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	Amongst those in the above two photos are the two organisers of the Bruxellensis Beer Festival, which is held in Brussels, Belgium. In the photo on the left, which was taken by John White, in September, 2005, Rosanna Tur is with her husband, Bernard Leboucq (festival organiser one). The photo on the right was taken by John White, in October, 2003, in the Rochefort Trappist Monastery (Abbaye de Notre-Dame de St Rémy) (www.trappistes-rochefort.com, White Beer Travels Web page). Yvan De Baets (festival organiser two) is with Brother Pierre, who is in charge of the brewery at the monastery; note the wild boar in the background! The two photos above illustrate a number of features of the festival. Firstly, most of the breweries represented at the festival have their brewers present (all the Belgian ones will be there, along with a good number of the foreign ones); Bernard and Yvan are brewers of world-class beers, the latter being a second feature of the festival, i.e. the sheer concentration of superb beers really marks the festival out. The festival has the credentials to attract, in addition to brewers, prominent people in the Belgian Beer world. Until just before the 2006 festival opened, Bernard was the brewer at the Sint-Pieters Brouwerij, in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, in the Payottenland, near Brussels, click here for more details; and Yvan was brewing at the Brouwerij-Brasserie De Ranke (www.deranke.be), Rue de Petit Tourcoing/Petit-Tourcoingstraat 1A, Dottignies/Dottenijs, near Mouscron/Moeskroen, Hainaut/Henegouwen Province. However, Bernard and Yvan have formed a new brewery together called "La Brasserie de la Senne" (De Zenne Brouwerij) (www.brasseriedelasenne.be). This brewery does not have its own premises; it rents brewing capacity at De Ranke; however, it is looking for premises in or near Brussels. Senne is French for the famous Lambic river Zenne. The photo above left, which was taken by John White, shows Yvan and Bernard in front of La Brasserie de la Senne's stall at the 2006 Bruxellensis Beer Festival. Note the labels for the three Zenne Brewery beers that were on offer behind Bernard, and the scan of one of them on the right, this being for a marvellous Stout, Stouterik (4.5%). As can be seen, on its bottle label, this most hoppy of Stouts is declared to be "The Brussels Stout". This not-to-be-missed beer was available on draught at the festival, in 2006. Yvan no longer brews at De Ranke. He works for typically two days a week in Cantillon. The split with De Ranke was amicable, and the two breweries will continue to cooperate with each other, and, of course, De Ranke will be present at the 2007 festival.

Bruxellensis Beer Festival,
in Brussels, Belgium:

The Third Running is on Saturday the 8th, and Sunday the 9th of September, 2007.

The inaugural festival, in 2005, took place on the second Saturday and Sunday of September and it will be repeated each year at the same time. It opens from 11am to 11pm, and on the Sunday, from 11am to 9pm.

Bruxellensis Festival (www.festivalbruxellensis.be, Bookmark), the Brussels Festival of Characterful Beers (Le Festival des Bières de Caractère, Karakter Bier Festival), is a beer festival that features beers full of character. It takes place in a former warehouse for storing ice, Les Glacières de Saint-Gilles, 16-18, rue de la Glacière-Ijskelderstraat (GPS: 50.822922 N, 4.351663 E), in the Brussels suburb of Saint-Gilles/Sint-Gillis. I give details on how to get to the festival by public transport below, the instructions being illustrated with the street's typical bilingual street sign; the festival's website also gives details of how to arrrive by road and rail. The above photos were taken by John White, in September, 2005/6. The one on the left shows the entrance to the venue. The one on the right, is of the rear of the building. As can be seen, there is a seating area here, which is partially under cover; there is some more seating within the building itself. Should you have young children, then don't worry about bringing them along; they will not be cooped up in a children's room away from main activities, and the open area at the back of the festival is a great place for them to run around; a number can be seen in the photo, above right.

