How to plan a walking tour of Lille, France's beer capital

Take a journey through the rich history of beer culture in Lille, where brewing traditions of the past meet innovative modern institutions.

Beer can get personal in Lille. Many local brewers have great-grandparents who worked in the large breweries of the past — a heritage that dates all the way back to the city’s Flemish roots. Lille continued to be the home of beer-making in France until the world wars, when commercial production stopped; it remained almost completely wiped out until about 20 years ago. 

However, the passion for beer never really left. Over the past two decades, a new generation of brewers has been reviving Lille’s beer scene. Today, there are more than 30 microbreweries in and around the city, many of which prefer to stay small and experiment with styles of beer outside the traditional. 

This walking itinerary takes you through Lille’s beer landscape, from visiting its Flemish past to meeting innovative modern brewers. Enthusiasts should come in September around the time of the annual  Bière a Lille , a week-long festival that promotes the Hauts-de-France region’s brewing culture through tastings and other events. 

1. Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille Cathedral

Get your bearings at this national monument. The cathedral itself is magnificent, but it’s not the focus here: around the perimeter of the square, a row of Flemish houses hints at Lille’s history. While Flanders only controlled Northern France for about a century, its cultural influence is still strong in this border region — the love of good beer being a classic case in point.  cathedralelille.fr

2. La Capsule

Considered one of best beer bars in France, this trendy corner space is the perfect place for an introduction to beers from Lille and the surrounding region. Just around the corner from the cathedral, it offers 28 beers on tap and more than 100 by the bottle. The most popular is the Belgian blonde, but for something different, just ask the friendly staff for a recommendation.  bar-la-capsule.fr

3. Bierbuik 

Feeling a little puckish? Right on the opposite end of Rue Doudin is Bierbuik, which translates to ‘beer belly’, one of the best modern Flemish brewpubs in town. Don’t let the pink decor fool you: the ever-changing house beers are nonchalant in style, sophisticated in taste and pair wonderfully with beer-friendly cuisine such as skewered meats and fries.  bierbuik.fr

4. Célestin   

Just a minute away, you’ll find the store of Célestin, one many microbreweries in Lille’s city centre. Its history dates back to 1740, when Célestin Cordonnier opened a brewery in nearby Haubourdin that was subsequently passed down through eight generations; after a 60-year hiatus, his descendant Amaury d'Herbigny decided to continue the family legacy. Today, the beers are brewed just down the alleyway — book online for a tasting tour.  celestinlille.fr

5. Klaxx Lab 

Walk further south via the Grand Place, the main square, and past the Column of the Goddess to discover a different kind of microbrewery. Klaxx Lab takes an experimental approach to Belgian-style beers that’s inspired by street art. The ‘Lab’, as the tap room is called, is just a step away from where the beers are brewed, and the team is always around to answer questions. Klaxx has limited opening hours, so check the website in advance for weekly updates.  klaxxbrewing.com

6. HEIN — Brique House 

Walk through the cobbled streets of old Lille towards Lille-Flandres train station, whose 19th-century facade was actually lifted off the face of Paris’ old Gare du Nord. If you’re hungry from all the beer tasting, Hein is the perfect stop for a feast. A taproom of the Brique House beer hall, it brews a signature beer, which is served alongside a menu of traditional northern French cuisine with a modern twist.  briquehouse.com

Did you know? In Lille, beer isn’t just for drinking: try the traditional dish carbonnade flamande , a stew of beef in a gravy of dark beer, served with gingerbread croutons and fries.

Published in the March 2023 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK)

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France’s Best-Kept Beer Secret: 48 Hours Drinking and Eating in Lille

France’s Best-Kept Beer Secret: 48 Hours Drinking and Eating in Lille

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I’m going to tell you about France’s best-kept secret.

When it comes to food and drink, we know France for many things: some of the best wine in the world, fantastic cheese, protected spirits like Champagne and Cognac, calvados, baguettes that you can get for one Euro, perfectly crisp and crackly croissants, Michelin star restaurants, and so much more.

The one thing that we rarely associate with France?

But Lille, France, changes everything you thought you knew about French craft beer.

Considered the “Beer Capital of France,” Lille, located just an hour’s train ride north of Paris , should not be overlooked.

On a recent trip to Europe, I visited this city of about 236,000 (1.2 million if you consider the entire metro area), most between the ages of 25 and 40, courtesy of Hello Lille .

Lille has a fascinating history. The last city Spain owned before ceding to France in 1668, Lille sits at the border of Belgium. With an exciting mix of Flemish, French, and Belgian, Lille reminds me of New Orleans, a city whose history includes French, Caribbean, Creole, and Cajun influences. Similarly, Lille benefits from its culmination of cultures.

Walking through old Lille, a collection of crisscrossing cobblestone streets, one can get lost as you zig-zag right and left, then left again. But you won’t be lost for too long. After only a half hour, I often passed shops twice, slowly mapping a way through the tangle of boutiques, little cafes with sidewalk tables, bakeries wafting smells of freshly baked brioche, and, of course, beer bars.

At its core, Lille seems a rebellious teenager in the French family.

Where Paris can feel stifling and often wary of visitors, Lille feels chill, cozy, and welcoming.

And where Paris flaunts wine, Lille touts beer.

It always has.

A Quick History of Beer in Lille

A rich heritage of beer in Lille dates back to the Middle Ages. “It’s absolutely a part of the character of the city,” Hello Lille’s Destination Promotion and Press Manager Sélic Lenne told me. Perhaps owing partly to its proximity to Belgium, a country whose beer history traces back centuries, Lille lives for beer.

Breweries like Motte Cordonnier , whose 370-year history makes it one of the oldest breweries in Northern France. Along with Célestin , another brewery that can trace its roots back to the sixteenth century.

In Lille, residents considered beer a daily part of life. “My grandparents used to drink a very low-alcohol beer at school,” Aurélie Baguet, co-founder of L’Échappée Bière , a beer event and tourism group in Lille, told me as she showed me around the city. Like other places in Europe, water wasn’t clean enough to drink then, so beer became a safe alternative.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Lille counted 2,000 breweries within the city and surrounding area.

But complications arose from brewing in Lille’s compact urban center. “It was noisy and complicated to deliver the beer,” says Baguet. “So years ago, they just went away.”

Plus, the growth of mass-market beers in the mid-1900s forced some of Lille’s oldest breweries to sell or stop brewing. Célestin sold its brewery in 1956 and Stella Artois bought Motte Cordonnier in 1970.

But today, Lille has been reclaiming its title as “The Beer Capital of France.”

“But now it’s different,” says Baguet. “[Beer] is coming back!”

henry motte co-founder motte cordonnier lille france

A Craft Beer Renaissance in Northern France

Baguet says she now counts 250 breweries in the region and thirty-five in the metropolitan city identified as “ héritage bière ,” an earned label that designates the brewery or beer bar as taking steps to welcome tourists.

“[Beer] is a part of the culture and has clearly shaped our culture,” she says. “It has become a real representation of our regional identity for French people. When French people come to Lillte … clearly, beer is a part of their trip. They know that here they are going to drink good craft beer. … Beer is everywhere!”

Moreover, within the last decade, the original families of both Motte Cordonnier and Célestin bought back or revived their breweries, starting from scratch and recreating a modern identity for their historic family breweries.

One might even venture to say Lille has started its own beer renaissance. And since we are American, we can’t resist a good craft beer revival.

Which means we had to check out Lille.

And after our visit, we’d go as far as to say Lille might just be the surprise beer city of 2023.

An influence from Belgium means we found plenty of Trappist-style ales like tripels along with blondes, oud bruins, and saisons.

But more modern creative takes abound. We encountered IPAs with yuzu, a farmhouse ale with pepper, and even a beer made with cigars!

A fierce devotion to locally grown products also means you’ll find IPAs with hops grown nearby and wild ales with local grains or foraged flowers.

But most of all, we found a warm, buzzy city dedicated to sharing beer around a table with good food, friends, and family.

Whatever it is, Lille might just be France’s best-kept secret.

So if you’re taking a trip to France, but you’re more interested in grains, yeast, and hops as opposed to grapes, consider hopping on one of the numerous daily trains running north from Paris, getting off in Lille, and wandering (or tripping) around the cobblestone streets, stumbling into tiny beer bars, unique cafes, and drinking in the history and the renaissance.

Don’t worry; we’ve done much of the work for you already.

Pro Tip: But if genuinely stymied, we highly suggest booking a tour with L’Échappée Bière , who will take you on a journey through Lille’s beer culture, local breweries, and beer bars, including beer and brewery tours, beer treasure hunts, visits, and beer tasting workshops.

First, How to Get There

It’s effortless. If you’re flying into Charles-de-Gaulle Airport in Paris, you can connect to the train station right from the airport and jet up north in under an hour.

As I texted my mom, “On the train now.” She replied, “Hope it was easy to find. Enjoy the ride.”

My response was, “Yup. Super easy, actually. I just followed the signs. 😃”

“In French??,” she responded.

“Ha, they were in French and English and had little train icons,” I noted.

Book your ticket through SNCF Connect . You’re looking for the TGV inOui Paris-Lille train. They run pretty much on the hour.

Getting Around Lille

Again, it’s super easy. This is a very walkable city. In total, the metro area is only about 34.8 sq km (~14 sq mi). But the area you’ll spend the most time in—Old Lille—is much smaller. In fact, with its narrow, bumpy roads, we’d recommend just hoofing it.

Although, Lille also has Uber, so you can get a little outside the city (to, say, one of our suggestions for dinner—Brique Land—about a ten-minute ride away).

There is also a metro system, but we didn’t need to use it during our visit.

Pro Tip: Worried about getting around on only English here? Don’t be! Everyone speaks at least some English, especially in the old city center. And the best part? They are very welcoming about it. I’ve been to Paris, and speaking English often causes one to throw me eye daggers. Not so in Lille. Although I did attempt some broken French phrases first: Je suis désolé, je ne parle pas français (I’m sorry, I don’t speak French). At which point they’d question English? Or just graciously switch over.

Friday: Welcome to Lille – The Beer Capital of France

You don’t have to follow in our footsteps (exactly), but here are our suggestions for where to stay and how to drink and eat around Lille in a little over forty-eight hours.

Mama Shelter Lille

97 Pl. Saint-Hubert, 59800 Lille, France | +33 3 59 82 72 72

mama shelter lille france

3:00 PM Where Mama loves you – So I should preface this by saying I traveled to Lille via Lisbon. I flew from San Francisco to Lisbon, spending two days getting acclimated in the Portuguese capital before taking a two-hour flight to Paris and a one-hour train to Lille.

But I imagine you’d want an excellent place to rest your weary body if you jetted right to Lille.

Think of Mama Shelter as the Moxy or Ace Hotel of Europe.

You’ll find video games and glass cases full of merch in the lobby. Every mirror, whether in an elevator or your room, includes vibrant graphics, making for the perfect Instagrammable moment.

mama shelter lille france

Mama has her homegrown touch on everything here. Besides the plush beds, rainfall shower, and incredible views of Lille, your room includes significant tiny touches. A pair of slippers encased in the words “Mama Loves You” with little hearts; face, hair, and body wash branded as “Mama Says Have It All”; local magazines on your nightstand.

Mama Shelter is the place to be in Lille and not just for tourists. The restaurant, bar, and terrace garden buzzed every time I passed by at night.

People come to this hotel when passing through, but locals also seem to come here to be seen.

I felt like Mama loved me within her four walls and encouraged me to get outside and enjoy Lille.

