Going to Belgium -- what's the best brewery tour there?

We did the Abbey beer tour on our own, it's fairly easy to do. We limited our tour to the Flemish speaking side because our French is not good enough to converse. We started in the north with Westmalle where they have a large tavern for the tourists and ended up with the best abbey in Westvleetern. We actually rang the abbey door bell and got to chat with the monks. We think of it as our own holy grail tour.

Regardless of how you end up to tour the breweries, you should try to make it to Westvleetern. Make an appointment ahead of time to buy their beer.http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...eer-usat_x.htm
www.sintsixtus.be/eng/index2.html

There's no shortage of breweries to tour in Belgium but two we can recommend are
1. Cantillon. www.cantillon.be Can't beat it for convenience as it's in Brussels (although at the edge) plus it produces a very good beer with a distinct taste and one that you can't find that easily. Anyone who's going to be in Brussels in November might enjoy their public brewing event on Nov. 10 when you can spend an entire day enjoying the complete brewing process. But you have to be an early bird--it starts at 6:30 am!
2. Maredsous. www.maredsous.be Beer AND cheese made by monks, although the Duvel company now oversees some of the beer end of things. Nice to combine a visit to the abbey with a stop at the pretty Jardins d'Annevoie nearby. Near Namur. Best visited with a car, but you can get to the brewery via bus from Namur's train station.

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