Brussels and the Cantillon Brewery

General Beer Discussion by FLASHPRO

After working 26 hours in two days, I finally have some time to write about my short trip to Brussels. We flew RyanAir (cheapair) to Charleroi airport and had to take a 40min bus ride into the city where we arrived around midnight. The cab driver spoke no English but luckily I took French in high school and I understand enough to get by! Anyway, the cab driver already had a fare but claimed that we were going int he same area as the woman already in the car, so he agreed to bring us for 10 euros, which was probably about how much it would have cost us anyway but he was making more money with two fares. That first night it was too late to do anything, so we went to bed. Since I went with a female coworker and I'm married, we asked for 2 beds but one room to save money. When we got in the room we were surprised to see the two beds side by side LOL. Luckily we were able to rearrange some furniture and move them apart! Off to an early start Saturday, we walked around, taking pictures of all the ornately decorated stonework of centuries old architecture. After some awesome belgian waffles we made it into the Grand Place, the center of Brussels, and then ventured off to the ridiculously small streets filled with stores and cafes. Next thing I knew I was looking at the Delirium Cafe! I would have never found it had I been looking for it. It's in a small alley at a dead end, and there are no address numbers nor are these alleyways shown on any maps. We took a picture and promised to come back later. From the Grand Place we then stumbled upon a massive crowd of people with a TV Camera and microphones protruding above the heads of the mob. I had no idea what was going on until we swam through the mass a little and I saw that it was the corner where the Manneken Pis statue was and it was minutes away from an unveiling of a new costume. Apparently, a fews a year they dress this statue of a boy pissing in a unique costume. This statue is also the name and icon of a beer called Manneken Pis, which I'm sure some of you have had before. The statue is not even 2 feet tall, but I suppose it's pretty funny and there are litte figures you can buy at all the shops. I couldn't resist in buying a manneken pis bottle cap opener for 2 euros. At this same shop is where I had my first opportunity to see Belgian beer in its native habitat. There were shelves and shelves of the stuff for under 2 euros a bottle. And I'm not talking about the crappy stuff like you'll see in the US for $2 in singles. All the Rocheforts and others trappist, with the expection of Westy, were no more than 2 euros! And this was a tourist trap. I picked up some Rocheforts, a Rodenbach Grand Cru, and an Achel Brune. All were under 2 euros, and the only time I ever had Achel (blonde?) was for $9 in the US. Afternoon was passing and I decided it was time to head to the Cantillon Brewery before they closed fot the rest of the weekend. It was about a mile walk to the south end of the city that lead you past the train station and a very Arab community. It was a strange place for such a great brewery, where I'm sure no one ever finds it by accident. We went in and the brewmaster greeted us with excellent English. My coors light swilling friend opted for teh 3.50 euro tour that included 2 beers at the end but I of course upgraded to the 5 euro tour that included 5 samples at the end. After a few minutes of talkign to the brewmaster and discussing the bars in Philadelphia (he knows some of the owners personally) We went off on our self-guided tour of the facility. We got there at a perfect time because there was no one else on the premisis and we took plenty of pictures. It was the most interesting brewery I've ever seen. I'll have to post pictures later. Everything looks old and as if it hadn't been used in decades. Spiderwebs took over, but they're the natural pest control for this very natural brewery. At the end of the tour we got to chat more with the brewmaster and a young guy who poured us the beer. First it was the famous Gueuze. Damn it was the best I've ever had! Half way through that I was given the straight up Lambic. An unblended, flat beer aged to perfection. We were also given cheese to nibble on that was made with real Cantillon beer, making the two taste even better together. Now the most surprising part had nothing to do with me at all. It was my swilling friend who actually liked this obscure, sour beer! She said it was something she could definitely sip on. In fact, she even bought 3 bottles! My mission was complete, but not before trying 3 additional beers. Next was the Kriek and Framboise versions of the lambic and finally the Faro. I never had a Faro before, and Cantillon doesn't sell it in bottles because the gross amounts of sugar added will cause the bottles to explode in about 3 months, according to the brewmaster. I have to admit that the Faro was my least favorite of the 5, though very interesting. It was just too sweet and my friend winced from one sip. A crowd began to form at the brewery and it was time to go, but not before a few purchases. They had quite a few items for sale, so I picked up two pairs of cantillon glasses at 3 euros a piece and a 12 euro Cantillon t-shirt that I can't want to wear. And of course, I couldn't leave without a few perishables. Knowing that I had a 1.25 mile walk to the hotel, I limited myself to only six 750ml bottles of the 10 different beers offered. I passed on the Gueuze, Kriek and Rose de Gambrinus that my coworker bought, as well as the 100 Lambic. I'm also pretty sure those were all available in Philadelphia, though all at well over $10 a bottle. So my prize was the more rare St. Lamvinus, Vigneronne, Iris, Fou Foune, Lou Pepe Kriek and the Bruocsella Grand Cru. The prices ranged from 4 to 6 euros and I