A cold lager tastes different with a plate of spicy food at a night market in Asia. A dark Belgian ale can bring out flavors in a slow-cooked stew that you barely noticed before. A tart fruit lambic may seem challenging on its own, then suddenly make perfect sense alongside rich cheese, roast duck or even chocolate.

One meal has always stuck with me. Sitting at a small restaurant in Japan, I found myself moving between fresh vegetables, dipping sauces and a crisp local beer. Every bite changed the beer slightly, and every sip prepared me for the next flavor. It reminded me that great pairings aren’t always about finding one perfect match. Sometimes they’re about discovering how a single beer can complement an entire meal.

After years of traveling, eating and trying more beers than I ever expected to keep track of, I have come to see beer and food pairing as less of a science and more of a conversation. Sometimes the beer echoes the flavors on the plate. Sometimes it cuts straight through them. And sometimes a pairing that sounds completely wrong on paper turns out to be the one you remember years later.

The good news is that you do not need to be a beer expert to get better at pairing beer with food. You just need to understand a few basic ideas, avoid some common mistakes and be willing to experiment.

Why Pair Beer With Food?

Wine usually gets top billing when people talk about serious food pairings. I love wine too, but beer has an extraordinary range of flavors to work with.

Think about the difference between a crisp Czech pilsner, a hazy American IPA, a peppery Belgian saison, a rich Trappist quadrupel, a smoky German rauchbier and a spontaneously fermented Belgian gueuze. They are all beer, but from a food-pairing perspective, they have about as much in common as lemonade, espresso and red wine.

Beer also has a secret weapon: carbonation. Those bubbles can help refresh your palate between bites, especially with fatty, salty or fried foods. Bitterness can cut through richness. Malt sweetness can soften roasted or spicy flavors. Acidity can brighten a heavy dish. Yeast character can echo herbs and spices. Great pairings aren’t just about flavor. Texture matters just as much as flavor. A crisp, lively beer can refresh your palate after rich food, while a fuller-bodied beer can feel perfectly at home beside a hearty winter meal.

A good beer and food pairing does not simply give you a nice beer next to nice food. Ideally, something happens when you taste them together. The beer changes the food, the food changes the beer or both become more interesting than they were on their own. That’s the real point of pairing.

And don’t worry if you “get it wrong.” Some of my favorite discoveries have come from opening a bottle simply because it sounded good with dinner, not because a pairing chart told me to.

Four Basic Ways Beer and Food Pairings Work

There are endless theories about how to pair beer with food, but I find it easier to think about four basic relationships: complement, contrast, cut and cleanse.

Complement similar flavors

This is the most intuitive approach. Find flavors in the beer that already exist in the food.

A roasty stout with grilled meat is an obvious example. A Belgian dubbel with a slow-cooked stew can work because the beer’s dark fruit, caramel and malt character finds similar flavors in the dish. A citrus-forward beer may connect beautifully with food that uses lemon, orange or fresh herbs.

The risk is overdoing it. More on that shortly.

Create contrast

Sometimes opposites are far more interesting.

A crisp, dry beer can be wonderful with rich food. A tart beer can wake up something fatty. A slightly sweet beer may soften salty or spicy flavors.

This is one reason I find sour beer so exciting at the table. A traditional gueuze does not need to taste anything like a plate of fried food to work with it. The contrast is the point.

Cut through richness

Some foods coat your palate. Think fried chicken, creamy cheese, pork belly, buttery sauces or rich sausages.

A beer with lively carbonation, bitterness or acidity can help clear that richness between bites. This is why a crisp pilsner can be far more interesting with fried food than its relatively simple flavor profile might suggest.

Cleanse and reset the palate

Not every beer needs to dominate the meal.

Sometimes the best pairing is a beer that lets you enjoy the next bite as much as the first. This matters with salty snacks, fried foods and meals with lots of small dishes. It is also one reason simple lagers can be fantastic food beers.

There is a time for a massive barrel-aged imperial stout. There is also a time when it would flatten everything on the table.

What Happens When a Beer and Food Pairing Goes Wrong?

Bad beer pairings are often more useful than good ones because they teach you what actually matters.

The biggest problem is usually imbalance. One half of the pairing overwhelms the other.

Imagine a delicate white fish next to a 12% Belgian quadrupel. You may love both, but the fish barely stands a chance. Put a subtle pilsner next to heavily smoked brisket and you may forget the beer is even there.

Other pairings actively make flavors less pleasant.

A highly bitter IPA can sometimes amplify the heat of a chili rather than calming it. A very sweet pastry stout with an equally sweet dessert may become exhausting after a few bites. A sharply acidic sour next to an aggressively acidic dish can leave your mouth feeling like it has been through a workout.

That does not mean any of these combinations are universally wrong. Personal taste matters, and individual beers vary enormously even within the same style. But if a pairing consistently makes either the beer or the food less enjoyable, something is probably off.

Before giving up on a pairing, consider the beer itself. Serving temperature can make a surprising difference. A beer that’s too cold may hide its aromas, while one that’s too warm can make bitterness or alcohol seem more noticeable.

Common Beer and Food Pairing Mistakes to Avoid

One of the biggest mistakes is relying too heavily on beer styles.

“IPA with spicy food” gets repeated constantly. But which IPA? A lower-alcohol session IPA with bright citrus character is very different from a resinous double IPA pushing 9% alcohol. Bitterness and alcohol can both intensify the sensation of chili heat.

The same problem comes up with stout. A dry Irish-style stout is not interchangeable with a thick, sweet imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels. Pairing by style name alone ignores intensity, sweetness, alcohol and the actual flavors in the glass.

A few other mistakes come up repeatedly:

• Matching intensity poorly. A huge beer can erase delicate food, while a subtle beer can disappear next to a powerful dish.
• Assuming similar flavors always complement each other. Smoke with smoke sounds logical until everything tastes like a campfire.
• Stacking sweetness on sweetness. Chocolate stout and chocolate cake can work, but an extremely sweet version of each may become cloying.
• Ignoring the sauce, seasoning or cooking method. Grilled chicken, fried chicken and chicken in a chili-heavy sauce are three completely different pairing problems.
• Choosing the rarest beer instead of the right beer. Special does not automatically mean appropriate.

I love complex Belgian beers, but there are meals where I would rather have a fresh pilsner or simple table beer. Sometimes the less dramatic beer is the better food partner.

Classic Beer and Food Pairings That Work

Some combinations become classics for good reason. If you are new to beer and food pairing, these are useful places to start.

Stout and oysters may sound strange if you have never tried it, but roasted malt can play beautifully against the briny, mineral qualities of the oysters.

Hefeweizen and sausage is another natural fit. The beer’s carbonation and wheat character work well with rich sausage, while familiar banana and clove notes can complement the spices.

Pilsner and fried food is one of the easiest pairings to love. Crisp bitterness and carbonation help keep fried chicken, schnitzel, fries and croquettes from becoming too heavy.

Saison and goat cheese can be excellent because the beer’s dry, peppery and sometimes earthy character has enough personality for the cheese without simply overwhelming it.

Belgian dubbel or quadrupel with braised meat is a pairing I return to often. Dark fruit, caramelized malt and warming alcohol can connect with the deep flavors of slow-cooked beef and rich sauces. There is a reason beer feels so at home in Belgian cooking.

And yes, IPA with a burger can work very well. A good IPA has enough bitterness and flavor intensity to stand up to beef, cheese and caramelization from the grill. Just remember that the bigger IPA is not always the better IPA.