Tour the City Cobblestone by Cobblestone

the opera house and commerce building in the center of lille france

4:00 PM Get lost and found in the city – You’ll want to explore first and get acquainted. Head into the old city, where you’ll find iconic landmarks like the Lille Opera Building (Opéra de Lille) and the Chamber of Commerce, which sports a gorgeous clock tower.

Do a 360, glimpsing Parisian architecture from the nineteenth century on one side and Flemish on the other.

a statue of the goddess déesse lille, france

From there, head just one square over to the Grand-Place (Pl. du Général de Gaulle), where you’ll find a fountain with a statue of Déesse, a goddess who symbolizes the spirit of Lille, commemorating how the residents of Lille rose up against a siege of Austrian troops during the French Revolution. (Lille hosted the Rugby World Cup when I visited, so the statue touted a rugby ball!)

Afterward, I just picked a narrow cobblestone street and wandered down it. Which is how I found…

Aux Merveilleux de Fred

67 Rue de la Monnaie, 59800 Lille, France | +33 3 20 51 99 59 5 Pl. du Général de Gaulle, 59800 Lille, France | +33 3 20 57 34 54

aux merveilleux de fred bakery lille france

5:00 PM Eat dessert first – Aux Merveilleux de Fred has four locations around Lille (plus various others across Europe and even one that opened in New York City). Still, I recommend visiting one of the two in the old part of Lille.

Enchanted by the smell of sweet dough wafting out the open door, I wandered inside.

Something I learned about Lille is that many of the city’s bakeries stay open late, often close to 7 p.m. Will they be less stocked? Perhaps, but you’ll still find some temptations.

And at Aux Merveilleux people still appeared to be baking when I walked in. Here, you’ll find intricate puffs of different flavored pavlova that look like mounds of whipped cream.

cramique at aux merveilleux de fred lille france

But I went for the Cramique, a Belgian brioche loaf often found in Northern France (see how Lille uniquely mashes Belgian and French culture?). Studded with plump chocolate chips, the Cramique came to me hot.

I sat on one of the little sidewalk tables, tearing into the challah-like loaf.

Pure bliss and a great way to start my journey in Lille, even if that meant eating at a bakery at dinnertime. Hey, when in Lille!

25 Rue des trois Mollettes, 59800 Lille, France

le capsule lille france

6:00 PM Drink your first beer – More wandering brought me to this tiny corner beer bar. But don’t be fooled by the size; La Capsule packs in twenty-eight taps of primarily local beer.

While offering a few American styles like a double West Coast IPA, the beer bar also leaned heavily into Belgian styles like a kriek from Boon and a Belgian strong ale from Brasserie Dupont. But by far and away, French breweries feature predominantly here.

Check the large chalkboard behind the bar to see what’s on. Then, pull up to one of the elegant wooden high-top tables and let adventure take its course.

The couple next to me ordered a board of sliced meats and bread, deciding they wanted IPAs to pair.

I can get excellent IPAs in the U.S., so I went for one of the French beers: the Rye Amber Ale from Effet Papillon. The color of the crust of the Cramique I just ate, the rye beer drank like a bit of honied biscuit with raspberry jam, a little raisin, and a finish of toasted pumpernickel—a little on the sweet side but super smooth and malty.

Dinner: Mama Shelter’s Restaurant & Bar

mama shelter lille restaurant and bar

7:00 PM Eating under a chalkboard ceiling – Not going to lie, pretty tired from my travels, I finished the night at the restaurant and bar in my hotel, Mama Shelter.

The wackiness extends into the restaurant and bar, where you’ll find intricate drawings and phrases written in chalk on the ceiling; it’s like an avant-garde galaxy.

Most places in Lille feature Flemish food, a mix of hearty meat or fish-based stews, frites, mussels, and a beer-washed cheese called Maroilles (which I still have trouble pronouncing despite asking every single server I encountered how to say it).

Today, a lot of establishments like to bring their own inventive approach.

At Mama Shelter’s Restaurant & Bar, you’ll find traditional dishes like Carbonnade Flammande or Coquillettes with ham but turned on their head slightly.

It seems to hit home. I sat down at 7:00 pm, and within a half hour, people packed in—couples on date night, visitors, and after-work crowds.

A group table of seven guys ordered a bunch of wine, some beer, and a charcuterie platter, pulling out their own boule from someone’s bag to complement the assortment of meats. (BYOB—bring your own bread? 🤣)

mama shelter restaurant & bar lille france

I kept things simple: A cheese plate with a side of pea soup. Refreshingly simple but executed perfectly.

The soup arrived chilled with a nice earthiness from the legume. Hunks of haddock and hard-boiled egg dotted the bowl with a whisper of cooling mint.

The cheese board included twelve-month aged Comté AOP, Saint Félicien IGP, Tomme de Savoie IGP, and Tȇte de Moine AOP. All accompanied by an unassuming brown bread stuffed with little chunks of pillowy yet toothsome baguette.

With a wine, champagne, beer, and signature cocktail menu, Mama Shelter’s Restaurant & Bar is where you can park for the rest of the night.

And as I left to go upstairs and get some shut-eye, many people were.

Saturday: Beer, Food, More Beer

In truth, I spent Monday through Thursday in Lille, but I’d recommend going during the weekend if you can. Many places are closed on Monday, Tuesday, and sometimes even Sunday.

After a whole night’s rest, we’re gearing up to take you through your beery paces today, traipsing around Lille to drink at some fantastic breweries and beer bars and eat some trendy, inventive food with a nod to heritage.

Bakery: L’Ogre de Carrouselberg

17 Rue des Vieux Murs, 59800 Lille, France | +33 3 28 36 40 68

l'orge de carrouselberg lille france

9:30 AM Pastries almost too cute to eat…almost – Down a little alleyway…no seriously, this alley is different than all the others. Mainly because in it, you find two must-stop places to start your morning.

Known for its pastry called P’tit Pouchin (little chick), L’Ogre de Carrouselberg also stocks a gorgeous case of bejeweled pastries—domed tarts, honeycomb bee hives of towering whipped meringue pavlovas, uniform eclairs, and blossoming baba à la fraises.

l'ogre de carrouselberg p'tit pouchin and tamper! coffee lille france

I went for the P’tit Pouchin, whose crackly, sugary exterior gives way to plush cream inside.

You could just pick your way through, grab what you want, and sit on the sidewalk tables outside, eating your stolen crown jewels.

But to me, this is the move…walk just down to the next store to grab a coffee.

Coffee: Tamper!

10 Rue des Vieux Murs, 59800 Lille, France | +33 9 67 08 28 21

tamper! lille france

9:30 AM Best espresso we’ve had in a long time – Literally kitty-corner down the alley from the bakery mentioned above, you’ll find Tamper! Walk through the open white barnyard door into a little five-table-long coffee paradise.

Shelves of records sit behind a counter full of goodies like carrot cake, apple cake, cinnamon rolls, and buttery chocolate chip cookies that might fall apart if you pick them up the wrong way.

I just grabbed an espresso here, and it’s one of the best I’ve had all year, smelling of mocha and campfire—smooth, rich, and robust.

The shot of coffee paired perfectly with the almost too-sweet P’tit Pouchin. The brownie-thick liquid filled in the cracks and crevices in my brain, and dare we say, tamped down the sugary pastry.

But Tamper! also has a tempting breakfast menu—bread with local butter, granola, eggs in a hole, shakshuka, huevos rancheros, and French toast, among others.

Stroll and Shop Around Lille

lille france cobblestone streets

10:30 AM Find something unique – With a bit of the lay of the land after last night’s exploratory excursion, I thought I’d be able to navigate Lille. Maybe not yet, but just wander, stopping in any shop that fits your fancy.

That’s how I found Cabaïa, a backpack and travel bag shop on Pl. du Lion d’Or.

I’d been looking for a little backpack to help carry around all my stuff on my trip, and this place provided.

Or the Old Stock Exchange (La Vielle Bourse). Stop inside, and you’ll find people with tables set up sporting different wares like vinyl.

All along the walls of the open-air courtyard, you’ll see photos of important Lille figures. For instance, Louis Pasteur, who served as the dean of the science faculty at Université de Lille and who eventually discovered that yeast produced CO2 and alcohol in beer.

Lunch: Bierbuik

19 Rue Royale, 59000 Lille, France

bierbuik lille france

12:00 PM Like a gastropub in your neighbor’s house – One of my favorite places I visited in Lille, Bierbuik , is hard to miss.

Inside these bright pink walls, you’ll find Flemish food flipped on its head. All driven by the crazy mind of Florent Ladeyn, runner-up on the first season of Top Chef France.

Ladeyn grew up in the restaurant industry, taking over his parent’s restaurant, Auberge du Vert Mont, in the Lille area and turning it into a Michelin-starred establishment.

Bierbuik takes everything Ladeyn learned from fine dining—local produce, expert technique, exquisite service—but ditches the tweezers for fingers and replaces the wine list with craft beer he made on-site until two years ago when he moved operations because he needed more space.

“The idea here is to use one hundred percent local products, one hundred percent homemade products; it’s exactly the same product we’re going to serve you in the Michelin-star restaurant; the difference is the number of hours,” Ladeyn told me. Instead of spending two to three hours on a multi-course meal, over a casual lunchtime, we dig into twice-fried beef-fat frites with four different sauces—a hay-smoked mayo (my favorite), a green leek oil mayo, a beet ketchup, and a cheese sauce made of Maroilles, a local raw cow milk cheese brushed and cleaned with beer. You can’t miss it because “it smells really strong, like really strong,” laughs Ladeyn. At Bierbuik, Ladeyn layers the cheese with sour cream and warm milk to smooth it out to something less insane.

bierbuik frites

Even though Ladeyn doesn’t like cheese (“I shouldn’t say that too loud because I’m a French chef,” he jokes), the frites with Maroilles cheese sauce became a signature dish for him.

“It’s about street food,” he told me between bites. “You don’t have to think much about balance, about textures. It can be too hot, it can be too fatty, it can be too salty because it’s just about pleasure, eating with your fingers.”

And for Ladeyn, it’s more faithful to how he grew up around the table eating with family.

It’s why he proudly shows me his tattooed forearms, the left with a fork and the right a knife. “But not a chef’s knife,” he points out. No, it’s just a regular ol’ butter knife. “Because I love to go to the table,” he explains. “This is my memory of spending a lot of time with my grandparents. … All the memories I have with them are around the table.”

He continues, eyes sparkling, “I love what the table means—people being together, speaking together, enjoying a meal, sharing food. Beer [and food] bring people together. This is important and beautiful.”

Family and friends wind their way into many of Ladeyn’s beers and dishes. His cousin is a hop farmer, so he leverages local hops. “They’re not as funky or sexy as U.S. hops, but they are from here,” Ladeyn says. “We are always adding our local homemade spices and herbs, too.”

Like one of his house-made sour beers he shared with me called Glycine Municip’ale, made with the wisteria plant ( glycine in French) that he foraged from a cemetery on the French-Belgian border near his home. (He initially didn’t want to share the story with me because he technically harvested the flowers from the Belgian side of the border, “But I cannot lie!” he proclaimed.)

bierbuik founder florent ladeyn

Or his falafel dish, which includes lentils from a farmer at La ferme du Duneleet named Stephanie, who took over her parents’ farm, believing that farming should avoid using tractors because it turns the soil too much. “She puts in nothing, and she’s doing great,” Ladeyn told me. “These lentils, I make sprouts with water on top, then blend it with shallots and spices.”

The sausage for another dish isn’t homemade, but it comes from Ladeyn’s hometown butcher shop, now owned by a guy he played rugby with as a kid.

A dessert playfully called Afoingato ( foin is hay in French) includes hay ice cream and chicory, not coffee—because chicory is one hundred percent local.

