A Beer-Tasting Bicycle Tour In Belgium

If you thought that bicycle touring was our only passion, you’d be wrong. We have many loves, and near the top of the list is a good beer.

Lucky for us, we live just a hop, skip and a jump from Belgium – probably the best beer-making country in the world. So, in August 2011, we set off to explore the beers of Belgium by bicycle. We gathered up 4 other friends (all newbie bike tourists but definite beer lovers) and started mapping out a weekend jaunt.

Planning the route was challenging. Many breweries aren’t open to the public, and Belgium doesn’t have good online bicycle route information. Thankfully our friend Alicia (an experienced beer cyclist) came to the rescue with a 90km route from the Belgian city of Antwerp to the Dutch city of Tilburg, passing the Westmalle and La Trappe trappist breweries along the way.

Beer cycling map
A map of our route. You can download the GPS track.

To get started, we had to take the train to Antwerp. We live in Holland, and it’s normally easy to take the train because there’s always a bicycle car. On this train, it wasn’t so easy. One minute we were waiting in the late afternoon sun. The next we were frantically trying to find our place on an outdated Belgian train, with no bicycle signs on any of the doors.

Waiting for the train; Holland Spoor
Waiting for the train at Holland Spoor. Photo by Jane Starz.

Only after we crowded onto an ordinary entrance did we discover there was actually a bike carriage one wagon further down, so we changed at the next station. Later, we asked the conductor why it wasn’t more clearly marked. He didn’t really answer, and he told us that in future there might not be any bike space at all on this route. Hummmmm.

No matter. We made it to Antwerp, and started with beers of course in the main square. De Koninck was the beer of choice. It’s made in Antwerp, so it’s the obvious local choice.

De Koninck
Li drinking a De Koninck beer.

Next was a great meal at De 7 Schaken, a casual gastro-pub just off Antwerp’s main square. After a few more beers, we settled down for a night at ‘t Katshuis (a remarkably good value B&B). By Saturday morning, we were ready to go, but not before we packed our panniers with Elisa chocolates.

Aside from the chocolates, Andrew put an empty beer crate on the back of his bike, just in case we found anything tasty along the way.

Andrew with empty beer crate

It wasn’t long, of course, before we found a pub and stopped for beer. This time, it was the delectable Corsendonk that made the grade. Their dark beer was later voted best of the trip. Everyone gave it a raving review but who needs words? The smiles say it all really.

Erik & Andrew with Corsendonk Beer

The strawberry waffles weren’t half bad either.

Strawberry Waffles

From there, we pedalled along quite Belgian lanes and bicycle paths to the Westmalle Trappist brewery. There are nearly 200 Trappist monasteries around the world but only 7 produce beer, and this is one of them. They aren’t open for visitors, but we had our picture taken at the entrance anyway, and then we hit the nearby Cafe Trappisten for a sample of the local brew, fresh from the tap.

At the entrance to Westmalle Trappist Brewery

When we got hungry, we stopped for strawberries – from a vending machine, of course! Put in a couple coins and out comes a box of refrigerated, luscious berries. The Belgiums seem to like their vending machines. We also saw bread and meat products (outside a butcher’s shop) being dispensed from similar machines.

Strawberry Automat!

Now we were near the border, and it was time for a stop at what turned out to be the highlight of the trip: a beer shop literally on the Dutch-Belgian border. The border line ran right through the shop, and they had the most amazing selection of beers you’ve ever seen. Andrew’s beer crate was suddenly full.

Beer bicycle loaded and ready to go
With the right crate, you can easily carry 24 bottles of beer on your bicycle. Photo by Li.

We also wanted to stop at the Dochter van de Korenaar brewery but it was closed for vacation. Next time. Instead, the weekend ended with a quick stop at La Trappe and then beers on the train home. Yes, you can crack open a couple beers on the train. It’s no problem in the Netherlands (although it seemed odd at first to our no-drinking-in-public Canadian mentality).

Beers On The Train

Beer Cycling Tips:

  • Go slowly. About 30-40km a day is ideal for tasting lots of beer, while still doing a bit of cycling at the same time.
  • Consider leaving your camping gear behind, so that you’ll have more room for beer (and don’t forget the crate on the back of the bicycle!)
  • Research, research, research. Make sure you know the opening times of the breweries, and see if you need to call ahead to visit. Book your accommodation too because at least in this part of Belgium there are a lot of private B&Bs that you won’t find by chance as you’re passing through.
  • Stop to enjoy some Belgian food too. Waffles, chocolates and french fries are ideal for soaking up all that beer!

Comments

  1. Will Hawkins
    16th August 2011 at 1:35 pm #

    This looks like a perfect combination! Beer and cycling. If only I could get to New Zealand next month to combine cycling and the Rugby World Cup!

  2. Louis &Lysanne
    17th August 2011 at 10:22 am #

    HO MIAM MIAM! This is one great trip you guys did, you lucky one. We can taste it from here in China. This is one great idea for our extension tour in Europe. We can call it ”Gourmet Tour” or ”Bubble & Waffle”
    Keep doing the good work!

  3. Wim & Tine
    20th August 2011 at 3:51 pm #

    Hello Andrew & Friedl,

    In Flanders we have “knooppunten”. These are points that connect small roads to cycle on. We’ve used them many times and discover new routes again and again. The “knooppunten” are green/white signs, well kept, and clearly visible.

    You can plan you route online with http://www.fietsnet.be/routeplanner/ and export the route to GPS. Next time you have to cycle to West-Vleteren. The routeplanner will take you along lovely roads. And the beer over there is said to be the best in the world.

    Greetings
    Tine & Wim

    • Friedel
      20th August 2011 at 9:55 pm #

      Hi Tine & Wim, thanks for the tip about the Belgian route planner. I think we found it when we were trying to plan the route, but then we wanted to go places that weren’t covered by the knooppunten, and we couldn’t figure out how to do that… (the Dutch route planner that we use will make a track that includes local streets, as well as knooppunten). Still, it’s a good start! And we definitely want to go back to Belgium. We had such a fun time there 🙂

  4. john
    7th January 2012 at 8:03 pm #

    I would love to do this. found guided tours at $2,500 US but that’s too much. Can you help provide some more specific rout information? or how can we, living in the US, get this info?

    • friedel
      8th January 2012 at 2:52 pm #

      We just put this tour together over a few days by searching online to see which breweries were open, and then stopping at pubs along the way. I’m sure if you do a little internet research and use Google maps you can make your own tour!

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