Let me express my sincere thanks to toomanybooks and makersmark for developing the idea for this trip and for doing so much of the organizing. It was also great to be a beneficiary as they shared their vast knowledge of beer.

The ZBF was great fun, enlightening and provided many tasty beers. The WWI related things in and around Ypres were both informative and very sobering while Bruges was simply beautiful.

As usual it was a pleasure to see both lili and violist, and although it was a bit shorter than I�d have preferred, great to share a Kriek with them at Cantillon. Good to see u2fan there too and it was nice to meet SceneStealer7 as well. And as for the_happiness_store, you�re an excellent travel companion who, like me, during the trip benefited from the beer �experience� of the brothers and who now knows on which side of a train to exit.

Did not make it. They were closed during most of our trip and only open on the 7th for us to make a try. I tied up the Conrad concierge's phone for 45 minutes calling repeatedly to try get a reservation to buy a case. 90% "circuits are busy," the rest regular busy.

What an insufferably silly system. Why can't they just run an email lottery? Make you use your driver's license number or passport number to prevent multiple entries.

We did meet a young man who lives near there and gets cases every time he can. 17 last year. He's desperate for US hoppy beers and we are going to try to set up future trades with him.

Now that I had a day to recover, I want to thank toomanybooks and makersmark for organizing: my expectations for the DO were high, but I learned more and had even a better time that I expected. My only regret is that I did not come earlier or stay longer and do more.

SceneStealer7 - you sure are - it was fun meeting you.

KMA26 and the_happiness_store, it was great fun getting together out of city and I wish we could have done more together.

To everyone - thanks again and lets do it again.

Yea the system is really annoying. I have called thousands of times and never gotten through.

The exchange sounds like a good idea. I plan on bringing some hoptimum over there with me to give to some of the coworkers. They usually bring me interesting stuff when they come to the states.

I have been able to pick up some of the 8 degree at the shop inside the cafe, but never the 10 or 12, though sometimes they sell those as well.

Great meeting you all! And to clarify, the screenname actually came from several years ago when I used to be a dancer/actress