But Ladeyn says the most popular dish is the Flammach, a flatbread made in the restaurant’s wood-fired oven using homemade sourdough and local flour fermented for seventy-two hours. The almost personal-sized pizza comes out with this perfectly springy dough that bounces back in your mouth like memory foam.

Beerwise, Ladeyn rarely brews a beer twice. When I visited, besides the Glycine Municip’ale, he told me about a black saison with fresh hay in the tanks, an amber beer with quinoa, and an upcoming grape ale with leftover grape skins and must from a friend whose regular day job is teaching, moonlighting as a vintner when on break.

bierbuik beer

Ladeyn’s approach sticks out in a region dedicated to older Belgian styles like tripels, oud bruins, and saisons. But it makes sense to him as he tries to represent terroir in Lille.

“If I say, okay, this is a white deer that my father just shot three days ago; these vegetables are done in permaculture with biodynamic farming and zero chemicals, and I made this toast with my own sweetbreads, and then I serve it to you with a beer from Denmark or Sweden, there’s no logic in this,” he says.

So yes, the local verbena he uses for a verbena Berliner Weisse might be five or six times more expensive, and the natural fruit he wants to put into a sour will cost more than a frozen puree, but “when you fight so much for a craft label, it should be crafted,” he exclaims.

These are the kinds of beers he makes. “If you ask me to brew an imperial coconut stout, I cannot do this,” he says. “When I brew, it’s always borderline. I brew juices like this—really light with wild yeast, so you don’t really know if you’re drinking a beer or something else.”

As I drained my glass of wisteria sour and licked the salty grease from the frites and Flammach off my fingers, Ladeyn got a text.

“That’s a reminder, I promised to get foraged hops,” he says.

If you go to only one place in Lille, make sure it’s Bierbuik.

120 Rue Esquermoise, 59800 Lille, France | +33 9 81 21 67 21

celestin founder armary d'herbigny

1:30 PM IPAs with yuzu, blonde ales with ten hops, a beer with cigars – A one-minute walk from Bierbuik, you’ll run into Célestin . And it could be the most surprising brewery in Lille.

On the outside, founder Armaury d’Herbigny appears like your neighbor down the street, a slightly older bespectacled man with salt and pepper hair in a blue quarter-zip sweater.

But inside d’Herbigny’s brain, it’s a wild, imaginative world.

First started in 1740 by d’Herbigny’s great-grandfather, Célestin survived until 1956 when the family sold the brewery. After a sixty-year hiatus, d’Herbigny decided to revive the ninth-generation brewery.

Today, d’Herbigny approaches beer with a gleam in his eye.

“I don’t brew classical beers,” d’Herbigny told me. “My IPA, for example, is not an IPA but an IPA with yuzu. My triple, it’s a triple but with coriander and pepper from South Africa.”

D’Herbigny calls his secret ingredient emotion.

“In general, in France, most of the breweries—like eighty percent—brew a blonde, an amber, a brown, sometimes an IPA, but very classical. I don’t want to do that,” he says.

Instead, you’ll find that aforementioned Hoppy Yuzu, the brewery’s second most popular beer.

And when he does brew a blonde ale, like the brewery’s most popular La Dix, it’s with ten different hops from the U.K., Germany, and the U.S. “I wanted to have a blonde with more complexity,” he told me.

It worked. The beer won best blonde beer in Hauts-de-France by the gastronomic guide Gault & Millau, a better version of the Michelin Guide, according to d’Herbigny.

Pale ales get dosed with ginger. Double IPAs find themselves blended with orange blossom.

And the beer in the tanks when I visited?

A base between a blonde and an amber resting with a cigar-infused rum and actual cigars in the fermenter.

D’Herbigny brewed the 9.5% ABV Havane a year ago, and it was such a big success, “I had to brew it again,” he says, noting that the idea for the beer came from his past working for a tobacco company. According to d’Herbigny’s internet search, this might be the first time a brewer has put cigars in a beer. “I don’t think it exists,” he says.

My favorite of all the beers I tasted was the Brute Gracieuse. “Do you understand brute gracieuse?” d’Herbigny asked me with a little smile. “It’s an oxymoron.”

Typing the phrase into Google Translate, he showed me that the name means “graceful brute.”

A stout barrel-aged in Sauternes and Porto barrels between six months and two years, Brute Gracieuse is not too strong, which d’Herbigny attributes to the barrel aging used to refine the beer instead of increase the booziness. “I love this one,” d’Herbigny shared.

However, when I asked him the beers he’s proudest of, he exclaimed, ”All of them!”

There are two ways to enjoy Célestin. D’Herbigny runs a beer shop on the corner of Rue de la Barre and Rue Esquermoise that you can pop into Tuesday through Saturday to buy bottles to go.

You’ll find an extensive collection of barrel-aged beers here too. D’Herbigny takes his best-selling blonde La Dix and ages it in all types of casks, including Condrieu (a white wine from the Southeast of France), Sauternes, Porto, Cognac, whiskey, bourbon, and more. Plus, he’ll add select ingredients like bergamot, pumpkin (citrouille in French), tonka beans, local honey (miel), or even an ingredient we couldn’t quite land on a word for in English—Quetsche (which translates to squeeze, so your guess is as good as mine. I thought maybe Quince, but the picture d’Herbigny showed me didn’t fit. If anyone knows, DM us on Instagram because it’s prickling my mind!).

The brewery itself lies not twenty paces down Rue Esquermoise. Inside, you’ll find a tiny taproom attached to the actual brewery.

D’Herbigny only opens the brewery on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., so if you want to drink beer here, plan accordingly.

But trust us, it’s totally worth it.

L’Abbaye Des Saveurs

13 Rue des Vieux Murs, 59000 Lille, France | +33 6 66 33 54 65

l'abbaye des saveurs lille france

3:00 PM A craft beer shop in Lille – Owned by the same folks that opened Le Capsule, L’Abbaye Des Saveurs reminds me of Covenhoven in Brooklyn. Walk in, stare in awe at the floor-to-ceiling shelves stuffed with bottles of local beer, pick out a few, take them outside to the tables on the sidewalk, pop the tops, and drink and watch the world go by.

Dinner: HEIN

13 Pl. Saint-Hubert, 59800 Lille, France | +33 3 20 47 53 83

hein lille france

5:00 PM Dinner at a modern Estaminet – What is an estaminet? It’s a question I asked several people over my time in Lille because it’s an integral part of the food culture there.

“It’s like an old coffee [house],” Lenne from Hello Lille told me. “In the nineteenth century, it was very popular because … at the time, there was no internet, television, or Netflix. Workers in the industry after the factory would go to an estaminet to drink, but you could also play cards and different games; you could smoke; you could sing together; it was a real social venue.”

Ladeyn at Bierbuik calls estaminets “the devil’s chapel.”

He says, “It was not only a bar or a restaurant; it was a place where you could do whatever you could not do somewhere else—drink, buy tobacco, etc.”

Although Lenne says you didn’t really eat at the old-school estaminets, today’s versions have chefs reinventing the tradition.

Bierbuik and Hein (a very tricky word for English speakers to pronounce; it comes out like “uh”) embody the new frontier of the estaminet.

Hein describes itself as a “UFO exploring the richness of the legendary products of the Northern region through a regressive, minimalist, and slightly reinvented cuisine.”

Taking up three floors of a glass building in a reasonably open square, Hein includes its own microbrewery and a beer wall with twenty taps.

hein

This contemporary estaminet is the place to be in Lille. Right by my hotel, whenever I came home at night, people packed the tables outside, buzzing with drinks and conversation as they bathed in the neon yellow glow of the enormous Hein sign in the window.

Inside, it’s almost like a quirky tavern with mismatched rug squares on the floor and bric-a-brac pinned to the walls—urns and pitchers of various sizes and shapes, a corner of eerie hunting scenes made out of yarn, and vintage posters.

Hip French music pipes through the speakers as I pass by tables, almost all adorned with a boat of frites and a beer. Of course, I had to order that along with a regional specialty, Maroilles of Fame, a tart with the famous regional cheese.

Like a quiche, the flaky crust encased a pungent but still delicious cheese mix. Perfect to wash down with one of the brewery’s beers, New Queen in Town, a citrusy American pale ale.

For the carnivores, you’ll be in heinven (?). Choose from dishes like Carbonade Flamande, a flemish beef stew made with Hein beer and accompanied by homemade fries, a cheeseburger, or a sandwich called Highway To Welsh with ham, beer cheddar, and frites.

Honestly, I’d park it here for the night, drink the beers on tap, and have yourself a Flemish feast.

Sunday: Waffles, Frites, Pizza, and, Of Course, Beer

Luckily, some of the best foods in Lille involve carbs, lots of carbs. So Sunday gave me time to soak up the extensive amount of strong beer I drank the previous two days.

Bakery: Méert

25-27 Rue Esquermoise, 59000 Lille, France | +33 3 20 57 07 44

meert bakery lille france

10:00 AM Like an adult candy store – A suggestion from Ladeyn at Bierbuik, Méert is like walking into the iconic London Harrod’s if the department store just made delicious sweet pastries.

An opulent emporium, Méert has impeccably dressed attendants on hand for your every need, guiding you to the superb pastries lying temptingly behind glass cases.

Almost a choose-your-own-adventure, you can head to the salon to sit down and dine, grab a pastry from the case in front of you, or move on to your right to the main attraction in a separate room—the waffle or gaufre in French.

Iconic to the city, gaufre isn’t your Denny’s version of a waffle. Two thin, chewy, wafer-like cookies sandwich various delicate creams.

You can choose from flavors like caramel and vanilla, raspberry, speculoos, and pistachio y griotte (which I didn’t know but learned later was like a sweet cherry).

Méert is a white-glove service bakery, so just accept it, and lap up every minute.

Lunch: Grand Scène

31 Rue de Béthune, 59800 Lille, France

grand scene food hall lille france

12:00 PM A French street food hall with grub from around the world – As we learned from Ladeyn, street food isn’t really a scene in Lille. But when Grand Scène Co-owners Marianne Barbier and Geoffroy Marticou opened this street food hall in June of 2020, they aimed to change that, creating a cultural community center in the heart of Lille.

And much like Ladeyn espouses how food and beer bring people together, Barbier and Marticou feel the same.

Spread over two levels with ten different food stalls and two bars featuring only local beer, Grand Scène spans cuisines worldwide but focuses on using ingredients sourced from the region.

“There’s nothing like this in Lille,” says Barbier, a business school graduate who fell in love with food after working for two and half years for a restaurant guide called Le Fooding. A five-year stint at a startup and then time working in a food court in Paris cemented Barbier’s plans.

As she and Grand Scène’s General Manager Joséphine Seth walked me from stall to stall, I could see the excitement build in their eyes and hear the pride in their voices.

And the vendors responded in kind to them. There’s a sort of unique kinship within Grand Scène’s walls. You might only notice it if you pay attention, which is hard considering you’re constantly diverted by a new delicious smell or someone walking by with a good-looking dish.

Like an orchestra for the senses, Grand Scène builds with a crescendo as you go from the first floor to the second.

On level one, you’ll find a bar along with a satellite location of Bierbuik; Bleuet, a new restaurant as of August with good street food; La Broche, who won a prize for Lille’s best-made kebab; and Moon, owned by the same brothers of La Broche, featuring an homage to Thai food.

“This is the first Moon restaurant; there is no other,” Seth explains to me, pointing out a series of postcards from Thailand plastered on the stall, a request of the owners asking fans to send in.

Upstairs, it’s culinary melee!