These classics are useful, but they are only a starting point. One rule that has served me remarkably well while traveling is to pair local beer with local food whenever you can. Belgian dubbel with Flemish stew, German helles with a warm pretzel, Czech pilsner with schnitzel or a local Italian craft beer alongside Parmigiano Reggiano all feel natural because they evolved alongside the cuisine. It isn’t a hard rule, and there are plenty of exceptions, but if you’re staring at an unfamiliar menu wondering where to start, ordering the local beer is one of the easiest ways to discover a pairing that simply makes sense. From there, the fun begins when you start moving beyond the obvious choices.

If you ever find yourself planning a trip around food and drink, Belgium is one of the easiest places in the world to experience this philosophy. Brewery cafés, local restaurants and centuries-old beer traditions make it almost impossible to have a bad pairing.

Unexpected Beer and Food Pairings Worth Trying

This is where beer pairing becomes fun. You can read charts all day, but the combinations that stick with me are often the ones that initially sound a little odd.

Oude gueuze and fried food

This is one of my favorite examples of beer acting almost like sparkling wine.

Traditional oude gueuze can bring lively carbonation, bright acidity, dryness and layers of fermentation character. Put that next to something fatty and fried, whether it is Belgian fries, croquettes or fried chicken, and the beer can slice through the richness beautifully.

Kriek and duck

Cherry and duck already have a long culinary relationship, so traditional kriek is not as strange a pairing as it first appears.

The best versions bring acidity and real fruit character without tasting like sugary cherry soda. With rich duck, especially a preparation that already includes fruit or a slightly sweet sauce, the beer can both complement the dish and cut through its fat.

This is also where Belgian sour beer can surprise people who assume all fruit beer is sweet.

Belgian quadrupel and blue cheese

A rich Belgian quadrupel can bring dark fruit, malt sweetness, warming alcohol and enormous depth. Blue cheese brings salt, fat and funk.

Together, they can be extraordinary.

The beer has enough intensity to survive the cheese, while its sweetness helps soften the saltiness. This is the sort of pairing where taking smaller sips and bites actually makes sense because both sides have so much going on.

For me, beers such as Rochefort 10 also connect pairing back to place. Visiting Belgian Trappist breweries and drinking beer near where it is made can change how you think about the food traditions surrounding it.

Oude kriek and dark chocolate

Chocolate does not always need stout.

A complex, tart cherry beer can be fascinating with dark chocolate. Cherry and chocolate are already familiar partners, but the acidity of a traditional kriek keeps the combination from becoming too heavy.

The important word here is traditional. A very sweet fruit beer may produce a completely different result.

Belgian tripel and fried chicken

Fried chicken isn’t the first thing most people associate with Belgian tripel, but it probably should be. A strong golden Belgian ale with fried chicken can be dangerously easy to enjoy.

Tripels often bring high carbonation, fruity fermentation character, spice and considerable alcohol while still drinking much lighter than their strength suggests. That carbonation helps with the fried coating, while the beer has enough flavor to stand up to seasoning and juicy dark meat.

Just remember that an 8% or 9% tripel is still an 8% or 9% beer, even when it goes down like something much lighter.

Saison and Vietnamese food

This is a pairing I would love to see more people explore.

Vietnamese food can bring fresh herbs, grilled meat, hot pepper, acidity, sweetness and savory depth into the same meal. A dry saison with peppery yeast character and lively carbonation can find connections with those herbs and spices without necessarily weighing everything down.

Of course, “Vietnamese food” is an enormous category, so there is no single perfect beer. A herb-heavy bowl of bún is a different pairing challenge from caramelized pork or a rich bowl of phở. That is exactly why pairing beer with Asian food deserves a much deeper discussion of its own.

Gose and watermelon with salt and chili

Not every great pairing needs to be a full meal.

Watermelon with salt and chili next to a tart, slightly saline gose can be ridiculously refreshing. You get sweetness, acidity, salt and heat bouncing around in a way that feels more like a summer snack experiment than a formal pairing.

Those are often the combinations I enjoy most.

Imperial stout and aged Parmigiano Reggiano

If someone asked me to pair an imperial stout with cheese instead of dessert, they’d probably look at me a little funny. The automatic pairing for imperial stout is often chocolate cake. I would rather reach for a chunk of properly aged Parmigiano Reggiano.

Aged cheese can bring nutty, savory flavors and those wonderful little crunchy crystals. Against the roast, dark malt and possible coffee or chocolate notes of an imperial stout, the combination can be far more complex than simply piling sweetness on top of sweetness.

After spending several days exploring the food traditions of Reggio Emilia and the wider Via Emilia, I found that some of my favorite pairings came from small producers and neighborhood restaurants rather than famous destinations.

What Beer Goes Best With Spicy Food?

This question deserves special attention because the standard advice is often too simplistic. There is no single best beer for spicy food. The answer depends on the type of heat, the sweetness of the dish, the amount of fat and the other flavors involved.

A crisp lager can be refreshing with spicy fried food. A wheat beer may complement citrus, herbs and aromatic spices. A lower-alcohol fruity beer can sometimes soften the overall experience. On the other hand, a very bitter double IPA with high alcohol may make the heat of a spicy pepper feel even more aggressive.

This is especially obvious when you travel through Asia. In Japan alone, I’ve enjoyed everything from grilled yakitori and crisp vegetables to fried dishes with multiple dipping sauces, each asking something different of the beer in the glass. Move to Taiwan, Vietnam or Thailand, and the equation changes again. One rigid pairing rule simply isn’t enough.

If you are pairing beer with spicy food, think beyond the word “spicy.” Ask what else is happening in the dish.

Why Belgian Sour Beers Deserve a Place at the Table

I will admit my bias here. I have a particular love for traditional Belgian sour beer, especially lambic, gueuze and fruit lambics. After years of visiting breweries and pairing these beers with local food, they’ve completely changed the way I think about what beer can do at the table.

A traditional gueuze may bring acidity, carbonation, dryness, oak and complex fermentation character. A kriek can add cherry without necessarily becoming sweet. Other fruit lambics can move in completely different directions depending on the fruit, producer, blend and vintage.

In some ways, these beers can behave more like wine at the table than many people expect beer to behave.

Try gueuze with rich cheese or fried food. Try kriek with duck, game or dark chocolate. Explore fruit lambics with cheese. Consider how a dry, acidic beer might work with fatty pork.

But be careful with acidity. Pairing an intensely sour beer with a dish already dominated by vinegar, citrus or sharp tomato acidity can become overwhelming. Contrast often works better than competition.

For anyone interested in exploring this world further, I have written more about Belgian lambic beer and brewers, as well as our experiences with Cantillon and 3 Fonteinen. One of the joys of beer travel is discovering places like this that you would probably never find unless someone local pointed you in the right direction.

Don’t Forget Snacks: Some of the Best Beer Pairings Are Simple

One thing formal pairing guides sometimes miss is that beer does not need a three-course dinner to shine. Sometimes all you need is a warm Bavarian pretzel, a little mustard and a fresh helles.

Some of the best beer and food combinations are snacks. A crisp lager with salty potato chips can be perfect. Gueuze with croquettes can be more exciting than a carefully plated restaurant pairing. A malty amber beer with roasted nuts makes sense without requiring any analysis. A sharp, hoppy beer with aged cheddar can turn two things from the fridge into a surprisingly satisfying combination.

