In tiny Belgium, a country the size of Maryland with about ten million inhabitants, a beer enthusiast might sample a different Belgian brew every day of the year and still leave several dozen untasted.

Love of beer and respect for native brewing traditions are among the few things besides king and currency remaining common to Belgium's rival communities, the francophone Walloons and Dutch-speaking Flemish.

On the equivalent of a "pub crawl" through officially bilingual and bicultural Brussels, visitors can easily manage to visit any number of attractive cafés; taste trappist ales, cherry-flavored krieks and other unusual beers; yet never repeat an order.

At Chez Marcel, for example, a sidewalk café serving light lunches on the Place du Jeu de Balle, an appropriate beer would be a Cantillon gueuze, (100 BF, at 35 francs to the dollar as of this writing, $2.85, for a 100 cl. bottle that serves three glasses). Frothy and tart, with a hint of apples, gueuze is a thirst-quenching specialty native to Brussels and was once the drink of choice of working people living in the surrounding area known as Les Marolles.

In Le Perroquet, ten-minute's walk away on the edge of the Sablon district, Blanche de Hoegaarden (on draft, 55BF, $1.57) would seem best for sipping in the bright and airy atmosphere of this Art Nouveau-period café. A wheat beer already redolent of citrus, Hoegaarden on draft typically appears with a lemon slice floating on its head and is a refreshing complement to Le Perroquet's menu of spicy pita sandwiches.

Across the city, in fact, history, architecture and other characteristically Bruxellois elements often strongly suggest which beer to enjoy where.

Marionette Cellar

First-time Brussels visitors will almost certainly head straight for the city's Baroque centerpiece, the gilded and crenellated Grand Place. Nearly a half dozen cafés look onto the always busy cobblestone square. In summer months, tables are packed tightly together on raised outdoor platforms to accommodate the sun and the high season crowds. Beer lists are as formidable here as anywhere in Brussels, but close by are more intriguing choices.

At 5 Rue du Chêne, the two-year-old Poechenellekelder (pronounced, "poosh-en-elle-kel-der," and Flemish for the Punchinello or marionette cellar) lies opposite the Manneken-Pis fountain, which may be the second most-visited location in Brussels after the Grand Place.

The attractive estaminet--a common Brussels name for any small, simple café serving beer and traditional snack food--hardly looks its young age with a pleasing arrangement of antique decorations and elaborately carved and polychromed wood bar.

A featured draft beer at Poechenellekelder is Faro Vanderlinden (50 BF, $1.43), a sweet-and-spicy lambic with a hint of ginger and brewed at Halle in the Brussels countryside.

Lambic brews like faro and gueuze are today rarely served au fût (on draft) in Brussels; for dedication to this sadly, dying tradition, Poechenellekelder was awarded "Order of Faro" by a local group of lambic boosters.

As a typically Belgian accompaniment to faro or gueuze, the café's list of nos tartines offers plain fromage blanc or onion-flavored pottekees (both 110 BF, $3.14)--tiny pots of soft, sour cheese for spreading on thin slices of wheat bread. Pâté de campagne and salami are available at the same prices.

On a recent midweek afternoon visit to Poechenellekelder, be-bop jazz music played in the dimly-lighted estaminet with a few patrons talking over their glasses. Outside, tourists from many nations milled around the Manneken-Pis fountain and posed for souvenir snapshots. They may not have noticed Poechenellekelder because the café is new enough not to be listed in popular guide books.

Beer & Faust

When Poechenellekelder first opened, the estaminet featured in its cellar a marionette theatre, which has since closed. That quaint form of entertainment thrives, however, at Toone, 21 Petite Rue des Bouchers, another typical Brussels estaminet well-hidden down a narrow alley (Impasse Schuddeveld) off the city's main thoroughfare for tourist restaurants.

Like Poechenellekelder and the purloined letter in Poe's tale, Toone (pronounced "tone") escapes notice by virtue of lying in a thoroughly obvious place. For the most part, the windowless, wood-paneled and generally quiet café seems to have let the 20th-century pass by with indifference.

Toone is in the guidebooks, however, which likely accounts for the menu's English translation and the somewhat elevated prices--80 BF ($2.29) for a draft glass of Antwerp-brewed De Koninck; tartines start at 270 BF ($7.71). Toone's claim to fame lies above the café in a simple marionette theatre where director José Géal, recognizable in his checked casquette, leads his troupe in such elaborate productions as Faust; The Passion; and Christopher Columbus and the Peruvian Tragedy.

In the past, Toone performances would have been given entirely in a Brussels patois of French, Flemish and local slang. The recent premiere run of Michel de Ghelderode's re-telling of Christ's passion was spoken almost entirely in French. Only two brief scenes were delivered in Flemish.

