Heading to the brewery of a world-famous beer in Belgium with a group of great friends—it’s hard to beat that for what to do on a Monday.

After Amsterdam, we took a pleasant train ride through the countryside to Ghent, a medieval-meets-modern city in Belgium. We met up with our friends Lisa and Kalpin here and spent a wonderful half-day visiting the home of Delirium, the best beer in the world.

About the Brewery

The brewery is actually called Brewery Huyghe, named after the family that took over the brewery (originally from the 17th century) at the start of the 20th century. They still own and run the brewery to this day, and it was interesting to see how a family-run business like this has made such an international splash—markets in the US, UK, and Mexico, among other countries, buy a significant portion of their product. Their signature beer, Delirium Tremens, was named the Best Beer in the World in 1998, which probably contributed significantly to its international fame. (It’s also our friend Cody’s favorite beer!)

Tours require at least 15 people and cost 8 euros per person; if you have a smaller group, you can either join another group or pay 80 euro for a private tour. We emailed the brewery about joining another group, and that worked out for us. Check their webpage for more information about tours and reservations.

The tour includes a guide visit through the brewery and an hour of unlimited beer tasting at the end!

How to Get There

Brewery Huyghe is located in Melle, a small town outside of Ghent. It’s only a 10-minute train ride from Ghent’s central train station. Roundtrip cost 4.50 euro, and trains leave twice hourly. Then it’s about another 10-minute walk from the station to the brewery.

Overall, Belgium has a really good train system with frequent and affordable connections among the major cities, so I imagine it wouldn’t be hard to visit the brewery even if you were staying in another town. You would just have to get to Ghent first, then transfer to the train for Melle.

What to Expect

The tour starts with a short video about the brewery’s history, and then you’re guided through the actual brewery to learn about how their beer is made. I had some trouble hearing our guide because of the loud machinery making a lot of noise, but it was still pretty cool to see all the behind-the-scenes action.

In particular, I enjoyed seeing the production line where they fill, cap, and package the bottles.

After the tour comes the best part—the “degustation” as our guide said, but better known as the unlimited beer tasting. They had a few beers on tap, including the Delirium Tremens, and then pretty much any of their other beers were also available in bottles. Our group’s overall favorite was definitely the Delirium Christmas—it just makes you want to put on a big comfy sweater and sit in front of a roaring fire!

So moral of the story is that at 8 euros, you can’t afford not to visit the Delirium brewery.