Over the past year, I’ve learned a little bit about marathon training. And there’s a lot of similarity between running 26.2 miles, and an all night drinking binge.

According to the e-mail, the Delirium Tap Room opens with 25 unusual and unique tap brews on Friday, December 7. Alas, my schedule doesn’t work for December 7, but I’ll be in London the following week, so I’m working on a plan to take the Eurostar to Brussels on the afternoon of the 14th, and then back on the first train Saturday morning so that I can catch my flight back to the states.

Belgium Revisited….and not a moment too soon!

Well it doesn’t seem like a year since we were last there, but despite that I think we left it too long before revisiting.

Sure, those of us lucky enough not to live in South Carolina can buy most Belgian beers at our local supermarket, but that’s just not the same. You have to be there to fully enjoy the beer…drinking it at mid day in Grand Plas in the sunshine, or washing down shrimp croquets, tucking into the stomp, or even scoffing an occasional horse steak!

Anyhow, your corespondent has found a new favorite beer – Maredsous Triple. Its up there in the same league as Westvleteren 12.

Having discovered something so pleasant (and effective) it took great will power to to even consider trying other beers.

But my sense of duty prevailed and I tried a few other varieties, only returning to the Maredsous 2 or 3 times a day.

We also found some new friends…a contingent of similar minded guys from The Netherlands.

We got on so well we didn’t need to learn each others names….or maybe the beer just killed those brain cells… Whatever, the camera didn’t forget.

Of course we are all health conscious individuals and so in the evenings we took care to make sure we got our daily dose of fruit and vegetables.

Luckily the new Floris Garden serves magnificent mojitos…..rich in anti-oxidants they’re the ideal “detox” drink, clearing the pallet and readying one for the next round of beers.

The bar was out of jugs and so kindly served us the cocktails in pint glasses. What service! (antique phone provided to show scale).

The weekend passed all to soon. Time to start planing the next visit!

R.A.B.

I can’t believe that almost a year has passed, and not a word has been written about last year’s trip to Brussels for Belgian Beer Weekend 2006.

ColoniAL dutifully reported on the Amsterdam leg of the tour, but not a word was written about those 4 nights in Brussels.

For this reporter, I can only say that any attempt to describe the trip with words just seemed to take away from the magic.

I did take some notes at the beginning of the trip. So I know that it all began with an Orval in the lobby bar of the Ibis, as we waited to meet up with some of the early arrivals. A Westmalle Tripel followed (the selection at the Ibis lobby bar isn’t the most extensive, but in any other town it would be nothing to complain about).

Then a small contingent wandered in search of La Lunette for a lunchtime session. I remember enjoying a liter of Rodenbach, followed by at least one additional liter.

I remember many nights sitting at the tables in the alley between the Delirium Cafe and the Floris Bar. Hanging out at those bars was really the highlight of the trip. The inside of the Delirium Cafe was too crowded, but the alley way was great … as were the late nights inside the Floris Bar, where we did our best to clear their shelves of absinthe. I remember the water dispenser dripping over the sugar cube for absinthe in the French style … and I remember the flaming black absinthe. I also remember Joel, the owner of Delirium Cafe and Floris Bar giving a hand signal to the barman late one night … early one morning … initially we thought he was cutting us off, but we were pleased to learn that instead the next couple of rounds were on the house.

I remember meeting Tom Peters from Monk’s Cafe in Philadelphia at the bar in Delirium Cafe. Earlier in the day we had been enjoying a few bottles of Cantillon at the Cantillon Brewery … and we watched as the folks at Cantillon gave special attention and treatment to an American. We didn’t know who the guy was, but as they offered him samples in one room, the good folks at Cantillon would bring the left overs from the big bottles over to our table and explain to us what we were sampling. When I saw Tom at Delirium Cafe later in the day and saw his Monk’s Cafe shirt, I put two and two together … Tom is the person who convinced Cantillon to make their Gueuze available on draft for his bar in Philly. A great man indeed, and we enjoyed finishing off the samples that he was offered at Cantillon.

