10th. Edition Christmas Beerfest Essen 11 and 12 December 2004 A Picture Report by Filip Geerts Parochiecentrum Essen-Statie Kerkstraat 62 B-2910 Essen OBER Saturday from 14.00 - Sunday from 12.00 Complete Beer List

Saturday afternoon 14.00. Already a huge row of people were waiting to enter the venue.

A big group of patient beer enthusiasts being from an international content. Germans, Britons, Americans, Danish, Dutch, Italien, Japanese, etc......yes, and some Belgians too :-))

Just after entering through the entrance door we landed into the income hall. Another long row of people were slowly moving towards the actual venue's entrance.

This year, the main taste room has been kept smoke free. The placard above the entrance of the actual venue clearly indicated no smoking allowed. For smokers, there was that other seperated smaller café room at the other side of the income hall.

The first glance into the venue. Already full-crowded !! Some recognizable faces already. Two beer connoisseurs sitting at the table there. From the Netherlands: Jochem Broers aka "Gompie" who's tasting some Belgian X-mas beer and smiling towards the camera. Fred Schiphorst sitting in front of him. Two contributors of the Dutch usenet discussion platform "nl.dranken.bier". Always a joy to have discussions with those two people, especially Fred ;-)

The staff welcoming the guests. Tokens at € 1.25 each. Information booklets at € 1.25. Being member from EBCU, CAMRA, ZYTHOS, etc..resulted in a free token or free booklet.

Famous guest. Joris P. Pattyn.

The Cognac shape taste glasses could be washed in those special designed washing equipment. First cleaning with the brush and afterwards straight into the rinse machine.

The guy delivering the taste glasses is Gerard Peeters, chairman of OBER since the beginning at 1993. 15 cl. Cognac shape glasses at € 3.00 each. Money refunded when brought back.

My first tasting moment. Stille Nacht 12.6 vol% (second brew) from De Dolle Brouwers.

The specialty beers line-up. From left to right:
Kerstbier 't Pakhuis 7.8vol%**; Bush/Scaldis de Noël Premium 12 vol%**; Cuvée van de Keizer 10.3 vol%**; Decennium 8.2 vol%**; 't Smisje Calva Réserva 12 vol%**; Special Oerbier Réserva 2002 11.75 vol%**; DeuS 'Brut des Flandres' 11.5 vol%***; Malheur Brut Noir 12.5 vol%***; Malheur Brut Réserve 11.0 vol%***; Bush Prestige 13 vol%****.

The stars indicating the amount of tokens to pay for.

Malheur Brut Réserve and Bush Prestige

Mike Berger aka "w_ord" was the guy responsible for the pouring out of the goodies. A big applause for Mike to have done this job in such a great way. Really impressive !!

Kerstbier 't Pakhuis and Bush de Noël Premium

Left: Decennium 8.2 vol%, a one-time festival beer brewed at a very limited amount. It's brewed by Marc Struyf - hobby brewer homebrewery Triest - on 12 Feb. 2004. Two months of maturing on a 30 liter wooden Port cask, and bottled on 22 August 2004 with Champagne yeast ! Spiced with Coreander. Note that Marc Struyf is also the webmaster from that must-bookmark site Belgian Label- and Cap Service !

Malheur Brut Noir, Malheur Brut Réserve and last but not least Bush Prestige, the most expensive beer of the fest.

Beer books could be purchased at a special stand in the smoking room. The guy in front is Loek Klasen. He was selling that indispensable enchiridion about Belgian beers and breweries: "Belgische Bieren en Brouwerijen" edition 2005 from Guilde des Tâte-bière; rue de la Gare 19, 5170 Lustin. A must-have for every Belgian beer enthusiast ! He wasn't only selling the book. He does quite
a bit of the research for it as well, and is a very good "Christmas
beer spotter" for the fest.
The "bookstore man" in the back is Willem Verboom, from
www.bierboom.nl. On the Sunday he was in the main room with his
bookstand.

An overall view. Some faces to put a name on. Left: American Fred Waltman who's THE specialist German beers from Franconia and Bamberg region. His website: The online Beer guide to Franconia and Bamberg. Great site !!
The friendly guy in the middle raising his hands is Luxemburger Marcus Misiukiewicz. A sure attendee on every Belgian beer fest. Marcus' website.
The guy with grey sweat shirt in front here: Joris P.Pattyn, one of the most enthusiast en well-knowledgable beer taster/connoisseur from Belgium, and dominantly present on ratebeer.com.

People in front. Johan Brandt with wife and children. Johan is the masterbrewer from bry. De Regenboog at Bruges (Assebroek). Johan having some chat with Gunter Mertens (the guy with white OBER T-shirt). Gunter is co-operative organiser OBER X-mas beer fest. He is also webmaster OBER and co-webmaster (me too) of the ZYTHOS and ZBF site.

From England: JezzaP and wife. The guy on the right is Danish beer taster Jacob Lövenlund. JezzaP was responsible for that great indispensable Belgian Beer discussion website Babblebelt. Jacob being one of the major beer tasters present on international beer taste platform ratebeer.com. Look at the foreign beers Jacob brought with him for exchange.

Eric Vandeperre spreading some Zythos Beer fest promotion papers. Eric is chairman Zythos !

A nice shot of the glasses. Special OBER Cognac-shaped 15cl. taste glasses with emblem OBER on them. The yellow booklet is the information brochure, including all the beers with detailed description. Congrats to the makers of that booklet. Must have been alot of intense work to make it !!!

Picture taking, and making picture reported websites is a new and given fact nowadays. Here you see JezzaP from Babblebelt doing some picture job ! No, I'm not the only person :-)

At a sudden point JezzaP noticed me taking pictures of him. My turn to be the victim now :-)