L'Ermitage Nano Brasserie, Brussels

After arriving at Brussels Midi station by Eurostar train from London on Friday 22 March 2019, it was only ten minutes walk, via Place Bara, to L'Ermitage Nano Brasserie, 26 Rue Lambert Crickx.

Simon at the street entrance to Brasserie de l'Ermitage

The A-frame blackboard outside advises that the brewery's tasting room is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 14h to 22h. It was now 14.20 so we had arrived at a good time!

There are barrels for aging beer in the entrance hallway and the entrance to the tasting room is on the right.

There are eleven taps at the bar with two reserved for guest beers. All the beers have the same pricing structure: 12.5cl (taster) 1.80 euros, 33cl (thirsty) 3.50 euros, 50 cl (raging thirst) 5 euros. It is also possible to choose a flight of four tasters for 7 euros.

As this was our first beer of the day we chose 'thirsty' size glasses. I enjoyed the 4.5% ABV Soleil session wheat ale, one of the four permanent beers. Simon enjoyed his Nacimilien d'Autriche a hazy pale ale hopped with Enigma and Vic Secret. 

The decor is quirky with colourful hand painted murals, filament light bulbs, repurposed wooden pallets and keykegs. Some handmade table surfaces are uneven so care is needed with glass positioning, an issue that might be resolved by providing beermats.

The windows which run the full length and height of the room let in plenty of natural light. There are glass pots with candles and succulents on the tables. 

There are two free-to-play perspex topped box ball games where the purpose is to change the slope of the box to position the free silver balls into holes.

#UllageOnTour

This was a good place to leave a copy of Ullage, the West Berkshire CAMRA magazine, to increase awareness of Berkshire's cidermakers and breweries.

We looked inside the modern brewery, on the other side of the entrance hallway, before leaving. The music playing here was different to the music playing in the taproom.

Continuing east along Rue Lambert Crickx, to check in at our hotel, we noticed the distinctive artwork on the window of the brewery frontage next to the brewery courtyard entrance. 
We hoped to return to the brewery but did not have another opportunity over the weekend so this will have to wait until a later trip.