24 Hours of Beer Festival

24 Hours of Beer: Antwerp, Belgium (2002)

We walked into the stately 16th-century building tucked quietly off the main pedestrian shopping district. Looking around, it became apparent that the 24 Hours of Beer festival was about much more than pounding multiple 5-ounce beer samples. It was a window into Belgium’s appreciation for beer culture.

In its former life as the Antwerp’s stock market (Bourse), the building was a bustling commerce center for merchants and traders. Home to the festival for two years (until moving to nearby St. Niklaas in 2004), the building is also ideally suited for a festival atmosphere. The main trading floor is an expansive space, a large sunken-in “pit” five steps below a 40-foot wide, open perimeter walkway that surrounds the pit. This set-up allows both plenty of room in the pit for the 40 participating breweries and their wares, and for rows of rustic picnic tables, a beer merchandise shop and token booths on the perimeter. A cathedral ceiling and stained-glass windows flood light into the pit and give the perimeter area pleasing glow during the day time. As night falls, the natural ambient light gives way to modern overhead lighting to keep revelers from stumbling about.

The 40-odd booths in the pit are arranged in a large, hollow rectangle – brewers on the inside, thirsty drinkers on the outside. The booths tend to house a mix of unique, smallish, local brewers and the six Trappist breweries. Surprisingly, though the Trappist breweries (like Westmalle, Orval and Chimay) are the most well-known outside of Belgium, they share booth space with each other. Lucky for us, as it leaves more spaces for the one- and two-person operations that dot the Belgian brewing landscape (and would take ten beer tours to discover on your own). More often than not, your sample will be served by the person who brewed it (and designed the labels, packaged it, loaded into the truck and drove it to Antwerp) – an amazing opportunity to talk beer with skilled artisan brewers.

The mechanics of the festival are really simple. At the token booth, buy a sample glass for 2 Euros (or return it as you leave for a refund) and 11 tokens for 10 Euros (or 1E each for those with self-control). There are no other fees! You will also get a handbook highlighting each brewer’s offerings. While there is an English version of the booklet, the Dutch speakers get slightly more detailed information. After deciding on one from the 120+ possibilities, make your way to a booth, hand over one token, and get started.

As soon as I raise the first snifter-full to my nose, I know it is going to be a wonderfully long day. With a couple of sharp swirls, aromas begin to dance through the air: fruity, malty, funky – all of it uniquely Belgian. Taking my first swallow, I feel the barleywine engage every part of my palette – no wallflower taste buds allowed in this tasting dance-a-thon. Given the ruby red color of the brew, the plum and raisin flavor notes, lingering malty mouthfeel, and the cheese and bread chunks at the booth for nibbling I almost believed I was sipping a tasty port!

After enjoying your first brewery-fresh Belgian, repeat as often as necessary. The lack of admission fee and laid-back approach to drinking beer makes this festival charateristically Belgian. Unlike some US festivals that use a flat-fee/fixed-time approach (which encourages binge drinking to justify the $20 or more for a 4-hour window of unlimited beer), the token-based approach makes a visit more civilized. Since the 24 Hours is spread over two days (2pm – 2am on Saturday, and 10am-10pm on Sunday), there is plenty of time to enjoy many (can anyone try the all?) of the available beers and the company of fellow beer lovers from allover Europe and the world.

Remember to exercise moderation. Given the small sample size and the Belgian propensity for brewing high-gravity beers, it is pretty easy to lose track of how much alcohol is in your system (one 5-ounce sample of Duvel – 9.5% ABV – has as much alcohol in it as a 12-ounce American light lager).

Bring some food with you. Pack a picnic lunch (or dinner) to make things more enjoyable. Go to a nearby grocery store and pick up a crusty baguette, some sliced deli meats and beer cheeses, and make the festival a culinary experience as well. Chimay makes three cheese varieties (one of them is tucked behind Rob’s head in the photo), as do other brewers like Corsendonk, so there should be a decent selection available.

Bring change. The restrooms are 40 Eurocents per trip, so depending on how much you drink, it might be worth adding to your budget!

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