Top 10 Beer Festivals

Belgium is a country of great beer and there is no better way to share the beer with others than with a beer festival. And Belgium has many of them. In fact you can expect to find some sort of beer festival happening almost every weekend with some weekends having 2, 3, and 4 or maybe a half dozen festivals. Festivals can range from small town gatherings, to more developed Karakterbierfests all the way to full blown regional or countrywide events. Please keep in mind that the ones listed may or may not be the 10 very best that Belgium has to offer. The ones I’ve listed I have had the pleasure to attend at some time in the past with the exception of the Kerstbier Festival, which is on my wish list. I have had many friends attend and state that it is ‘their’ favorite festival. Hours listed are universal hours, not U.S.

 

#1) Zythos, Stadsfeestzalen, Sint Niklaas This is the epitome of a Belgian beer festival. The Zythos fest is a resurrection of the 24 Hours of Belgium Special Beer festival that was held in Antwerp each year by the beer group OBP, Objectieve Bierproevers. Due to some political and financial problems, the 24 Hours was ended in 2002 and the OBP was disbanded.

Fortunately for many, the death of OBP did not mean the death of this great event.

In March of 2004, the first Zythos festival was held. The first impression was that it was not as well attended as the Antwerp festival. This was due to the cramped hall that the 24 Hours had been held in. Zythos is held at the Stadsfeestzalen, one block from the Central Train Station at Leopold II-Laan 67. The ‘Town Festival Hall’ is a large modern hall that serves the beer festival perfectly. Most fest attendees stay in Antwerp and take a quick 15-minute train ride to the fest. When they have had their fill, the train brings them back to town and numerous evening activities. The Zythos Festival is now held the first weekend in March and runs from 12:00 until 24:00 on Saturday and from 11:00 to 23:00 on Sunday, for a full 24 hours of partying. I LOVE this timing because it allows me the opportunity to attend the Sohier Fest on my first weekend in country and the Zythos on the second.

When first entering the fest, one places a ‘deposit’ on a fest glass for 3 Euro. They then buy jetons (tokens) for 1 Euro each. Each sample of beer costs 1 Euro. In 2006 the festival hosted 62 breweries and 225 beers and the 2007 festival will feature about the same amount of breweries and beers. Each year the fest grows and is attracting numerous brewers and writers from the U.S.

For any lover of Belgium beer, this is an event that one should attempt to attend at least once in their lifetime.

#2) Belgium Beer Weekend, Grand Place, Brussels The BELGIUM BEER WEEKEND is a fantastic festival and the location only makes it even better. The exquisite Grand Place in Brussels has beer stands set up around the perimeter for the first weekend each September. The BELGIAN BEER WEEKEND is organized by the Belgian Brewers and the Knighthood of the Brewers' Mashstaff in collaboration with the City of Brussels. The festival features over 225 beers from numerous regional brewers as well as many of the National brewers.

Beer lovers gather from 18:00 until 22:00 on Friday and from 11:00 until 22:00 on both Saturday and Sunday. Entry is free and beer tokens are sold at a rate of 3 Euro for 4 tokens. Beers are served for a charge of 2, 3 or 4 tokens, depending on the beer.

Most stands are tended by the owners, brewers or employees of the respective stand. This allows for questions as to how the specific beers are brewed.

September is a great time of year to visit Belgium as the summer is passing and the weather is turning a bit cooler.

This is another ‘World Class’ festival.

#3) Le Week-end Bieres Speciales, Sohier Village The Le Week-end of Bieres Speciales started in 1993 and the annual event is normally held the last week-end of February.

This is a fantastic festival that is totally out of the ordinary. Sohier is a small village of 140 wonderful people near to the town of Wellin in the foothills of the Ardennes. This is not your typical Belgian Beer Festival as tourists rarely attend it. In fact it is really a regional affair, but does draw a huge crowd. The festival starts on Saturday around noon and features a Beer Exchange, where numerous locals bring beer glasses, coasters, signs, bottle and can openers and other items of brewerania. The exchange lasts until mid-afternoon and a short time later the band begins and so does the REAL festival. The festival runs Saturday from Noon until midnight and repeats Sunday from 10:00 until 22:00. The festival features over 250 different beers and last festival they served over 55,000 beers.

A unique feature of this festival is that you are not relegated to 2-5 ounce samples. When you place your order, you receive full bottles of beer; some 25 cl., some 33 cl., some 50 cl. and some 500 and 750 ml big bottles. My first visit 3 years ago was an adventure. Since there was a large crowd at the order areas, I handed the server a list with 6 beers on it to cut down on the ‘re-order wait’.. A few short minutes later I was presented with 4 regular bottles and 2 large bottles of beer. Since there were 33 different beers I had never tried, I did not want to start by drinking big bottles. So after filling our glasses we passed the bottles to the people at the table behind us. They did not quite understand why we were trying to give them our beers, but after some meager attempts at translation, they understood and accepted our ‘gift’ happily. Unfortunately, a few minutes later, they re-gifted us with an additional 3 bottles of beer. Then the people down the table, who had been observing, passed their partial bottles down to us. We had created a monster! And it did cause some moderately severe damage before the evening was over. I should mention that out of a festival hall with perhaps 350 people, only 2 spoke a very minimal amount of English. And we spoke virtually no French. Luckily we spoke the International language of beer. We had an excellent time and I have been to the festival 3 years running now.

