beer in belgium

Well, my advice would be to go to a specialised café (or kroeg in the Netherlands). Of course, most cafés have several beers available, but the ones I suggest you go to have over 300 different kinds of beer. This is the website for one in Antwerp http://www.biercentral.be/ but I'm sure Brussels, Ghent and Amsterdam have them too. Just surf the internet, ok?

Again, santé. But be careful, some beers have a very high alcohol percentage. Make sure you don't end up in hospital having your stomach pumped. You wouldn't be the first beer tourist to become a victim of that. So enjoy, but with moderation...

Thanks globetrotter!  So you think one of these cafes is a better bet than travelling to each individual brewery?

I drink a good amount of these strong beers in the US, so I'll be sure to pace myself accordingly!

Thanks!!

If you only have one day that would definitely be my safest bet. Belgium is a tiny country but not that tiny!

I think apart from Westvleteren most beers can be sold freely. And more than 300 kinds is a good start, don't you think?

When are you going and what parts of Belgium would you visit?

I'll be based in amsterdam for 4 nights, but was going to try to make the pilgrimage to westvleteren if I can get a reservation.  IF that fails, I was going to visit a few of the breweries in belgium and sample the beers.  If I can get the same beers at a kroeg in amsterdam, I might not need to visit belgium at all.

I have been to belgium before (this is where my love of beer began) and stayed in brussels.  It seemed that antwerp was beautiful, but I wanted to spend most of the trip in amsterdam.

I think it's best to stay in Amsterdam then as a plan B. I've found a bar in Amsterdam that serves 130 Belgian beers: http://www.dezotte.nl/#Home (De zotte means the crazy man) or this one that has over 50: http://cafe-belgique.nl/

For more info see also: http://www.biergoeroe.nl/toernl/amsterda.htm (bierhuizen are beer bars, bierwinkels are beer shops and bierbrouwerijen are beer breweries)

Hope this helps.

thanks so much globetrotter- i really appreciate all the help!

moose