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| Zennebar is the Brasserie de la Senne taproom near Tour & Taxis. Mike, Rich, Pat & Jeff in foreground. |
There are plenty of Brussels taprooms to visit including Cantillon, L'Ermitage and Brussels Beer Project but note that many are only open for limited hours. While some have closed (En Stoemelings, No Science), there are also some recent additions (de la Mule - 2021, Surrealiste - 2021). To avoid disappointment, it makes sense to check that a taproom will be open before visiting.
During a long weekend visit to Brussels (Thursday 6 - Sunday 9 March 2025), five members of a pub quiz team, usually at the Lion in Newbury on a Thursday, visited three contrasting brewery taprooms, starting with Brasserie Surrealiste, early on the Friday evening, before a meal at
In't Spinnekopke.
Brasserie Surrealiste
Setting a very high bar, the
Brasserie Surrealiste taproom in the Dansaert district could easily be mistaken for an exclusive restaurant. The bar and restaurant at 22 Place du Nouveau Marche au Grains, faces an attractive tree lined square. The impressive Art Deco building from 1932 was once a banana warehouse. There's a glazed entrance area with seating and tables, for adults only.
Inside, the higher main area is mainly restaurant tables but there are also stools at the bar and some tables for bar customers which do not need reservations. There are ornate chandeliers and a variety of candles provide additional light.
Taproom customers order and pay at the long bar, towards the back of the space. During the daily happy hour (5pm - 7pm), house beers are served in 40cl measures for the 25cl price. The timing of our visit was superb!
Our order of draught house beers included Dance Rave Dance (Session IPA) and Surrealiste Pale Ale both priced at €4.50. The menu on a clipboard mentions that Flights of three 12.5cl draught house beers for €10 can be ordered before 7pm. The Happy Hour offer does not apply to the barrel aged beers e.g. Baltic Porter 8.5% ABV aged for 18 months in Pinot Noir barrels (25cl €7).
Congratulations go to Brasserie Surrealiste for offering their quality beers at affordable prices in such a special taproom.
La Source Beer Co.
After a Saturday visit to the Atomium, we broke the return Metro journey to Brussels at Pannenhuis and walked from there to the warehouse style building once used for Byrrh vermouth.
It has been repurposed as
Be-Here and now houses a variety of small businesses, a roller skating circuit and La Source Beer Co..
We had timed our arrival at
La Source Beer Co for soon after the 2pm Saturday opening time but there was a delay at the bar due to payment equipment issues. This allowed time to look at some of the other outlets including a Bio-market selling produce and beers from local breweries. xx
When the bar was operational we chose beers listed on strips of blackboard behind the bar.
This 25cl serving of
La Meute (6.5% ABV) Tropical Hazy IPA, hopped with Mosaic Cryo, Eldorado and Sorachi Ace (BE) was refreshing and cost €4.30.
The light and airy taproom features a mixture of seating options, green plants and a table football game. We might have stayed longer and tried some more La Source beers but the loud heavy metal soundtrack was not ideal and we could not find any suitable lunchtime meals.
Brasserie de la Senne - Zennebar
An interesting walk to Brasserie de la Senne included a stop at Boulangerie Patisserie Bockstael for freshly prepared half baguette 'sandwiches', eaten from a bench with a view of a sculpture of
Alexander Pushkin by Georgy Frangulyan. The route was then over the
Jubilee bridge, marked by twin towers at each end and then following a path along the route of an old railway line through
Park Tour & Taxis and past an
obelisk for the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Arriving at
Zennebar, the Brasserie de la Senne Taproom, we found it busier in the garden on the north west side than inside, on a relatively warm day. The bar system relies on customers ordering and paying at one end of the bar and then collecting beers at the other end by the beer fonts.
We picked a table, made from a cable drum, placed conveniently underneath a beer menu on a blackboard.
This position looks back at the bar and up to a mezzanine floor with oak barrels. xx
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| Petit Boulba + Jambe-de-Bois |
Eoghan Walsh described Petit Boulba as 'a properly pintable beer' in a blog post for
Brussels Beer City. Although lower strength (2.8% ABV) than Taras Boulba (4.5%) it was more expensive here (€3.00 v €2.50 for 25cl). Nevertheless it was an ideal opportunity to try it and decide that my next beer would be Jambe-de-Bois, a Belgian Tripel with more strength and sweetness! (€4.30 for 33cl).
Our order of draught house beers included Dance Rave Dance (Session IPA) and Surrealiste Pale Ale both priced at €4.50. The menu on a clipboard mentions that Flights of three 12.5cl draught house beers for €10 can be ordered before 7pm. The Happy Hour offer does not apply to the barrel aged beers e.g. Baltic Porter 8.5% ABV aged for 18 months in Pinot Noir barrels (25cl €7).
