Every year, thousands of people attend the BAB Bruges Beer Festival. BAB stands for the Bruges Autonome Bierproevers (or Bruges Autonomous Beer-tasters)—the club organized by the local admirers of beer. The first meeting of the club took place in 2006 and since then the gathering has become an annual event. Bruges Beer Festival takes place in BMCC (Bruges Meeting & Convention Center).
The Bruges Beer Festival brings together around 80 breweries. While strolling from stall to stall, visitors may taste over 400 types of beer. For the 10th anniversary of the festival, even a new kind of beer was brewed: the so-called “BAB Mystère”.
The best chefs of Bruges take part in the festival to show their mastery and to offer various dishes that contain beer in their recipes. Aside from beer tasting and delicious food, visitors may enjoy lectures and debates dedicated to beer, its consumption and production.
Initially, the festival was held in the Belfry of the Halletoren at the marketplace. A few years ago, it became obvious that the festival outgrew its location and could no longer hold that many beer-lovers and producers: in 2016 alone, over 20,000 people attended the Bruges Beer Festival. Recently, the festival has moved to the Beurshalle exhibition center, a more spacious and convenient location, and finally to BMCC.