Travel reinforces this for me constantly. Some of the most memorable things I have eaten have come from food stalls, markets, brewery cafés and casual counters rather than formal dining rooms. Taiwan’s night-market culture, for example, is built around moving from one specialty snack to another, something we have explored in our guide to how Asian hawker centers and night markets differ and in our admittedly ongoing obsession with Asian dumplings. If you’re planning a trip to Japan, Taiwan or Vietnam, don’t overthink the beer list. Order something local and see how it changes as your meal unfolds.

That’s one of the reasons I love pairing beer with snacks. They’re easy, approachable and a great way to discover combinations you might never have planned.

How to Create Your Own Beer and Food Pairings

You do not need a certification or a complicated flavor wheel. Start with a few questions.

How intense is the food? How intense is the beer? Is the dish fatty, spicy, sweet, salty or acidic? What is the dominant flavor in the beer? Do you want the beer to echo the food or provide contrast?

When I’m trying a new pairing, I usually run through a simple mental checklist::

1. Match intensity first. Do not ask a delicate beer to fight a massive dish.
2. Identify the dominant feature of the food. It may be the sauce, spice, fat or cooking method rather than the main ingredient.
3. Choose complement or contrast. Echo a flavor or deliberately push against it.
4. Consider carbonation, bitterness, sweetness and acidity. These can matter as much as flavor.
5. Taste the beer and food together. Then pay attention to what changes.

Take a bite. Take a sip. Go back to the food.

Did something new appear? Did the beer suddenly taste more bitter? Did the food become sweeter? Did the pairing refresh your palate or wear it out?

That little experiment tells you more than memorizing a rule that says porter goes with one food and pilsner goes with another.

And if the pairing is terrible? Good. Now you know.

Some of the most interesting things I have learned about beer and food have come from opening the “wrong” bottle and discovering exactly why it was wrong. Occasionally, the supposedly wrong bottle turns out to be brilliant.

Beer and Food Pairing FAQ

The Best Beer and Food Pairing Is the One You Want to Try Again

Beer and food pairing can become incredibly technical if you want it to. There are books, courses, certifications and enough terminology to make a casual dinner feel like an exam.

I prefer to keep the curiosity and lose the pressure.

Pay attention to intensity. Think about complement and contrast. Notice how bitterness, sweetness, acidity, alcohol and carbonation interact with the food. Learn from the combinations that fail.

Then keep experimenting. I’ve found that every beer pairing teaches you something, even if it’s simply discovering that two flavors don’t belong together. For me, the best beer and food pairings are tied to the same things that make travel memorable: discovery, surprise and a sense of place. That is also why I have always enjoyed drinking beer at the source. Visiting breweries, neighborhood pubs and local restaurants often teaches me more about a destination than any guidebook ever could. The beer is only part of the experience. The local food, setting and traditions around it can completely change how you understand what is in the glass.

Sometimes that means a carefully chosen Belgian sour with dinner. Sometimes it means a cold lager and a salty snack after a long day of exploring.

After all these years, I’ve found that the best beer and food pairings usually come with a story. They’re the meals that instantly take you back to a place, the brewery you almost skipped, or the little neighborhood restaurant that surprised you. Long after you’ve forgotten exactly what was on the plate or in the glass, you’ll remember how they came together. Those are the pairings worth chasing.

I’ve been visiting Van Moll since shortly after the brewery opened in Eindhoven in 2013.

Back then, Dutch craft beer was still relatively young compared to the beer cultures in some of its neighbors. There were exciting breweries emerging across the country, but the scene felt much smaller and more tightly connected than it does today. Van Moll quickly became one of my favorite places to grab a beer, and over the years I’ve watched both the brewery and the Dutch craft beer community grow together.

Somewhere along the way, Van Moll Fest became one of the events I look most forward to each year.

What started as a gathering of breweries and beer enthusiasts has grown into one of the Netherlands’ most anticipated craft beer festivals. Yet despite its growth, it has managed to retain something that many larger events lose: a genuine sense of community.

Whether you’re considering your first visit or are returning for another edition, here’s what you can expect from Van Moll Fest and why it deserves a place on every beer lover’s travel radar.

What is Van Moll Fest Eindhoven?

Van Moll Fest Eindhoven is a craft beer festival organized by Van Moll Craft Beer in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Founded in 2015, the festival has grown from a one-day event held in a monastery courtyard into one of the Netherlands’ best-known beer festivals, featuring both summer and winter editions, international breweries, food vendors, and thousands of visitors each year.

Van Moll Fest at a Glance

Van Moll Fest is the annual beer festival organized by Van Moll Craft Beer, one of the pioneers of the modern Dutch craft beer movement.

Held twice each year, with both summer and winter editions, the festival brings together breweries from the Netherlands and around the world for a weekend dedicated to great beer, good food, and good company.

Unlike some massive beer festivals where the focus can shift toward collecting rare check-ins or standing in endless lines, Van Moll Fest still feels remarkably approachable. Brewers often pour their own beers. Conversations happen naturally. People share recommendations with complete strangers. The grounds of the Evoluon are a blend of summer fun and great craft beer.

The atmosphere is relaxed without sacrificing quality.

For me, that’s part of its appeal.

A Festival That Grew Alongside Dutch Craft Beer

When I first started visiting Van Moll, the Dutch craft beer scene looked very different than it does today.

Many of the breweries that are now household names among Dutch beer enthusiasts were still finding their footing. New breweries seemed to appear every year, and festivals like Van Moll Fest became gathering places where people could discover what was happening across the country.

As the festival has grown, it has also become a reflection of the changing beer landscape.

You’ll still find established favorites, but you’ll also encounter newer breweries pushing boundaries and experimenting with different styles. In many ways, each edition serves as a snapshot of where craft beer stands at that particular moment.

The Summer 2026 edition marks the festival’s tenth anniversary, a milestone that says a lot about both the brewery and the community that has formed around it.

What Makes Van Moll Fest Different?

Every beer festival promises great breweries and great beer.

What keeps me returning to Van Moll Fest is everything else.

The brewery selection is carefully curated. You’ll find respected Dutch breweries alongside international guests, often pouring beers that can be difficult to find elsewhere in the Netherlands.

At the same time, the festival encourages exploration.

It’s easy to arrive with a list of must-visit breweries. You can prepare a whole game plan from the festival booklet in advance. I usually have one myself. But some of my favorite festival discoveries have come from wandering over to a stand simply because someone nearby said, “You should try this.”

That’s one of the advantages of a festival that still feels manageable in size. You can follow your plan while still leaving room for surprises.

And trust me, there will be surprises.

What to Expect at the 2026 Summer Edition

The Summer 2026 edition takes place on July 3 and 4 at the Evoluon in Eindhoven and celebrates the festival’s tenth anniversary.

Visitors can expect dozens of breweries, hundreds of beers, food vendors, entertainment, and special offerings throughout the weekend.

One thing I’ve learned after attending multiple editions is that the beer list is often more dynamic than it first appears.

Many breweries don’t put every beer on tap when the festival opens. Special releases, collaborations, barrel-aged beers, and other limited offerings have been known to appear later in the day.

If there’s a brewery you’re particularly excited about, keep an eye on their announcements and don’t assume the opening tap list tells the whole story.

Pace yourself and stay curious, and you’ll find yourself rewarded.

Tips for First-Time Visitors

Make a Plan, But Don’t Overplan

I always recommend reviewing the brewery list before arriving.

Identify a handful of breweries you absolutely want to visit.

Then put the list away.

Some of the best beers you’ll drink all weekend may come from breweries you’ve never heard of.