Shakespeare and Art Nouveau

The lively, even boisterous atmosphere at Falstaff, 17-23 Rue Henri-Maus, suits well its fin-de-siécle brasserie decor. Named for Shakespeare's beloved boozer, Falstaff has a conviviality equally attractive to out-of-town visitors and Belgian families.

Two dozen Belgian brews are offered from the bar at prices from 50 to 100 BF ($1.43 to $2.86). Among the most popular labels are Chimay, famous for its rich and creamy trappist ales (Chimay bleu and rouge are distinguished by their blue and red bottlecaps; the former is darker and slightly stronger) as well as Duvel, a delicate, golden-hued beer with a meringue-like head.

Another common name, Jupiler, is perhaps Belgium's most unremarkable beer, a light Pilsener beer much like Budweiser. Falstaff's menu, several pages long, offers an extensive range of cold and warm plates from the French grilled ham and cheese sandwich croque monsieur (105 BF, $3.00) to the hearty Flemish chicken stew Waterzooi (350 BF, $10.00). The uninitiated should know that américain frites (295 BF, $8.43) is not a U.S. version of french fries, but another Belgian specialty also known as filet américain--a baguette sandwich of raw ground beef mixed with mayonnaise and capers.

In a city resplendent with elegant Art Nouveau buildings, surprisingly few cafés in the style have survived intact. Along with Le Perroquet, the only prominent example is De Ultieme Hallucinatie (Flemish for "the last hallucination"), 316 Rue Royale and about a seven minute walk from the city's Botanical Garden.

This well-preserved café (built originally in 1850, but rebuilt in 1904) is a showcase of Art Nouveau's sprightly, flowery architectural forms; finely carved woodwork and stained glass details. The clientele at De Ultieme Hallucinatie is predominantly Flemish-speaking and visitors should expect a rare bilingual greeting, goeiendag, bonjour.

For an adventuresome beer-food combination, we tried a 35 cl. bottle of Cantillon Framboise (95 BF, $2.71) with a plat du jour luncheon special of rabbit cooked in gueuze with raisins and apples and potato purée (250 BF, $7.14). The framboise was powerfully redolent of raspberries and, unsweetened, seemed a delicious match for our rabbit.

Web-Crawling, Brussels Style

Also in a Flemish quarter, at Place du Jardin aux Fleurs, is what claims to be Brussels' oldest café, established in 1762.

In 't Spinnekopke (pronounced, "in hut Spin-eh-kop-ka" and Flemish for "the Spider") has no doubt seen several renovations over the years. Today, it has a somewhat seedy, 19th-century atmosphere on the street level, though in two recently-remodeled upstairs rooms, the arrangement of antique beer posters and metal signs above varnished wooden booths is pleasantly post-modern.

On tap at Spinnekopke is the unusual Steendonk (60 BF, $1.71), a wheat beer brewed with curaçao and coriander (the flavor of the herbs is barely present in the drink). Menu offerings include waterzooi with lotte or monkfish (710 BF, $20.28) as well as carbonnade au lambic, a hearty Belgian beef stew prepared with beer (365 BF, $11.40).

Under the same management as Spinnekopke is the more difficult to find L'Etoile d'Or, 30 Rue des Foulons (near the Anneesens metro station). L'Etoile d'Or is rare among Brussels cafés for serving Bel Pils (40 BF, $1.14), a delightful new pilsener by the brewers of Duvel.

Luncheon specials, such as blood sausages served with onion confit and warm goat cheese wrapped in pastry, begin at 220 BF ($6.29). Of all Brussels' cafés, none is more closely associated with one label of beer than Mort Subite, 7 Rue Montagne aux Herbes Potagères.

Since just before World War I, Mort Subite has been brewing and serving its own lambic beers (on draft, from 75 to 100 BF, $2.14 to $2.86). The café's name, "Sudden Death," refers to a once-popular dice game, happily, not to any ill effects of the beers.

Brussels-born singer Jacques Brel was a Mort Subite regular when he was studying at nearby Collège St. Louis in the late 1940s. Today, another generation of students still gathers beneath the ornate mirrors, gilded ceiling and cigarette-stained walls to enjoy a sudsy break from classes. The third generation of his family to own and manage the café-brewery, René Vossen advises anyone unfamiliar with lambic and other Belgian specialties, "Give it a try. When we serve a beer, we explain how it is made. By the fourth beer, you are going to like it."

For addresses and additional information about these establishments, see the link for Tips on finding Lambic in Belgium and Pub Crawling in Brussels below.