The Bascule in Bellingen
You can hear the rolling Pajotse dialect at the bar, but also sharp American at the table or unintelligible Chinese on the terrace. Because they come from far, from very far to taste lambic beer.
"The richer the lambic flows, the straighter the stories."
Nowhere does lambic beer taste better than here, overlooking the Pajot countryside while the walls above the wood paneling tell the history of the region. Some thirty Oude Geuzes and Oude Krieken adorn the menu, as well as a host of regional beers and lambic on tap.
And the showpiece of the interior is an old measuring instrument, part of the bascule where grain and beets were weighed before being loaded onto the train until late last century. Farmers gathered in the pub after delivery. The richer the lambic flowed then, the more punishing the stories.
On the pub floor
"The café is about 120 years old, so there are plenty of stories to tell. But it never gets as punishing as it did during World War II," says café owner and Geuze steiner Jef Koolen. "A mine on the railroad line sent a passing train flying into the air. All the wounded and dead were laid on the café floor here. And a plane even crashed in the garden. These are old stories, I don't always know the ins and outs of them either, but they still crop up from time to time."
Metal in the Pajottenland
Another person who pops up from time to time is fellow villager Jeroen Camerlynck. The frontman of De Fanfaar and metal band Fleddy Melculy lives just a stone's throw away. Paul Severs was also a welcome regular. How rock 'n roll can lambic be?
Lambic barrels in the cellar
Together with brewer Koen Christiaens, Jef also set to work on a lambic beer. In 2023, the first batch of the beer Oude Geuze Bascule was a success: of 2,500 75cl bottles, only 700 were left after three weeks! However, Jef simply wanted to revive an old tradition. After all, cafes used to bottle lambic out of necessity. A cut barrel of lambic would otherwise just sour anyway. He had given the barrels of lambic in the cellar time to mature. After three years, they could mix old and young lambic, bottle it and let it mature.
If you would like to taste an Oude Geuze Bascule, you'd better hurry because in September 2025, Jef will release another limited edition of the beer.
Other pubs with character
Fancy discovering even more lambic pubs? The Pajottenland and Zenne Valley are full of authentic addresses where traditionally brewed lambic beer tastes best. A selection of what's on offer, by municipality:
Halle & boroughs
Pepingen
Lennik
Sint-Pieters-Leeuw
Pajottegem
Huizingen (Beersel)
