The ZBF is Belgium's largest beer festival. For April 28-29, 2012, it has been moved to Leuven to a larger facility (excellent news, as it was completely jammed last time). Hundreds of beers, 60+ brewers for 2011, some amazing stuff (Verse Vis and Cookie Beer are coming back!).
For 2012, 100+ brewers are expected! Available will be beer produced in quantities too small for commercial sale, beer that is not exported or even sold outside the brewery, experimental beer, ample trading opportunities (take hoppy stuff, as they don't make much of that in Europe), etc.
There will also be a shop where they sell beer from brewers who do not have stands.
On Friday, April 27 a one-night festival called "The Night of Large Thirst" will be held in Eizeringen, not too far from Brussels. This one occurs only in even-numbered years and features the best of Belgian lambic, the beer that is naturally/spontaneously fermented with wild yeast. In 2010, they had 1650 attendees. They will have some really good sour beer, with classics new and aged. You have not lived until you've had some of these, especially the better cherry and raspberry ones on draft IMO.
Probably there will be other events the same week/weekend, and I will add them as I hear about them. One thing several of us did last year was go to the Duvel brewery for a free private tour/food/drinking session that lasted almost 6 hours. Hope they repeat that.
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Ok, oficially change us to yes.
I have a reservation on hold. We are leaving ORD Thursday the 26th, returning Tuesday the 1st. This will give us time for the special festival on Friday.
Any ideas on where to stay, based on how things went last year, just trying to get a field for places and start getting things down pack.
I have a reservation on hold. We are leaving ORD Thursday the 26th, returning Tuesday the 1st. This will give us time for the special festival on Friday.
Any ideas on where to stay, based on how things went last year, just trying to get a field for places and start getting things down pack.
Anything else to do?
3 days of drinking beer would fill up most of it for me. If you are interested in WWI history, you could go out west and tour battlefields like we did last year. Maybe some time in Bruges and Ghent.
Or ask the_happiness_store to show you the gelato stores that employ good-looking women.
Belgium is so small and trains run often enough that you could stay in Brussels. KMA26 was starting to look at hotels, in BRU and closer to the sites.
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Starting to discuss a repeat with some of the folks who attended this year. Dates for the festivals have been moved from early March to late April for next year, which should make for nicer weather.
The ZBF is Belgium's largest beer festival. For April 28-29, 2012, it has been moved to Leuven to a larger facility (one can only hope, as it was completely jammed last time). Hundreds of beers, 60+ brewers, some amazing stuff (Verse Vis, I hope you make a return appearance!). One of the specialized beer sites says ZBF had to turn away about half the brewers who applied for 2011, so this move to an apparently larger facility is a very welcome development.
On Friday, April 27 a one-night festival called "The Night of Large Thirst" will be held in Eizeringen, not too far from Brussels. This one occurs only in even-numbered years and features the best of Belgian lambic, the beer that is naturally/spontaneously fermented with wild yeast. In 2010, they had 1650 attendees. They will have some really good sour beer, with classics new and aged. You have not lived until you've had some of these, especially the better cherry and raspberry ones on draft IMO.
Probably there will be other events the same week/weekend, and I will add them as I hear about them. One thing several of us did last year was go to the Duvel brewery for a free private tour/food/drinking session that lasted almost 6 hours. Hope they repeat that.
An early post, but some folks will want to get their FF tickets ASAP. Get your pink elephant hat!:
Probably won't make Zythos in 2012 but I will be at the OBER Kerstbierfest (Christmas Beer Festival) in Essen (on the Dutch boarder) in December this year.
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KMA26 is looking at hotels in Leuven. Also Brussels is a possibility, as Belgium is a small country with excellent rail service (one-way is max 7.4 Euro within Belgium).
I may stay at the Conrad in Brussels again. I see a 30K redemption. Unreal breakfast buffet for elites.
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Ouch, my heart is bleeding!
I am native from Leuven , the #1 beer city on this planet and lived the first beer festival held there when I was 16, that's 50 years ago.
Entrance to the then downtown hall (rijschool) was forbidden under 18, but I sneeked in with elder friends. Had a great time.
Anyway, I live in Thailand and have a flight out of Bangkok booked 28 April, getting at my residence 29th by 09am, 15 minutes drive from the event hall, thus could attend the last day.
I am evaluating changing my flight out of BKK a few days earlier
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I plan to attend, probably from Friday morning til Sunday morning.
I have never been to Belgium before; can someone please advise on hotels? Is it much more convenient to stay in Leuven, or is Brussels OK? If so, can anyone recommend one of the ICHG or Starwood properties? Most important, I guess, is location -- e.g., an easy walk to the train to Leuven.
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The Brabanthall is out of town, city bus 4 and regional bus 630 get there from the train station, but on Sundays no 630, only #4 runs once the hour. They do have special timings on events, check the English version of their website http://www.delijn.be/en/index.htm
Leuven has one of the first universities in Europe and is a beautiful town to walk around, visit the Grand beguinage, city hall, Grand place, Old market etc.
I would recommend you to stay at a local hotel versus commuting train to-from BRU.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tartempion
The Brabanthall is out of town, city bus 4 and regional bus 630 get there from the train station, but on Sundays no 630, only #4 runs once the hour. They do have special timings on events, check the English version of their website http://www.delijn.be/en/index.htm
Leuven has one of the first universities in Europe and is a beautiful town to walk around, visit the Grand beguinage, city hall, Grand place, Old market etc.
I would recommend you to stay at a local hotel versus commuting train to-from BRU.
