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Brussels Breweries Tattoo Tour – Quinquagenarian Edition

Brussels Breweries Tattoo Tour – Quinquagenarian Edition

Published on 9 May 2026

When I just had my Brussels breweries tattoo in 2022, featuring my seven favourite local breweries, I celebrated the occasion by visiting them all in one epic taproom crawl… It became an annual event, and since I was turning 50 years old this year—and apparently that is significant—I did the fifth edition of my Brussels Breweries Tattoo Tour a bit earlier than usual, actually on my birthday, on the 9th of May!

The visited breweries were—as always—Cantillon, L’Ermitage, Mazette, La Mule, La Senne, La Source, and Surréaliste. Seven breweries, seventy minutes in each taproom, and at least one birthday beer in each…

14:00-15:10 Cantillon

The first stop of the day was Cantillon. If you have never been there before, don’t hesitate to sign up for a guided tour on a Saturday (€13, includes a tasting), or a self-guided on other days, and learn how they’ve been brewing lambic for over a 100 years, and how it is turned into gueuze and kriek.

The classic gueuze often is the only beer available by the glass, but there were plenty of other beautiful Cantillon creations in 75cl bottles.

By the time we had to move on, there were already nine of us.

15:15-16:25 L’Ermitage

From Cantillon it was just a very short walk to the next brewery: L’Ermitage. Here you can get flights—a set of small glasses of beer—if you want to try a couple of different beers. Their first and best known beer is the pale ale Lanterne, a symbol of the hermit, that features prominently in their logo—and thus in my tattoo—as well.

16:40-17.50 Mazette

A fifteen minute walk brought us to Mazette, which actually is a brewpub. This means you won’t be able to find their beers anywhere but there, since they’re not canned or bottled, and most of the time not even kegged, but instead served straight from one of the big tanks in the cellar. Their house beer—a pilsner—is called Skieven Architek, after the famous bar that used to be at that location, but plenty of other styles—most of them quite light in alcohol for optimal drinkability—are available as well.

All the bread on the menu—which is quite extensive—is made in the big wood fired oven against the back wall, and the rest is made in-house or sourced as locally as possible as well.

Everyone joined me for some pottekeis des Marolles on the terrace at the back!

18.35-19.45 Brasserie de la Mule

Then it was on to Schaerbeek—nicknamed “the city of donkeys”—with tram 92 for Brasserie de la Mule, in the former stables for the horses of the horse drawn trams back in the day. Do you now see how La Mule got its name? The brewery is specialised in German style beers: Weizenbier, Helles, Kölsch, Schwarzbier, Pilsner… And just look at how beautiful that tall Weizenglas is!

In this taproom we really had to stick to our schedule, because at 20h00 a ticketed event for the week long Drag Inna Mule festival started, and we needed to be on our way again before that.

20.15-21.25 Brasserie de la Senne

Bus 58 took us to the next brewery, on the Tour & Taxis site: Brasserie de la Senne. You’ll surely know their pale ale Zinnebir, and the tripel Jambe-de-Bois is a classic as well. Zennebar started serving Stouterik on nitro quite recently, so if you’re a fan that famous Irish dry stouts out of Dublin, definitely give the Brussels version it a try!

This was also the perfect stop for the hungry ones to order some food: frikandel speciaal, fried chicken, falafel, burgers… The full chip shop menu is available here!

21.35-22.45 La Source Beer Co.

On to La Source Beer Co., and we even got to enter through the VIP entrance! Well, it basically is just the back terrace door, but that’s not alway open during a concert… Grunge group Let It Kil You was about to take to the stage when we arrived! Earplug time!

Usually live music there means we have to drink from plastic cups, but not this time! So we enjoyed La Source’s IPAs, DIPAs, sours, imperial stouts, mixed fermentation and gruit experiments at their best…

23.15-…:… Brasserie Surréaliste

A bus ride back to the centre, and it was already time for the last brewery of the tour: Brasserie Surréaliste. If you haven’t been there yet, be prepared to be amazed by the Art Deco venue and what they did with it! The beers—brewed beneath your feet—certainly match the decor. Especially the Hands of Desire series is impressive.

The kitchen was already closed by the time we got there, but I made sure there were some tasty pig and cheese set aside for us to snack on. And they threw in a flaming little birthday cake!

This edition of the tour there were four participants who made an successful effort to earn the coveted Brussels Breweries Tattoo Tour patch. They got their stamp card—and a first stamp—at Cantillon, then had a beer—and stamp or staff signature—in each of the other breweries before the end of the day. Want to give it a try next year?

Op volledig scherm weergeven

Brussels Ink…

Brussels Ink…

Published on 5 March 2026

Once you start getting tattoos, you can’t stop yourself from getting more, I’ve heard people say. Well, I guess that is what’s happening, because here is my fifth tattoo all of a sudden…

It all happend a bit more sudden than even I expected! I actually had a big project in mind for my next tattoo—still a work in progress—but instead my fifth tattoo turned out a little cute one… My first flash tattoo!

The unexpected occasion was a “Tattoo Party” for International Women’s Day at BBP Bailli, with the tattoo artists of Koko Tattoo doing their thing, and the launch of the beer Brussels Ink. Among them was Laïs, the artist who did my Brussels breweries tattoo on the other side of my arm.

