Wines and spirits Bruxelles - Brussel

Known since 1983, long before the return of the small craft brewery trend, Beer Mania offers more than 400 beers from here: gueuzes and krieks, browns and ambers, lagers and whites, abbey beers and of course the Trappist queens. Tastings during the opening hours of the store and small jazz concerts organized regularly. Wide range of accessories, a hundred different glasses and many personalized gifts. Delivery around the world for orders placed online in this temple of hop drinks.

It used to be said that "where the brewer goes, the baker does not". But here, these two trades are reinforced because we brew and knead. The bread is made with natural leaven and organic flours low in gluten. There are several kinds, they are all superb! As for the Funky beer, it is brewed partly with unsold bread. As for the dregs, the residues of the brewing, they go to the kneading trough. The loop is closed, nothing is wasted and the quality of the products is great! The brewing place is the Brussels Cooperative Brewpub (CoHop).

This wine shop focuses exclusively on organic wine from Languedoc-Roussillon and gourmet products from the same region. The original wine list offers around seven references. To be consumed by the bottle or by the glass to get a detailed insight into a region that has some real nuggets. Don't neglect the plates and sandwiches which have the same appetizing Occitan accent: foie gras, terrines, charcuterie, tapenades, cheeses, marinated anchovies, tuna rillettes. Head office of the same name in Paris, between Beaubourg and Sébastopol.

Not only does Jean-Claude Joncour know the subject extraordinarily well, but he is also a finder of beautiful, lesser known French appellations. More than a thousand bottles available - mainly French - including also famous labels (Sociando-Mallet, Pape Clément, Latour...) also in old vintages. And always attractive prices for the one who is regularly quoted as one of the best wine merchants in the country. Regular organization of tastings (usually twice a year).

Yvan and Bernard want to make the Brussels population rediscover all the richness and complexity of the taste of a beer. The duo produces drinks with a well-developed bitterness, low alcohol content and relatively dry. They use old hop varieties. The success of this type of beer abroad is well known. The "Senne" beers can be found on the menu of some 250 establishments in the capital, the latter absorbing 60% of an annual production currently estimated at six thousand hectolitres: mission accomplished.

For those who, like us, like wines that are off the beaten track, there is Titulus, its natural wines, its wines from winemakers who avoid chemicals as much as possible and let nature do a good part of the work of vinification. In short, wines that are often easy to drink and that do not cause that famous headache due to excess sulphur! And as a glass of wine is worth a thousand words, the wine bar allows you to taste a hundred or so labels. Tastings and initiations on request and an incredible assortment of natural sakes!

A touch of classicism and a touch of daring, with Spanish and Italian appellations and bottles from all over the world: California, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Morocco, Australia, Hungary, Germany, Georgia, Japan... and even more than 30 Belgian references! The selection of over five hundred spirits from around the world is top-notch, while a range of irreproachable Brussels beers completes the picture. To sum up: seven hundred wines from over thirty-five countries, spirits, local beers and expert advice from the whole team.

The dashing hundred-year-old brewery has never changed hands, the current "boss" being the great-grandson of Paul Cantillon. The beer production does not use any kind of additives, uses the famous spontaneous fermentation and is certified organic. We are talking about a mythical brewery, celebrated as far as the USA. The Cantillon brewery is considered in more than twenty countries as a reference for spontaneous fermentation and therefore for traditional lambic and gueuze. Jean-Pierre Van Roy, retired, assists his son Jean who has taken over the running of the brewery.

This venerable institution has been around for over a century! Originally, it was more of a grocery store. Its proximity to the university enabled it to become a pioneer in the speciality beer trade, now open as a "night-shop". There are around four hundred different beers on offer, many in 75 cl format. Prices are attractive, even if the owner, Pierre, no longer claims to be the cheapest in Brussels. Except for foreign beers, which remain below the prices charged elsewhere...

Popular with tourists and the many passers-by who pass through the Grand-Place district, but also known to Belgian beer lovers, it was one of the first truly specialised shops. Opened in 1996, it originally had 250 different beers and now has four times that number. A thousand Belgian beers, including the rarest, and a wide range of accessories are available. Collectors will be particularly interested in the stock of old (and sometimes unobtainable!) beer glasses.

Malt Attacks offers about 600 beers from Belgium and "the world" (USA, UK, Norway, Italy, Germany, France...). Antoine gives excellent advice and focuses on craft beers (no industrial beers here). Brewing equipment for amateurs and basic equipment to order "free" of charge. Malt Attacks also offers whiskies, gins, natural wines, chocolates, ciders and a few other artisanal products. Their particularity? The sale of growlers, large reusable bottles that are filled with draft beer.

On the borders of Laeken, across from the Byrrh building, this microbrewery born in the Marolles in 2015 had to move to accommodate its growth. The two partners had previously made test brews of their Curieuse Neus in confidential quantities. This triple (7% vol. alc.) smells slightly of banana and is the head of their assortment with a strong Brussels character (Tanteke, Papy Van De Pils...). En Stoem' has become a sure value, so don't hesitate to venture to the brewery to buy directly from them.

Le Barboteur, a little shop that is much talked about in Schaerbeek, specialises in Belgian and international beers with a space designed for tastings. It's not a beer bar, nor is it just a shop. Their beer library has no less than 400 beers, including 250 Belgian beers. Sébastien and Jean-Thomas have put the hop product at the centre of their policy, with a certain passion and dynamism. You can enjoy them, without fuss, with organic cheese and charcuterie from small producers, or vegetarian "spreads".

The owner's aim is to unearth less popular craft beers with character. The choices of this small beer cellar are made in contact with the brewers. Malting Pot offers +/- two hundred special beers from home and abroad, classified according to their origin: Brussels, Wallonia, Flanders, Europe, the United States... Malting Pot brews its own beers, but they change regularly. Their beer of the moment is a gose (lightly salted) blond with lime and chili pepper, fruity, refreshing and spicy.

Excellent beer shop located between the Madeleine church and the eponymous concert hall. The owner is Nepalese, and even if Nepal is better known for its yak milk, Lila Pant has become a reference in beers, mainly Belgian. If the surface is not huge, the choice is large with more than 350 references. A good address and reasonable prices considering its very central location. To satisfy the most passionate, Lila adds postcards and posters.

In this festive neighbourhood near the Ixelles cemetery and the Free University of Brussels, there is a small shop where you can still distinguish between the banal and the perfect. The best spirits and cigars are on offer to make you lose your head. A real "havanathèque" (a nice neologism...), spirits, champagnes and wines of great finesse. As a result, there is only one piece of advice: ask the boss, who knows his subject inside out. He advises novices and gives customers his informed epicurean point of view!

We particularly appreciate the possibility of tasting great chateaux but also the "oenology" evenings during which we take a real pleasure between amateurs. Choice among 1,200 references in wines from all over the world and champagnes (including 600 Bordeaux wines and 150 great Burgundy wines, 180 champagnes). Advice from sommeliers and competitive prices. Wine lovers will enjoy the select environment of Fort Jaco to choose from a plethora of great wines that will please their palate.