Beer Tour Options
There are so many beer tours offered in Brussels, so it can be challenging to determine which to do! If you’re looking for a more inclusive tour that includes food, we recommend this Beer Tasting Tour* through Get Your Guide that costs ~$88. For any budget friendly travelers, the tour we personally took was through Sandeman which costs €35. Let’s compare the two!
For the more inclusive Beer Tasting Tour* it includes 7 beer tastings, a selection of snacks & Belgian chocolate, as well as a local guide. The tour lasts 4 hours and is all done on foot. While traveling between different local taverns and cafes, your guide will point out a few additional historic sights. This tour costs ~$88 per person and offers free cancellation up until 24-hours before.
In comparison, the budget friendly option through Sandeman includes 1 trappist beer and 3 additional beer samples. The tour lasts 2.5 hours and is also all done on foot with a local guide. Unlike the tour above, this does not include any snacks or additional information about the city’s historic sights. This tour is priced at €35 per person, or €25 for anyone who prefers not to drink so perfect for anyone traveling on a budget or looking for a shorter tour!
Our Beer Tour in Brussels Experience
When we visited Brussels back in 2016 (freshly graduated from college, living abroad in Spain), the Sandeman beer tasting tour fell more into our budget and we still felt like we learned a lot! At the first of the three bars on the tour we were introduced to a Trappist beer. This famously strong beer is brewed by benedictine monks! (We loved hearing this since we went to a benedictine college, but sadly our monks were not making beer).
Fun Fact: There are only 11 Trappist breweries around the world and the only one in the US is located in our home state of Massachusetts – how cool!
While on the tour, we were able to try to beers called Westmalle Tripel and Chimay Dubbel. One was a blond beer and one was a dark beer. It turns out in Belgium the dark beers are actually sweeter than the blond beers!
After this we headed to another bar where we were able to try three new beers. The most interesting part of this stop was the Lambic Cantillon, the last of our beer samples. Lambic is a type of beer that is more popular in Belgium than other places. It is very sour and most definitely an acquired taste!
Fun Fact: The reason this beer tastes so sour is because the brewing process uses spontaneous fermentation. Usually, a brewer introduces their own yeast into the brewing process in order to ferment the wort. However, spontaneous fermentation involves letting the natural yeast from the air around us ferment the wort. As you may imagine this process takes more time than the normal brewing process but it is the only way to create that sour lambic taste! It seems a little outdated and that is because it is! We learned that this type of beer was drank during the medieval times, but clearly the brewing process has evolved since then with most beers.
Best Belgian Beers
Here are a few more beers we were able to try during our travels in Brussels that we can recommend:
- Duvel Belgisch Speciaalbier
- Blond pale ale
- Chimay Tripel
- Trappist beer
- Leffe Ruby
- Fruity sour beer
- Rodenbach Grand Cru
- Matured in oak vats
- Rodenbach Rosso
- Fruity sour beer
- Estaminet Premium Pils
- Won an award for best lager in 2015
- Palm Hop Select
- Belgian IPA
- Boon oude lambiek
- Lambic beer (with spontaneous fermentation)
- Lindemans Pecheresse (Amanda’s favorite)
- Peach sour beer
- Lindemans Kriek
- Cherry sour beer
- La Chouffe (Mark’s favorite)
- Blonde pale ale
Delirium Bar
Delirium Bar was our last stop on the tour and is one of the most famous bars in Brussels. Its claim to fame is that it holds the record for the most beers in a bar in the Guinness Book of World Records. Amazingly enough this bar boasts over 2,000 different options! When we asked for a menu they handed us a book and wished us luck! Between the two of us, we were able to try a chocolate beer (so Belgian right?), a raspberry beer, a peach beer, a pale ale, and even another lambic beer! It was tough to choose but we felt like we tried a good mix.
Beer Museum in Bruges
While not technically in Brussels, we would be remiss to not mention that a day trip to Bruges to visit the Beer Museum is another great activity for any beer lover in Belgium! While there, we learned a lot about the history of beer and the brewing process. The best part is that you get to sample 3 beers at the end! Tickets cost €19 (or €13 without the beer tasting).
Taking a beer tour in Brussels is the perfect way to connect with the culture and try some beers you may not have heard of before! While we only had a few days in the city, it’s a destination we’d love to explore again. How can you go wrong with a country that specializes in beer, chocolate and waffles? Cheers!
