How many Belgian Breweries are there?
That’s a tricky question, because the situation is constantly changing – new breweries spring up, old ones cease operation, but some former brewing sites are simply used for maturation or storage – can they still be classed as a brewery? You’ll find a list in Tim Webb’s book on the books page but of course things have changed even since the latest edition went to press. Some sterling work has been done by Casimir Elsen, Filip Geerts and others on the Belgian beers discussion group, and the consensus (as at November 2005) was that there were 127 actual breweries. Zythos (the Begian equivalent to CAMRA) keeps a definitive list up-to-date at http://www.zythos.be/acties/actie-bierfirma/brouwerijen.htm For convenience here’s a version of the list (with acknowledgement to those who compiled it) with a few extra comments added here and there, but for if you need current information on telephone numbers etc you should check the Zythos site or the brewery’s own website. There’s another very goo