Don’t Chase Every Long Line

Popular breweries will always attract attention.

If you find yourself staring at a 30-minute queue, remember that there are dozens of other breweries pouring excellent beer nearby.

One of the biggest mistakes first-time visitors make is spending too much of the festival waiting instead of exploring.

Pay Attention to Tap Changes

This is one of the best insider tips I can offer.

Many breweries rotate beers throughout the day. Some save their most special offerings for later sessions, while others bring surprise kegs that weren’t announced beforehand.

Keep an eye on social media and don’t be afraid to revisit breweries later in the day.

Talk to People

Some of the most memorable parts of Van Moll Fest have nothing to do with the beer itself.

Talk to brewers. Ask questions. Strike up conversations with fellow attendees.

The community is one of the festival’s greatest strengths.

Getting to Van Moll Fest

Eindhoven is one of the easiest Dutch cities to reach from within the Netherlands, with direct rail connections from Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam, and many other cities.

Belgium is geographically close, but train journeys often require one or more transfers and can take longer than visitors expect. If you’re traveling from Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, or elsewhere in Belgium, it’s worth planning your route in advance.

International visitors should also consider Eindhoven Airport, which is served by several low-cost carriers including Ryanair and Wizz Air. Depending on where you’re traveling from, flying directly into Eindhoven can be surprisingly convenient.

If the festival remains at the Evoluon, Bus 401 provides a direct connection between Eindhoven Airport and the city, with stops near the festival grounds. The Evoluon can also be easily reached by bike or other busses from the Eindhoven Centraal train and bus station.

Because this is a beer festival, many visitors choose to stay overnight in Eindhoven. Doing so allows you to enjoy the festival without worrying about transportation at the end of the day and gives you extra time to explore the city.

Make a Weekend of It

While Van Moll Fest may be the main attraction, Eindhoven itself is worth exploring.

The city has developed one of the strongest beer scenes in the Netherlands, with excellent craft beer bars, breweries, and bottle shops. Add in a growing food scene and a surprisingly vibrant city center, and there’s plenty to justify extending your stay beyond the festival.

If you’re traveling from abroad, I strongly recommend turning the festival into a weekend trip.

Why I Keep Coming Back

A few years ago, severe thunderstorms rolled through Eindhoven during the festival.

The weather became bad enough that organizers had no choice but to end the event early. As my friend and I were trying to figure out how to get home before the storm, one of the brewers spotted us leaving and offered us a ride.

It’s a small story, but it’s one I’ve never forgotten.

The beer at Van Moll Fest is excellent. The brewery lineup is consistently impressive. The special releases and collaborations are always worth seeking out.

But what keeps me returning year after year is the community.

Even after ten years of growth, Van Moll Fest still feels like a gathering of people who genuinely love beer and enjoy sharing that passion with others.

That’s something increasingly rare, and it’s why this festival remains one of my favorites.

If you love craft beer and find yourself anywhere near the Netherlands in early July or during the winter edition, Van Moll Fest is well worth adding to your calendar.

History of Van Moll Fest

The first Van Moll Fest took place on August 30, 2015 in the courtyard of a monastery in Eindhoven. What began with eight breweries and around 1,000 visitors has grown into one of the Netherlands’ most respected craft beer festivals. Along the way, the event moved to the Evoluon, expanded to multiple days, weathered the pandemic years, launched a Winter Edition, and welcomed breweries and visitors from across Europe.

Van Moll Fest Through the Years

Since its founding in 2015, Van Moll Fest has grown from a one-day event held in a monastery courtyard to a multi-day festival attracting breweries and visitors from across Europe.

Van Moll Fest Summer Editions

There was no festival in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID pandemic

Van Moll Fest Winter Editions

Brasserie Cantillon’s next Zwanze Day will take place in 2026 on Saturday, April 25, 2026. Once again, the event is planned for a full global scale.

What is Zwanze Day?

Zwanze day is a biannual event that Cantillon holds, in which they brew a small batch of an experimental beer and offer it for sale in a select group of pubs around the world.  This beer is usually a different style each time, and is something other than a traditional Cantillon lambic.  This allows the brewers to experiment and take part in the fun, semi-sarcastic humor of Brussels, the true meaning of the word zwanze.

Change to Biannual

In 2023, Cantillon decided to change the timing of frequency and timing of Zwanze Day in order to focus on the increased requirements to manage the production of their lambics during the autumn harvest period. Instead of hosting Zwanze Day every year at the end of September, the event will now alternate with Quintessence in April, with either Quintessence or Zwanze Day occurring each year.

Zwanze Beers

In 2026, Cantillon will do something new for Zwanze Day, with two different Zwanze beers being released on tap for the event. Both beers are vermouth blends in collaboration with craft vermouth producer Vermouth Sullivan from Besançon, France. There will be both a Kriek-Vermouth blend as well as a Lambic-Vermouth blend.

The Kriek-Vermouth Blend is Artémis La Rouge, and is a blend of Cantillon Kriek and a maceration of wormwood, marjoram, verbena, rosebuds, curry plant, and other herbs and roots.

The Lambic-Vermouth blend is Artémis La Blance, a blend of Cantillon two-year-old lambic and a maceration of gentian, rhubarb root, wormwood, coriander, juniper, sage, and many other herbs/.

I visited the Cantillon brewery in Brussels a number of times throughout 2013, including a visit in September for their Zwanze Day event both at the brewery and at the Moeder Lambic pub in Brussels. One of the best benefits of visiting the brewery in person is that you can often sample beers that are not available for retail sale and take-home consumption, but only for sampling on site. You also have the opportunity to tour the working brewing facilities during your visit, which is quite a treat as this is a true visage of old-time brewing traditional methods.

Cantillon has seen a large amount of growth recently, including the use of Brussels’ old abandoned bomb shelter for cellaring their beers for up to thirty years and an expansion near their current brewing facility that doubled their brewing capacity.  They also recently purchased a large new addition of barrels in which to age their lambics.  This should lead to increased production of their current line of offerings, and hopefully new offerings in the future?

Cantillon Zwanze 2014 – Cuvee Florian

For 2014, the Zwanze beer was called “Cuvée Florian“, and is a blend of Cantillon Oude Kriek, with 40% less fruit, and Iris Grand Cru, aged for three years in a 400-liter cask, with no secondary fermentation.  This beer was initially made as a one-off for Jean van Roy’s son’s 18th birthday, and has now been elevated to Zwanze 2014.

Zwanze 2015 was a spontaneously fermented stout called Wild Brussels Stout.  The beer was initially brewed in March, 2013 and was a candidate for Zwanze 2014, but was held back in favor of the Cuvee Florian.

Zwanze 2016 was a fruity lambic blend of raspberry and blueberry, with the tartness offset by some natural vanilla. This beer seems to have been a predecessor of Magic Lambic.

Zwanze 2017 is going to be an Oolong Tea – Two-year-old Lambic blend, made in honor of the 18th birthday of Jean van Roy’s youngest son, Sylvain.

Zwanze 2018 – The 2018 Zwanze beer, Manneken Pise, is a blend of lambics aged for two years in Amarone, Chianti, and Sangiovese barrels. The barrels impart a woody, wine-like character, with flavors of mango and citrus. The beer is dedicated to the Italian friends of Cantillon who help them to protect the traditional Lambic heritage.

Zwanze 2019 – The 2019 Zwanze beer is a departure from prior years, and will be a unique new beer, a smoked lambic, made with a blend of classic pilsner malts and smoked malts. The beer was brewed in March, 2016 and kegged in January 2018.

