Moeder Lambic, Brussels- Beers & Bars of the Europe 2013 Trip

Belgium is a country known for beer, and for good reason. The country brews more beers per capita than any country in the world. As a fan of good beer, I was especially looking forward to my time in Belgium, and intended to make the most out of it by visiting some of the best bars in each of the cities on my itinerary. My first stop after leaving Amsterdam was Brussels, Belgium’s capital and most populous city. In Amsterdam, I’d visited Cafe Gollum, a wonderful beer cafe. On my way out one night, I was stopped by a local who asked where my next stop was. When I told him, he told me to make sure I visited a bar called Moeder Lambic. He said he could tell, from my conversations with the bartender at Gollem that I was a fan of good beer, and that meant I would really like the selection at Moeder Lambic.

There are two Moeder Lambic Bars in Brussels, and I visited the one close to the Grand Place, since that is the area I concentrated my time in on the two nights I had there. The first night I visited, I had gone to a a couple of more famous bars before making my way down to Moeder Lambic’s Place Fontainas location.

I couldn’t help but smile when I got a look at the menu on the walls- all of my favorite beers in one place. A few of the bars I’d visited earlier in the evening had more available, but Moeder Lambic had not only an impressive amount available, they had the best. I was especially pleased to see almost all the Cantillon beers on the draft menu. I’ve always really liked the Cantillon beers being a big sour and fruit beer guy, but their US distributor pulled out of my home state of Michigan a few years ago.

Both nights I was there I had excellent conversations with both the bartenders and servers. It’s always a sign of a great beer bar when the staff can speak intelligently and passionately about the beers. I got some excellent recommendations on beers to try- although once I had seen all of the Cantillon offerings on the menu, I knew where I would be focusing my time there.

I was really pleased with the four Cantillon beers I had (Cuvee Saint-Gilloise, Saint Lamvinus, Vingeronne & Lou Pepe Framboise), which I had known I would be. The two other beers I had, which were recommended to me by the staff were Scheldebrouwrij’s Hop Ruiter and Brouwerij’s De Ranke’s Cuvee de Ranke, which were also amazing. I was impressed at getting these two, especially because they were exactly the kind of beers I like and the recommendations came after I told the staff what I liked and they knew exactly what to offer me. That ability is what made Moeder Lambic my favorite of all the bars I visited on the trip.

I’ll have a bunch more posts coming on the other bars and breweries I visited in Belgium coming up next in the series.

Moeder Lambic’s Website (for both locations)

The first two bars in this series were:

• Micro Bar, Reykjavik, Iceland
• Cafe Gollum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2 Responses to “Moeder Lambic, Brussels- Beers & Bars of the Europe 2013 Trip”

1. D.J. - The World of Deej says:

   June 20, 2013 at 7:37 pm

   28 days of beer. I knew I should have gone on this trip with you! Awesome that they had all of your favorites…

   Reply
   • Erik says:

     June 24, 2013 at 7:11 pm

     Yes, you should have come with. I will remind you of this next time 🙂

     Reply