Feedback -- Your Comments, Criticisms and Contributions

Re: The 24 Hours of Beer Festival in Belgium

I missed '97 but made it to '96 & '95. Truly the best beer event of it's kind, in my opinion. Dixieland band, sitting at a table drinking La Chouffe and doing my best to understand the cute young lady next to me speaking Flemish. Had to be there kind of thing. Antwerp is a wonderful place.

I look forward to your article in the Southern Draft. I'm arranging a group for the 11th 24 Hours Fest.

Cheers!

-- Todd Ashman, Head Brewer, Flossmoor Station Brewing Co., Flossmoor, IL

You heard the man, folks, so if anyone is interested in attending the next 24 Hours of Beer in November of this year, get in touch with Todd.

I have been tasting imported beers for over a year and found the diversity overwhelming and exciting. Would like to cultivate a degree of knowledge that would make it one of my future hobbies.

-- Pieter Naude'

Good luck to you, Pieter. Your residence is listed as South Africa, which means that you have quite a challenge ahead of you, though, what with the utter dominance of South African Breweries on your local scene. For those of you unfamiliar with SAB, their market share in South Africa makes Anheuser-Bunch involvement in the US marketplace seem minor in comparison!

Hi there!

We would be pleased for your help! We are visiting Montreal in June - the first time we've ever visited Canada - and would really like to sample some Canadian craft ales. We are used to English real ales and have also sampled some American brews. We wondered if you knew of a guide to Montreal's craft breweries and pubs? It would be good to hear from you, thank you for your help.

-- Paul and Mags Bent

Your first stop should be the Canadian Beer Index on the web, located at http://www.RealBeer.com/canada. There, you will find a complete listing of breweries and brewpubs in Montréal and the environs. Also, I have written about Montréal breweries a couple of times in World of Beer, so you might like to use our new search mechanism to query on Montréal.

Enjoy your stay; Montréal is one of my favourite cities anywhere.

It is very nice of you that you have this newsletter on the beers of the world. However, as a Canadian, you never had the chance to grow up with beer, as many of us have had who were born and raised in Northern Europe. This is the only reason that I can see for your almost fanatic liking of Belgian beers!

In general, Belgian beers are OK, but most of them are not really good! Most of their beers do not comply with any kind of purity law and they are just strongly malted and sometimes high in alcohol content.

The finer sides of beer drinking comes when you know how to judge and enjoy some first class Pilsener type of beers. The top versions of these beers can easily compete with fine wines as a beverage during fine dinners.

These refined tastes can never be found with the Belgian style beers; even those that are called Pilsener are only second class compared to a Pilsener Urquell, a Warsteiner, Koenig Pilsener, etc.

Keep up the good work but tune a little down on Belgian beer and give other kinds of beers a chance.

With a healthy Prosit to you,

-- Dietmar Schlei

Thanks for your comments. You may think that I dote too much upon Belgian beers, and perhaps I do, but that does not mean that I do not appreciate a good pilsner. I often find myself defending the merits of pilsners to friends and colleagues caught up in the ale-mania that so dominates the North American beer market. I also enjoy other, non-Belgian beer styles, including kölsch, schwartzbier, cask ale and pretty much any beer that is flavourful and well-made. In fact, one of my favourite finds of recent months is the Mt. Begbie Kölsch from British Columbia -- true to style, expertly crafted and delicious!

And BTW, you really should give those Belgian ales another chance. Many of them are extremely complex and remarkable beverages.

Steve looks just *so* cute on those book covers. Move over, Mel Gibson!

-- Lothar, King of the Hill People

Well gosh, Lothar, you are just TOO kind. (Sorry, I'm happy with Christine, but maybe I could fix you up with a friend of mine?)

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