Bernard Leboucq and Yvan De Baet's involvement is your absolute guarantee that the beers featured will suit the most discerning of Speciality/Specialty/Craft Beer Hunters. Entry is free; beer tokens are €1.20 (15cl); the souvenir glass is €3. The beers available at the 2006 festival, which were on draught unless indicated otherwise, and were from Belgium, were, as follows: the Brasserie de la Senne's Zinnebir (6.5%), Taras Boulba (4.5%) ("Extra Hoppy Ale") and Stouterik (4.5%); Cantillon's Gueuze 2000 and 2005, in bottle, and draught Cuvée des Champions (all 5%) (www.cantillon.be, White Beer Travels Web page); De Ranke's XX Bitter (6.2%), Guldenberg (8.5%), and bottles of Kriek De Ranke (7%) and Père Noël (7%); Drie Fonteinen's draught Lambik (6%) and Oude Kriekenlambik (6%), and bottles of Beersel Lager (5.3%) and Oude Geuze (7%) (www.3fonteinen.be); Dupont's Moinette Blonde (8.5%), Moinette Brune (8.5%) and Saison (6.5%), and, in bottle, Bon Voeux (9.5%) (www.brasserie-dupont.com); Blaugies La Darbyste (5.8%), Saison d'Épautre (6%) and Moneuse (8%) (all in bottle) (www.brasseriedeblaugies.com); De Cam's Kriekenlambik (5%) and Faro (5%), and in bottle, Oude Geuze (6%) (www.decam.be); La Rulles Blonde (7%), Brune (6.5%), Tripel (8.4%) and bottled Estivale (5.2%) (www.larulles.be); Pura Ale (5%) and Bruno Pale Ale (5%), from Masilla Els Agullons, in Mediona, in Spain (España); Kerkom's Bink Blond (5.5%) and Reuss (5.5%) (www.brouwerijkerkom.be); Slaghmuylder's Witkap Tripel (7.5%) and Ongefilterd Pils (Unfiltered Pils) (5%) (www.witkap.be); the Ramsgate Brewery, from the English County of Kent, featured two cask-conditioned Real Ales, their Gadds' No 3 Pale Ale and East Kent Pale Ale (www.ramsgatebrewery.co.uk); Stadin Panimo Oy's Amarillo India Pale Ale (6.2%) and Pullman's Bitter (5.7%) from this brewery from Finland (www.stadinpanimo.fi); La Blonde d'Esquelbecq (6.5%), L'Étoile du Nord (5.5%), Ambrée d'Esquelbecq (5.8%) and La Maline (5.8%), from France's Brasserie Thiriez, in Esquelbecq (brasseriethiriez.ifrance.com); and a very big selection of beers from Franconia (Franken), in Germany.

In 2006, as was the case in 2005, apart from the German beers, the brewers responsible for the beers were present at the festival, including: France's Daniel Thiriez of the Thiriez Brewery, in Esquelbecq; Eddy Gadd from England's Ramsgate Brewing; Kari Likovuori and Ari Järmälä from Finland's Helsinki-based Stadin Panimo Oy (Downtown Brewery Ltd); and Carlos Rodriguez from Spain's Masilla Els Agullons. The above two photos were taken by John White at the September, 2006 festival. The one on the right features the Finnish brewers, Ari and Karl. In the photo on the left, Ramsgate Brewery's Eddy Gadd, is standing between Hugh Shipman and Marlies Boink of the Dutch-based company, Bierlijn, (www.bierlijn.co.uk, www.bierlijn.eu (Dutch pages)).

Bierlijn is a company that imports and exports the very best of beers. English beers are imported into Belgium and The Netherlands, and Bierlijn is the prime supplier of UK Real Ales to Belgium and The Netherlands, and in reverse, it imports top-class Speciality Beers from Belgium and The Netherlands into the UK; Bierlijn supplies such beers to the International Beer Bar (Bières Sans Frontières, Beer Without Frontiers) (www.b-s-f.org.uk), at CAMRA's Great British Beer Festival (GBBF). CAMRA is the UK's premier beer consumers' organisation. Hugh is the author of an excellent, essential booklet, the aptly named The Serious Drinker's Guide to Amsterdam Beer Cafés.

