The Bar Towel

you are doing yourself a disservice if you are in Belgium for a weekend and you don't hit Struise and De Dolle.

De Dolle: beautiful property, great tour, amazing beer. They released Oerbier Reserva last weekend. their brewmaster was nice enough to give us 5 off-menu treats. we weren't worthy.

Struise: 24 taps. lots of one-offs. C-DOS was being poured for the past 3 weeks as well. Some guest taps (Alvinnes stuff) as well. cask-strength Cuvee Delphine? Black Albert 2015? Double Black? 24 being Randallized with Inteligensia coffee beans? fuck yeah.

and after De Struise, you go drink and eat at Molenhof a block away. Tilquin on tap and lots of vintage Struise beer in bottles

thought i'd post an update.
this was my 2nd stint in Belgium in the past 4 months. I went to Poperinge, Brussels, Ghent and Antwerp.

Poperinge's a good base if you want to hit the big 3 in West Flanders - Struise, De Dolle and Westvleteren. I think that a trip to Belgium that does NOT involve a Saturday visit in West Flanders is a waste of a trip. the experience at Struise and DD is memorable. maybe. as in: you'll walk away barely standing.

the hospitality at Struise and De Dolle is incredible. the beer are incredible. i'd suggest the following schedules based on you having 1 or 2 days:

1 day:
spend friday night in Poperinge or Oostvleteren. go have breakfast at Westvleteren. just do it for shits and giggles because the beer really ain't great. i'd order the blonde, which tends to be the most serving-ready beer of their line-up. the rest are way too young. after breakfast, drive to Oostvleteren (5 min). go eat lunch at 't Molenhof at 12 or 12:30. their tap list is Struise heavy, but Tilquin was on tap again during my visit, as was Arabier. de Struise opens at 2 pm. drink from 2-4. pre-order a cap at Molenhof and have them drive you to Esen. drink at De Dolle from 4:30 until 7. eat dinner at Molenhof (reserve at lunch) and drink more great beer.

2 days:

De Struise saturday 2-7 and Molenhof for dinner.
Sunday, go to Westvleteren for lunch. head to De Dolle for 3 PM for the tour and drink until 7.

Reviving an oldish thread as I was fortunate enough to have a work trip to Paris that coincided with Zwanze Day.
So I flew in a day early to Brussels and hit Cantillon and then Moeder Fontainas for Zwanze celebrations.
Met up with some folks at Cantillon via another beer forum (not BA, not RateBeer) and split bottles all afternoon. Crazy stuff.
Really enjoyed Jean van Roy opening bottles of Zwanze '11, Menu Pineau, Cuvee Florian (oak aged), and the like.

We then headed up to Lambic O Droom (Drie Fonteinen). Ok spot, but out of the way. Had some really good beer then headed back to the city.

Cleaned up and hit Moeder. What a place. Taps were fantastic and my only disappointment came when they kicked the St.Lam.
Otherwise the pours of Rhubarb, Mamouche, and Fou set the plate nicely for the Zwanze.
Jean and his team were there. Lots of fun skits and cheers.
Of course this is just a once a year thing so I can only recommend visiting on Oct.1.

Great walkable city. The Grand Place and Mannekin Pis are in close range to Moeder and worth the stop.

FEUO wrote:Reviving an oldish thread as I was fortunate enough to have a work trip to Paris that coincided with Zwanze Day.
So I flew in a day early to Brussels and hit Cantillon and then Moeder Fontainas for Zwanze celebrations.
Met up with some folks at Cantillon via another beer forum (not BA, not RateBeer) and split bottles all afternoon. Crazy stuff.
Really enjoyed Jean van Roy opening bottles of Zwanze '11, Menu Pineau, Cuvee Florian (oak aged), and the like.

We then headed up to Lambic O Droom (Drie Fonteinen). Ok spot, but out of the way. Had some really good beer then headed back to the city.

Cleaned up and hit Moeder. What a place. Taps were fantastic and my only disappointment came when they kicked the St.Lam.
Otherwise the pours of Rhubarb, Mamouche, and Fou set the plate nicely for the Zwanze.
Jean and his team were there. Lots of fun skits and cheers.
Of course this is just a once a year thing so I can only recommend visiting on Oct.1.

Great walkable city. The Grand Place and Mannekin Pis are in close range to Moeder and worth the stop.

yeah, i'm back there in November. i'm in Belgium during the open house at Cantillon but it pains me to go there with such huge crowds. you can't talk with jean or enjoy beer in a relaxed manner. going to dip into a mid-week brewday there instead.
Moeder Lambic is hit and miss on non-Zwanze days. i've been blown away by their taplist before and bored at other times. but i still love the space.

this trip will involve visits to:
De Struise
De Dolle
Westvleteren
Cantillon
3 Fonteinin
de Garre (lolol)
Kulminator's closed due to Dirk's knee surgery, so we'll try Billie's Bar.
might also go to the Sunday-only guezery outside of Brussels.

Going to France and Belgium for a week with my wife shortly. Spending most of out time in France with a Fri-Sun in Brussels. My first time to either. A summer Saturday at Cantillon could be miserable for crowds, but it's probably our only shot. Also going to try to hit up Moeder Original and Lambik-o-droom.

My wife is expecting, so I'm looking for recommendations on great restaurants with a decent bottle/tap list that aren't necessarily only beer focused. Any cool restaurants with Art Nouveau or Art Deco architecture that are a must visit from an experiential point of view. I was disappointed to see Le Falstaff is permanently closed, as it was a place I always wanted to have diner and enjoy a nice brew.