You’ll find Ataya, a pop-up focused on Middle Eastern food from Syrian couple Bassem and Reem Ataya. “They have lots of loyal customers because they have the best falafel in Lille,” says Seth. I can attest this is true.

grand scene ataya falafel bowl lille france

Kalimera features flavors of Greece like souvlaki wraps, while the Pimm’s bar offers the eponymous cocktail in a nod to the famous English drink.

Barbier says the most popular restaurant is The Flying Counter (Le Compteur Volant). A famous Lille food truck started by childhood friends Grégoire Chaignaud and César Toulemonde, Le Compteur Volant gained notoriety for its burgers. Homemade buns, high-quality meat, and locally sourced cheese make the difference in these meaty behemoths.

Although Barbier does admit that favorites sometimes depend on the moment of the year or time of day. “Of course, pizza works in the evenings, but at lunch, Le Compteur Volant is quite popular.”

The pizza she speaks of comes from Pizzou, which focuses exclusively on French ingredients in its pies. When I asked Barbier what type of pizza they make, she hedged, “Between Roman-style pizza and Neapolitan-style pizza. Not too tiny, but not too thick either. Maybe they make their own style!”

Regardless, they do it very well, proofing the dough for at least forty-eight hours in their little lab in a hidden corner of the food hall.

And, of course, there is La Guerita, one Barbier takes particular pride in. A women-owned restaurant focused on Mexican-inspired burritos, bowls, and even karaage chicken (“because she has a Japanese friend and they worked together to make the interesting recipe,” Seth told me) that opened first in Grand Scène two years ago, La Guerita went on to win an award from Gault & Millau and open its second location.

“This is a woman chef who opened her first restaurant here; she started here!” exclaims Barbier.

After telling Barbier and Seth I’m a vegetarian, they threw out a few suggestions. Ultimately, I went for the falafel plate from Ataya. But halfway through the meal, Barbier brought over perhaps one of my most delicious bites from my time in Lille.

From Bleuet, a homemade brioche toast included a mound of burrata, sun-dried tomatoes, pickled cauliflower and zucchini, and greens. (She also dropped off for dessert a divine rice pudding with stewed apricots and apricot jam.).

If you’re unsure what Lille is about, go to Grand Scène, and you’ll see. Families, students, young workers, and old couples sit together at tables, feasting on food made with local ingredients and sipping local beer.

Whatever you settle on at Grand Scène, you’re in for an epic treat.

Beer: La Mousse Touch’

19 Bd Jean-Baptiste Lebas, 59000 Lille, France | +33 9 71 57 43 09

la mousse touch'

2:00 PM Pub crawl a bit outside of town – Time to walk off an incredible lunch. A recommendation from Baguet at L’Échappée Bière, La Mousse Touch’ is a little bit outside of the old city center (about a twenty-five-minute walk) but worth a venture.

“It’s quite cool,” says Baguet. “They have good beer. It’s kind of an alternative place; they are really cool and trendy.”

Striking up a conversation with the bartender inside, he took me through each and every beer La Mousse Touch’ had on tap, a couple they made right on site. But I settled on something from a different local brewery. Grabbing the Brasserie du Pave Blonde, I snagged a sidewalk table and, like many moments in Lille, watched the world go by with a beer in hand.

Beer: Taste’n Brews

12 Pl. Jeanne d’Arc, 59000 Lille, France

3:30 PM Stop two – Another suggestion from Baguet, Taste’n Brews is just an eight-minute walk from La Mousse Touch’. Baguet says to go to this place if you’re looking for “crazy stuff, crazy beers.” According to Baguet, because the beers are so out there, it’s sometimes pretty empty when you go, but if you like incredible international beers, check out this place.

Dinner: Brique Land

Parking Halls de la Filature, 27 Rue Félix Faure, 59350 Saint-André-lez-Lille, France | +33 3 28 52 82 59

brique land lille france

5:00 PM Pizza + beer – Hop in an Uber for a fifteen-minute drive outside of town to Brique Land . Owned by the same company that runs Hein, Brique Land is a beer hall pairing together two timeless loves: pizza and beer .

You can hang out inside the hall or stroll out to the expansive backyard beer garden. Scan the QR code on your table, order and pay on your phone, and then sit back and wait for food to arrive without talking to anyone.

This place reminds me a bit of Roberta’s in Bushwick but with homemade beer.

brique land pizza and beer

The pizza impressed me. I ordered a white pie with truffle cream, mozzarella fior di latte, roquette, ricotta, parmesan, and truffle oil. You’d think the copious amount of varied cheese would clash here, but weirdly, they didn’t. You get a hit of the cool earthy, funky truffle cream and a zing from the sharp Parmesan curbed by peppery arugula and all smoothed over with mozzarella and a pillowy dough.

It’s one of the better pizzas I’ve had in a while!

I paired the pie with a blank-slate German pilsner called Mick Lager, but you’ll also find IPAs, sours, and the like. All brewed on site.

Grace Lee-Weitz

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beer tour lille

1. 1 Hour Private Lille Tour by Convertible 2CV with a Local Products Tasting

beer tour lille

2. Rallye "Discoveries and Surprises"

Keep the fun going with other experiences in the area.

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Afternoon tea in the Shabby Caravan

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Aperitif dinner in a bohemian caravan

Lille: beer tours information.

The Good Life France

Everything You Want to Know About France and More...

The sparkling Beer scene in Lille, northern France

  • Janine Marsh
  • Hauts-de-France

beer tour lille

Beer producers in the far north of France are revitalising the brewing industry, and in Lille micro-breweries have taken beer to new heights!

Is beer the new wine in France? If you go to Lille, the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, you will certainly be forgiven for thinking it is! The historic city has seen a rebirth of the beer-making industry over the last 20 years or so. But these new-breed micro-brewers aren’t just producing standard beers. They’re brewing new and exciting beers, experimental beers, sour beers, fruity beers, stout beer, blonde beer, old school IPAs, double IPAs, New England IPAs, American pale ale, lager, beers stored in whisky, Cognac and wine barrels and more. These new beers are having a ripple effect in the industry and the beer trend has spread throughout France.

The champagne of the north

Beer has been brewed in France for hundreds of years. But it’s due to French King Louis XIV that the culture of brewing in the north became so important. He ordered that beer imports from the Netherlands – which was at war with France – should cease, and northern France had to brew enough for French needs.

Until the 1990s beer was pretty much brewed in the traditional way in big breweries but the new micro-breweries are innovative, creative and sometimes playful with their mix. The new beers are all about brewing in an artisan way, there’s no algorithm for it, it’s about passion and experimenting and creating unique tastes. And the modern beers have found a whole new legion of fans.

There are more than 30 micro-breweries in Lille. Typically, there are just 3-4 people involved in the artisanal production process and they make around 1000hl (175,000 pints) per year – compared to companies like Heineken who make more than 1.5 million pints per day.

You’ll find an enormous choice of bars, breweries and bistros pairing beer and food in Lille…

Brewers feast – where to drink beer and eat in Lille

Best bars in lille.

beer tour lille

Le Capsule: Locals will tell you this is THE bar to go to for beer lovers. It’s the oldest bar and one of the most popular in this arty city that’s just teeming with bars. Beer and food pairing is a growing trend in France and at Le Capsule, they do a great charcuterie board to go with the many, many beers you can try.

Draft beers include French, International and Belgian plus there are local beer.  Sour beer, IPA, double IPA, stout, Pale Ale, American IPA, organic – they’ve got something to suit all beer tastes here. Choose a tasting glass if you want to try several – the staff here really know their beer. Don’t hesitate to ask them for help and they will provide tips and advice on the perfect beer for you. A real institution for beer lovers.

Knowledgeable staff, comfy chairs and an outstanding, constantly updated range of beers – what’s not to love. Bar-lacapsure.fr

beer tour lille

There’s a new breed of tap room in Lille – fun, quirky, funky with micro-breweries making new beers throughout the year and serving them with food that’s perfectly paired with beer. At micro-brewery Hein in the centre of Lille, the eclectic mix of granny kitsch, industrial chic and modern vibrant colours is eccentrically brilliant. Every two weeks they launch a new beer. If the customers like them they produce more! The menu features traditional northern dishes like carbonade flamande (beef cooked in beer) and chips.

Manager Loic Movellan says “Sure we make beer with hops and malt, but we also make beer using mango smoke, pepper and coffee, vanilla, raspberry, mint and lime. Our mission is to help people discover every type of beer, we want to democratise beer.”

This chain has three taprooms in Lille:  briquehouse.com

The brainchild of local boy and Top Chef champion Florent Layden – beer and local food that goes well with beer are on the menu at Bier Buik – but with an innovative approach. It’s a ‘new generation’ Estaminet, the Flemish word for an inn. Expect chips – with Maroilles, the local very stinky cheese, sauce, meat cooked over a wood fire, generous portions served with craft beers. You don’t reserve for this one, just turn up. Long tables where everyone sits together, and a vibrant night life scene with music and dancing – and beer! bierbuik.fr

Take a craft beer tasting tour, guided tour with a ‘beerologist’, and even a blind beer tasting treasure hunt with Echappée Bière . There are several ways to discover historic Lille and enjoy beer, including in an iconic 2CV.

Three brilliant Lille brewers

Brewbaix at roubaix.

beer tour lille

Brewer Jerome Gervais and his small team make beer in a big shed in the Roubaix district of Lille. His hugely popular innovative beers include meringues, chocolate and vanilla in the recipe! Jerome started out making beer as a hobby at home and people wanted more of his produce. Eventually it became a business and now has a three man team brewing twice a day. A keen cyclist, in the early days he pedalled a static bike to make power needed for the machinery! It certainly got him noticed and he became famous as the ‘cycling brewer’ when he was interviewed during famous Paris/Roubaix cycle coverage on TV.

Roubaix, home to the world famous La Piscine art deco swimming baths turned museum, is renowned for its recycling credentials. Jerome embodies this ethos, for instance using stale bread that boulangeries don’t want to make beer with. And donating all beer waste to local farmers. He also uses bigger bottles which can be recycled. An enterprising company has set up a collection service which supports all the local brewers and collects the big bottles, cleans, sterilises and returns them to the brewers to reuse. ‘Glass is going to become more and more expensive, it’s important that we don’t waste it’ he says.

He even recycles the big cardboard delivery trays, local schools use them for the kids to paint on. ‘I’m trying to think of a way to use my bike to power the machine that puts lids on bottles’ he grins ‘but it’s just an idea in my head right now!’ The re-cycling brewer who makes fabulous beer – it’s got legs!

Brasserie Cambier

beer tour lille

At Brasserie Cambier, you can go and watch the beer being brewed and relax at the tasting bar. Though production is on a more professional scale than at Brewbaix, they are also experimenting with ingredients such as elderflower. Jean-Christophe Cambier used to be a quality manager for a large German beer maker but had dreams to make beer with more personality.  ‘Palates are evolving and people want to try different types of beers’ he says.

There’s a fabulous tasting tap room on site in full view of the brewing equipment. Traditional beers the locals love are on offer, plus experimental beers that a new youth market of beer lovers adore. A local artist decorates the cans and bottles he uses, and he too recycles bottles. ‘Making beer is an art form’ he says, ‘like making cheese and cakes.’ You can also take a tour of the brewery (book in advance via the website). It’s great beer and a great ambiance in the tap room.  brasseriecambier.fr

Motte Cordonnier

beer tour lille

Motte Cordonier was a huge name in beer-making in France going back some 300 years. It was bought out by Belgian brewery Stella Artois in 1970. Now Henry Motte, grandson of the last of a long line of beer-makers is resurrecting the practice near the family’s old brewing premises in Armentières on the outskirts of Lille. 15 members of the family support the project which as much as possible uses local produce.