The above two photos were taken by John White, at the 2006 festival. In the one on the left, Carlos Rodriquez, the brewer with "Ales Agullons", is filling my glass with one of his marvellous Artisanal Beers (Cerveza Artesana). In the photo on the right, Cantillon's Jean Van Roy is offering me a beer that was not on the menu: a 1996 Gueuze, "Cuvée Florian", Florian being Jean's son, who was born that year. Clearly, this is a very rare beer, but festival goers still only paid one token for this very special beer. Cheers, Cantillon! There were other surprise beers available at the festival, for example, there was a wonderful version of La Brasserie de la Senne's Zinnebir, which had been aged in oak, and to which 1% of Cantillon Lambic had been added; this was sensationally good.

This amazing collection of beers are all produced by independent brewers. They are all full of character, and are produced without additives and are all unpasteurised and, apart from some of the German ones, are unfiltered or bottle-condtioned.

The photo, above left, was taken at the festival in September, 2005, by John White. Karel Goddeau, who is both the brewer at Slaghmuylder and the Gueuze blender at De Cam, is pouring a De Cam Oude Gueuze. This particular one was produced by blending, in September, 2004, Lambics from Boon, Lindemans, Girardin and 3 Fonteinen. The photo, above right, shows Karel (he then had hair, which had grown again for the 2006 festival) pouring the same beer for John White outside the De Cam blending facility, in Gooik. For more details of this, click here. The contact details for arranging a visit to De Cam's blending facility (Geuzestekerij) are given on the De Cam website under the heading Geuzestekerij.

In the photo, above left, which was taken at the September, 2005 festival, by John White, Lorenzo (Kuaska) Dabove is showing 3 Fonteinen's Armand Debelder and Zythos's Casimir Elsen his 2005 book, Le birre (Gribaudo). Lorenzo is Italy's most famous Beer Hunter. Lorenzo is known not only as "The Prince of the Payottenland" (prins van het Pajottenland), such is his love of the place, but also as Kuaska, hence the name of his website, www.kuaska.be (English-language version), www.kuaska.it (Italian version). Zythos (www.zythos.be and White Beer Travels Web page) is Belgium's premier beer consumers' organisation. In the photo, above right, which was taken by Cantillon's "retired" brewer, Jean-Pierre Van Roy, John White is with Daniel Thiriez, in front of his stand at the 2005 festival. In my hand, I have a glass of a superb Thiriez beer called La Maline (5.8%), which is described on its label as a "Bière noire des Flandres" (Flanders Black Beer). Daniel has a glass of La Blonde d'Esquelbecq (6.5%).

Some of the breweries featured are relatively new. La Rulles, for example, was established in June, 2000. It has a most enthusiastic brewer, Grégory Verhelst, who brews with Orval Yeast, Torrified Malt and a number of Hop varieties, including Amarillo from the USA. Like Orval, Rulles is in an area called the Pays de Gaume, hence the collective name for the brewery's beers: Bière de Gaume. and the name of the beer festival that Grégory organises in nearby Marbihan, "Brassigaume", www.brassigaume.be. This is described on the Brassigaume website as "Le Festival International des Petites Brasseries" (The International Festival of Small Breweries). In 2007, it takes place on Saturday, the 29th, and Sunday, the 30th of September. Possible one-off brews also make their appearance at the Bruxellensis Festival, such as OWA (5%), see the photo to the left, which was taken by John White, at the September, 2006 festival. This was brewed by a Japanese man, Leo Imai, with a token 1% rice in the mash, at Sint-Pieters; future batches will be brewed at La Brasserie de la Senne.

The Bruxellensis Festival programme gives a full list of the beers available, with their alcoholic strength. Draught beers are indicated by having (fût) or (vat) after their name; click here to see the page on the festival's website listing the breweries and the beers that were/will be available. Contact details for the breweries featured are also provided. There is a welcome page in French, Dutch and English and a "10-Point Quick Personal Tasting Sheet" in these languages. There are also adverts for local bars, including a couple mentioned below, and adverts for the sponsors, such as: the local tourist office for Saint-Gilles/Sint-Gillis, www.stgilles.irisnet.be; and the Specialty Beer Warehouse BVS (57-65 Georges Wittouckstraat, Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, tel 02 377 39 42, www.b-v-s.be). BVS stands for "Brasserie Vallée de la Senne" (Senne Valley Brewery). Indeed, brewing once took place on the site. As already stated, the Senne is the famous river that flows through the Payottenland; it also flows through, or rather, under Brussels. On Monday to Friday, BVS is open from 9am to Noon and from 1pm to 6.30pm. On Saturday, it is open from 9am to 1pm. It is closed on Sundays.

