Heute ist Biertag!

Trust unconditionally men with beards and beer, especially those beards that look like they could double as blankets or caves. The passion of these great men for the The Drink precludes their need to shave or interact with any other humans without the help of The Drink. They follow festivals around England, all part of CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale -- an organization a couple decades old that is trying, successfully, to bring good beer back to England and tell Carling and other water-lagers to piss off). And next to these rows of metal, these stalwart gentlemen serve beer, like their fathers did to them when they were babies.

We found out through one of Mikey's British buddies, whom we met at a CAMRA-sponsored bar, that this festival was happening at Battersea, a town just to the south of London. The area around the building -- a very large town hall (where else would a beer festival be?) -- looked a lot like downtown Bethlehem, with restaurants and pubs and men sauntering about, confused about their lot in life. And if Bethlehem had a beer festival, where would everybody go?

Thus, there was a line to get in.

The kegs in the middle kegged hundreds of different British beers, most of which were delicious bitters. Served by sweet dudes. No pint of beer was more than £2.40.

There's an entirely different row on the next side.

Ross (back left), Willy (Asian), Nick (Soviet) all enjoy their Belgian beers. Ross and Nick both told separate guys at the Belgian booth to get them the best Belgian beer. They both ended up with Golden Carolus Tripel. It was the best Belgian blonde.

"No, we do not sell anything like Lager, but if you ask that 6'9" guy on the beer bar ... he may help you."

Cheers!

Mikey, whose energy for exploration is unrivaled (and had gone to the Fest the day before), dives into yet another realm of brews: Ciders and Perries. Darcey ponders what will come next in life.

A selection of the different Belgians poured into my collectible glass.

Nick and Willy bring home a collectible dog.

The man on the left, Peter, organized the Belgian booth. He likes the Red Sox.

The entourage.

And a collectible t-shirt.