Zwanze 2020 – The Zwanze 2020 beer is called Brettrave, which is a play on betterave, the French word for beet. This beetroot Lambic’s color is an intense, almost flourescent red, with a fruity yet quite earthy aroma. The palate is complex, balancing the acidity of the Lambic with the earthy roundness of the beetroot.

For 2021, the Zwanze beer was Parasol, a special blend of lambic and citrus, mostly oranges. This Zwanze is a throwback to a recipe attempted 70 years earlier by Paul Cantillon, the brewer of Cantillon in the 1950’s, and the great grandfather of the current brewing family. The beer will have a thirst-quenching mix of lambic acidity with fresh fruitiness from the citrus, contrasting with the bitterness of the citrus zest.

In 2022, Cantillon Zwanze was a blend of two-year-old lambic and Congolese black pepper. The pepper is called poivre de Gorilles and came from Misao: La Maison des Poivres in Brussels. The pepper is grown wild in the Likouala Forest in the northeastern region of the Republic of the Congo, The forest is home to a number of the endangered Lowland gorillas. As such, a portion of the profits from the year’s Zwanze event were donated to Gorilla, an organization dedicated to protecting the great apes. Poivre de Gorilles is aromatic, but not too spicy. The spice blends nicely with the acidity of the lambic. It will pair well with meat or fish dishes.

The 2022 Zwanze proved so popular that it has now become a regular release from Cantillon known as Ashanti Lambic, with a little more focus on the lambic than the 2022 Zwanze release.

The 2024 Zwanze was a new type of flavor profile for Cantillon. The primary addition to the Zwanze blend was a type of sea lettuce such as is used for abalone farming in Brittany in France. There is a special batch of a few dozen bottles of Cantillon Gueuze lying submerged, aging in the sea near Finistère. The beers are aging in harmony with the local mollusks, who feed on different sorts of algae. This sea lettuce is the best of these algae and seaweeds to bend well with a Lambic, resulting in a perfect reflection of the concept of Zwanze. The Cantillon Zwanze 2024 was a departure from normal lambics, offering more salinity and iodine reminiscent of oysters.

Zwanze Day Locations

The list of bars participating in Zwanze Day, 2024 was released on February 16, 2024. You can find the complete list below. Typically, there is an obligatory 9PM Central European Time start – but be sure to check the release time at the venue you plan to participate at,!

Jean van Roy, Master Brewer at Cantillon, typically leads the ceremonies from the Moeder Lambic – Fontainas pub in Brussels at 9 PM CET.

Here is the video of Jean van Roy introducing Zwanze 2013:

In 2017, the Cantillon, Moeder Lambic, and Magic Land Theater crews put on a rather ornate event surrounding the beer’s release:

Most of these bars will be selling tickets for the event, which often sell out quickly. Contact the pub where you wish to attend to see when tickets will be available and book yours as soon as you can.

Australia

• Wildflower Brewing and Blending – Sydney
• Belgian Beer Café – Melbourne

Austria

• AmmutsØn – Vienna

Belgium

• Moeder Lambic Fontainas – Brussels
• Moeder Lambic Saint– Gilles – Brussels
• Soho English Pub – Arlon
• De Gebrande Winning – Sint– Truiden
• Café Pardaf – Antwerpen
• ‘t Brugs Beertje – Brugge

Canada

• Dieu du Ciel – Montréal, QC

• Vices & Versa – Montréal, QC
• Birreria Volo – Toronto, ON
• Four Winds Brewing Co. – Delta, BC

China

• MEDISN · RESET – JinJiang District, Chengdu
• PI Brew – Gongshu District, Hangzhou
• U9U10 Gastropub – Heping District, Tianjin

South Korea

• Coolship Tap House – Seoul
• Fritz Fritz – Busan

Denmark

• Væskebalancen Bar and Bottle Shop Blågårdsgade – Copenhagen

Finland

• Olutravintola Pikkulintu Puotila

France

• La Fine Mousse – Paris
• La Capsule – Lille
• Brasserie du Mont Salève – Neydens
• Le Bièrographe – Toulouse
• Donald’s Pub – Angers
• Orgao Beer House – Lyon
• Brasserie Levain – Besancon
• Victor Cave & Bistrot – Marseille

Germany

• Café Herman – Berlin
• Brauhaus Zum Schwanen – Esslingen
• Brauerei Zehendner – Mönchsambach

Great Britain

• six°north at The Marine Hotel – Stonehaven
• Beer Merchants Tap – London
• Fuggles Beer Cafe – Tonbridge Wells
• Small Bar – Bristol
• Ship & Mitre – Liverpool
• Two Thirds Beer Co. – Sheffield
• TripelB – Worcester
• Koelschip Yard – Glasgow
• Bier Draak – Norwich

Greece

• The Hoppy Pub – Thessaloniki

Italy

• Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fà – Roma
• Abbazia di Sherwood – Caprino Bergamasco
• LambicZoon – Milano
• The Drunken Duck – Quinto Vicentino
• Bluebeat Pub – Lecce
• Birre & Mondo Crudele – Crema
• Storie di Pinte – San Lazzaro
• Mosaik Beer House – Catania

Japan

• Cafe & Bar Cluster – Kashiwa
• Wine no Ojisama – Nara
• Kiya – Nagoya

Netherlands

• Folkingebrew The Pub – Groningen
• Distilleerderij ’t Nieuwe Diep – Amsterdam
• Kaapse Maria – Rotterdam

New Zealand

• Garage Project Wild Workshop – Wellington

Norway

• Schouskjelleren Mikrobryggeri – Oslo

Poland

• Pułapka – Gdansk
• Biała Małpa – Katowice

Portugal

• Catraio – Porto

Spain

• Masia Agullons – Sant Joan de Mediona
• Be Hoppy – Madrid
• Brew Wild Pizza Bar – Madrid
• HomoSibaris – Barcelona
• Homosibaris La Cebada – Zaragoza
• Bar Desy – Donostia/San Sebastián

Sweden

• Zum Franziskaner – Stockholm

Switzerland

• Bièrecafé Au Trappiste – Bern

United States

• Armsby Abbey – Worcester, MA
• Brick Store Pub – Atlanta, GA
• Cochon Butcher – New Orleans, LA
• Craft Wine & Beer – Reno, NV
• de Garde Brewing – Tillamook, OR
• DeCicco & Sons – Sleepy Hollow, NY
• Delaware Supply – Albany, NY
• Garden Path Fermentation – Bellingham, WA
• Golden Age – Homestead, PA
• Holy Grale – Louisville, KY
• Hopleaf Bar – Chicago, IL
• Lúpulo – Santa Cruz, CA
• Monk’s Café – Philadelphia, PA
• Moor Room – Buffalo, NY
• Nice N Easy – Johnson City, TX
• Novare Res Bier Café – Portland, ME
• Pour Company – Moscow, ID
• Russian River Brewing – Santa Rosa, CA
• Sante Adairius – Oakland, CA
• Schera’s – Elkader, IA
• Side Project Brewing – Maplewood, MO
• Silver Stamp – Las Vegas, NV
• Stumbling Monk – Seattle, WA
• The Sovereign – Washington D.C.
• The Veil Brewing Co. – Richmond, VA
• The Whale – Charleston, SC
• Tørst – Brooklyn, NY
• Windsor Homebrew Supply Co. – Costa Mesa, CA
• Wooden Nickel Public House – Hillsborough, NC
• Wren House – Phoenix, AZ
• Yazoo Brewing Company – Madison, TN

What is Open Barn Days?

