The outskirts of town east of the historic city of Halle, a rail hub with 35,000 inhabitants about ten miles south of Brussels, has a new lambic beer-focused cafe.

Cafe De Kluis, at Nachtegaalstraat 128, Buizingen, opened this spring. De Kluis (“The Cloister”) has a good beer list, and focuses on the lambic, geuze, and kriek beers of Belgium. They usually have a lambic beer on draft or bag-in-box, and have poured Boon, Girardin, and Oud Beersel since opening.

Prices are very reasonable, as you can see from the beer board for Oude Geuze. The cafe is also well-decorated with lambic breweriana on the inside and out, with a fine selection of old glassware. It is a cozy place to drink.

There were five draft beers during my visit Sunday, 10 November, including La Chouffe and Kriek Boon. De Kluis also stocks Orval and Westmalle if you need a break from the lambics. Though, why you would, I don’t know. 🙂 Well, maybe an Orval in between a few lambics and Oude Geuze would be a good palate cleanser. A really good palate cleanser.

Along with Johan Madalijns and Wim de Kelver of De Lambiekstoempers, we savored and Oud Beersel Lambic before moving on to a 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze. Great visit.

Cafe De Kluis is open from 11 am to 11 pm Monday to Friday, 11 am to 8 pm on Saturdays, and 11 am to 11 pm on Sundays. That makes it one of the few lambic cafes that is open seven days a week in the Payottenland and Zenne Valley. Get there.