#4) Beer Passion Weekend, Groenplats Square, Antwerp The Beer Passion Weekend is held usually on the fourth weekend in June and is held at the beautiful Groenplats Square in the shadow of Our Lady Cathedral in Antwerp.

Entry is free and a tasting glass is 2 Euro. Jetons (tokens) are sold for 1.5 Euro each and each beer sells for 1.5 Euro.

There are over 150 beers to sample during the festival, which runs Friday from 17:00 until 23:00 and Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 until 23:00.

This is a great festival but can be a bit warm in the middle of Summer.

#5) De Nacht van de Grote Dorst, Eizeringen Square, Eizeringen The ‘Night of Large Thirst’ just completed it’s second year in March, 2005. It is a one night event to appreciate the great wonders of Lambic and Gueuze. The event is put on by the beer group HORAL and the Lambic café “In de Verzekering Tegen de Grote Dorst” which loosely means ‘Insurance against Great Thirst’.

This event is held the Friday evening before Zythos Festival which makes for a rough start for a big fest, but well worth it.

The festival starts at 19:00 and supposedly runs until 24:00 but I left around 22:30 and it appeared to be growing.

The basic concept here is the appreciation of naturally fermented Lambic and Gueuze. Most of the real purveyors of this type product were on hand including the owners, brewers and blenders. It was freezing and held in heated?? tents with snow and mud on the ground. Interesting, the biggest tents were in the front yard of a great old church.

As the night sent on, the temperature dropped, but was not noticed by most due to the joyous atmosphere. It was an evening of pleasure and a rare experience, to try most of the great Gueuzes and Lambics.

#6) Kerst Beer Festival, Heuvelhal, Essen The ‘Christmas Beer Festival’ is usually held the 3rd weekend in December in the town of Essen which is about 20 miles north of Antwerp right on the Dutch border. It runs from 14:00 until 24:00 on Saturday and from 12:00 until 10:00 on Sunday.

I guess you might be wondering why anyone would want to go to a strong beer festival in the dead of winter in Belgium? Well, it’s so you can go to a strong beer festival in the dead of winter in Belgium. This is a real treat.

The festival is organized and presented by O.B.E.R., the Objective Beer Tasters of Essen Region.

This is a small cozy festival and only features just over 100 beers, but these beers are VERY SPECIAL! These are the Belgium Christmas beers. Very special recipes designed for the holiday season and usually very strong. The perfect antifreeze! Also the promoters decided that the Christmas festival should be smoke-free; very unusual for Belgium.

#7) Karakterbierweekend, Zaal (Hall) CC De Stringe, Vichte This is a great little festival put on by H.O.P. (Heerluk Objektief Proeven) in the town hall of Vichte. My good friend William Roelens, one of the head people of H.O.P., prides himself with this interesting gathering of regional brewers normally held during the first weekend in June. The festival takes place from 14:00 until 23:00 both days. They usually have around 15 breweries and about 60 different beers. Once again, the stands are normally run by the owners or brewers of each brewery so a more detailed explanation of the beers can be obtained. They also have an auction that is 3 Euro per ticket and one can win some great beers packs or beer related merchandise. www.karakterbierweekend.be

#8) Karakterbieren Festival, Zaal Palace in the Palace Hotel, Poperinge Once again a rather small but informative festival put on by Poperings Bierproevers Genootschap and Guy and Beatrijs, the owners of Hotel Palace. The event is normally held the last weekend of October and runs from 15:00 until 23:00. One will normally find around a dozen breweries and around 75-80 different beers. This starts out to be a very informative event with many owners and brewers attending and sometimes they will even be brewing some homebrew during the fest with explanations of the brewing process. As the evening goes on the music gets louder as do the attendees and by mid-evening this is a full blown party. It is also a great time of year to visit as the weather is nice during the day and quite chilly in the evening. Sometimes there will be light snowfall. www.hotelpalace.virtualave.net

#9) International Streekbierenfestival, Theophiel Toyeplein, Zwevegem Very large and well organized event held on August 14th & 15th each year. The festival runs 18:00 until 02:00 the first and 11:00 until 02:00 the second. August 15th is a Belgium National holiday, so this festival attracts upwards of 15,000 people. There are bands and this fest is similar to the German Octoberfest in the feel. It is one big party.

One can expect to find over 35 breweries represented and over 100 different beers. This fest does feature a few non-Belgium beers, but the Belgian beers they have are usually great.

#10) Kempisch Bierfestival, Cultureel Centrum De Werft, Geel Unique long running festival held the 3rd or 4th weekend in September. Both days start at 14:00 and Sunday closes at 22:00. Saturday closes when it closes. At this festival you will find numerous servers running around serving beers; very unique for a beer festival. When you are ready for another beer, you hold up a paddle with the word ‘DORST” (thirst) on it and a server will attend to you. Very well organized with about 150 beers. www.ondertschuim.tk