None of the beers that are available at the Bruxellensis Festival are over-spiced, over-sweet or high in alcohol just for the sake of it. Yvan De Baets takes a stand against such beers in an excellent, thought-provoking article in the 2005 (5th) edition of Tim Webb's don't-enter-Belgium-without Good Beer Guide Belgium (www.booksaboutbeer.com). The article is entitled: "Mediocrity ... it's the new Classic!". The aim of the Bruxellensis Festival is to showcase beers that shine out, i.e. that are the complete opposite of the type of beers that Yvan describes in this article. Click here for more details of Tim's Guide, including how to get your hands on a copy. The article appeared in English and French in the programme for the 2005 festival. The photo to the left of Yvan was taken by John White, in De Ranke, in December, 2005. It was taken during a visit by a group of White Beer Travels Beer Hunters; one of them, Jim Denier, an expert home brewer, from Denver Colorado, USA, is looking on (his club is called Foam On The Range, www.foamontherange.org). Yvan is opening one of the paper-wrapped bottles of truly marvellous beers that were sampled during the visit; further information on De Ranke is given in the trip report, which can be reached by clicking here.

There are a number of examples of the Saison style of beer at the festival. Yvan is a big fan of the style, and an authority on it; he contributed information on this Belgian Beer style to Phil Markowski's book Farmhouse Ales, published by "Brewers Publications", which is a division of "The Brewers Association" (www.beertown.org), who are based in Boulder, Colorado, in the  USA. The book can be obtained from the Brewers Publications website, or from www.amazon.com, or from www.amazon.co.uk. Yvan studied at the Brewing School within the "Institut Meurice", in Brussels (www.meurice.heldb.be).

Within the building, there is no smoking; for me, it is wonderful to be able to savour the marvellous beers on offer in a smoke-free environment. No Smoking signs are prominent throughout the venue, as can be seen in the two examples above; the photos were taken in September, 2006 by John White. The one on the right features the stall where beer tokens are purchased. On the left, France's Daniel Thiriez can be seen on the Brasserie Thiriez stall.

Tim Webb's Guide is on sale at the festival, along with LambicLand LambikLand, Tim and Chris (Podge) Pollard's essential book covering Bars, Breweries and Gueuze Blenders in Lambik Land. Lambic Land covers part of Brussels, plus an area to the SW of it called the Payottenland (Pajottenland in Dutch). These were available on the stall, shown in the photo to the left, which was taken by John White, in September, 2005. As can be seen, on this stall, beer could also be purchased to take home.

A big theme of the Bruxellensis Festival is the Flavour of Beer, which was also the theme of the Beer 2005 initiative (www.beer2005.be) of the Tourist Office covering Brussels - Wallonia (www.opt.be (Brussels office), www.belgiumtheplaceto.be (London office)). However, for the Bruxellensis Festival, as detailed above, as well as beers from Wallonia and Brussels, there are also breweries represented from the Flemish part of Belgium and in 2005, there was one from France, as there was in 2006, along with, as already stated, representatives from England, Finland, Germany and Spain.

As well as the brewers' stands, there are other attractions, such as, in 2005 and 2006, an excellent Quiche Stall, and there was a superb selection of Artisanal Belgian Cheeses from the Cheese Maker and Wholesaler, Fromagerie de Herve du Vieux Moulin (14, Sur la Commune, Herve (Battice), in the Province of Liège), see the photo, above left, which was taken by Filip Geerts, see below, in September, 2005. And, as can be seen in the photo, above right, which was taken by John White, in September, 2005, Indian Food was on offer. I can vouch for the fact that the top item on the menu board, "Le Poulet Tikka Massala avec Légumes et Riz Basmati (Chicken Tikka Masala with Vegetables and Basmati Rice), at €7, was excellent. Of course, I did not really need to translate this dish, but it is a good job that the blackboard gave the translation of "L'Assiette de Beignets", i.e. Samosas. There was a Vegetarian Platter (L'Assiette Végétarienne), at €9.