walked away with 28 euros worth of beer that would have been more than 3 times that if I could find them back home. So, with a camera backpack full of glassware and small bottles, and a heavy box of large bottles, we made the half hour walk, uphill of course, to the hotel. After a rest at the hotel we took the underground Metro line across the city to the district of St. Catherine, known for their seafood. We ate at a restaurant recommended in one of my guides, where at least 50 chairs were seated outside in a little square. The staff didn't speak any english to us and the menu was in both french and flemish (just like all their street signs). Part of the reason why I chose this place from the guide was that it described it as serving traditional Belgian food and known for having a wide selection of beer. You don't know how happy I was to be handed a food menu and not a wine menu, but a beer menu! Three pages of probably over 150 Belgian beers were at my disposal. THe best part is that no 1/3 liter bottles were over 4 euros, including the one I started with... Westvleteren 8! They also had the 12, but I didn't want to get into a drunken stupor too quickly. The food was also great, and the service is a snail's pace compared to the US. Also, like in Ireland (where I've been for the past 2 months), the bill is never brought to you or mentioned until you ask for it. Impressive feat number two occured at this restaurant. My friend wanted to try a beer, so I went out on a limb and ordered her an Orval. I really thought she wouldn't like it and we agreed that I'd finish it if she didn't. She drank it all! I'm not sure if she would get it again, but she did say it was interesting and that she liked it. That was good enough for me. The next day we did some more touristy things and I bumped into a place I had read about the day earlier called the Bier Temple. In this store was nothing but beer and beer accessories! I was in heaven. Dozens of gift boxes, hundreds of glasses and hundreds of bottles including a few dozen different magnums. Oh how I wished I was driving home instead of flying. So I picked up a few more 330ml bottles after wandering around like a kid in a candy store while my female friend went down the street in search of chocolate. But yes, i did pick up plenty of chocolate for my wife! After this we had lunch in a little restaurant that didn't seem to care much about beer, but this was no matter because the next stop was Delirium Cafe! I planned this from before our trip because they advertise a selection of over 2500 beers with a guarantee of having at least 2004 available at any given time. After 20 minutes of what seemed liek walking in circles in those little alleyways, we finally found the correct dead end sidewalk and went downstairs to the "beer cellar" section of the cafe. This was quite a large place, with giant barrels for tables and a walk in fridge with a partial glass wall to let patrons drool in amazement. Also behind the bar to the side was a door partially opened where I could see hundreds more beers in shelves. I asked if they had a list and within a minute there was a 2" thick binder in front of me! I couldn't beleive it. I didn't even know where to start. Much of the pages were descriptions of beers, collections, what's on tap, favorites etc, but in between was what must have been 50 pages of beers, sorted by country. The Belgian section was at least 10 pages long, with an estimated 50 beers per page. Almost every 330ml bottle was about 3 euros and I had to try hard to find one over 4. Aged Orvals were 4 euros. There year old Chimay was 4 euros. Westveleteren 12 and 8 were also on the list, but I forgot their prices. I settled on an obscure gueuze, but was saddened to hear that it was out of stock, after the lone bartender went to the back room to look. Instead I immediately asked for a Delirium Tremens from the tap. Unfortunately, due to a lunch that took forever and wasted time searching for the cafe, we only had 45 minutes at the cafe. I finished the delirium in about 30 minutes and we both decided I had to get one more beer. Unfortunately again, the crowd started coming in (this was about 4pm on a Sunday!) and it took 15 minutes before I could get my request in to the bartender. This final beer was a Boon Gueuze Mariage Parfait. It was an excellent beer, but I had to drink it all in 15 minutes because we were already running quite late. However, I did get a t-shirt before leaving! So it was a mad dash 30 minute walk to the hotel to grab our luggage out of storage and head for the train to the airport. The mile walk to the train station (we were too cheap to get a cab, plus you have to call for cabs because they can't pick you up in the streets in Belgium) was hell due to the huge weight of beer I was carrying. It also turned out to be a good thing that I did't buy more beer because the airline was limiting checked in luggage to 15kg (about 33 pounds). So I stashed some bottles in my camera bag for carry on and the beer in teh duffle bag weighed in at 15.3 kg! This wasn't the end of my beer escapade, though. I've always liked the Pauwel Kwak glasses (it's an odd shape that's held up by a wooden stand) and have never seen them for sale in the US. I ran into them at the shops in Brussels, but I was never in the mood for carrying it around when I saw them. When we were on teh way back to leave we were in a rush and the places we stopped in to quickly didn't have them. I gave up. But what do you know... the airport duty free shop not only had the same glass plus 4 bottles, but it was 8 euros cheaper than the other shops! So not only did I save money, but I didn't have to carry the damn thing around the city. The trip couldn't have ended any better... Well, the plane was delayed 40 minutes, but you can't have everything [:D] I'll be adding many pictures later!