The 5th Annual Max’s Belgian Beer Fest Roundup

When I first read of the (then) upcoming Belgian Beer Fest at Max’s Taphouse a few months ago, I was pretty much instantly excited. The image of a beer festival with Belgian beers the likes of which I had never heard of, much less seen got my imagination flowing. One of the bartenders I know there described the event to me in detail, weaving tales of cask-aged beers that had never been seen in the United States, exceedingly rare and unusual potables that people would travel from far and wide just to taste. Well over 140 beers, over the course of three days.

“Well shit, I have to go then.” I decided to participate in the event with full on style and grace, renting myself a room at the Courtyard Marriott for Friday evening and taking the day off from work.

Turned out to be a pretty great idea. My idea of what ‘beer’ is has changed permanently, more than likely for the better, and I fully recommend to anyone who ever called themselves a drinker of beer should attend this cultural event. Seriously.

I arrived at the bar at about a quarter to eleven in the morning yesterday, before they even opened, and a mob of people were waiting outside to be the first to try some of the world’s most curious beers. Of course, this mob demonstrated one very important difference from all other mobs waiting to gain access to an event – they were civilized, mostly quiet, patient, and pleasant to talk to. These hard core beer nerds were there for the experience, and once we entered the bar it was pretty clear that an experience was what we were in store for.

Hundreds and hundreds of small glasses, filled with colorful liquids ranging from pale green, golden, brown, purple, you name it. Sweet, sour, bitter, nutty, fruity; the combinations of flavors in these beers rivals that of any wine tasting I’ve been to or heard of – it’s the real deal. As the guy sitting across from me put it when I told him I had no real experience with Belgian beers – “Ohh you’re in for a TREAT!” People sharing samples, passing around enormous glasses of their favorites, purchasing specialty bottles of the most intensely sour lambics and wincing at their flavor (but in a good way!), it was a truly unique and fun endeavor.

For the price – $3 for a sample and $6 for a glass, bottles ranging from $7 all the way to $50, and considering the alcohol content of a lot of these beers – as much as 20%!!, you’ve definitely got to take your time with it. But you wouldn’t regret it. I probably spent a total of 25 bucks throughout the whole experience.

After about four or more hours of morning sampling we took a break, but came back in the evening. And were I to give a bit of advice, I’d say “Avoid the evening hours if you’re looking to enjoy the sampling.” I’ll just bullet point some reasons why:

• The place gets slammed to the point where you have to stand in the middle of the floor.
• At around 9-10pm, the brosephs start showing up and douching up the place. Which actually ended up being really hilarious, since all of the beers they were used to ordering weren’t available, and were forced to read big foreign words on a menu of beers that was probably forty times longer than the one they’re used to. I can’t count how many times I watched dudes with Phillies hats and puffy jackets end up ordering Rasberry or Cherry lambics, just because it had a fruit in the name (then would complain about how expensive it was). Fortunately, most of these guys got bored and went to The Greene Turtle where they should have been in the first place.
• They run out of a lot of beers simply because it’s in short supply, so you may miss out on something you may be curious about.

Regardless, even in the evening we ended up enjoying ourselves just due to the people watching. All told, I think I tried roughly 15-16 different beers, all of which were really quite unique. The event continues until Sunday the 15th, so hop to it!!!!

Can’t wait until next year…

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