This is the second oldest brewery in France. If you walk round Lille you will be sure to see the star symbol of the company. The name of the beers reflect its history and those who played a part. Beer Emile is named after an employee who worked at the company for 50 years. Emile  is famous in Armentières! He started as a delivery driver and worked his way up to head of brewing. His grandson worked there for 48 years. Beer Camille is named after Henry’s great grandmother. Beer René is named for another family member. So many locals worked here over the years, there’s even a Facebook group of 600 members who all have links to the brewery. Henry has plans to open a small museum to showcase the mementoes he has collected over the years.

Production is not on a large scale – more artisan than in the past. The beers are very popular – from the traditional to more experimental which include ingredients such as ginger and yuzu, coffee and pepper. Every Friday, there’s a tasting session in the atmospheric warehouse where you can buy the beers.  bieresmottecordonnier.fr

More on Lille

Details for what to see and do in Lille: Lilletourism.com

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Take a journey through the rich history of beer culture in Lille, where brewing traditions of the past meet innovative modern institutions.

How to plan a walking tour of Lille, France's beer capital

In a country where wine is generally king, stroll around Lille for something different — this is France’s beer capital.

Beer can get personal in Lille. Many local brewers have great-grandparents who worked in the large breweries of the past — a heritage that dates all the way back to the city’s Flemish roots. Lille continued to be the home of beer-making in France until the world wars, when commercial production stopped; it remained almost completely wiped out until about 20 years ago.  

However, the passion for beer never really left. Over the past two decades, a new generation of brewers has been reviving Lille’s beer scene. Today, there are more than 30 microbreweries in and around the city, many of which prefer to stay small and experiment with styles of beer outside the traditional.  

This walking itinerary takes you through Lille’s beer landscape, from visiting its Flemish past to meeting innovative modern brewers. Enthusiasts should come in September around the time of the annual Bière a Lille , a week-long festival that promotes the Hauts-de-France region’s brewing culture through tastings and other events.  

1. Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille Cathedral

Get your bearings at this national monument. The cathedral itself is magnificent, but it’s not the focus here: around the perimeter of the square, a row of Flemish houses hints at Lille’s history. While Flanders only controlled Northern France for about a century, its cultural influence is still strong in this border region — the love of good beer being a classic case in point.  

2. La Capsule

Considered one of best beer bars in France, this trendy corner space is the perfect place for an introduction to beers from Lille and the surrounding region. Just around the corner from the cathedral, it offers 28 beers on tap and more than 100 by the bottle. The most popular is the Belgian blonde, but for something different, just ask the friendly staff for a recommendation.  

3. Bierbuik  

Feeling a little puckish? Right on the opposite end of Rue Doudin is Bierbuik, which translates to ‘beer belly’, one of the best modern Flemish brewpubs in town. Don’t let the pink decor fool you: the ever-changing house beers are nonchalant in style, sophisticated in taste and pair wonderfully with beer-friendly cuisine such as skewered meats and fries.  

4. Célestin    

Just a minute away, you’ll find the store of Célestin, one many microbreweries in Lille’s city centre. Its history dates back to 1740, when Célestin Cordonnier opened a brewery in nearby Haubourdin that was subsequently passed down through eight generations; after a 60-year hiatus, his descendant Amaury d'Herbigny decided to continue the family legacy. Today, the beers are brewed just down the alleyway — book online for a tasting tour.  

5. Klaxx Lab  

Walk further south via the Grand Place, the main square, and past the Column of the Goddess to discover a different kind of microbrewery. Klaxx Lab takes an experimental approach to Belgian-style beers that’s inspired by street art. The ‘Lab’, as the tap room is called, is just a step away from where the beers are brewed, and the team is always around to answer questions. Klaxx has limited opening hours, so check the website in advance for weekly updates.  

6. HEIN — Brique House

Walk through the cobbled streets of old Lille towards Lille-Flandres train station, whose 19th-century facade was actually lifted off the face of Paris’ old Gare du Nord. If you’re hungry from all the beer tasting, Hein is the perfect stop for a feast. A taproom of the Brique House beer hall, it brews a signature beer, which is served alongside a menu of traditional northern French cuisine with a modern twist.  

Did you know? In Lille, beer isn’t just for drinking: try the traditional dish carbonnade flamande , a stew of beef in a gravy of dark beer, served with gingerbread croutons and fries.

Published in the March 2023 issue of   National Geographic Traveller (UK)

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Home » Europe » France » Best Beers In Europe: The Ultimate Microbreweries Tour Of Lille

Best Beers In Europe: The Ultimate Microbreweries Tour Of Lille

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Michael Soud

Michael has visited over 100 countries – all while keeping down a day job as a venture capital lawyer

Lille on France’s border with Belgium has built a reputation for its world-class microbreweries (very likely the Belgian influence). We’ve curated a self-guided tour of Lille’s city center microbreweries based on local insight so you can experience some of the best beers in Europe, especially if you’re heading to Lille for the Six Nations .

Outdoor dining in Lille

We suggest carving out four or five hours so that you have plenty of time to soak in the unique atmosphere of each of the microbreweries. You’re no more than a five-minute walk to the next microbrewery.

First Stop: Le Georges V

Second stop: b148, third stop: klaxx brewing, fourth stop: ministry of beer, fifth stop: célestin, last stop: la capsule.

Start your journey at Le Georges V where you’ll find a huge selection of beers. The one thing you must do here is try their Le Welsh (which is the Welsh rarebit that Lille is famous for). It’s probably one of the best in Lille, and they make it with a serious pride.

Le Welsh at Georges V Lille

For the uninitiated, Le Welsh is a supercharged Welsh rarebit made with a very generous amount of melted cheese, beer-soaked bread , ham and usually an egg. Share this one among a couple of friends so that you aren’t in a food coma for the remaining part of the best beers in Europe microbrewery tour of Lille.

Following this, head up Place de Bethune Boulevard de la Liberté to B148 for a proper pub experience and a great selection of Belgian beers and ale . When we checked with them, they confirmed that they do carry 148 kinds of beer so you’ll be lost for choice. B148 truly knows what good beer is. And every type of beer is a flat rate of €7 (at the time of writing).

Interior of B148 in Lille

Being a specialised beer house, each one of B148’s beers has been carefully selected. Locals consider B148 an institution , so don’t be surprised if it’s quite busy when you arrive (people will naturally flock to the best beers in Europe).

If we were creating a list of the best microbreweries in Lille, Klaxx Brewing would be right at the top . Walk five minutes up through the picturesque Place de Béthune to Klaxx for probably the best craft beer experience in Lille. Treat yourself to generous tastings of their range of great beers that you can’t find anywhere else . The owner is also visibly passionate about beer so don’t be afraid to engage him.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Klaxx Brewing (@klaxxbrewing)

Klaxx also has a unique lab-like ambience , and its handful of craft beers available to try, buy and take home. There’s only a few beers on top at one time at Klaxx which means you’re always getting a curated experience. And don’t miss the Triple Modern!

Continue a short distance up Place de Béthune and turn right on Rue Nationale. You’ll see the Ministry of Beer on the corner of Rue Esquermoise. The Ministry of Beer prides itself on the very specialised knowledge of each of its sales advisors.

Interior of Ministry of Beer in Lille

There are beers here that are impossible to find elsewhere which makes this a very unique experience. The Ministry of Beer is a little pricier than the others , but in return for an extra few euros you’ll be spoiled for choice with a huge range (over 300) local beers.

Your second last stop for the day is CÉLESTIN which is just a few minutes’ walk up Rue Esquermoise. On your way, you’ll pass Patisserie Méert , which is considered one of the oldest patisseries in the whole of France .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by CELESTIN La Micro-Brasserie (@celestin_microbrasserie)

CÉLESTIN is famous among locals for its pure passion for beer . Walk all the way to the back to see the small room that houses the brewery. Ask the staff to do a small tour of the brewery which will come with a beer tasting. It’s small, but you can still take a large group with you to sample all of their home-brewed local beers.

CÉLESTIN prides itself on using natural raw materials to brew their beers, making their beers organic. They also add spices and fruits to their beers which creates totally unexplored flavours. CÉLESTIN’s La Dix beer is matured in Sauternes barrels to which they add pumpkin and curry. It’s truly like nothing else.

Wall of beer at CÉLESTIN microbrewery in Lille

CÉLESTIN’s packaging is beautifully done so this is the perfect gift to take home from Lille .

Your last stop of the day is only a three-minute walk – you can do it! La Capsule is a refined beer hall with plenty of space (including in its vaults downstairs) for you to relax and debrief the day’s best beers in Europe. Expect to go overboard at La Capsule with their huge selection of sours (the Quebec pastry smells like maple syrup).

View this post on Instagram A post shared by La Capsule, Lille (FR) 🍺 (@lacapsulelille)

La Capsule doesn’t offer tasting on the weekends so if you want to taste then you might be a Friday day activity. But if you do go on the weekend and finish your tour here, weekend nights are very vibrant and you’ll see a mix of locals and foreigners alike.

There is no better city in Europe than Lille to experience the beautiful things that happen when the Belgian love for beer is combined with the French passion for culinary excellence. There are plenty of other microbreweries in Lille to keep you going, but the microbreweries on this tour are considered some of the best by savvy locals so savor the moment in each of them.

Old building in Lille

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beer tour lille

Lille Beer Tour

Cette visite insolite en compagnie d’un guide-biérologue passionné vous conduira dans les meilleurs spots du Vieux Lille où déguster des bières artisanales .

Une balade zythologique qui vous conduira de bars spécialisés en micro-brasseries pour découvrir le savoir-faire qui fait la fierté des gens du Nord et le renouveau brassicole qui agite la ville de Lille.

La visite a lieu le samedi de 15h à 18h aux dates indiquées

Prix par personne :

40,00 €

Une visite guidée originale avec dégustations

Depuis quelques années, la bière artisanale connaît une popularité fulgurante. La région est évidemment concernée par cet essor, qui laisse émerger la grande créativité des brasseurs. Mais elle possède également une importante tradition brassicole, et ce depuis le Moyen-Âge.

L’objectif de cette visite guidée insolite de Lille ?

Dresser un panorama exhaustif de son histoire brassicole. Montrer son empreinte passée et présente dans la capitale des Flandres grâce aux explications et anecdotes de notre guide.

Quatre arrêts dégustation commentés sont prévus dans les bars tendances et les micro-brasseries qui jalonnent le parcours.

Chaque dégustation sera l’occasion d’un échange passionnant, en petit comité : découverte des styles, des process de fabrication, etc.

Entre chaque dégustation, vous arpenterez les rues magnifiques du Vieux Lille.

En somme, 3h de balade gourmande pour devenir incollable sur la bière !

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Depuis 2013, L’Echappée Bière première agence spécialisée dans le tourisme brassicole en France et en Belgique met en avant le savoir faire des brasseurs et de toute la filière brassicole. Activités, dégustations, rencontres, visites, séjours… Venez découvrir avec nous la bière artisanale.

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Lille, France: How to enjoy the city’s famous beer culture for less

Oct 30, 2017

Lille beer

If Bordeaux holds the title for the capital of wine, then Lille — and the rest of the north — is without a doubt France’s capital of beer!

This may not be a surprise knowing that Lille brushes shoulders with Belgium , one of the beer meccas of the world, however, northern France has a long-running history with beer that few seem to know of. For example, before the war and post-war ruin of WWI, thousands of small-scale (now known as “micro”) breweries existed, which was one of this region’s main industries.