The day before the event I looked at the the proposed flash tattoos shared on social media, and I immediately noticed the little Teku glass with a dot on it—a simplified version of the typical Brussels Beer Project glass. It would make a great addition to my arm! When I arrived at the bar—quite late, because I had a meeting first—I checked if it was still available, and luckily it was. So, a beer and half an hour later, I had a new tattoo…

Fun fact: almost ten years ago, I actually met one of the creators of the Teku glass—Lorenzo “Kuaska” Dabove—at a beer tasting he hosted at Nuëtnigenough!

Leaving Lille

Leaving Lille

Published on 19 December 2025 
Reached this post by just scrolling through my blog? 
If you want to read about this trip from start to finish, instead of in reverse order, click here!

The last day in Lille was going to be a very short one. Basically I’d just have breakfast and bail. But considering how easy and quick it is to get there, I might just return for a day trip another time!

Since my train would leave quite early, I had my breakfast in the hotel. Then it was time to say goodbye to ibis Lille Centre Gares, and make my way to the station. I first went to the ‘wrong’ station Lille Flandres, to see if I could get access to the lounge, but apparently my very cheap first class tickets didn’t qualify.

So I spent some more time in the very modern Lille Europe train station, where I discovered some huge wall paintings in the metro station part. But eventually it was time to board my TGV INOUI and head home again…

La Ville de Lille

La Ville de Lille

Published on 18 December 2025

After easing in to it with just a couple of hours yesterday, today was the day to fully experience the city of Lille! As usual I started with some culture, before drowning in coffee and beer. 

My day started with the “Classic” bacon and egg roll at PADDO CAFE. It was definitely more fancy than any bacon roll I’d had before, but certainly a good way to start the day. 

For the cultural part of the day I then first went to the Hospice Comtesse. Quite unexpectedly there was security with a handheld metal detector at the entrance, so I quickly had to move my pocket knife from my trouser pocket to my jacket, which foolishly wasn’t scanned or checked at all… Half of the exhibition was dedicated to the history of the building as a hospital founded by Flemish countesses—hence the name—and the other half was about the history of Lille in general. 

Since I was still totally uncaffeinated  at that point, I went for a coffee and a chocolate peanut butter cookie at Bloom Café. 

Next on the programme was the Palais des Beaux Arts de Lille. Again there was security here, but this time even with metal detector gates. The jacket trick didn’t work this time—“Please put your jacket back on and deposit anything metal in the tray”—but luckily my knife is slightly smaller than my phone, so I managed to hide it underneath, and… they didn’t notice!

Once inside, I thoroughly enjoyed the museum. The collection was impressive enough, but I especially liked how the building was made into art as well, only fully visible when standing in very specific spots!

After another coffee at Chido Café, it was then time for my first beers at Sikaru, followed by La Mousse Touch’, and the Bar du Singe Savant. 

For dinner I went to Le Broc, specialised in cheese dishes. La Trilogie du Broc definitely didn’t disappoint! I do have to mention though, that a country so proud of their cuisine, it’s funny to see how here in the North they’ve adopted a dish from the ridiculed United Kingdom—Welsh rarebit—and serving as Le Welsh in every second restaurant here!

To finish the day in style, two breweries: Fives Cail and hôp[i]. 

34 minutes…

34 minutes…

Published on 17 December 2025

Apparently it only takes a 34 minute train ride to get from Brussels to Lille! So this cloudy afternoon in December, I found myself once again in Brussels Midi for my shortest high speed train ride ever. 

This train ride was unique in more than one way: it was also my first time travelling by TGV INOUI. It definitely wasn’t the train’s first ride though! One of the armrests of my seat fell off, and everything else felt a bit dated as well. 

Age hadn’t slowed down this train, and it raced through Flanders—both Belgian and French—with a speed of nearly 300 km/h. Consequently, we arrived in Lille Europe perfectly on time. 

After a quick check-in at hotel ibis Lille Centre Gares, I headed to Coffee Makers. I had been there last time I was in Lille, but since it’s the specialty coffee shop nearest to the station—and my hotel—it was the obvious choice. 

Also near the station was HEIN – Brique House, the Lille taproom of said brewery. From there it was a ten minute walk to BeerChope. As the name would suggest, it is indeed a beer shop, but if you would walk in there unsuspectingly, you’d think it’s just a normal bar…

Just across the square was BBP Lille, another taproom of one of my neighbourhood breweries. Very recognisable as a BBP venue, both from the outside and the inside! And just like BBP Bailli, with a very prominent pizza oven. 

For a taste of some northern French cuisine I went to A Taaable. Unfortunately that was a bit of a letdown… I probably should have known that there would be quite a bit of cartilage in Les Pieds de Cochon et Queue de Bœuf en Andouillette, so that’s on me. But the fact that it wasn’t even hot in the middle was totally on them! So when they asked the usual “Was everything okay?”, I actually told them the truth, and they comped me the meal. 

On to more beer then, at Beer Square! I had hoped to get some more food there—since I only finished half my plate—but unfortunately the kitchen was already closed. The beers were nice though, as was the artisanal dry sausage!

To finish the evening, I went to La Capsule, the favourite bar during my last visit to Lille. The beer list was just as cracking as last time, and the bar staff was really helpful in helping me avoid the beers I would be able to drink at the Five Cail brewery taproom tomorrow anyway.