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| Friday July 04, 2008 |
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A Bevy of Belgian Beers -- Café Crawling in
Brussels and How to Find Lambic Beer In Belgium
Sabena Belgian World Airlines has four U.S. gateways: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and New York; for fares and schedule information, call toll-free: 1-800-955-2000; www.sabena.com. To find the beers served in Brussels cafés as well as many others, you may want to visit the city's arguably best-stocked beer shop, Biéres Artisanales, 174 Chaussée de Wavre, 1050 Brussels. Tel. 512-1788. Open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Depending on bottle size and rarity, prices range from 26 BF to 280 BF ($0.74 to $8.00) for a comprehensive selection of Belgian beers. To learn more about how Belgian beers are made, the Confederation of Belgian Breweries sponsors a quick tour at the Maison des Brasseurs (Brewers' House), 10 Grand' Place, 1000 Brussels. Tel. 511-4987. Open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Entrance fee includes a tour and beer tasting. Fans of gueuze and lambic will want to take in the self-guided tour of Musée Bruxellois de la Gueuze (Brussels Gueuze Museum) where Cantillon beers are brewed, 56 Rue Gheude, 1070 Brussels (near Gare du Midi). Tel. 521-4928. Open Weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission includes a glass of Cantillon beer in the museum's estaminet. Cafés referred to in this article: Chez Marcel, 20 Place du Jeu de Balle, 1000 Brussels. Tel. 511-1375. Open daily 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.. An antique/flea market is held on the Place daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. L'Etoile d'Or, 30 Rue des Foulons, 1000 Brussels. Tel. 502-6048. Open weekdays noon to 3 p.m., 7 p.m. to midnight; Saturdays 7 p.m. to midnight. Closed Sundays and holidays. Falstaff, 17-23 Rue Henri Maus, 1000 Brussels. Tel. 511-9877. Open daily noon to 5 a.m. Mort Subite, 7 Rue Montagne aux Herbes Potagéres, 1000 Brussels. Tel. 513-1318. Open daily 10:30 a.m. to 3 a.m. Le Perroquet, 31 Rue Watteeu, 1000 Brussels. Tel. 512-9922. Open daily 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. Poechenellekelder, 5 Rue du Chêne, 1000 Brussels. Tel. 511-9262. Open daily 10 a.m. to midnight, Fridays and Saturdays until 2 a.m. In 't Spinnekopke, Place du Jardin aux Fleurs, 1000 Brussels. Tel. 511-8695. Open daily, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Toone, 21 Petite Rue des Bouchers (Impasse Schuddeveld), 1000 Brussels. Tel. 513-5486. Café open daily noon to midnight. For theatre reservations, tel. 511-7137. Tickets 400 BF ($12.50). Showtime is 8:30 (theatre-goers should note that any reservations are not for "reserved" seats but for general admission only. A line for the best seats usually begins forming a half hour before curtain). De Ultieme Hallucinatie, 316 Rue Royale, 1210 Brussels. Tel. 217-0614. Café open daily noon to midnight, weekend night until 1 a.m. Restaurant service noon to 2:30 p.m., 6 p.m. to midnight. Fewer than a dozen Brussels cafes still serve traditional Cantillon beer. They include, however, these top-flight Belgian drinking institutions: L'Etoile d'Or, 30 Rue des Foulons, 1000 Brussels. Tel. 502-6048. Open weekdays noon to 3 p.m., 7 p.m. to midnight; Saturdays 7 p.m. to midnight. Closed Sundays and holidays. To search out the roots of the lambic style at its birthplace visit the Boone Brewery, Fonteinstraat 65, Lembeerk, tel. (02) 356-6644, fax. 356-3399; tours are given from May through September on Wednesday afternoons or by appointment. In nearby Beersel, "De Drie Fonteinen," tel. (02) 331-0652, serves its own gueuze and kriek brews along with hearty traditional Belgian cuisine. Henri Vandervelden's "Brouwerij Museum" is at Laarheidestraat 230, tel. (02) 380-3396.
Christopher Kenneally is the author of The Massachusetts Legacy" and has written articles for The New York Times, Boston Globe, and The Independent in London. As a contributing editor for Escape Magazine, he and Derek Szabo have reported from Northern Ireland, Egypt, South Africa and Uzbekistan. His email address is Wroxman@aol.com. |
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