Nowadays, fewer breweries exist, but that’s not to say they’ve all disappeared. In fact, Lille and its surrounding region are home to more than 20 breweries. Read on to learn the best ways to sip the famous beers in Lille.

Related: •  A guide to ordering beer in France • A Budget travel guide to Lille, France

A guide to beer in Lille: Breweries, brewpubs & bars

There are several breweries in the greater Lille region (see the tours section for more information), but if you’re limited to the Lille metropolis, don’t worry – there are still plenty of options for you to complete your epicurean beer expedition. We would highly suggest checking out these pubs and bars below that offer some of the region’s finest and most palatable brews.

A note on beer prices in Lille

Considering most Flemish brews have a higher percentage of alcohol content, your money tends to go a little further, even if it’s costing you €6-7 euros a pint. While several styles of beer exist in this region, ambers, doubles, and triples, dominate the shelves and drafts, with an alcohol content of at least 6%, but more commonly around 7-9%. These beers are known to be strong, so remember that one beer is more like two! And if you’re the type who likes to try a few different kinds, many bars offer a tasting flight at a reasonable rate.

But don’t worry, you can still get a great pint of beer for €5 and “une demie” (French for half-pint) for €2.50-4. Or you can go the “super cheapo” route with a DIY picnic. Most grocery stores have a pretty reputable selection of regional brews for much more reasonable prices than a bar or beer store — giving you the biggest bang for your buck.  Carrefour or Monoprix are good options and usually stay open longer than other grocery stores.

10 rue de Royale, Vieux Lille

This beer bar is situated on one of Vieux Lille’s best streets for enjoying a good Northern beer. Serving more than 10 beers on tap, you really can’t go wrong here. It’s always teeming with people (mostly young adults), as there’s plenty of space, and almost always playing a good mix of old classics and indie music, making it an admirable place to rendezvous with friends. FYI: most pints here will cost you €6, which is very reasonable for this area!

25 rue des Trois Molettes, Vieux Lille

Think of La Capsule as the grandfather of Le Lobby — but with 28 beers on tap! They take beer seriously here, and if you’re not a suds expert, their highly-informed staff of beer specialists will be happy to help you with a smile on their face. Although the ground floor is quite small and cozy, they do have an underground space that they open up when the place becomes too packed.

Les 3 Brasseurs

22 place de la Gare, Lille

This is a classic Lille institution of beer situated just across from Lille Flandres, the main train station. It’s a great place to kill time during your stopover and get an authentic taste of the Ch’ti culture.  

59 rue de Valenciennes, Moulins

If you’re looking for a one-stop shop, this may be the place. It’s not only a brasserie and bar, but also a coffee shop, restaurant, concert venue, and art gallery. And the best part? It’s super affordable, with low beer prices (including their own brews) and tasty food options ranging, from €6-9 per plate or a pre-fixed menu for only €12.

L’Abbaye des Saveurs

13 rue des Vieux Murs, Vieux Lille

This is arguably one of the best craft beer shops in France! And they don’t only sell one of the widest selections of regional and international craft beer, but also several specialties of the Nord region, making this a perfect stop for some authentic souvenirs and beers to go.

Beer tours in Lille

For beer through the eyes of a local, you can take the Treasure Hunt and Beer Tasting Tour , giving visitors a unique opportunity to both explore Lille and discover its rich beer culture and history. The tour lasts three hours and includes four blind tastings for a total of $30. It’s a little on the steep side, but for beer aficionados, it could be worth the money.

If you have a rental car and feel like doing a little beer tour, this beer mapping project will be your perfect guide – showing you the location of numerous breweries, beer shops, brewpubs, beer bars, and even homebrews!

Do you have a favorite brewpub or brewery in France? Let us know in the comments below!

About the author

Darby Mae

Darby Wagner moved to France in 2015 to sharpen her French and experience the world from a new perspective. After a year of teaching English, she moved to Paris and began focusing on her writing. While much of her personal writing remains analog, she began co-producing an online arts & culture zine called Slow Culture . Darby is a curious soul, who finds spontaneity and the challenge of traveling on a dime one of the best aspects of her travels.

Related Posts

  • France: Budget travel guide to Lille
  • The 11 best cheap hotels in Marseille, France
  • 10 Reasons to Visit the North of France for Budget Travelers
  • Paris: A guide to ordering beer in France

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Beer tapping

Discover brewing culture   in and around Lille

  • Hello Gastronomie
  • Beer tasting

The flagship product of northern France, beer has been an integral part of the region’s culture for several centuries. Thanks to its geographical location, Lille’s bars, breweries and taprooms benefit from Franco-Belgian know-how. You’ll find a wide choice of beers, whether blond, amber, brown, with or without alcohol, cloudy, fruity, hopped, etc.

Visit a   brasserie

Stepping through the doors of a brewery, be it artisanal, family-run, modest or colossal, is an experience to be had at least once.

The “Héritage Bière” label recognizes establishments offering tourist activities based around their production. In addition to a visit, you can discover food and beer pairings, take part in tasting sessions, escape games… and find out everything there is to know about beer.

Label Heritage Biere

A tourism agency   brewery

L’Échappée Bière is France’s very first brewery tourism agency. Located in Lille, it offers a wide range of activities based around this beverage.

We highly recommend taking part in one of the tours, workshops and treasure hunts offered by Échappée Bière! These are real moments of exchange and conviviality, allowing you to learn more about beer in an original and sometimes even surprising way. Take a look at our gourmet tours!

Brewery menu   in the Lille area

Book your activity   among a multitude of experiences, book your activity.

Guided tours, gourmet walks, workshops, treasure hunts, themed evenings, shows… we offer 1001 ways to experience the destination!

Here are our favorites for a complete tour of the city, its belfry and Old Lille.

Unusual getaways and culinary experiences, visit the city like nowhere else.

Visit more and pay less with our exclusive offers.

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Accueil  >  Bouffe & Godet(s)  >  Brasseries

Le Lille Beer Tour, la visite guidée lilloise à base d'histoires et de bières

Margot Hoornaert ,  1 min de lecture 07 nov. 2022, Brasseries ,  Culturons-nous

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En plus d'être une ville magnifique (#chauvinisme), Lille regorge de mystères, d'anecdotes historiques... et d'endroits où boire une bonne bière. Pour allier un peu tout ça, l'Echappée Bière, l'agence de tourisme brassicole (dont on vous parle souvent parce qu'elle a plein de projets cool) propose le Lille Beer Tour. Ça consiste en quoi ? À 3h de visite et de dégustations en compagnie d'un ou une guide biérologue.

Saviez-vous que Louis Pasteur, en plus d'être monsieur vaccin, avait travaillé avec des brasseurs ? Voilà l'une des nombreuses anecdotes que vous allez pouvoir apprendre avec le Lille Beer Tour. " Il a beaucoup fait avancer les choses concernant la fermentation ", précise Aurélie, dircom de l'Echappée Bière, l'organisatrice de la visite guidée.

Elle a lieu un samedi par mois, toujours en compagnie d'un·e guide biérologue, parce que tout tourne quand même autour de la bibine. " On va par exemple passer par Notre-Dame de la Treille pour vous montrer un vitrail dédié au saint patron des brasseurs, vous faire découvrir la connexion entre le Palais Rihour et Jean sans Peur , visiter quelques vestiges d'anciennes brasseries ... continue Aurélie. Il y a une culture bière très forte à Lille, ça fait partie de son histoire et c'est une façon de la raconter de manière un peu plus sexy ".

beer tour lille

La promenade dure environ trois heures, arrêts compris. Et par "arrêts", on veut dire "dégustations". " On passe par 4 bars dans lesquels on dégustera à chaque fois un galopin différent ", détaille la communicante. Pour les gourmand·es, on précise que vous aurez aussi la possibilité de goûter de la bonne charcut' ou du chocolat. " C'est l'occasion parfaite de travailler sur les accords bières-mets ", affirme Aurélie.

Pour les infos pratiques : le prochain Lille Beer Tour c'est ce samedi 12 novembre, ensuite ça sera le 3 décembre. Pour avoir toutes les dates, on vous invite à aller checker le site internet de l'Echappée Bière, où vous pouvez (devez) aussi réserver vos places. Ça coûte 40 euros par personne tout compris. Voilà, vous savez tout.

On vous laisse avec les Facebook et Insta de l'Echappée Bière, si vous avez la moindre question.

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Northern France: visit Lille with its street art and craft beer culture

Discover another side of Lille by walking the streets in search of street art and get refreshed with the best craft beers in France.

Last Update: 26/01/2024 0 COMMENT

It is absolutely without any transition that we move from our articles on Tenerife to… Brittany ! After the sun of the south, we present you: the sun of the north of France! What? I swear this is true! We went to Lille twice and so far we have not yet seen any clouds. It seems that the north of France is a bit like Brittany: they have a bad reputation for their weather, but in reality it’s probably a plot of French weather anchors to prevent too many people from coming here to sunbathe. You don’t believe me, do you? 🙂

beer tour lille

As I told you before, Lille is a city where we have been twice in the space of a few months (it’s not bad knowing that we had hardly ever set foot in France 15 months ago). 😉 Our first visit was in June 2018 when we wrote our book “Randos Bière en France” and the second in April 2019 to attend the travel bloggers’ fair, an annual event that we would not miss under any circumstances and that is held each year in a different French region.

Street Art and Brownfield land in Lille

Before telling you about Old Lille and beer bars, we wanted to start this article with a facet of the city of Lille that we particularly appreciated: its street art scene and the rehabilitation of deserted areas! With the city’s industrial past, there is no shortage of brownfield lands in Lille! Luckily, rather than razing them to the ground to build new buildings, the city of Lille is working to give new life to these abandoned buildings.

The former Saint Sauveur station is a perfect example. This former freight station, which was built in 1865, was completely closed and decommissioned in 2003. Since 2009 this place has been converted into a cultural and dining space.

gare saint-sauveur lille

At the Street-Art level, it is in the district around the Saint-Sauveur station that we find many mural frescoes. For our visit we were accompanied by Julien, the president of the Collectif Renart , a street art collective from Lille.

In addition to organizing walking and cycling tours on the theme of Street art, this collective is above all the instigator of BIAM (the International Biennale of Wall Art). This year (2019), from April 8 to June 8, the 4th edition will be held. The idea of Biam is to bring together international and local artists and to decorate the streets of Lille and other localities in the Hauts-de-France region. This year Mexico will be in the spotlight with the arrival of the artist Spaïk.

To know the program of the biennale (visits, workshops and conferences) and the addresses of future murals, go here .

mural Lille

Note: Some works are destined to be withdrawn after the Biennales, but many will remain. In the Saint-Sauveur district, for example, you can admire several murals from previous editions.

FivesCail: New cultural and culinary space in Lille

In the register of brownfield sites to discover in Lille there is clearly FivesCail to add to your list!

This former metallurgy factory, where the elevators of the Eiffel Tower were built, is currently undergoing a metamorphosis! Left abandoned for many years, this building is developing completely new activities.

fives cail lille

In all, the area is more than 25 hectares and in the long term there will be more than 1000 housing units, a 5 hectare park and a whole host of cultural and social spaces focused on the theme of food.

Today, Fives Cail already hosts the Lille International Hotel School, a gymnasium, a small temporary communal kitchen. During the summer months it is possible to come and taste dishes from food trucks and sip a cocktail installed in the space of the Friche Gourmande , a 1200m2 terrace located at the entrance of the old buildings.

fives-cail

By next year there will also be a huge Food Court and a large communal kitchen open to associations and local residents. For the moment the space is still under construction, but it is likely to be transformed over the months into an essential meeting place for Lille residents and visitors passing through and above all that it will give a boost to the Fives district, which has been neglected quite a bit since the closure of the factories.