I remember meeting a bartender from the Poechenellekelder who had stopped in at the Delirium to meet up with a bartender from another Brussels bar after their establishments had closed. He bought me a St. Bernadus 12, encouraging me to give it another try. I had written off St. Bernadus 12 a couple of years back, when I had a bottle that was just way to sweet for my taste. But he was right … with Westvleteren 12 so hard to find these days … St. Bernadus 12, while not a perfect substitute (it is too highly carbonated), does help alleviate the craving at least a little bit. We need to make it to the Poechenellekelder this trip … it’s probably a better lunch time stop on the first day than La Lunette.

I remember the beer festival itself on the Grand Place. It was a great location from such a festival, if a bit crowded. I remember the Irish guy who was hitting on Rosie … or maybe he was hitting on Dale … I remember he kept talking about how his friends sometimes wondered if he was gay as he was the only unmarried one among his group of Irish friends who had made their way to the beer festival. I think he was trying to hit on Rosie, but he might have been distracted by Dale’s bulging biceps …

I remember Bill guarding the table full of Westvleteren Blonds that he had ordered on our behalf when he was the first one to arrive at the festival on Saturday afternoon. I remember Harrison being elected mayor of Brussels (or at least if the election was held that day, and only people at the beer festival, Delirium Cafe and Floris Bar could vote, he’d have won by a landslide).

It was a great time … a lot of serious Belgian beer drinking … and I’m sure if I thought long and hard enough, a humorous anecdote or two … but I’d rather not think about it too much. I’d rather just sit back and smile …

And now the time comes from for a return trip … Belgian Beer Weekend 2007 … Brussels be warned, here we come!!!

Westvleteren Beer Goggles

I don’t want to alarm anyone. However, photographic evidence has been received which suggests a potential Westvleteren epidemic.

As we discussed previously in Memories and the Struggle to Remember Them, there is growing evidence that over consumption of Westvleteren may trigger a fundamental metamorphosis.

If you see this guy at the Delirium Cafe, then please help him find his way back to the Ibis before the metamorphosis is complete. The Westvleteren brand of beer goggles can make visual navigation most difficult.

A view from inside the bottle

This undated photo was clearly taken at the Delirium Cafe, as I can make out enough details from the background to recognize the decor.

What is unclear is exactly what was going on in this picture. And, as the photo was likely taken between the hours of 2AM and 4AM, any memories of the event are fuzzy at best.

The most popular theory is that Keef had drank so much Westvleteren that he was beginning a metamorphosis, the bottle caps had grown to cover his eyes and he was beginning to transform himself into a giant bottle of Westvleteren.

Only François really knows what happened, and well, we don’t want to ask him, as the theories are probably far more interesting and entertaining than the realities.

Yes, the Beer Cellar is Open

Yes, the Beer Cellar is open!

Specifically I’m referring to the Delirium Cafe, which will likely be the first stop for this year’s tour … and a meeting point for the drinking team that has been assembled for Brussels.

The 90 day countdown has begun. (Ok, I’m not sure it’s exactly 90 days from now, but that is a close enough approximation.)

The Delirium Cafe is a great place to start the festivities, as it has over 2500 different beers from around the world. Yes, they count different sizes of the same beer as different beers … so that means a Corona is different from a Coronita. But that’s still a lot of beer.

The selection leans heavily toward every possible beer you could find within Belgium, but it also has quite an extensive world collection. So if Olaf is home sick and misses his Ringnes, then he’ll be able to find it here. (Just kidding Olaf … although they probably do have it.)

Sadly I don’t make it to the Delirium Cafe that often, because it’s about 4000 miles from home. But the last time I popped in, I was pleasantly surprised when François had seen me walking down the steps, so he rushed into the back room to pull out a Westvleteren 12 and a Westvleteren Blond, and met me at the bar asking which one I wanted.

During the summer months, you can sit out front and watch the Japanese tour groups be led down the dead end alley which the Delirium Cafe calls home. Are the new anime adventures of TinTin being screened in a theater at the end of the alley? No, they’re checking out the Janneken Pis, the lesser known female counterpart to the famous Mannekin Pis. Alas, the Janneken Pis is so unknown that there is not even a mention of her in the English language version of the Wikipedia, so I give you Jannekin Pis in the German language Wikipedia. I’m sure it must also be in the Japanese version of Wikipedia, because there’s always a Japanese tour group heading down the alley to check it out … or else there is something very odd going on further down the alley.

In any event, let the countdown begin. Join me and share your stories from past excursions, so that we can get ready for the 2006 edition of the World Drinking Tour.