Boerenerf Open Barn Days, or Open Schuurdagen, is the September release of lambic beers and meads by Boerenerf. Boerenerf is one of the oldest names in lambic brewing that returned to the scene in 2020. This weekend-long event, timed in conjunction with the nearby Open Beer Days at 3 Fonteinen. At the event, visitors can visit the historic Boerenerf farm in the Zenne Valley and taste and purchase their wide range of lambics and meads.

When is Open Barn Days, 2025?

Boerenerf Schuurdagen, or Open Barn Days, will take place from September 5 – 7, 2025. The farm will be open for the autumn release each day from 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

Will there be exclusive beers at Open Barn Days?

There will be two special bottles released at the brewery only available for tasting on-site during the event. One of these will be a ginger Gember Geuze, and the other will be an Ambrosia Raspberry blend.

Will the normal beers also be available at the Autumn Release?

Yes, at the Boerenerf Open Barn Days, in addition to being able to taste the two exclusive, special blends at the event, you can also buy bottles and packs of the normal classic range of Boerenerf lambic blends and meads. You can also pre-order packs to be delivered or picked up in person at the event.

Boerenerf
Sollenberg 3
1654 Huizingen

How to get to Boerenerf

Boerenerf is a 2-minute walk or a short-drive from 3 Fonteinen lambik-O-droom. Or, you can take the R10 bus from Lot station or on the walk between the breweries.

What is 3 Fonteinen Open Beer Days?

Open Beer Days is an annual event that is held by 3 Fonteinen Brewery at the lambik-O-droom in Lot, Belgium. The event dates back to 2010. This is the best opportunity for the general public to visit and tour the brewery and barrel house while taking in the offerings of the public tasting room and shop. The event started at the old brewery in Beersel, moving to the lambik-O-droom in 2016.

When is the 3 Fonteinen event?

The Open Beer Days take place on the first weekend in September each year. The 2025 3 Fonteinen Open Beer Days will take place from Friday, September 5 – Sunday, September 7, 2025. This will be the 17th edition of the event. The Open Beer Days take pace from noon until 8:00 PM on these days.

What to expect at Open Beer Days?

Open Beer Days at 3 Fonteinen is the perfect opportunity for the public to tour the workings of one of the best lambic houses in the Pajottenland. There are tours over the entire weekend where you can explore the 3 Fonteinen brewery and barrel house. Lambic lovers from around the world gather in Lot over this weekend to catch up with each other, visit the brewery, and sample some special beers that are made available just for the event. Admission including the to the Open Beer Days, including the tour, is free. Guided tours take place each day at 1:00 PM, 3:00 PM, and 6:00 PM.

In addition to the normal fun of sitting with fell beer enthusiasts sampling some of the outstanding range of 3 Fonteinen beers or enjoying a tour of the brewery, there will also be two workshops if you are looking in enhance your knowledge and skills at blending geuze. In the “Blend Your Own Geuze” session, you get to blend ad take home bottles of your own private blend, and there will also be a workshop on whisky cask finishes. Follow the Open Beer Days Facebook page for more information on this workshop as it unfolds.

The beers available for drinking at the lambik-O-droom during “OBD” are usually more exclusive than the normal menu offerings. Along with the normal offerings, there are often special and vintage editions of beers such as Zenne y Frontera and the Spelling van het Lot (Twist of Fate) series of special experimental batches. In 2025, there will be four Cash Finishes releases, of unique geuzes finished in barrels that previously held a local spirit from around Europe, as well as a new release called Zotte Kadeeën. Zotte Kadeeën is a la,bic-cider blend, with a rhubarb-macerated lambic blended with Famille Dupont’s Triple Cider.

There are also often vintage and exclusive bottles available to buy in the shop during the event. While the lambic world has changed a bit and lineups such as the one at the 2013 Open Beer Days may never be seen again, great bottles will definitely be available during the weekend.

Also, in addition to the beer, there are also food vendors and entertainment to make this more than just a beer tasting, but a full-scale weekend event!

How to get to 3 Fonteinen lambik-O-droom

The 3 Fonteinen lambik-O-droom is located in Lot, Belgium, around 10 miles southwest of the center of Brussels. You can get there by train in under 30 minutes. You can also drive there, but parking can get crowded during the event.

By Train, take the S2 Hal / Halle & Braine-le-Comte / ‘s-Gravenbrakel from Brussels Central Station or Brussels Zuid/Midi Station to Station Lot (4 stops from Central, 3 stops from Zuid/Midi), then it is a short 5-10 minute walk to the lambik-O-droom.

How much does 3 Fonteinen Open Beer Days Cost?

Admission to the Open Beer Days at Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen is free. The tour of the brewery is also free. Workshops are ticketed events, with a fee of 90 euros for the “Blend Your Own Geuze” workshop. Bottles for drinking at the event can be purchased with cash or credit card inside the lambik-O-droom and picked up at the tent outside. Bottles are also available for purchase to take home in the shop. Bringing outside beers is discouraged, at times even forbidden, so it may be wise to leave your own bottles at home.

Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen | lambik-O-droom
Molenstraat 47, 1651 Beersel, Belgium

Erin’s piece inspired me to finally put together a post discussing the six different Trappist monasteries in Belgium that produce the world-famous Trappist beers.  So far, I have visited five of the six Trappist monasteries / breweries in Belgium. And I plan to complete my Belgium Trappist beer tour with a visit the sixth monastery (Orval) sometime this summer. (Note: We finally visited Orval in September, 2017, following the 2017 Cantillon Zwanze Day at Moeder Lambic in Brussels)

Belgium’s Trappist Breweries

The six Trappist breweries in Belgium are:

• St. Benedictus-Abbey (Achelse Kluis) in Achel, Belgium – Achel Beer (NOTE: No longer an official Trappist brewery as they no longer have any monks supervising the beer production and the brewery has since been sold to a private party)
• Abbaye Notre-Dame de Scourmont in Chimay, Belgium – Chimay Beer
• Abbaye d’Orval in Villers-devant-Orval, Belgium – Orval Beer
• Abbaye Notre-Dame de Saint-Remy in Rochefort, Belgium – Rochefort Beer
• Sint-Sixtusabdij in Westvleteren, Belgium – Westvleteren Beer
• Abdij van de Trappisten van Westmalle in Westmalle, Belgium – Westmalle Beer

As seen from the Belgian Trappist breweries map, the six breweries are evenly split between the French-speaking Wallonia and the Dutch/Flemish-speaking Flanders regions of Belgium. Achel, Westmalle, and Westvleteren are from Flanders, while Chimay, Orval, and Rochefort are in Wallonia.

Visiting Belgium’s Trappist Breweries

The only one of the five monasteries / breweries I visited where you can actually visit the brewery itself was Achel, which is also the closest to where I live in Eindhoven, making it for me the best Trappist brewery to visit in Belgium.

Rochefort was the only other monastery where I was actually able to visit into the actual monastery, but that was a very special open-house event where the monastery was raising funds for renovations. On my previous visits to the abbey, I was not able to get any further than the front gate of the monastery.

At Chimay, Westmalle, and Westvleteren, a visit is actually a visit to a cafe / visitor’s center located in close proximity to the monastery and brewery. Both Westmalle and Westvleteren have cafes located just across the street from the monastery. Chimay’s Espace Chimay, or Chimay Experience, is 250-meters away from the abbey. Achel also has a cafe within the walls of Achelse Kluis. There was no cafe or visitor’s center of any sort at Rochefort, but we found a great cafe in town, La Gourmandaise.

