Belgian beer raises its annual Brussels toast with more than 500 varieties

Brussels’ Grand Place has become a vast beer hall for the 26th Belgian Beer Weekend, where up to 57 breweries are serving more than 500 varieties of Belgium’s best-known drink.

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This beer festival is very particular, not like Oktoberfest in Munich.

The festival runs from Friday through Sunday, bringing together enthusiasts and tourists alongside brewers, business owners and industry customers. The selection ranges from bitter to sweet, blond to dark, and highly fermented to lighter styles. Some beers carry fruit or chocolate flavours.

The gathering includes small craft producers and global brewing giant AB InBev, whose brands include Stella Artois and Corona. Delirium, another widely recognised Belgian label, has taken its pink elephant emblem to more than 100 countries.

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We brought the beer a few months ago and people queued for two hours to drink Delirium on tap, because it was the first time Delirium had been on tap in Buenos Aires.

For Stijn De Neve, Delirium’s export director, the Brussels festival serves a different purpose from Munich’s Oktoberfest. He attended with business customers from Argentina, where his beer had recently been served on tap in Buenos Aires for the first time. “We brought the beer a few months ago and people queued for two hours to drink Delirium on tap,” he told EFE.

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Here we have Trappist beers, fruit beers and lagers, all made, of course, by people from Belgium. So we come to taste them so we can take them to Mexico.

Mexican beer communicator Miguel Mata also came to taste Belgian styles for his social-media audience and potential promotion in Mexico. A delegation from Cervelló, near Barcelona, attended for ideas for its own beer fair. Mayor Montse Canas said the local event focuses on craft beer, while Brussels offers a broad mix and a way for people to talk and build community.

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It is also a way for people to interact, chat and build community.