Bruges/ Brugge
 

What are your favorite breweries in Belgium? Also I've heard that there are some monastaries in Belgium that are still making beer and that allow visitors. Does anyone know of these??
Ronald John Saunders

My favourite beer of all time, ever, anywhere, is Palm Speciale, [a light brown ale] from the Palm brewery (!) near Brussel. Another favourite is de Koninck, much darker & hoppier, also from Brussel.
A Brugge brewery I like is Maes, who produce a light, crisp pils, great for daytime drinking.
A number of monasteries produce beer, I think 7, but some more allow their name to be used by big breweries. These are labelled as Abdij bieren (Abbey beers) while those bottled at source are Trappisten Bieren or Monicken Bieren (Trappist beers or Monks' beers). to be honest, there's not a lot to choose between them, but my personal faves are Leffe Brun (an Abdij beer) and Chimay (singel, dubbel or trippel) Visit www.chimay.be for details

Although I'm Belgian I don't like beer. Sorry! My friends do love it, though. They say the absolute best abbey beer is Westvleteren Trappist. This beer is sold exclusively in the abbey and due to its limited production the max. that you're allowed to take home is (if I recall well) 1 crate per car! Unfortunately the monks don't allow visitors in their abbey.
Here's their website:
http://www.sintsixtus.be/eng/index2.html

There are indeed a number of breweries that can be visited, not necessarily monasteries though.
Here's a short list:
<b>Brouwerij De Koninck</b> (which, by the way, is not in Brussels as stated by the previous poster - it's the <i>pride of Antwerp</i>!) http://www.dekoninck.be/
<b>Brasserie d'Achouffe</b> http://www.achouffe.be
<b>Brouwerij Palm</b> http://www.rodenbach.be/
<b>Brouwerij Duvel</b> http://www.duvel.be/
<b>Abbaye du Val-Dieu</b> http://www.val-dieu.com/
<b>Abbaye de Chimay</b> http://www.chimay.com/

Hope this helps.

On monastery brew tours you'll learn that medieval monks drank gallons of beer a day, thus helping these oft cloistered pious types to pray and meditate most of the day! Beware these monk-brewed concoctions are extremely potent - can be in double figures as to alcohol content!

That's correct. Upto 12% vol. alcohol!

My favorite beer is a red flemish (sour) ale called Duchesse de Bourgogne from Verhaeghe in Vichte...not sure if they allow tours or not. You might enjoy reading about some Belgian brews/breweries from beern hunter Michael Jackson:

http://www.beerhunter.com/beerhunting.html