Chez Lutgarde

front view of the Chez Lutgarde bar in Brussels. There are two parasols and four outside tables. The name "Chez Lutgarde" is in red.
© Hannah Casier

With the name Chez Lutgarde, it is not surprising they mostly serve beers from the young Lasne brewery Abbaye d’Aywiers, better known by the name most of their beers carry: Lutgarde. You could even consider this bar the downtown taproom of the brewery. What drew us in, however, were the advertisements for some Brussels breweries you don’t see in that many other bars yet, like Brasserie Vandekelder! Once inside, we discovered that actually all the beers they serve, are from small, independent breweries, and quite a lot of them even from Brussels!

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Family Brews

Family Brews opened just a little over a year ago in the Rue des Harengs, just off the Grand Place. In such a central location, you might expect just another tourist trap, but nothing could be further from the truth! For prices comparable to the ones you’ll pay for an uninteresting industrial beer in nearby bars, here you can enjoy some local brews instead. Don’t get hung up on specific breweries or beers, just let the staff surprise you with something they think you’ll like!

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Python

It’s been a while since we had an excuse to visit Schaerbeek to report on a new beery destination, but the Python Beer Cellar finally lured us back to the city of donkeys!

The modern looking bar—but with just a touch of curly nostalgia—is quite a walk away from the other beer bars in Schaarbeek, therefore serving a completely different herd of customers, who can—and should—make this bar their own. 

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Dekkera

Dekkera, “la bièrerie du quartier Wiels“, is the first venue in Forest appearing on our blog. The reason for this is simple: in Forest, Dekkera probably is the first and only beer bar — and shop — not serving and selling ‘big beer’, but exclusively local and other Belgian craft beer. Of course, that that is exactly what we like to see!

 

 

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GIST

It only opened a couple of weeks ago, but GIST seems to be well on its way to be a prime spot in the Brussels beer landscape. Not only are there sixteen normal draught taps to pour just as many different beer styles at any given time, but two beautiful beer engines for cask ales as well. We’ve seen similar beer engines in Brussels to dispense lambic beers, but as far as we know, this would be the only place where they will actually be used to pour British (style) ales! And that in a city that actually has a couple of British pubs…

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Fermenthings

UPDATE: The shop in Jette has closed, but Fermenthings moved in with La Source, now mainly focussing on workshops and fermented food.

Beer is the — sometimes very beautiful — result of fermentation, but so are coffee, cheese, cider, kombucha, miso, and many other delicacies. At Fermenthings, you’ll not only find many of these products, but also the necessary tools and ingredients to make your own at home. Beer — from Belgium and far abroad — features heavily in the store, and we’re not sorry about that at all! Quite a few of those beers are even chilling in a fridge, so you can have a taste, before stocking up on beer and other fermented products.

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De Gele Poraa

Don’t judge a bar by it’s appearance, is a lesson we’ve learnt early on when writing this blog. In the case of De Gele Poraa, this is more true than ever! After you make your way past the — largely unused — smoking room, try to make your way between the bar and the first couple of tables, the room opens up, and you have the opportunity to take a minute to look at the beers on the chalkboards. Well, you might need more than just a minute, since for what appears to be just a little neighbourhood bar, the offer is surprisingly large!

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