Sounds like we've got a gathering - I'll pop in there tonight and check that it's ok to turn up en masse from 8pm on the 23rd. Big tables and plenty of chairs downstairs so it will be a better chance to speak to everyone than Bar R where we tend to all stand in a long line along the bar.
Safety instructions for novices.
Top 10 tips for Beer Circus survival
1) There is ordinary strength Lager on tap at ordinary pub prices
2) There is ordinary, UK based real ale on tap at ordinary pub prices
3) Everything else is chraged on a strength/price pro rata basis, which (generally) but not always means that the higher the strength the more it costs. As an example 'Plop' Belgian bottled beer is 14% and costs about £8.00 for 75cl. But you can only drink one of those and your totally w******d, so it's still a cheap night out.
4) Tell the wife/Husband/Partner not to wait up or if they do not to listen to a word you say when (or if in some cases) you get back. You'll be talking complete rubbish.
5) Do - ask the staff to see the back of the bottles for the strengths before purchase. The staff enjoy nothing as much as selling some unsuspecting punter a bottle of German rocket fuel and watching them crawl out on all fours in the direction of the kebab shop
6) Dont - ever order something from the fridge because the bottle looks 'interesting' - you'll end up totally w******d and broke.
7) Avoid all 'smoked' beers - they taste real nice to start with but half way down the glass you feel like you've drunk a pint of Bacon
Avoid all fruit beers (Rasberry is a particular favourite) The fruity flavour disguises their deadly nature and you'll end up totally w******d.
9) Do - drink beers assosciated with the spring classics. LaChouffe is brewed in Houffalize, a small town on the Ghent - Wevlghem course and is probably the best bottled beer in the world. Beer Circus keeps it in the cellar because its too dangerous to have it on the shelves. 8% sold in 75cl bottles. Awesome!!!
10) Don't arange anything important on Friday morning. Being totally w******d in Beer Circus is totally different to being totally w******d in any other pub. The fall out is more reminiscent of the kind of hallucinogenic acid flashbacks from the 70's than a traditional hangover. Very distubing when you're in a high-profile meeting at work the next day and your boss starts riding round the office on a pink hippo!
Remember, drink sensibly. Follow these simple rules and survive!
Huw,
Chair, ACC Belgian Beer Society