Some free time the next morning, to do some shopping or to wander a bit more through the busy capital. The weather had cleared up a little, and the rest of the tour we were going to have blue skies only. At 11 AM, the bus took us just a couple of blocks away, to the Cantillon brewery, the last remaining working one in the centre of Brussels. We were welcomed by the family Van Roy-Cantillon and the guide gave us a great tour of the place, which is also a museum. They’ve been brewing here since 1906 and it has always stayed in the same family.

Their beers are very authentic and as already mentioned, have a bit of an acquired taste, but they’re incredibly refreshing. We learned a lot about spontaneous fermentation and Lambics, and could taste all their beers, including the rare grapevine-lambic and the framboise, called Rose de Gambrinus. After the tasting, we sat down for lunch, in buffet style. Regional specialties, plenty of vegetables and of course all the beers to go with this!

We left by one PM and headed towards Boon in Lembeek, which is just outside Brussels. This is also a Lambic producer and those are all located in the neighbourhood of the capital, along the valley of the river Zenne. They say it’s something in the air here, a sort of micro-organism, called Brettonyses Bruxellensis, which makes the beer taste so typical and makes it impossible to brew anywhere else in the same way. I know a lot have tried to make Lambic-beers elsewhere, but I’ve never tried any of those, so I can’t say if this is absolutely true or not. Boon is a great place, it’s an old metal-factory actually, taken over by Frank Boon in the seventies, and transformed into a place where they first blended and then later on brewed. Everyone thought Frank Boon was crazy when he started this, because most of them had been closing down over the last years, but he succeeded and did a hell of a job.

 

Big barrels in there, really big oak ones, coming from France (Calvados) and Germany. They each contain hundreds of gallons of Lambic, which is being brewed on the premises. We managed to taste some straight from the barrel, and it had an incredible freshness. The tour was concluded by a tasting in the local Café De Kring which is right by the church and our guide Willy De Saegher did a great job.

 

Then it was time to go to Silly, a small village south west of Brussels, which houses a great brewery called Brasserie de Silly, and run by the Vanderhaeghen family. Didier gave us a great tour, also showed us the old brew house, which is being transformed into a museum now, and the new one which has some very sophisticated and very modern equipment

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Then it was time to go to Silly, a small village south west of Brussels, which houses a great brewery called Brasserie de Silly, and run by the Vanderhaeghen family. Didier gave us a great tour, also showed us the old brew house, which is being transformed into a museum now, and the new one which has some very sophisticated and very modern equipment. The tour concluded by a cosy tasting in the bar at the back (which also serves as a rehearsal room for the local brass band!!) Didier’s family came to say hello also and gave him a hand pouring out the very popular beers. Names like Double Enghien (pronounced Double Engine in English) and Saison de Silly sounded very familiar to a lot of us!

Then on it went to the local restaurant “Áux 9 Tilleuls” for dinner. It’s in walking distance and we had a great meal there. Roti au Scotch de Silly and an apple pie for dessert.

Menu Roti au Scotch de Silly Scotch de Silly ApplePie Coffee

After dinner, the bus took us to Ypres, in the heart of the Westhoek, which is very famous for it’s excellent breweries and gastronomy and for the hop cultivation! 

The pub-crawl later that night brought us to some very interesting pubs, including de Posterie, which has a very elaborate and interesting beer list. Regnier taught us how to flip coasters

And blow cards from an empty bottle. It was hilarious! So much fun!

 
Day III