During the 2006 festival, a female band playing wind instruments walked through the festival, playing, before ending up in the open area, where they continued to play, to an enthusiastic crowd, many of whom danced. The band is called "Pas Ce Soir Chéri" (Not Tonight Dear) (www.pascesoircheri.be). The above photo of the band was taken by John White. People from the local council (Commune de Saint-Gilles /  Gemeente Sint-Gillis) also walked about offering free cheese on sticks, etc, see the photo, below left. Again, there was excellent food to purchase. The photo, below right is a wonderful Quiche that I ate with gusto, one from a really mouth-watering selection supplied by the Brussels-based, not-for-profit cultural organisation, Coiffure Liliane (www.coiffureliliane.be.tf). There were plenty of other wonderful items, such as a selection of Tapas, at €3, supplied by a nearby bar/restaurant, called Terra Incognito, see below: Tortilla, Chorizo, Bacaldo, Anchois, etc. Both the photos below were taken by John White.

Non-beer activities also take place in other parts of the building that houses the beer festival, these being free to enter, i.e. there are demonstrations from the dance school, Studio Vibes, www.studio-vibes.com, which is actually resident in the building, and, in a bar, an art exhibition from the nearby "Musée d'Art Fantastique de Bruxelles" (7, rue Américaine/ Amerikaansestraat, www.alien-expo.be). Alongside the bar, a most interesting-looking lady, a Sorcière Médium Cartomancienne (Medium and Fortune Teller, using cards) is there, at weekends, to answer your questions, at €3 each. Note that the Fantasy Art Museum is on the same street as the excellent Horta Museum/Musée Horta, at 23-25, rue Américaine, www.hortamuseum.be. It is housed in the former residence of the Belgian architect Victor Horta (1861-1947), who is regarded as the Founder of the Art Nouveau (New Art) architectural style, and thus can be added to your list of famous Belgians, should he not already be on it.

Click here to see photos taken at the 2005 Bruxellensis festival by Filip Geerts. Filip has an excellent website, surf.to/beer, which has a superb list of beer links covering the Belgian Speciality Beer scene. Filip's other main site, Belgian Beer Pub Map, www.beerpubmap.be, is also top class. Filip is also responsible for the essential Belgian Beer Board message board/website, www.belgianbeerboard.be.

Bruxellensis is Latin for Brussels. Those who read up about a famous beer style that is synonymous with Brussels and the nearby Payottenland, Lambic (and derivatives of it, such as Gueuze and Lambics in which fruit has been steeped, such as Kriek (Cherries) and Framboise (Raspberries)), soon meet up with the word Bruxellensis as part of the name of one of the two main wild yeasts that spontaneously ferment the wort brewed to produce these beers, i.e. Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Brettanomyces lambicus. Brettanomyces yeasts, which are also referred to as Dekkera yeasts, were first described in a 1903 patent by the Dane, Niels Hjelte Claussen (1866–1955), the Director of the Laboratory of the New Carlsberg Brewery, in Copenhagen, in Denmark, for a yeast he called, depending which source you believe, Brittanomyces claussenii or Brettanomyces claussenii, a yeast which the patent stated gave English characteristics to beers produced using it. N. Hjelte had isolated it from an English "Stock Beer" (strong, matured beer, used for blending with younger beers). His work was reported in 1904, in the UK's Journal of the Institute of Brewing (308, 10, 1904) (www.ibd.org.uk). One Internet source states that the yeast isolated from the English Beer was originally called Brittanomyces claussenii, to reflect its British origins, but, one seemingly reputable source, states that the genus Brittanomyces was "corrected" to Brettanomyces by H. Kufferath and Marc H. van Laer, in 1921, when they isolated Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Brettanomyces lambicus. However, Mr Claussen's 1904 paper makes no reference to Brittanomyces, but it does have the words "... I have thought proper to propose a particular name for it, and with regard to its close connection with British brewing industry I have called it Brettanomyces.". Interestingly, Brettanomyces is not referred to as a wild yeast in the 1904 journal quoted, since the following appears in the transcript of the question and answer session that followed Mr Claussen's presentation of his paper: "The Chairman asked if Mr. Claussen could say whether the Brettanomyces would exert its actions in the presence of these wild yeasts." Of course, Saccharomyces carlsbergensis was also discovered in the Carlsberg Laboratory (by the person mentioned in the title of Mr Claussen's 1904 paper, Professor Emil Christian Hansen (1842-1909), in 1883). Brettano is Greek for British and Myces is Greek for Mushroom or Fungus (plural Fungi); Yeast is a type of Fungus, i.e. Brettanomyces means British Yeast, c.f. Saccharomyces, which means Sugar Yeast, in Greek, this being given as its etymology in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) (www.oed.com).

