Beer for My Horses

I think Belgium could be heaven and its beer the angels. If that is true, then I saw a lot of halos over Labor Day weekend. I went to the beer festival in Brussels, Belgium on Saturday and I had a lot of fun.

Amy and Will

Early Saturday morning, I rode over with Amy and Will and laughed the entire way there. They've been married 12 years and I never have seen a couple who laughs as much as they do, especially at each other. We got there before 11, checked into our hotels, then headed out for lunch, and then on to the beer fest!

St. Bernadus is one of my favorites.

One advantage to arriving early is that we got to try one of the Westvleteren 6 beers (6 is a type, like a blonde or a brown or, if you must, a pilsner). Westvleteren is touted as having the #1 beer in the world. You have to call the Abbey at the designated time, make an appointment to pick up your 1-2 crates of beer, and include your plate number. I have yet to get through calling, but I will eventually.

Anyway, the 6 was okay, but I like other Trappist beers much better. So I tried some :) I tried a lot of beer and all of it was terrific. I tried to sample beers that I hadn't before.

Speaking of sampling, Amy and Z finagled their way into being contestants in the beer tasting. They had three beers--a blonde, a brown, and "special." They had to taste each one and determine which one was which. For their efforts, in addition to downing three extra beers, they received a coupon for a free beer at the fest.

Z and Amy after their blindfolded tasting.

As the afternoon went on, people we knew or other people knew started showing up. I have no idea how many of us there were, but I'd probably guess around 30. They included families and a family with a dog. A family with a dog that likes to drink beer! A dog that likes to drink good beer--Belgian beer! This dog may be the coolest dog in the entire world.

He couldn't get enough. He was begging us like a dog does with food!

Some us left probably around 6 or so and found a place to eat. After that, we headed to Delerium Cafe, which has a crazy number of beers to choose from. Delerium also has their own beer. I tried the Nocturnum, which I really liked a lot.

I think I'd like to go back to Brussels to sample the beers at Delerium and the food of the city without the craze of the fest. It was a long day and a lot of beer, but I had a lot of fun.

Wish you could have been here, Dad.