Roubaix: a short exploration of Street Art and a visit to the RemyCo workshop

After our visit of Lille in the theme of Streetart and abandoned buildings we headed towards Roubaix. Accessible in about twenty minutes by metro or 30 minutes by tram, the small town of Roubaix is a very nice addition to the visit for travellers who are in Lille.

Originally, this city did not have a very good reputation. It will be difficult for us to judge because we had never been there before this year, but what I can tell you is that we really enjoyed it. The city is developing its cultural and resolutely arty side enormously.

The Street Art districts of Roubaix

In Roubaix there are 2 districts where you simply can’t miss Street Art. One of them is near the famous swimming pool (which unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit this time but from which we only heard good things) and the other around the Public Condition buildings.

street art à roubaix

In order to find your way around, you can get the Street-Art map available at the Roubaix Tourist Office or download it on this page .

Oh yes, if you come to the Public Condition district, don’t miss the opportunity to climb on the roof terrace of this rather exceptional building. In addition to the beautiful view, you can also admire several works by well-known artists such as the excellent stencil maker Jef Aerosol.

Many of his works can be found in the neighbourhood. To recognize them, just look for your signature: a small red arrow! 😉

condition publique à roubaix

The Restaurant L’Alimentation

If you are in the area at lunchtime I advise you to take a look at the menu of the Restaurant “L’alimentation”. This restaurant within the walls of the Public Condition is really great. The concept? Fresh and seasonal products with a small menu that is always ephemeral. The main dishes are always at 11,9€, the starter + main or main + dessert formula at 15.9€ and the full menu at 19.9€.

The restaurant belongs to the Compagnie de l’Oiseau-Mouche. The idea behind this project is to enhance the skills of people with mental disabilities. Waiters and cooks are people with disabilities who are trained in the catering industry. It’s just a great address and in a really unique setting!

Open: lunchtime, Monday to Friday. More information: their website

RemyCo workshops

At the end of the afternoon we had the pleasure of discovering the future premises of the RemyCo workshops . Located at 32 rue Remy-Cogghe, this space is currently under construction and the 850m2 of this former clothing factory will soon be a space 100% dedicated to street art. The idea is to be able to welcome artists so that they can work with equipment at their disposal and rent individual boxes to create and store their work.

pochoir mr.voul

This project was developed in collaboration with collectives, artists and the city of Roubaix. A very beautiful initiative, which, we are sure, will contribute even more to putting Roubaix at the forefront of the Street Art scene in the North of France.

During our visit we also saw the artist Mr.VOul in action in the workshops. It was funny, because during our walk we had seen a lot of his works. Mr. Voul is easy to recognize since all his works are self-portraits made with stencils! 😉

mr voul autoportraits

Lille, Capital of good beer?

“It’s in the north of France that you can find the best beers”

This sentence we probably heard it a hundred times during our trip to France when we were writing our book. So, to be honest, with all the brewery gems found all over France, it will be difficult for us to confirm that it is indeed in the north that we find the “best” beers. But what we can tell you for sure, is that it is probably in the north that the “beer culture” is strongest (and so are beers) 😉

bob l'éponge et bière

You come to Lille and want to taste some good beers? So, here is our small hoppy selection:

  • La Brasserie Célestin , 19 rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau (in old Lille). This is the beer we chose for Randos bière en France
  • The microbrewery “Le singe-savant” , 1bis Rue Charles Delesalle. An excellent beer with which we had strongly hesitated to use it for our book. We recommend without moderation (well… always drink in moderation but you know what I mean no?)
  • La Brasserie Cambier , 2 Rue Jean Monnet in Croix (halfway between Lille and Roubaix). A real institution of French beer! We didn’t put it in the book only because the brewery was not on the itinerary of our hike… but we still enjoy their beers with great pleasure.
  • La Brasserie Gobrecht , 35 rue Frédéric Mottez . A new brewery in Lille, of which we have had very good feedback but of which we have not yet tasted the beers (one must always keep good reasons for returning to a city) 😉
  • L’échappée bière : this is not a brewery but a website that offers activities around the theme of beer in several French cities; trail games, visits, brewing workshops, etc. We didn’t test their activities but we met part of the team during one of the evenings and the least we can say is that they are very nice, very knowledgeable about beer and totally passionate.

Bar in Lille: our addresses for a good beer

Now that you know which beers to drink, maybe we’ll also give you our good bar addresses where you can enjoy them, right? 🙂

lovibond bar à bière

Urban beer tour in Lille

rando bière france

In Lille we have concocted a beautiful itinerary that combines the charms of Old Lille with a more natural touch in the superb Citadel Park. This green space was developed a few steps from old Lille around the old citadel built by Vauban.

citadelle de lille

During the hike we alternate between the adorable alleys of the old Lille, passing for example by the old water mill and in front of “les Merveilleux de Fred” (what? we have to regain our strength while hiking!) before ending with a superb loop in the park of the citadel. 2h30 of beautiful stroll which ends with a good traditional beer from the Célestin brewery.

randos bière illle

To get the book, go to any book store in France! It is available everywhere, and if it is not at your favorite bookseller do not hesitate to ask him. It can be ordered by all booksellers and it also gives us a little help to make it known if more people order it. 😉

If you prefer to order online it is also possible. On our publisher’s website , FNAC or on Amazon .

Viewpoints on Lille – Where to go to have a nice panorama?

With Benoit there is something we love more than anything: climbing peaks to admire the view. Then, we will admit that in normal times we target the mountains or hills that are close to cities, but how can we say that in Lille the options are relatively limited… 🙂 #FlatLands

In short, in the absence of having found a small hill to climb, we made up for it with the climb on the Belfry which culminates at 104m (much higher than any hill in the area). In terms of the view, it’s definitely not too bad! 🙂

vue beffroi lille

  • The Belfry is located on Roger Salengro Street.
  • Opening times: Every day from 10am to 1pm and from 2pm to 5.30pm (beware, the last climb is done max 30 minutes before closing time).
  • Price: 7,5€ per person
  • Note: It is possible to book your ticket online on the website of the tourist office for 6€. But to get this price you have to book at least 24 hours in advance…. To book it is here . Since we’re going up for the view, we really need to be sure of the weather. Personally I recommend you to pay 1,5€ more and go at a time when it is 100% clear.

Small Bonus:

As part of the bloggers’ fair, we were lucky enough to be able to admire the view from places that are normally closed to the public. So of course we regret that you can’t go up but we thought we’d share some pictures with you anyway, because these are definitively points of view that we’re not used to seeing.

circulation lille

Now, this time I think you’re ready for a street art and carft beer  tour of Lille! We wish you lots of great tastings (always drink ine moderation) and we look forward to seeing you soon with a new article to tell you a little more about the program for the coming months! Yes, from May 3rd our backpacks are back in service for a minimum period of 7 months.

StreetArt Lille

Note: This article contains affiliate links to Getyourguide . If you book an activity through one of our links you obviously don’t pay anything extra but we do get a small commission. Thank you for your support!

beer tour lille

About Fabienne

I'm the female part of the pair. A little stubborn, spontaneous and passionate about the digital world and the tourism industry, I am also the one addicted to numbers and practical information in our couple. I carefully keep all our travel budgets . Then we are reassured, sometimes I drop my Excels sheets for a nice hike! With the well-deserved artesanal beer at the end... of course!

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The 50 best Lille breweries and craft beer

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beer tour lille

1 La Capsule Lille

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2 3 Brasseurs Lille

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3 BEERSTRO - Taverne Moderne

4 the palace of beer, 5 le bellerose.

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6 L'Abbaye des Saveurs

8 la biche & le renard, 10 stairway, 11 le lovibond, 12 la dilet', 13 le café des six roses, 14 beer square lille, 15 a les chopes.

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Don’t forget to pack anything

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16 Le Barbue d'Anvers

18 le pain quotidien, 19 les frères pinard, 20 la friche gourmande, 22 l'autrement dit, 23 delirium café lille, 24 café oz the australian bar lille, 25 le lobby.

beer tour lille

Perfect for road trips

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27 B148 - The Place to Beer

28 pub mac ewan's, 29 la mousse touch', 30 la pirogue, 31 le solférino, 32 la taverne flamande, 33 le bar parallèle & falafel, 34 beerchope, 35 at square des halles.

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36 La Boulangerie Bar

37 le square d'aramis, 38 le chopp'ing, 39 le velvet, 40 la clique, 41 pico bistrot, 42 the black night rock café, 44 les caves de maitre georges, 45 chez ma tine.

beer tour lille

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46 La Craft Touch

47 little delirium café, 48 l'atelier des bières, 49 la rumeur, 50 l' estaminette, top searches in lille, popular road trips from lille, what's the weather like in lille.

It depends on when you visit! We've compiled data from NASA on what the weather is like in Lille for each month of the year: see the links below for more information.

  • Weather in Lille in January
  • Weather in Lille in February
  • Weather in Lille in March
  • Weather in Lille in April
  • Weather in Lille in May
  • Weather in Lille in June
  • Weather in Lille in July
  • Weather in Lille in August
  • Weather in Lille in September
  • Weather in Lille in October
  • Weather in Lille in November
  • Weather in Lille in December

All road trips from Lille

  • Lille to Paris drive
  • Lille to London drive
  • Lille to Amsterdam drive
  • Lille to Brussels drive
  • Lille to Barcelona drive
  • Lille to Rome drive
  • Lille to Berlin drive
  • Lille to Prague drive
  • Lille to Dublin drive
  • Lille to Edinburgh drive
  • Lille to Madrid drive
  • Lille to Milan drive
  • Lille to Florence drive
  • Lille to Vienna drive
  • Lille to Venice drive
  • Lille to Antwerp drive
  • Lille to Budapest drive
  • Lille to Lisbon drive
  • Lille to Cologne drive
  • Lille to York drive
  • Lille to Munich drive
  • Lille to Copenhagen drive
  • Lille to Rotterdam drive
  • Lille to Brighton drive
  • Lille to Birmingham drive
  • Lille to Bath drive
  • Lille to Liverpool drive
  • Lille to Hamburg drive
  • Lille to Turin drive

Explore nearby places

  • La Madeleine
  • Saint-Andre-lez-Lille
  • Mons-en-Baroeul
  • Faches-Thumesnil
  • Marquette-lez-Lille
  • Marcq-en-Baroeul
  • Wambrechies
  • Villeneuve d'Ascq
  • Hallennes-lez-Haubourdin
  • Sainghin-en-Melantois
  • Houplin-Ancoisne
  • Quesnoy-sur-Deule

All related maps of Lille

  • Map of Lille
  • Map of La Madeleine
  • Map of Saint-Andre-lez-Lille
  • Map of Mons-en-Baroeul
  • Map of Lambersart
  • Map of Ronchin
  • Map of Faches-Thumesnil
  • Map of Lomme
  • Map of Loos
  • Map of Marquette-lez-Lille
  • Map of Lezennes
  • Map of Marcq-en-Baroeul
  • Map of Wambrechies
  • Map of Wattignies
  • Map of Wasquehal
  • Map of Haubourdin
  • Map of Lesquin
  • Map of Villeneuve d'Ascq
  • Map of Verlinghem
  • Map of Templemars
  • Map of Bondues
  • Map of Englos
  • Map of Croix
  • Map of Hallennes-lez-Haubourdin
  • Map of Sainghin-en-Melantois
  • Map of Mouvaux
  • Map of Houplin-Ancoisne
  • Map of Quesnoy-sur-Deule
  • Map of Roubaix
  • Map of Seclin

Lille throughout the year

  • Lille in January
  • Lille in February
  • Lille in March
  • Lille in April
  • Lille in May
  • Lille in June
  • Lille in July
  • Lille in August
  • Lille in September
  • Lille in October
  • Lille in November
  • Lille in December

Looking for day-by-day itineraries in Lille?