The website for the Bruxellensis Festival, www.festivalbruxellensis.be, has pages in three languages: French, Dutch and English. The text for the English pages was translated from the French ones by yours truly, John White, of White Beer Travels. Full details of the White Beer Travels French to English Translation Service can be found by clicking here, for the information in French, and here, for it in English. Note that www.bruxellensis.be, is the Biblioteca Bruxellensis (Brussels Library) website, a rather nice site featuring an on-line Collection of Rare Books, with a Virtual Reading Room.

American Beer Writer, Chuck Cook has an excellent article in the Winter 2006-2007 edition of Alex Hall's The Gotham Imbiber (page 7), www.gotham-imbiber.com, on the 2006 Bruxellensis Beer Festival, which can be reached by clicking here.

Bars/Restaurants close to the
Bruxellensis Beer Festival Venue

The Bruxellensis Festival venue is very close to Jean Hummler's Chez Moeder Lambic (68, rue de Savoie Straat), which has over 250 different beers, includingly, uniquely, draught/tap Cantillon Lambic and Faro, which are delivered by handpump. And not that far away are: the atmospheric, Brasserie Verschueren (11/13, Parvis St. Gilles-Gillis Voorplein), which has a rare beer from Cantillon (click here for more information); and La Porteuse d'Eau (48a, avenue Jean Volders Laan, www.laporteusedeau.be), which has a small selection of decent Belgian Beers, good food and a stunning Art Nouveau interior. Also worth checking out is Terra Incognita, at 54-56, rue de Roumanie (Roemeniestraat) (on the corner of Place Louis Morichar (Louis Moricharplein)), which, on the eve of the  festival, previews around twelve of its beers, including some from De Ranke and La Brasserie de la Senne , which are available permanently. Beers from Hanssens and other great names are also available at other times. As already stated, they manned a stall offering wonderful Tapas at the 2006 festival.

Until early 2007, In 't Spinnekopke was an exclusive outlet for draught/tap Cantillon Lambic and Faro (Lambic sweetened with Candy Sugar and Caramel), which were delivered by handpump. Thankfully, just as the handpumps were removed from In 't Spinnekopke, these two great beers appeared in this form in Chez Moeder Lambic, in the Sint-Gillis/Saint-Gilles suburb of Brussels. This is an initiative of Jean Hummler, who took over the running of this famous place in January, 2007. Great things are expected of Chez Moeder Lambic under Jean's stewardship.

Also not too far away is a marvellous Beer Cuisine Restaurant, with an outstanding beer list: Alain Fayt's Restobières, 32, rue des Renards (Vossenstraat), www.restobieres.be. And on the same street, at number 19, Het Warm Water (L'Eau Chaude) (Hot Water), www.hetwarmwater.be, is a very nice, atmospheric bar with Lambics from the Girardin range and some other beers, including Zinnebir. Close to these two, La Brocante, 170, rue Blaes Straat (in reality on the corner of rue des Renards (Vossenstraat), in a square called Place du Jeu de Balle (Vossenplein or Kaatspelplaats, depending on which sign you look at), has an excellent selection of authentic Lambics. At 50, Place du Jeu de Balle (on the corner of rue de la Rasière (Sistervatstraat)), De Skieven Architek, is an excellent bar with around thirty beers, that is also worth checking out.

