Best Beer Destinations: Belgian Beer Trek With Victory Brewing’s Bill Corvaleski
Best Beer Destinations: Belgian Beer Trek With Victory Brewing’s Bill Corvaleski
(Victory Brewing co-Founder Bill Corvaleski)
For many Belgium is a bucket list beer destination. It is the birthplace of some of the world’s most celebrated brewing traditions, from Trappist ales and abbey beers to, spontaneously fermented lambics. This fall, a small group of travelers will have the chance to experience that culture firsthand alongside one of America’s most respected craft brewing figures.
Boutique travel company Curiosity Roads has announced Tracking the History of Beer: A Belgium Journey, an eight-day adventure running from September 25 through October 2, 2026. The trip will be led by Bill Corvaleski, co-founder of Victory Brewing Company, whose own brewing career has long been shaped by Belgian beer traditions.
The itinerary takes travelers through some of Belgium’s most famous beer regions and cities, including Brussels, Wallonia, Ghent, Antwerp, and Bruges. Along the way, guests will gain access to breweries, monasteries, and beer destinations that many enthusiasts spend years hoping to visit.
One of the most anticipated stops is St. Sixtus Brewery, home of the legendary Westvleteren beers. Produced by Trappist monks in limited quantities, Westvleteren has earned near-mythical status among beer fans and remains one of the hardest beers in the world to obtain.
The group will also visit 3 Fonteinen, widely regarded as one of Belgium’s most important lambic producers. Here, spontaneous fermentation and wild yeast are not trends but centuries-old traditions that continue to define one of the country’s most distinctive beer styles.
Other highlights include Maredsous Abbey, where monastic life and brewing culture remain closely connected, and De Halve Maan Brewery in Bruges. The historic brewery has been producing beer for more than 500 years and is perhaps best known today for its underground pipeline that transports beer beneath the city to a bottling facility outside the medieval center. The brewery has remained in the hands of the same family for six generations.
Travelers will also visit Hof ten Dormaal, a family-run farm brewery that grows many of its own brewing ingredients. The stop offers a rare opportunity to see a true farm-to-glass approach to brewing in action.
Of course, the experience extends well beyond brewery visits. Guests will stay in independently owned boutique hotels and enjoy meals, beer pairings, and local culinary experiences that showcase the way Belgian beer is woven into everyday life. In Belgium, beer often occupies the same cultural space that wine does in other parts of Europe, and the country’s food culture reflects that relationship.
For Corvaleski, the journey represents something of a return to the source. Throughout his nearly three decades in brewing, Belgian traditions have served as a major influence on both his philosophy and the beers produced by Victory. That influence is especially evident in Golden Monkey, the brewery’s popular Belgian-style Tripel, which helped introduce many American craft beer drinkers to classic Belgian flavors.
For anyone who has ever dreamed of exploring Belgium’s legendary beer culture from the inside, this trip offers a rare opportunity to do it with one of American craft brewing’s most knowledgeable guides.
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