Martijn UPDATE: Closed permanently…
Marcel Burger Bar had been on our list for quite some while — they serve burgers, paired with a specific beer, so what’s not to like? — but we simply hadn’t got around to it. We even passed it a couple of times already — it’s only two houses down from CHEZWaWa, and not that far from BALLEKES either — but on a recent sunny Sunday afternoon — possibly not the best time, if the sound of children is not your favourite music — we finally made it to the burger bar.
UPDATE: Closed permanently…
Until recently, the only way to enjoy a couple of decent beers in Molenbeek, was to go to the De la Senne brewery, it seemed, and even they will be moving elsewhere soon. However, just last month a new bar opened, by the name of Brass’art. Fears of it only serving mint tea proved to be unfounded, and Mohamed Ouachen, the driving force behind this project, served us a couple of nice beers, and an — at least for us — exotic but tasty ‘threesome of flavours’ to accompany it.
The beer festival season has started again, and this year sees the launch of yet another festival, but one we’re particularly excited about: the BXL BeerFest! The beer festival is still a couple of months away — the 26th and 27th of August 2017 at Tour & Taxis — but tickets are already available now!
UPDATE: Closed permanently…
La Brocante must have been the place we’ve fruitlessly been trying to get in to most often. Yes, it’s open every day, but it closes already at seven — on Monday and Saturday even at six — and that’s usually long before we make our way to the Marolles, especially if we’re going for a big bottle of gueuze, one of the specialities of the house. The name should have been a giveaway though: this place is all about the daily antiques / flea market on the Place du Jeu de Balle. We finally made it, though!
Or: a happy Saint Patrick’s Day to all of you!
The celebrations accompanying this Irish holiday spread all over the world, and have been adopted — or should I say appropriated? — by many not in any way linked to the Emerald Isle. In Brussels it’s no different, and you’ll see Manneken Pis in an Aran jumper, city hall illuminated in green, and loads of — intoxicated — people wearing either a leprechaun hat, or one shaped like pint of Guinness. Of course Guinness is heavily promoting theses celebrations, as if the doubling of consumption of their beers isn’t enough already…
But you can celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day in a more classy way, avoiding the aforementioned stout completely, and visit a couple of bars actually serving Irish craft beer, for the occasion. Eight Degrees Brewing in particular seems to be well represented.
There’s quite a bit of history to Het Goudblommeke in Papier, even though it’s ‘only’ a little over 70 years old, and it’s not surprising a lot of effort went into reopening the bar after a bankruptcy a decade ago. But the protected building and bar rooms of this ‘marigold in paper’ have more to offer than just memories of René Magritte and Guido Gezelle: artistic performances of all sorts, but of course good Belgian food and beer as well!
There are plenty of bars in Brussels with a foreign touch — or more than just a touch — but only some are truly international. And by that I mean a bar where you can find beers from all over the world, but very local beers as well, and where you can hear the corresponding languages spoken. At The Black Sheep, the Lanterne from the Ixellois brewery L’Ermitage, pouring alongside the IPA from the American brewery in Berlin Stone, illustrates this perfectly.
UPDATE: Closed permanently…
From the outside, L’Atelier must be one of the most unattractive bars in Brussels, hiding its treasures behind a bland garage door, without any windows to peek into. Too often, for unknown reasons, that garage door even stays closed! If the door is open however, don’t hesitate to go inside, forget about the outside world for a couple of hours, and go treasure hunting in this Aladdin’s cave of beer, in the student district in Ixelles.
The Alvinne Craft Beer Festival might not be exactly in Brussels — usually, it’s actually quite an adventure to get there from Brussels — but this year the guys from Dynamo decided to hire a bus to take beer lovers all the way to the West-Flemish town of Vichte. So if you’re interested to attend the ACBF2017 on Saturday the 4th of March, buy your ticket — if you haven’t done so already — and book a seat on the bus. You’ll even get to skip the queues and an extra token!
For the first anniversary of our blog — today — we wanted something special. And what would be more special than the mekka for the beer tourist, the Cantillon brewery? Only open five days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday) and just until five o’clock in the afternoon, and very busy at times, you’ll have to plan your visit to the brewery-cum-museum carefully. However, an impressive list of Cantillon beers, some of which you thought would be long lost, will be your reward!