Les Brassins (The Brews), at 36, rue Keyenveld (Keienveldstraat), (www.lesbrassins.com), is a restaurant, in the suburb of Ixelles-Elsene, with excellent food and a very good selection of beers, including La Brasserie de la Senne ones. Like the previous recommendations, it is close to the
"Louise-Louiza" Metro, and even closer to the festival venue. Thirty yards/metres away from Les Brassins, a "Cercle d'Histoire Locale d'Ixelles" plaque, on 48, rue Keyenveld, tells one that the famous actress, Audrey Hepburn (1929-93) (real name Audrey Kathleen Ruston) was born there, i.e. the plaque states that "Ici naquit la comédienne Audrey Hepburn. 4 Mai, 1929". Comédienne is a typical French faux ami (false friend), in that it does not mean a female comedian, but an actress. Audrey is someone that you surely have on your list of famous Belgians?

These places and more are featured in the sixty-eight page White Beer Travels guide to Brussels, which is available from the Downloads page.

How to get to the Bruxellensis Beer Festival Venue,
using Public Transport

Do not be put off going to this world-class beer festival because it is a little way out of the city centre. It could, indeed, be walked to in well under an hour, but it is reached without problem by public transport; once you know a little about the system, it is easy, and being familiar with it greatly enhances a stay in the city. It is well worth picking up a free-of-charge Tram Bus Métro/Metro Plan/Map from ticket booths; there is also information in French and Dutch on the websites, www.stib.be and www.mivb.be. The nearest tram stops to the venue are at the "Ma Campagne" crossroads on lines 91 (direction indicator "Stalle" from "Louiza/Louise") and 92 (direction indicator "Fort Jaco", from the city centre, and "Schaerbeek/Schaarbeek", when returning to the city centre) and "Moris", on lines 81 and 82, see the next paragraph; the 54 bus also stops at the Ma Campagne crossroads, this going between "Forest-Centre/Vorst-Centrum" and "Machelen", without going to the city centre. When coming from these public transport stops, the beer festival venue is on the left, in an unmarked building, i.e. if you reach a building with a prominent "Les Glacières" sign you have gone too far, as this is not the place required (it is an active ice-making place, at number 38)! From the "Moris" tram stop, on rue Antoine Bréart Straat, turn quick right, onto the Chaussée de Waterloo (Waterloosesteenweg); the required rue de la Glacière-Ijskelderstraat is the second on the right. From the "Ma Campagne" crossroads stop, it is the first left off the NW side of Chaussée de Waterloo (Waterloosesteenweg), when walking in a NW direction. A little further down Chaussée de Waterloo (Waterloosesteenweg), beyond rue Moris Straat, one reaches the "Horta" tram stop, which is served by tram numbers 90 (end stops "Rogier" and "Gare du Midi/Zuidstation"), 55 (end stops "Bordet" and "Silence/Stilte", via "Gare du Midi/Zuidstation") and 3 (end stops "Gare du Nord/Noordstation" and Churchill, via "Gare du Midi/Zuidstation").

I will describe one easy route from the Gare du Midi/Zuidstation (South [Railway] Station), which is a major transport interchange served by national and international main line trains, trams, buses and underground trains (Métro). Within the station, follow the signs for the 81 tram. This leads you to a covered place (at ninety degrees to Avenue Fonsny Laan, which is on the SE edge of the station) where there are tram lines in both directions. The required 81 tram is the one going in the direction of Montgomery, which will be indicated on the front of the tram, which should be heading in the direction of Avenue Fonsny Laan. The 81 tram in the opposite direction to the one required will have Heizel/Heysel on its indicator board. Once on the tram, try to sit on the right, so that you can see the names of the tram stops, i.e. "Moris" is the stop after the one named "Horta". From the "Moris" tram stop, on rue Antoine Bréart Straat, turn quick right, onto the Chaussée de Waterloo (Waterloosesteenweg); the required rue de la Glacière-Ijskelderstraat , see its sign above, is the second on the right. For the return journey back to the Gare du Midi (Zuidstation), the "Moris" stop is on rue Moris Straat, which joins the Chaussée de Waterloo (Waterloosesteenweg) at the opposite side to rue Antoine Bréart Straat. You will know when you are back at the station, when the tram turns left off Avenue Fonsny Laan, to go under cover. Note that the 82 tram covers the same route and stops at the same stops, but only runs in the evening at weekends. Its direction indicators are "Montgomery, from the Gare du Midi/Zuidstation, and "Berchem" to it.