Quick answer
Ghent's craft beer scene ranges from medieval bars to modern breweries, with prices varying across establishments; Dulle Griet is our top recommendation for its iconic shoe-deposit Kwak beer experience. This list focuses on bars highly recommended by locals and discerning beer lovers, offering authentic experiences for every taste.
- Best overall
- Dulle Griet
- Top pick
- Dulle Griet
Top verdicts
- Dulle Griet: They keep one shoe per Kwak in a basket above the bar — bring a clean one.
- Café de Trollekelder: It opens late afternoon; the best seats are the small alcoves at the back.
- Waterhuis aan de Bierkant: Terrace seats fill instantly when the sun's out; arrive before 5pm or wait inside.
Ghent doesn't shout about its beer culture — it doesn't need to. While Bruges lures tourists with chocolate and bruges, Ghent quietly runs one of Europe's most authentic beer scenes: medieval bars with 450+ taps, a city brewery making hop-free gruit beers using medieval recipes, a hipster craft taproom in a repurposed industrial dock, and the smallest bar in the city where you might not even get a stool.
Area map
All 7 spots at a glance
| # | Name | Style | Price | Area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dulle Griet | restaurant | mid | Vrijdagmarkt 50, 9000 Ghent |
| 2 | Café de Trollekelder | restaurant | mid | Sint-Jakobsnieuwstraat 7, 9000 Ghent |
| 3 | Waterhuis aan de Bierkant | restaurant | mid | Groentenmarkt 9, 9000 Ghent |
| 4 | Gruut City Brewery | restaurant | mid | Rembert Dodoensdreef 1, 9000 Ghent |
| 5 | Dok Brewing Company | restaurant | mid | Langerbruggekaai 33, Hal16, 9000 Ghent (Dok Noord) |
| 6 | De Geus van Gent | restaurant | mid | Kantienberg 8, 9000 Ghent |
| 7 | Café 't Velootje | restaurant | mid | Kalversteeg 2, 9000 Ghent |
1Dulle Griet
RestaurantQuick comparison
- Best for
- The classic Ghent beer cafe
- Strengths
- Known for Restaurant · Vrijdagmarkt 50, 9000 Ghent
- Price / value
- €4–9/beer
- Why it made the list
- Vrijdagmarkt's most famous beer cafe, with a 250+ bottle list and the Kwak ritual of trading a shoe for the special coachman's glass — a Ghent rite of passage.
- What to order
- Start with the Max in the wooden Kwak holder; follow with whichever Belgian quad takes your eye.
2Café de Trollekelder
RestaurantQuick comparison
- Best for
- Trappists in a candlelit cellar
- Strengths
- Known for Restaurant · Sint-Jakobsnieuwstraat 7, 9000 Ghent
- Price / value
- €3–8/beer
- Why it made the list
- A long-running cellar bar near Sint-Jacobs church with a deep Trappist and abbey-beer list, plus the kind of dim, candlelit interior that has been a Ghent student haunt for decades.
- What to order
- A Trappist flight — Westvleteren if it's available, plus a Rochefort 10 and an Orval.
3Waterhuis aan de Bierkant
RestaurantQuick comparison
- Best for
- Canalside Belgian classics
- Strengths
- Known for Restaurant · Groentenmarkt 9, 9000 Ghent
- Price / value
- €3–8/beer
- Why it made the list
- A canalside beer cafe at the Groentenmarkt with one of the city's most reliable Belgian-classics lists and a terrace right on the water — the postcard Ghent beer stop.
- What to order
- A Ghent-brewed Stropken (the house tribute to Charles V's revolt) and a wedge of Belgian cheese.
4Gruut City Brewery
RestaurantQuick comparison
- Best for
- Hopless gruit-tradition beers
- Strengths
- Known for Restaurant · Rembert Dodoensdreef 1, 9000 Ghent
- Price / value
- €4–8/beer · Tours from €12
- Why it made the list
- Ghent's central brewery, brewing without hops in the medieval gruit tradition. The taproom near the law courts is the easiest place in town to taste beers you literally cannot get anywhere else.
- What to order
- The five-beer brewery flight, then commit to a full pint of the Bruin.
5Dok Brewing Company
RestaurantQuick comparison
- Best for
- Modern Ghent craft beer
- Strengths
- Known for Restaurant · Langerbruggekaai 33, Hal16, 9000 Ghent (Dok Noord)
- Price / value
- €4–9/beer
- Why it made the list
- Ghent's biggest modern craft brewery, with 30+ rotating taps, a brewery floor you can see from the bar, and a food-truck-style kitchen — the city's craft-beer destination for hop-forward drinkers.
- What to order
- A tasting flight from the modern hoppy end of the board, plus the burger.
6De Geus van Gent
RestaurantQuick comparison
- Best for
- A cheap student-priced beer night
- Strengths
- Known for Restaurant · Kantienberg 8, 9000 Ghent
- Price / value
- €2–6/beer
- Why it made the list
- A pleasantly scruffy student bar near the university with one of the cheapest serious beer lists in Ghent and a homemade jenever shelf that runs deep.
- What to order
- A draft Westmalle Dubbel and a small jenever to chase.
7Café 't Velootje
RestaurantQuick comparison
- Best for
- Ghent's most eccentric bar
- Strengths
- Known for Restaurant · Kalversteeg 2, 9000 Ghent
- Price / value
- €3–6/beer
- Why it made the list
- A famously eccentric, bicycle-stuffed bar in the Patershol whose owner-monk-figure runs the place to his own schedule — more curiosity than craft cathedral, but unforgettable.
- What to order
- Whatever the owner pours you; arguing is not productive.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most famous bar in Ghent for Belgian beer?
Dulle Griet on Vrijdagmarkt is Ghent’s most iconic beer bar, famous for its 450+ beers and the ritual of leaving one of your shoes as a deposit before ordering a Kwak beer in its special glass with a wooden stand. A must-do experience in Ghent.
What is gruit beer and where can I try it in Ghent?
Gruit is an ancient style of beer brewed with herbs and spices instead of hops — a recipe that predates the widespread use of hops in brewing. Gruut City Brewery in Ghent specializes in gruit beers, making it one of the only places in the world where you can taste this medieval style fresh from the brewery.
How many beers can I find in Ghent's best beer bars?
Ghent’s top beer bars have staggering selections. Bierhuis Cornelius offers 600+ Belgian beers. Dulle Griet has 450+. Trollekelder has 200+. Waterhuis aan de Bierkant has 150+. Belgium produces over 1,500 distinct beer styles, so even a long visit won’t exhaust the options.
Is Ghent better than Bruges for craft beer?
Most beer enthusiasts say yes. Ghent has a more authentic, less tourist-trap atmosphere than Bruges. The locals actually drink in the beer bars, the selections are broader, and spots like Dok Brewing Company and Gruut Brewery offer genuinely innovative craft beer experiences. Bruges is more famous for chocolate; Ghent is Belgium’s real beer city.
What Belgian beers should I try when visiting Ghent?
Must-tries: Gruut Amber (the city’s own hop-free gruit beer), Dulle Griet’s Kwak (in the famous hourglass glass), a local Trappist like Westvleteren or Rochefort 10, any sour/lambic from Cantillon, and a Ghent Strop (the local lager). At Trollekelder, ask the bartender to guide you — they’re renowned for their expertise.