New brewery and visitor centre for Belvoir - Nottingham CAMRA

Close to the Bourse, Falststaff,
at 17 Rue Henri Maus, has a
more limited selection but is
still well worth a visit, if only to
marvel at its gloriously
authentic, fin de siècle
interior, whilst on the other
side of the Bourse, Cirio is an
equally impressive, original
Bruxellois art nouveau café.
From here it is a short step
to a trio of café bars tucked
away up blind alleys: La Bécasse off Rue Tabora and L’Imaige de
Nostre Dame off nearby Rue Marché aux Herbes, together with
Bon Vieux Temps, almost next door and the oldest and more
atmospheric of the three.
Just a few blocks towards Gare Centrale (Central Station), at 4a
Impasse de la Fidélité off Rue des Bouchers, the Delirium beer
café offers an awesome choice of over 2000 beers including 14
on tap. Most of the action takes place in the cellar bar where
old barrels serve as tables and assorted breweriana smothers
the walls and just about everywhere else. Definitely not to be missed,
even if getting served can sometimes be a pain.
Closer yet to Gare Centrale,
A La Mort Subite can be
found at 7 Rue Montagne
aux Herbes Potagères and is
probably the finest surving,
fin de siècle long bar in the
City. Mort Subite gueuze
beers, Duvel and a good
few others can all be
enjoyed in this splendid,
historic setting, complete
with suitably detached
waiter service.
Bier Circus, at 47 Rue de l’Enseignement, is about a 20 minutes walk
away beyond the cathedral but well worth the effort. Now more a
bistro featuring ‘cuisine a la bière’ than the simple beer café it used to
be, Bier Circus nonetheless continues to offer over 170 excellent and
varied brews. Meanwhile, closer to Gare du Midi and the Eurostar
terminal, Warm Water at 25 Rue des Renards, not far from the vast
edifice of the Palais de Justice is a cheerful, unpretentious sort of place
and a rare outlet for draught Girardin beers.
Finally, if time permits a trip further out, head west along the N8 to
Schepdaal where the Rare Vos is a charming old tavern overlooking the
Market Place. Girardin brew a splendid beer especially for them and the
traditional Belgian cooking is both hearty and thoroughly
recommendable, especially the horse steaks. And if it’s Sunday,
another and very special treat lies a little further out, opposite St.
Ursula’s Church in the pleasant village of Eizeringen. In de Verzekering
Tegen de Grote Dorst (Insurance Against Great Thirst) is a superb
example of the sort of simple beerhouse, which was no doubt common
in this part of Payottenland 100 years ago. Rescued from oblivion by
two brothers when the lady who had run the place for the last 51 years
finally retired on Christmas Eve 1999, its two beautifully restored bars
complete with pot stove and wind-up gramophone are only open
Sundays and public holidays from 10.00 to13.30. More museum,
perhaps, than drinking den, ‘Dorst’ specialises in the spontaneously
fermented lambic beers for which the
region is so famous and offers probably
the best selection to be found anywhere
in Belgium, including examples from
Drie Fonteinen, Hanssens, Girardin, De
Cam and Cantillon. And if that’s not
good enough for you, they can
probably rustle up the odd bottle or
two of Duvel.
Tasting Notes
Postscript:
In November a certain celebrated local brewer, who had better
remain nameless, asked a fellow curmudgeon, the Irritable Cellarman
no less, to accompany him on trip to Brussels. He had never been to
Belgium and was keen to sample the well-regarded beers on their
own territory. However our hero had never ever travelled on a plane
before and was understandably feeling a little apprehensive as they
waited at the airport for their departure, having already checked in
online. When they announced "please proceed to the gate with your
passport” he opened up his brand spanking new passport - only to
find that he had brought his wife's by mistake!
Needless to say he was refused boarding and was left standing at the
departure gate as the plane headed off towards the beery delights of
Brussels. However BMI found him a seat on a later flight and his wife
made a mercy dash to the airport with his passport, so he had to
make his first ever flight on his own, being talked through what to do
at the other end via a mobile phone. However the weekend
otherwise proved a success and they were only two hours late for
their table reservation that evening for some splendid nosh and
excellent beer at the delightful Spinnekopke restaurant that
specialises in beer cuisine (bizarrely the name means "In The Spider's
Little Head" ). Amongst many other very good bars they also visited
In de Verzekering Tegen de Grote Dorst, as mentioned above, and
found it fascinating. Although enjoying the rest of the many beers
sampled our hero steadfastly refused to drink the various geuezes
and draught lambics that were encountered along the way, including
at a visit to the famous Cantillon Brewery, declaring that any selfrespecting
British brewer would chuck these world-renown
spontaneously fermented brews down the drain!
So who is the local brewer in question? We are not saying me duck!
www.nottinghamcamra.org February/ March 08
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