Typical Belgian? Buying Beer from a Vending Machine

A vending machine at Gare Luxembourg in Brussels, Belgium, Europe. Before boarding the train you can buy yourself a can of Cola or beer. The Jupiler beer cans are located on the far right.

While this blog is supposed to be about beer, it often veers off to other topics. So today I am returning to my roots. I am going to talk beer!

In previous posts, I have written about how ubiquitous beer is in Belgium. Every brasserie, kiosk, supermarket and fast food chain offer beer. You can order beer in the bottle or beer on tap. Supermarkets such as Delhaize and Carrefour even brew their own beer. There are private labels and the famous labels known all over the world like Stella and Left. There are the every day beers like Jupiler and Maes that are decent and are pretty local to Belgium.

As you can see beer is easily accessible wherever you go in Belgium. It should be considering that beer is one of the many food related items that the Belgians do extremely well and should be proud of. Even the Mannekin Piss will occasionally urinate beer on special occasions!! Beer drinking is even easier now that I discovered that you can buy a can of beer from some vending machines! A coke? bottled Spa water? An orange Fanta? Or a can of Jupiler? From the vending machine at Gare Luxembourg in Brussels, you can purchase all three.

I was a bit perplexed when I saw beer cans in the vending machines. How does that work? Meaning, how do you make sure that minors are not buying beer. In addition to a coin slot, there is a slot for you to put your identity card. On each identity card, there is a microchip with all your information. Problem solved! I love European innovation and convenience!