Subjective ramblings about beer, pubs and associated topics

Bier Circus, Brussels

Time flies..

I have reported from parts of my Brussels visit some weeks ago, but I have omitted one of the highlights, the cafe Bier Circus. Within walking distance of  your usual starting points - ten minutes from my Gare du Nord hotel, this is the place to head for after checking in, just when you need to fill your mouth with something more refreshing than the airline's recycled air.

The place is airy and clean, with big windows towards the street. The decor is partly beer and partly, er, circus. Some clowns here and there, but not too many. Lovely old enamel signs and posters advertising beers and breweries long gone fill some of the walls, and there is even a column filled with Westvleteren bottle caps, relics of days when these beers were only for those in the know.

The place is divided in two, the cafe/restaurant side where things are quiet, there is table service and low conversation - and the bar, where the locals are clustered with more loud conversation under a cloud of smoke. I quickly decide that this is an evening when the cafe part suits me best.

The beer list runs into the hundreds, so I order a draft beer from the blackboard first. The Bink Blond is a , well, blonde at 5% ABV, but it is certainly not a pilsener.
Full flavour, very Duvel-like. There is just as much aroma in this as in beers twice its alcohol strength. Hazy blonde beer in a nice art deco decorated glass. Round soft wheatiness, citrus, smooth body and some hops bringing it to a lovely finish.

I order some snacks with my next beer, some Belgian croquettes. Quite all right, but not really good value for money. (As I leave I see the board with the daily special, and realize I should have gone for that instead.) The beer looks like a similar blonde, but it is certainly not. De Graal Tripel is for sipping, the opposite end of the spectrum from a session beer. Flowers and herbs, more like some kind of cordial spiked with vodka? But there is a wheat beer kind of softness at the bottom. Interesting, but not quite there!

It is not easy to pick one more beer from the list. There is the full range of styles. There are trappists, there are Christmas beers, there are vintage beers..

Being in Brussels, I decide to go for a lambic from the Cantillon brewery. They have a special bottling for Bier Circus called Dermere Cuvee du 89. It has fine carbonation, firm head, with the citrus kicking in as you lift the glass. Cidery tingling feeling, the beer sparkling on your tongue like those childhood sweet-and-almost-too-sour sweets. It is lovely. But one is enough!

Friendly and attentive service, similar to the beer cafes in the Netherlands I reported from last year. I declare this as a must stop when visiting Brussels.

Postscript: I should have stayed here, quietly having a few more beers, reading my paper. Instead I went to check out the Delirium cafe, famous for having a beer list of 2007+. It was filled with youngsters swilling banana beer, you have to fight the other customers to get a glimpse of the beer list, and the draft beers have weird fruit and vegetable flavours. Top this with barmen who cannot be bothered to give any advice on their stock, and you don't get any praise for me.  The Bier Circus is definitely the place for grumpy old men. If, on the other hand, you idea of a good time is to drink coconut beer until dawn, you have alternatives. To each his own.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 06:29 | link | comments
beer, brewers, belgium, lambic

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