One of my favorite aspects of visiting the cafes at the monasteries is that you can try the normal beers of the brewery, and occasionally, you can also experience special beers not produced for commercial distribution. The cafes also usually offer other products produced at the abbey, such as the monks’ cheese and pate.

Plus, there’s something special about trying these great beers straight from the source.  The beer is fresher and straight from the brewery.  You get to build that special connection that you can only experience by visiting the grounds where the beer is born.

Authentic Trappist Products

Those new to the Trappist name might wonder what it actually means and why should you care? Products that appear with the official Trappist label mean they “measure up to the quality and traditional standards rooted in the monastic life of a real Trappist community.”

Belgium Beer Road Trip

If you’re looking to plan a Belgian Monastery beer tour road trip, pick up a Belgium beer route map. You can find these in many of the beer stores. As you’re traveling between the monasteries, there are a number of other great breweries you can stop at as well.

Have you visited any of the other Trappist breweries outside of Belgium? If you didn’t know, the total count of Trappist breweries is currently at 11, including the five official breweries remaining in Belgium, two in the Netherlands, and one each in Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, and France.  

The change in the timing of the Zwanze Day is due in part to the effects of the timing of the annual fruit harvests, which are now coming earlier in the year, during the late summer months. This means the brewery is in full swing of their annual production process of fruited lambics making use of the grape harvests from countries like Italy and Spain, who are now providing their grapes already at the end of August.

Cantillon will resume Zwanze Day on April 20, 2024, and will alternate the event with Quintessence which will next occur in 2025. It is not yet known if Quintessence will occur during April or return to the usual pre-pandemic May 1 date.

If you were planning to be in Brussels for Zwanze Day, or for BXL Beer Festival taking place at the end of September now on the normal Zwanze Day weekend, you are still in for a treat. Moeder Lambic Fontainas, the normal host of the Cantillon crew for Zwanze, is still celebrating Zwanze with a No Zwanze Day event. This event will feature a full run of Zwanze Beers from 2013 – 2022 on draft, and a bottle selection that is still to be announced. Perhaps the 2008-2012 editions will be available there as well?

While you may think Oktoberfest is the perfect spur of the moment trip, I must warn you, this is not the case!  I truly suggest that you do all the proper preparations if you want to have a problem-free Oktoberfest memory!

Here are a few tips to help you through your first visit to Oktoberfest:

1.  Ensure You Have a Hotel Reservation

Oktoberfest is not a weekend in Las Vegas. The festivities do not run all night, in fact, the tents close at 10:30PM every night, so you will need to have something in line for the late-night hours and when the tents officially open at 9 (sat/sun) or 10 the next morning.  If you wait too long to find a hotel, you may find yourself out of your budget, or staying very far out of the city, with an hour+ train ride back to your hotel.   Some hotels fill up a year+ in advance of the event, so if you are thinking of attending Oktoberfest, book your hotel as soon in advance as you can.  If you can find a hotel in the center of town, you can more easily enjoy the post-fest activities in Munich itself, such as the original Hofbrauhaus in the city center.

2.  Book Your Seats

Especially if you have a large group you are traveling with, and even more so on the weekends, you will want to reserve seats in a tent a few months in advance, otherwise you will find yourself scrambling to find a seat in one of the hugely crowded tents at the festival.  Remember, if you’re not in a seat, you won’t be served!

3. Be Flexible!

So you’re not in a tent…so what?  It just so happens that the month of September tends to have some very nice weather, and both times I have attended, the weather has been perfect the entire time I was at the festival.  While seats within the beer tents may be very hard to come by, it is often much easier to find seats outside the tents in the beer gardens of each of the tents.  While you may miss out on some of the formal entertainment (brass bands), all of the other elements are available at the outside seating, including the large Maß of beer, served by an official “beer wench”, with the same food choices and most of the rest of the ambiance (i.e. loud mobs of drunken fellow celebrants).  On weekdays, you can often even manage to visit multiple tents in a single day if you make use of outside seating instead of waiting for seats inside each of the tents.  There are six official Oktoberfest beers, Spaten, Augustiner, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, and Löwenbräu, so this is the way to go if you want to try all six in a single short visit.

4.  Eat! Eat! Eat!

Remember, each Maß of beer is 1 litre in size, and if you go through a couple of these, you will feel it!  Be sure to eat and drink other fluids (i.e. water) throughout the day to ensure you can enjoy the full experience.  Oktoberfest is known for its food as well as its beer.  Be sure to try a half-chicken, giant soft pretzel, and/or weisswurst!

5.  Be Safe

Remember, Munich is a large city, and aside from the celebratory atmosphere within the festival grounds, you are within a major metropolis when outside the grounds.  Be aware of your surroundings, and know where you are, and where you are going.  While the increased tourism is accompanied by increased security, you should be sure to ensure your own safety and secure your belongings at all times.  Don’t let the party ruin your experience!

Be sure to start your planning now for Oktoberfest in the coming years.  Dates are:

• 2020: Oktoberfest cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Instead WirtshuisWiessn was held.
• 2021: Oktoberfest cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
• 2022: September 17 – October  3
• 2023: September 16 – October 3
• 2024: September 21 – October 6
• 2025: September 20 – October 5

Be sure to check out the official Oktoberfest website for detailed information: http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/

2020 marked the first time since 1948 that Munich’s Oktoberfest has not been held at the Theresienwiese. In April, Bavaria’s Minister-President Markus Söder made the historic announcement that due to the pandemic, the 2020 festival would not be held. In the past, Oktoberfest has been canceled a handful of times due to wars and Cholera epidemics, but few people expected the need for such a cancellation in the 21st century.

However, while it is not possible to ensure the safety of visitors in the confined tents and alleys of the Oktoberfest fairgrounds, it is easier to control smaller groups of people within the beer halls and restaurants of Munich. As such, Oktoberfest did still continue in 2020 in Munich, in a smaller, more spread out format. Enter WirtshausWiesn 2020.

From September 19 through October 4, 2020, Oktoberfest moved into the beer halls of Munich, where controlled groups of revelers were still able to don their lederhosen and dirndls and partake in their Oktoberfest beer, pretzels, chicken, and fill of Bavarian music. Of course, all while masked up and maintaining the rules of social distancing.

All six Oktoberfest breweries, as well as a number of other local breweries and restaurants and bars participated in 2020’s Bavarian pub Oktoberfest. 18 brewhouses of the Oktoberfest hosts along with 36 pubs in the city center joined in the event. 54 locations in all. Plenty of options to find a Maß of Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, or Spaten.

Hopefully, we will have a vaccine for the current pandemic in time for the 2021 festivities to resume in a more traditional (though surely a bit more virus-preventive) manner.

Some locations that participated in the WirtshausWiesn in 2020 are:

WirtshausWiesn 2020 Locations

Hofbräuhaus

No trip to Munich is complete without a visit to the city’s most famous beer hall. The Hofbräuhaus was one of the participants in the 2020 Wirsthaus Wiesn, though there was definitely far less seating available in the famous Schwemme main hall. Some benches were taken out between tables, other tables marked off, and there were limits on how many people you could have at your table.

The Hofbräuhaus had a bit of a line on Saturday throughout the day and into the night, so we came back on a Sunday evening when it was much quieter. While the crowd was smaller, there is still quite a festive vibe inside. Masks were required walking in and out, and any time you got up to use the bathroom.

