BXLBeerFest - Brussels' newest beer festival
BXLBeerFest - Brussels' newest beer festival

The Brussels new wave beer scene continues apace. First cam the beer bars. Then came the breweries. And now it is the turn of the beer festivals. After the Swaff festival in July, this weekend it is the turn of the BXLBeerFest, what will be the largest beer festival dedicated to small, independent (craft, even) breweries organised in Brussels.

Over bottles of Orval at A la Mort Subite, Kevin Desmet – a.k.a. the Belgian Beer Geek – told me about the background to the festival, Brussels beer compromises, and why they think you should go to BXLBeerFest.

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Cuisine and CultureEoghan WalshInterview, Events, Festival, BXLbeerfest, Belgian Beer Geek, Bokkereyder, Brussels Beer Project, craft beer, craft beer festival, tour et taxis, a la mort subite, orval, Brussels
Drinking in Koekelberg // The past, and a future?
Drinking in Koekelberg // The past, and a future?

Change comes slowly to Brussels. But it is coming to the corner of Brussels where the unfashionable communes of Koekelberg, Jette, and Ganshoren meet at Parc Elisabeth in a jigsaw puzzle of municipal borders. Hotel Restaurant Taverne Le Frederiksborg and Bar Eliza represent old and new Brussels, and show in their contrasting fortunes how accelerating demographic changes are reshaping the neighbourhood. They also serve beer.

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Breweries and Bars, Criticism and CommentEoghan WalshKoekelberg, Jette, Ganshoren, Bar Eliza, Carlsberg, Parc Elisabeth, brasserie de la senne, Kids, Brussels, molenbeek
When is a Brussels beer not a Brussels beer?
When is a Brussels beer not a Brussels beer?

It is a simple enough assumption: that a beer with the name of a place would be made at that place. In Brussels, as elsewhere, reality is a little muddier. A new beer launched in June that puts Molenbeek at the centre of its branding raises issues of provenance and what it means to be a Brussels beer.

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Criticism and CommentEoghan Walshbrussels beer project, molenbeek, beer firms, provenance, molenbeek sous pression, brasserie de la senne, l'ermitage
Brussels Beer City - charting a city's beer revival
Brussels Beer City - charting a city's beer revival

Brussels Beer City is a blog about Brussels and its beer culture. This is not an industry blog. Nor is it a beer review site. There are other, better websites if that is what you are looking for. That is not to say that I will not cover developments in Brussels’ brewing industry, or discuss and rate beers from breweries in Brussels. What it does mean is that I want to write about the city’s broader relationship with beer and brewing – its breweries, its bars, and its cultural, historical, and urban legacy.

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Criticism and CommentEoghan WalshBrasserie de la senne, Moeder Lambic, No Science, revival, en stoemelings, l'ermitage, Jean Hummler, Cantillon