Get inspired for your trip to Lille with our curated itineraries that are jam-packed with popular attractions everyday! Check them out here:

  • 1-Day Lille Itinerary
  • 2-Day Lille Itinerary
  • 3-Day Lille Itinerary
  • 4-Day Lille Itinerary
  • 5-Day Lille Itinerary

Best attractions in nearby cities

Best restaurants in nearby cities.

  • Where to eat: the best restaurants in Roubaix
  • Where to eat: the best restaurants in Villeneuve d'Ascq

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  • Live collaboration
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  • Optimize your route
  • Offline access on mobile
  • See time and distance between all your places

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5 Best Beer Bars in Lille 

L’Échappée Bière, the only beer tourism agency in France, provides its guide to the five best beers bars in Lille.

In Lille the first trace of beer dates back to the end of the first millennium, surviving through the ages, with a recent revival at the beginning of the 21 st century.

Rebirth of Beer in Lille

Urban, family-based and collaborative, the rebirth of beer in Lille can be explored in the city’s bars, restaurants, beer cellars and breweries.

Here is a selection of the best beer bars in Lille according to the team at L’Échappée Bière:

  • La Capsule , 25 Rue des 3 Mollettes

beer bars in lille

Clearly the best – and the oldest – beer bar in town, La Capsule was renovated two years ago. Downstairs you will find a welcoming cellar made of brick, which is typical of Northern France. Upstairs, there is a lounge room with a view to the kegs. The bar offers 28 draught beers with a large selection of French and international (mainly Belgian) references. You’ll also find local beers. There is something to suit all tastes – sours, IPA, stout, and typical Belgian beers, such as Triple or Saison but also rare Lambic Beers. If you want to taste different beers : you can opt for a 12.5 cl. tasting glass. The staff here know their beer. Don’t hesitate to ask them for help and they will provide tips and advice on the perfect beer for you. A real institution for beer lovers.

  • La Mouss Touch , 19 Bd Jean-Baptiste Lebas

Located in a trendy area next to the old train station ‘La Gare Saint Sauveur’, La Mouss Touch is a brewpub that creates its own beers. You can also find local craft beer on tap and a nice selection of craft bottled beers. We also give a special mention to their cheese and meat boards. The atmosphere is festive with different events, such as DJ sets. The bar has a large terrace but be careful it’s often crowded. You will probably end on your feet with a beer in your hand.

  • Le Lovibond , 169 Boulevard de la Liberté

Le Lovibond

A very nice place with good draught and bottled beers, Le Lovibond features local beers with a spotlight on breweries from Lille and its surrounds – La Brasserie Celestin, Le Singe-savant microbrewery, La Brasserie Gobrecht (located 500m away), La Brasserie Tandem, and the young microbrewery HUB. Small but friendly and located in the city centre, it also has a restaurant at lunch time, with a fantastic brunch on Sunday.

  • Le Loc’ale , 3 Bd Jean-Baptiste Lebas

A young and very good bar with a large selection of local beers on tap and ultra friendly welcome, Le Loc’ale has everything you need to spend a good time inside or outside, including board games, and tasty cheese and meat boards. If you’re not a beer lover – then why are you reading this article? – the bar provides other choices including non-alcoholic beers, ciders, kombucha, wine, cocktails and rum.

  • Le Babe , 48 Rue de l’Hôpital Militaire

The place is mainly renowned for its food and more specifically its meat. Here, you can eat Wagyu Japanese beef, 100% local (and matured) beef, fantastic burgers but also smoky octopus. Each dish is paired with an excellent beer. Le Babe has a large selection of craft beers coming from all over the world. Order a beer with a meat and cheese board of the highest quality, or just a beer if you are not hungry.

Why not time your trip to Lille for the Lille Beer Festival (BAL) ? Alternatively, you can follow Mark Bibby Jackson in his Discovering Lille: Beer and the Rugby World Cup 2023 .

About L’Échappée Bière

If you want to discover the beer culture and local breweries, L’Échappée Bière provides different beer activities to discover this wonderful heritage: beer & brewery tours, beer treasure hunts, visits, and beer tasting workshops. The whole team is very knowledgeable and passionate about beer.

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Aurélie Baguet

Aurélie BAGUET

Aurélie is a beer specialist and the co-founder of L’Echappée Bière which provides beer & brewery tours, beer treasure hunts, visits, and beer tasting workshops.

Read more posts by Aurélie BAGUET →

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IMAGES

  1. Lille Beer Festival returns for 2022

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  2. Lille Beer Tour

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  3. Lille Beer Tour

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  4. Lille Beer Festival (BAL), France, 2023

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  5. Près de 10 000 visiteurs à Bière à Lille, ce week-end!

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  6. Lille Beer Tour

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COMMENTS

  1. How to plan a walking tour of Lille, France's beer capital

    This walking itinerary takes you through Lille's beer landscape, from visiting its Flemish past to meeting innovative modern brewers. Enthusiasts should come in September around the time of the annual Bière a Lille, a week-long festival that promotes the Hauts-de-France region's brewing culture through tastings and other events. 1.

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    Parking Halls de la Filature, 27 Rue Félix Faure, 59350 Saint-André-lez-Lille, France | +33 3 28 52 82 59. The backyard beer garden at Brique Land | Photography courtesy of Grace Weitz | Hop Culture. 5:00 PM Pizza + beer - Hop in an Uber for a fifteen-minute drive outside of town to Brique Land.

  3. THE TOP Lille Beer & Brewery Tours (w/Prices)

    Check out Viator's top rated Lille Beer & Brewery Tours with reviews, photos & free cancellation. a Tripadvisor company . Top Lille activities ... Combine a culinary tasting with a team-building live trivia game during this unique and private Rallye tour of Lille. Hop aboard a colorful 2CV car and explore the city, solving challenges along the ...

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  5. Lille on the beer side

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  6. Visits on the theme of Beer

    Embark on a 3-hour gourmet walk with 4 tasting stops in the most famous bars for their variety of beer. Online reduced price: € 40 € 39 per person (4 beer tastings included) Timetable of the tour IN FRENCH : 1 or 2 Saturdays per month from 3pm to 6pm (see booking calendar) Duration: 3 hours.

  7. The sparkling Beer scene in Lille, northern France

    Beer Tour. Take a craft beer tasting tour, guided tour with a 'beerologist', and even a blind beer tasting treasure hunt with Echappée Bière. There are several ways to discover historic Lille and enjoy beer, including in an iconic 2CV. Three brilliant Lille brewers Brewbaix at Roubaix

  8. How to plan a walking tour of Lille, France's beer capital

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  9. L'Echappée Bière

    Enjoy amazing tours around Lille with a great team of expert guides. For 10 years, L'Echappée Bière has been France's No. 1 agency dedicated to the discovery of craft beer. Staffed by a team of experienced beer experts and 100% Lille-based, discover our magnificent city through the lens of beer, in a friendly atmosphere.

  10. GUIDED TOUR IN FRENCH 'LILLE BEER TOUR"

    Embark on a 3-hour gourmet walk with 4 tasting stops in the most famous bars for their variety of beer. Online reduced price: € 40 € 39 per person (4 beer tastings included) Timetable of the tour IN FRENCH : 1 or 2 Saturdays per month from 3pm to 6pm (see booking calendar)

  11. Best Beers In Europe: The Ultimate Microbreweries Tour Of Lille

    Lille on France's border with Belgium has built a reputation for its world-class microbreweries (very likely the Belgian influence). We've curated a self-guided tour of Lille's city center microbreweries based on local insight so you can experience some of the best beers in Europe, especially if you're heading to Lille for the Six Nations.

  12. Treasure Hunt and Beer Tasting in Lille 2023

    Explore Lille's Old Town in a different way on this treasure hunt with beer tasting in Lille. At your designated start time, set off through the city streets with your guide. Meet Gambrinus, a folk hero and European icon of beer, and learn of his legendary back-story. With your treasure hunt clues to hand, explore Lille with your guide and help Gambrinus in his age-old plight. Along the way ...

  13. hello la bière

    The more curious also have the possibility of experimenting with beer-related games, being tempted by a tasting session, taking a bike/beer tour with Echappée Bière or making their own beer at " At Home Bière ".. The Lille tourist office and Echappée Bière also offer a gourmet and intelligent tour of the city combining beer and heritage!. In Lille, beer has its own festival, enjoy from ...

  14. Lille Beer Tour

    Lille Beer Tour Cette visite insolite en compagnie d'un guide-biérologue passionné vous conduira dans les meilleurs spots du Vieux Lille où déguster des bières artisanales . Une balade zythologique qui vous conduira de bars spécialisés en micro-brasseries pour découvrir le savoir-faire qui fait la fierté des gens du Nord et le ...

  15. Lille, France Beer Culture for Less

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  16. Beer tasting Office de Tourisme de Lille

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  17. Le Lille Beer Tour, la visite guidée lilloise à base d ...

    Voilà l'une des nombreuses anecdotes que vous allez pouvoir apprendre avec le Lille Beer Tour. " Il a beaucoup fait avancer les choses concernant la fermentation ", précise Aurélie, dircom de l'Echappée Bière, l'organisatrice de la visite guidée. Elle a lieu un samedi par mois, toujours en compagnie d'un·e guide biérologue, parce que ...

  18. THE TOP Lille Beer & Brewery Tours (w/Prices)

    Art Institute of Chicago Tours and Tickets. Aquarium of the Pacific Tours and Tickets. Blue Lagoon Tours and Tickets. Burj Khalifa Tours and Tickets. Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) Tours and Tickets. Check out Viator's top rated Lille Beer & Brewery Tours with reviews, photos & free cancellation.

  19. Things to do in Lille: Street art and craft beer culture

    This year (2019), from April 8 to June 8, the 4th edition will be held. The idea of Biam is to bring together international and local artists and to decorate the streets of Lille and other localities in the Hauts-de-France region. This year Mexico will be in the spotlight with the arrival of the artist Spaïk.

  20. Lille Pub Guide: the best beer bars, brewpubs and beer gardens

    Lille, known as Rijsel in Dutch, is in the heart of French beer country. Tucked just under Belgium, the area is known as French Flanders and shares many traditions with its northern neighbour. The most important of these (for us at least) is small-scale brewing. Before WW I there were literally thousands of breweries, though wartime destruction ...

  21. The 50 best Lille breweries and craft beer

    2 Le Bellerose. Le Bellerose is a restaurant specialising in craft beers and burgers. The menu features a variety of beers in bottles and on draught, as well as burgers. Boubyranol recommends the restaurant for a casual evening with friends. La Bellerose is one of the best places in Lille for amazing burgers.

  22. THE TOP 10 Lille Tours & Excursions (UPDATED 2024)

    Vimy and Flanders Fields Canadian Battlefield Tour from Lille. 9. Explore the Canadian World War I battlefields of France and Belgium on a private full-day tour from Lille or Arras. Witness the preserved tunnels and trenches of Vimy, where Canadian troops stormed German forces in April 1917.

  23. 5 Best Beer Bars in Lille

    5 Best Beer Bars in Lille. La Capsule, 25 Rue des 3 Mollettes. La Capsule. Clearly the best - and the oldest - beer bar in town, La Capsule was renovated two years ago. Downstairs you will find a welcoming cellar made of brick, which is typical of Northern France. Upstairs, there is a lounge room with a view to the kegs.