Sunday, Last Day of Beer Fest

So, some details about the Brussels Beer Weekend 2010…
They have quite an intriguing, though initially confusing system of tickets for dealing with glassware at the festival. Glass tokens are bought for 2 Euros. Beer tickets are straight forward, they are 1 Euro each, some beers being 2 tickets, some being as much as 4 or 5 for the higher end brands. However, being in Belgium, each beer, of course, is served in its own glass, so you must submit your token in order to get a glass for the beer you are drinking at each booth and you must return your glass to the same booth you got it from. This sounds very civilized at first, until you realize that most people would then hang out at that booth until they finished their beer, in order to return the glass, retrieve their token and move on.
Friday night showed us how chaotic the festival can be. First off, it appeared security was a bit overwhelmed. Way too many people were allowed into the fenced off area on the Grand Place, and people were literally shoulder to shoulder. Getting a beer and returning the glass was a challenge, never mind going against the flow to try and make it to a booth you wanted to visit. It wasn’t long before the grounds were packed and the gates were closed, and anyone leaving the area to use the WC were not allowed back in. Saturday seemed to have security more on the ball, but by the time we got there in the mid-afternoon, there were huge line-ups waiting to get in as others left. Needless to say, we did not get in. We returned on Sunday however, at the 11 am opening, and spent a pleasant number of hours freely floating from booth to booth, meeting wonderful people from all over the world, before the crowds started to thicken once again. Especially friendly and interesting were a couple we met from the Netherlands and a group of Icelanders, who seemed quite pleased and intrigued to run into two beer geeks from Canada who traveled all this way to attend the festival. All in all, it was a fantastic festival, and an absolute must for anyone wanting to experience the world of Belgian beer. There were of course blond, amber, dark and white beers, Trappists and lambics, Flanders reds and oud bruins, pilsners and stouts and many beers that defied categorization. Rare and special beers seemed to go in the first hour every day (everyone wanted to try the limited quantities of Westvleteren, for example). In total, there were over 50 breweries represented serving more than 350 beers. We concentrated on beers we’d never had or never heard of, or on fresh drafts versions of brews we only get as bottled varieties in Canada. Still, there was little time to try them all, but we were valiant in our efforts and did not come away disappointed.