THIS was a beer drinking trip. It was not a drinking trip and THAT is the important difference.

I hear you scoff, but a trip to Brussels, the capital of Belgium and of Europe, is about the taste of the beer and, as I unexpectedly found, the food as well; it is not about necking a load of heavy strength lagers as a test of mindless manhood.

You try that – particularly in one bar called Delerium with more than 2,000 different brews on offer – and you will pass… out.

Belgian beers are famous for their strength but what comes with that is a variety of complex tastes.

A trip to Brussels is about days of having maybe four or five beers ranging from eight per cent alcohol up to 11 per cent and getting a nice relaxed ‘buzz’.

You want to drink to remember what you’ve had, not have the drink rob you of remembering.

I last went to Brussels in the mid-90s. While I hesitate to go over the well-worn clichés of many bar-room experts, that trip seemed to confirm there was little Brussels had to offer that was not also found in other capitals which were probably more lively.

This time I found a far more cosmopolitan city yet with a relaxed spirit.

You’d think being plagued with so many foreign Eurocrats, the people would be hardened against bumbling foreigners – asking for directions, possibly smelling of alcohol – but they couldn’t be more helpful.

And the city is incredibly easy to make your way around.

The main attraction is the impressive main square, the Grand Place. You are surrounded on all sides by magnificent 17th century buildings which almost seem to change in appearance, according to the light, over the course of the day.

Brussels’ most well-known attraction is the Mannekin Pis, the statue of a small boy going to the toilet and remarkably, despite having seen it before, one is still drawn to it (maybe it was all that fluid I was imbibing...).

What I am delighted to report is that if you’re looking for quality high-end dining, it’s there.

I had a friend over from New Zealand, Scott, who through his work in the hospitality trade has eaten some of the finest meals, but we were both delighted with what we found at two restaurants in particular – Le Cospaia and Le Koyla offered up wonderful foie gras and steak tartar to complete this as a taste-drive holiday (and yes, I usually just settle for chips and a burger).

Both are different venues – the former is contemporary and classy, the latter more classical – and presented their meals differently, yet the unifying feature was quality of taste and texture.

However, neither Scott nor I were prepared to sacrifice our true assignment; to get down and dirty with some serious Belgian beer.

For those who do not know, the Belgians are famous for those that are big bodied in the mouth and high in alcohol (the Trappist beers), and fruit beers – cherries, raspberries, that sort of thing. You can get an insight into the making of fruit beers and their base, the Lambic, at the family-run Cantillon brewery in the middle of Brussels.

Cantillon is the only traditional Lambic brewery left the in the city and for the beer aficionado it is an interesting half-an-hour, followed by a tasting session.

The Lambic is very bitter and the Guezes (a combination of different aged Lambics) and fruit beers are not to my individual taste; the Trappists, as anyone who knows me will tell you, are where my interests lie.

The emphasis is to relax, talk for a couple of hours and sniff, taste, savour, contrast and compare.

The streets and alleyways off the magnificent Grand Place are the best bet for bars on a short trip. Two highlights were the aforementioned Delerium, with its beer menu that resembes a telephone directory (but be warned, it is filled with backpackers) and the death-themed Le Cerceuil with its coffin tables, skull drinking mugs and death metal ‘ballads’ pumping out.

The highlight was a tiny little locals bar only discovered when I saw a couple of men emerging from an alleyway (how shifty is that?).

I couldn’t tell you how to find it but it was a pokey little place, half-lit by inadequate lamps with groups of men huddled over tables. And it was my kind of place.

Brussels is an attractive European capital and a visit to its Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium is worth a look (as is the museum dedicated to surrealist Rene Magritte and that ultimate of Belgian of superheroes – Tintin).

Munich and her Oktoberfest will always be the world’s best party city but Brussels and her bars are the discerning man’s taste...