Platzl 9 – Hofbräuhaus Website

Augustiner am Platzl

Augustiner has a number of locations throughout the city that participated in the event. One of the most convenient locations is their restaurant located as well on the Platzl square, right across the street from the Hofbräuhaus. They were full for dinner reservations on Saturday night, but we managed to visit on Sunday at opening and there was no line (those waiting around to get in at 11 were in line for Hofbräuhaus). They also have some tables outside on the street if you don’t wish to dine inside. Since we were alone and it was pretty cold out, we opted for an inside table.

Orlandostr. 5 – Augustiner am Platzl Website

Löwenbräukeller Am Stiglmaierplatz

Löwenbräu is one of the hosts of the Oktoberfest, and their main wirtshaus at Löwenbräukeller Am Stiglmaierplatz, is one of Munich’s most famous beer gardens. Even when it’s not Oktoberfest, you should visit the main wirtshaus.

Nymphenburger Straße 2 – Löwenbräukeller Am Stiglmaierplatz Website

Paulaner am Nockherberg

Paulaner am Nockherberg offers a special treat. Not only is this a large beer garden, but there is a brewery onsite, so the beer is especially fresh.

Hochstraße 77 – Paulaner am Nockherberg Website

Spatenhaus an der Oper

The Spatenhaus an der Oper is located on the Opera House Square, and is more a restaurant than a brauhaus. Though definitely still with a Wiesn vibe. Along with the Spaten Oktoberfest beer, we had some excellent Bavarian dishes. This was the only place we visited where we were able to find the Bavarian Cream dessert, which was excellent! They were pretty full, but tables were all spread apart and plastic dividers between each. People were respectful, and everyone wore their masks getting up to use the bathroom—even those who had been obviously celebrating for quite a few hours.

Residenzstraße 12 – Spatenhaus an der Oper Website

Der Pschorr

Der Pschorr is the large Hacker-Pschorr beer hall and Bavarian food restaurant located on the Viktualienmarkt in Munich center. They focus on locally-sourced food from the nearby region, along with fresh beer tapped direct from the barrel.

Viktualienmarkt 15 – Der Pschorr Website

Schneider Bräuhaus

While not one of the six official Oktoberfest breweries, Schneider Weisse is one of the best Bavarian Weissbier producers out there. And one of our favorite things about this brauhaus is that it opens early, 8AM, for breakfast. This central location is the perfect place for an early morning weisswurst, pretzel, and weizen. It was definitely a different experience than usual though. Gone were the baskets of pretzels on each table and the communal Bavarian mustard containers. Utensils came individually wrapped.

Tal 7 – Schneider Bräuhaus Website

For full information about the WirtshausWiesn, including lists of all 54 locations that participated, visit the home page of Oktoberfest. We hope that next year’s full Oktoberfest will be back on. However, if it’s not, we suspect there will be WirtshausWiesn 2021! Note: In May, 2021, it was announce that Oktoberfest will be cancelled again in 2021. There are no plans at this time for a replacement WirtshausWiesn 2021.

Long-awaited beer released by lambic producers and blenders such as Antidoot, Cantillon, 3 Fonteinen, Tilquin, and Bokke had to be moved online, or were even limited to local Belgian customers only. And events such as Cantillon’s Quintessence and the Night of the Great Thirst were postponed, with Quintessence being moved into 2021 and the Night of the Great Thirst currently being scheduled for September 11. Other events such as 3 Fonteinen’s Lambik Tastings from March and June have also been moved into September, surrounding this year’s Open Beer Days, while the BXL Fest scheduled for August has been cancelled for 2020 (though the Exclusive Beer Packs will still be released and will be available for pickup at Moeder Lambic Fontainas after August 24, 2020.

The fate of Cantillon’s Zwanze Day 2020 is still up in the air, with a final announcement expected by August as to whether there will be an event this year at all, and if so, will it be able to be organized globally or just more localized in Brussels or in Europe.

However, all is not lost for the lambic lover in Europe. Over the past month, restrictions have started to loosen, and many producers and blenders are now able to open their doors again for sales, and now even for tasting. Unfortunately, it is not quite as free and easy as it was before the pandemic. Hours are more restrictive than they were in the past, and reservations are required to visit some locations. If you are lucky enough to be able to get to Europe this summer, here’s some helpful information for planning your visits.

Cantillon Brewery/Brussels Museum of the Gueuze

On May 11, Cantillon reopened the doors of their shop for takeaway only on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, which until June 15 meant for Belgian customers only as the borders were closed between Belgium and the rest of Europe until then. As from June 20, Cantillon has also reopened their bar and the Museum of the Gueuze on Saturdays only, however reservations are required. Tours and the bar both start at 11AM, bar reservations can be made by email to info@cantillon.be, and tours can be booked on the Cantillon Website. The bar closes at 5PM, with the last orders at 4:15 PM.

I visited Cantillon for takeaway on Friday, June 26, and also the bar on Saturday, July 4. There was an excellent selection of bottles available for take away. the bottle list for on-site consumption on the 4th was nothing short of outstanding. the new upstairs bar area is set up for customers. There is adequate space for social distancing and a maximum of 10 persons per table.

Cantillon does still recognize the social aspect of a visit to Cantillon. You are still allowed to share bottles with others, as long as you use clean glasses and limit the movement around the bar area. If your group does grow, they will also accommodate with a larger table (if available) to help limit the need to walk or pass bottles between tables. They require the use of a mask when you are not seated at your table, and request that only one customer walks up to the bar at a time to order.

Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen and lambik-O-droom

Also on May 11, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen reopened their shop in Lot, again, at first only possible for customers within Belgium to Visit. As from Friday, June 12, the lambik-O-droom has also reopened for on-site consumption. The lambik-O-droom is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 12 Noon until 8:00 PM. Guidelines for visiting, as well as the current offerings available for on-site consumption, can be found on their website, however their on-site beer list is not always up to date, so you’ll want to scan the QR Code on your table to access the latest menu.

I visited the lambik-O-droom on Friday, June 26, and found it to also be quite well organized. Seating was only available outside on the grounds but it was covered and there was plenty of seating for a group (up to 10 people) to sit together and share. The beer selection was outstanding, with a number of the Twist of Fate (Spelling van het Lot) beers that would have been released in May being available for on-site consumption. Packs were also available for sale in the shop, with the same basic packs that were also made available on the webshop, as well as individual bottle sales.

Gueuzerie Tilquin

Gueuzerie Tilquin reopened their shop on June 6, and the shop and taproom are currently open on Saturdays from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM, though they will be closed from July 15 to August 15. Tilquin has a number of interesting packs available for purchase, including their recently released Grape Lambic packs, with Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Riesling lambics.

Visting a Belgian Lambic Tasting Room This Summer

We recognize this is a very unique time in the world right now, and our American readers cannot visit Europe under the current travel restrictions and ban. We are not advocating putting yourself at risk to travel, and we wholeheartedly believe in wearing a mask, and social distancing is still the best course of action. Our new cases in the Netherlands are minimal and some rules have relaxed even further as of July 1, 2020. We also drove to the brewery in our private vehicle and took proper precautions. We suggest following the regulations for the location where you live in Europe and adhere to all the rules that each brewery asks you to abide by. As the situation with COVID-19 is ever-changing, we also recommend you confirm the locations are open as you plan your potential visit to any Belgian brewery right now.