L'Ermitage Saint-Gilles - Beers 'n' Bites in Brussels

The biggest drawback of Brussels’ currently open taprooms, is their limited opening hours. We can imagine it’s hard to combine a bar-like environment with a working brewery, but luckily l’Ermitage found a solution: open a separate bar a kilometer and a half down the road. L’Ermitage Saint-Gilles is open seven days a week, every day from 4.30 PM, so there’s no reason any more to go without your preferred l’Ermitage beer on draught when the craving hits you!

Around the corner from the popular nightlife area Parvis de Saint-Gilles, the L’Ermitage Saint-Gilles bar is bound to be a success, and not just with the beer geeks that usually visit taprooms! It doesn’t hurt of course, that next to a large offer of beer on draught, the pumps in the back wall also dispense cocktails, cider, and a hop lemonade.

Krump’s beautiful designs adorning the draught board might give you the impression all beers are l’Ermitage‘s own, but actually more than half of them are from other brewers. Taproom regulars will probably recognise a couple of the breweries from previous tap takeovers and collabs, such as Cyclic Beer Farm, Hoppy Road, and Buxton. Of course neighbour Cantillon‘s gueuze is available on draught as well, as is Vent d’Est, the latest creation of Jean Van Roy’s side project Brasserie de 4 Vents. Two of the pumps are classic British beer engines, so this will be another bar where you will be able to enjoy real cask beers.

On the food menu of the bar you’ll find the usual cheese and charcuterie boards—described in detail, which is nice if you like or dislike particular cheeses or sausages—but also a selection of ‘mini mezze’, and three different pizzas, of which two are available al taglio as well. We gave the burrata sweet garlic pizza a try, and even though it’s hard to eat without spilling sauce and cheese everywhere, it was delicious!

At first sight, the bar might seem a bit small, but an impressive steel spiral staircase leads to another level with lots of extra seating, and even a separate room suitable for tastings or other events. We can’t wait to see what they’ll use it for, and how the bar will fare in general!