Great - see you soon!

I had to run home to take a conference call, but just wanted to post a pic from Delirium (admittedly, a tourist bar... but TONS of beer choices) to get everyone jealous and hopefully psyched for another Belgian beer DO :)

http://img856.imageshack.us/i/imag0298m.jpg/

So it turns out that the National Action Day had a sympathy
strike in Ghent, so our plans changed yet again. We spent the
day wandering aimlessly in Ghent (not a bad thing) but are
back in Brussels and will be at Cantillon around 9, as
the brewery tours are at 0700 and +2 hr thereafter.

Sounds as though you made the best of the situation. We will be walking to Cantillon in a few minutes.

It was great seeing t_h_s and KMA26 at Cantillon.

Where were the brothers?

We just had a bunch of fun at 't Kelderke and
Poechenellelkelder; I am afraid that I ran lili
ragged, and it is by no means certain that we
will make it to Bruges tomorrow. We have
decided no ZBF for us - if we want any beer,
we'll wander into some of the excellent local
pubs.

makersmark and I had a great time yesterday at the Alvinne beer festival and then today at ZBF.

We got to Cantillon about 9:45, just as everyone else apparently started the tour, then we started our tour just as theirs was ending, so we missed everyone. The beer was spectacular.

6 of us finally met up at the ZBF and had some excellent beers.

Going back tomorrow and meeting at 11 am by the beer glass distribution desk, just inside the entrance. We will try to secure a table for the day. We'll check back at the meeting point at noon.

Arrived in Bruges yesterday afternoon and did plenty of walking -- beautiful old city. More walking today and planning to do the Halve Maan tour at 11:00. Hope others can make it.

Cheers.

Fatigue (someone else's) and the desire to see the
Breughels in the Museum of Ancient Art (mine) won.
We sort of semi-atoned by visiting A La Morte
Subite and had a gueuze (lambic blanche was out).
Glad to catch up with you at Cantillon; sorry to miss
you in Bruges and ZBF.

Got home last night with cookie beer intact - yay! Now I just need to figure out where I can find the Val-Dieu Grand Cru in the states...

Thanks all for a wonderful first DO! I'll start looking into the Seattle International Beer Festival and keep you all posted :)

Why Liquorama, of course!

It was nice meeting you in Brussels. Thanks to toomanybooks and makersmark for organizing, the-happiness-store, KMA26, and violist for sharing at Cantillion, and those I missed at ZBF. Hope everybody enjoyed the weekend.

Thanks to all for coming. makersmark and I had a great time, especially getting to stay at a Conrad for the first time.

Beer festivals were phenomenal, as were the brewery visits and the WWI tour out near Ypres. Should be even better next time as ZBF probably moves to a larger venue.

lili and violist, sorry we missed you.

And my 19 bottles of beer (47 pounds) all made it home intact!

Hope we can do it again sometime.

Well that was a fun trip.
Ypres and Brugges were both very interesting.
I am most grateful that I made it to my hotel each night without incident. ;)

toomanybooks and makersmark thanks for organizing. violist and lili, even though it was short, it is always good to see you. ua2fan didn't see enough of you. Your sleeping hours don't match mine. scenestealer7 it was certainly a pleasure to meet you. KMA26 you are a good traveling companion as we both moved up to some lowly beer drink level.

It was a blast.^

And here are a few pictures. Belgian Beer DO

I churlishly neglected to say that I was even
more pleased to meet scenestealer7 at Cantillon
than I was to meet Rose de Gambrinus, Faro,
and Zwanze2011.

Did any of you make it to Westvleteren?

I have been a couple times to the cafe across the street. I spent a lot of time working in Leuven, and one of my colleagues used to stop by every weekend and get cases of beer for us.

This was prior to it being declared 'Best Beer In the World' and you could actually just drive through for a case without having to reserve.

Too bad I missed this trip. I will be back there on the 25th until April 6th.

As a follow-up to SceneStealer7's question about the Val-Dieu Grand Cru, I see that as usual lili had very prompt and accurate information on the subject of a beverage. I also see that a little closer to NYC, the Lazy Boy Saloon & Ale House appear to have it. They're also having a Belgian Beer Night on March 22.
http://www.beermenus.com/lazy-boy-saloon-ale-house

And for the ORD-based on the Beer Do, we note that The Bavarian Lodge, the site of a Chicago Dinner DO back in September, also carries that among a very large selection of beers.
http://www.bavarian-lodge.com/Site/Home.html