Previously: 40 Years in Beer (Book II), Part 59: Czech and Slovak beer & Hungarian Bull’s Blood wine (Euro Beer Travel 1995, Part II).
Contrary to legend, I had no premeditated plan to take three European trips in 1995. Openly scheming toward such a hat trick would have made me seem greedy, whereas luck is sometimes better than conspiratorial skill. The excursions happened, and I’m glad they did. Taken together, they comprised 30 days of continuing beer education that immeasurably influenced the ongoing revolution at Rich O’s Public House.
It transpired that David Pierce, Ron Downer and John Dennis already had been planning to visit Belgium in autumn of 1995, and my nudging this trio into a quartet seemed ethically and mathematically appropriate. Frequent flier miles sealed the deal, and I found myself yet again at the airport, having packed my bag in a jiffy because it wasn’t ever emptied after the Czech/Slovak/Hungarian jaunt only two months before.
But rest assured, I did do some light laundry first. If ever a trip justified a tax deduction for being work-related, this was it. Our days in Belgium resembled coursework: “An Introduction to Belgian...Read more
