualify as one of Eric’s happy places.

Beer

Delirium Cafe – Packed with people as always but we luckily found a table that was just emptying and scurried over to claim it. There are different beers available on different floors, so once you can track down a menu, the hardest part is deciding what to get! I recommend picking out something simple, in my case a Kasteel Rouge, and then take some time to peruse the monster menu list.

the boys considering their options

obviously we are hilarious after a day of drinking Belgian beer

Moeder lambic – Even after going the wrong way out of the subway (Thursday was not Eric’s best navigational day) we still managed to get in to Moeder Lambic before the after-work crowds and scored a table on the elevated back section. This bar has a great selection of beers on draft and we always manage to find some unusual choices. I went with the Val Dieu Grand Cru (even better on draft!) and Eric went pink with the De Ranke Kriek. We also tried the Moinette Bruin.

Poechenellekelder – We talked Mike into one last beer before leaving Belgium, so we took him back to one of our favorite places (home of the infamous stinky cheese incidents of 2010 and 2011). We got the last seats upstairs and were excited to see a special Christmas beer list. I went with the St. Fueillien Cuvee de Noel and Eric got the Oud Biersel Kriek. Nearby we spied two women drinking a tripel with what looked like holly on the glass, so I went over to ask them about it. Surprisingly, they let me sample the Kanunnik and it was delicious so we ordered one to split. :)

a whole menu of Christmas beers!

Restaurants

Nuetnigenough – So glad we made a reservation since they were packed on a Thursday night! We really enjoyed the lasagna and beef stew last year so we repeated the order but switched main courses. We also discovered some of our new favorite beers on the trip (photo below). I started with the Brasserie de la Senne Xmas Zinnebir and we were informed by the owner that the  brewmaster was sitting down at the end of the table. Nice! We had our second great experience in a row here, highly recommended!

delicious beers

amazingly tasty beef stew and frites