Brewtiful Brussels 2025

My annual March visit to Brussels has come to signify a lot of things. It is a spiritual awakening. It is when I feel my battery level alerting me it is fully charged from wiling away the bleak January and February weekends. It is when, suddenly, all of life’s possibilities attain a breathtaking clarity.

It has also come to signify how much Brussels has grown on me over the years. I have written about this before and won’t beleaguer the point. However, I will add that over the last six years, Brussels has given me more joy than my beloved Bruges and Antwerp combined. Brussels is at its best when you aren’t focused on the sites. It’s beauty is in its diversity. There is nowhere else in Belgium that is such a delight to simply stroll from one neighborhood to the next peering into all of the curious shops and being astounded by the multi-ethnic selection of cafes and restaurants. When you are hungry, it can be fun just to pick a random place and go with it. If I complain about the boring menus of Belgian restaurants (can you say Spaghetti Bolognese?), I do not include Brussels in that judgment.

But perhaps most importantly, my annual March trip to Brussels signifies that Brussels is reaching elite status as a beer city, and it has become tradition every March to explore more of its pubs and beer highlights. That is how my discovery of Brussels’ virtues all started back in 2019. My visit in 2025 would include Europe’s top-rated pub¹, a commercial beer bar with an astounding selection, a classic estaminet, and a trendy brewery. The common thread in all of these pilgrimages, my ground zero, where the ghosts of my past wait for my return is the Musée Bruxellois de la Gueuze better known to me as Brasserie Cantillon or as I affectionately refer to it, Cantillon. So before knocking out my list of pubs, I needed to visit an old friend.

Cantillon Day March 9 8, 2025

Barrel: You’re a day early.
Me: You’re closed tomorrow.
Barrel: (Blinks a look of agreement) You have a few more gray hairs in your beard.
Me: And you still look as rotund as ever.
Barrel: Nobody sits next to me anymore. (thoughtful pause) Not like that day. I’m just decoration now.
Me: If I could fit you in my pocket, I’d take you to Scotland with me.
Barrel: Could I age whisky while I’m there? They don’t let me do that here.
Me: Look at you. You’d leak it everywhere.
Barrel: When are we going?
Me: June. Do you think you could shrink down to the size of a walnut by then?
Barrel: I guess that means I’m not going.
Me: You are in spirit.
Barrel: You’re going to meet a lot of other barrels.
Me: (I start towards the bar) Nobody can replace you.
Barrel: Stay away from the Ashanti. Way too peppery for my taste.
Me: (disappearing up a stairwell) Noted.

Barrel: I can tell by the look on your face, you didn’t listen.  Was I right?
Me: You always are.  I should have stayed away from the Ashanti. (pats Barrel on the tummy) Too damn peppery.  See you next year, my old friend.
Barrel: Next year plus one day.
Me: Yep.

It’s Not Just a Beer, It’s a Journey

After Cantillon, one of my favorite neighborhoods to swing by is Marolles between the Chappelle station and the Palais de Justice. Here may be the most eclectic assortment of shops and cafes in Brussels. There is a lot to distract you including a chaotic flea market on the Vieux Marché place du Jeu de Balle.

La Fleur en Papier Doré

This pub, whose name means The Golden Paper Flower, was once a popular hangout for artists and poets and has amassed quite a menagerie of curiosities which adorn its walls. From the outside, it looks nothing special, and I admit to having dismissed it on several occasions. It wasn’t until it recently was awarded the best pub on the European continent by the European Bar Guide that I realized that perhaps I should give it a chance. According to their website (translating into English) “We want the café to become your pub, where books and beer, stories and meetings, coffee and cake go hand in hand all year round.”² The cafe is indeed attractive inside with multiple rooms and levels which never betray the coziness of the place. I drank the Tripel Verscheuren which is technically their house beer as the pub is in cooperation with the Cafe Verscheuren in the Saint-Gilles neighborhood.

On the way to the next pub, it is impossible to miss the crowds surrounding Brussels’ most overrated site, Mannekin Pis. I would be remissed if I didn’t mention what is arguably Brussels’ best pub, Poechenellekelder, which sits adjacent to Mannekin Pis. I have been several times and didn’t stop, but it is worthy of the reminder to anyone planning a beer pilgrimage to Brussels.

Eager to get away from touristy Brussels, I made my way to Brussels’ grand pedestrian Boulevard Anspach where the next pub was glistening in the beautiful sunshine. For comic book, anime, and graphic novel fans, I cannot imagine you could find a better street to browse and shop.

Beer Capital Brussels

There is nothing traditional about this place. It is whole-heartedly a beer paradise for locals and tourists alike, as well as a sports bar with an abundance of large screen televisions. Several rows of taps give an amazing variety of both traditional and craft beers. I went with the Beer Capital Tripel. Not knowing they offer different sizes, I ended up with a 50cl glass of 8.5% alcohol beer. It was going to be a heavy stop, but I grabbed a front row table outside and sipped my beer under the glorious rays of the sun while basking in some of the best people watching you could ask for.

I was enjoying the seat so much, I decided to push my luck by ordering a 2nd beer, named after the enemy of anybody drinking lots of beer and taking public transportation home.

But I wasn’t ready to head home just yet, I still had two more spots. One of the great features of Brussels is how streets converge at odd angles and around several of these confluences are outdoor cafes which on a day like today were mobbed by sun-worshipers.

In ‘t Spinnekopke

Set away from the hustle and bustle is this classic estaminet on the quiet Place du Jardin aux Fleurs (or Flower Garden Place). An estaminet is a French word used for an old establishment which is both a pub and restaurant. There is a similar vibe to the brewery restaurants of Prague in the Czech Republic. In fact In ‘t Spinnekopke (which means In the Spider’s Web) brews several types of beer including the Spinnekopke Blond which at 6.5% was a refreshing break from the stronger beers. This is a place that I must get back for a dinner some other time.

Brasserie Surrealiste

The final stop is this brewery which offers a very classy restaurant. I had worked with this brewery at the BXL Brussels Beer Festival in 2022 and am a big fan of their beer. For the final beer of the day, I went with the Nelson Calavera, a 7% alc. IPA. It is a Citra IPA which gives it a musky aroma and bitterness which I love.

Final Words

On the way to the train station, I was disappointed to find out that a classic pub of Brussels seems to have closed down, Au Bon Vieux Temps. This pub sat in a tiny alley which always made it difficult to find when looking for it based on memory. I had a bad experience there once with a rude host and never had a chance to properly feature it in my blog. If it never reopens, then may this post serve as a memorial. It is a great loss for us beer pilgrims.

It was March 8, but it felt like a peak day in the middle of June. It was the perfect day to explore more of the rich beer culture of Brussels. Despite the loss of one of it’s great pubs, Brussels continues to amaze me with what it has to offer. It already feels like a daunting task to wait another year to return. If anyone gets there before me and stops into Cantillon, say hello to Barrel for me and if you take a photo of him with your purchases, I would love to see it. Meanwhile, now that I have been revived from Winter’s lull, it is time to see what the blue butterfly has in store for me next.

1. https://www.brusselstimes.com/1414321/characterful-and-distinctive-brussels-bar-crowned-best-in-europe ↩︎
2. https://goudblommekeinpapier.be/blommekeverhaal-en-partners/ ↩︎