Revenge Tastes Better in a Frosted Glass

The other day, while chatting with my parents on gchat, my father thought it would be delightful to torment me by showing me the delicious deli meat that he was eating. Well, I thought long and hard about my revenge. This is Germany, after all. There are plenty of amazing foods and drinks that could/would suffice to make him envious.

But for me, envy wasn't good enough.

He has to suffer.

And so, I present, (in summary) the International Beer Festival 2010--Berlin.

It was estimated that approximately 800,000 visitors and tourists from all over the world would flock to Berlin during the three day duration of the festival.

The International Beer Festival in Berlin is the biggest event of its kind worldwide. This year, the highlight was Vietnamese breweries, a distinction given to them in honor of the 35th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the Vietnamese and German governments. This relationship is reflected in the motto of this year's festival "Beer Creates Bonds of Friendship". I am not even making this shit up.

In total, approximately 300 breweries from 86 countries attended, meaning a total of over 2,000 beer specialities along the 2.2 km beer-mile on...Karl-Marx-Allee.

So drink a beer in honor of the 14th Annual International Beer Festival.

The video above shows a tent at the festival. I am not sure what is going on, but from where I was standing I would have guessed either dog-fighting or a really intense chug-off. People were standing on table and chanting. It felt like the entire tent was shaking.

And now...the montage of beer :

((A Note: There were HUNDREDS of beer stands. These are only the pictures that made it to the blog.))


Were you keeping count?
If not, my slide show contained 53 different brands of beer.

Other highlights?


Doug and I checking out the Duff Beer stand. If you don't know, Duff Beer was a fictional beer from the Simpsons that was later actually developed into a real beer. You have to love marketing people.

And now, I know you are asking yourself, what beer did you drink? Well, I only had ONE beer at the festival. The brand lucky enough to earn my patronage was none other than...
Konig Ludwig Dunkel.
What made them stand out from the others?

1. Marketing-Their glass was cool and their slogan means "Beer of Royal Highness" (obviously appropriate for a goddess/queen like me).

The current owner actually is royalty. Prince Luitpold of the House of Wittelsback is the great-grandson of the last King of Bavaria, Ludwig III. The brewery has been in the family since 1260--talk about a family business!

2. Location/Proximity-They were close to me when I decided I wanted a beer.

3. Nostalgia -Their stand reminded me of the Icelandic team from Mighty Ducks.

I always felt bad for Team Iceland. Remember: they are kids, not villains. Just because they wore black and were intimidatingly meticulous (in dress and skill) doesn't mean they were evil. They worked hard, were dedicated, obviously talented. Why should those "fun-loving" American jerkoffs win?

"Just go out there and have fun!" Bullshit. Sports are not about fun. You know what's fun? Winning. Losing is not fun. The Americans could have fun and lose-- if it was really all the same to them. But no, that's not a happy ending appropriate for a children's movie. Why is that? Losing doesn't make people happy.

Obviously, this just never sat well with me.

So while those Ducks went on to inspire a NHL team, the Icelandic team quit hockey and started working for Bavarian brewery.



In closing, I show you this picture -->
A 60+ man, passed out on a table, in the middle of Beerfest, alone.

For those of you concerned about his safety, he did at one point pick his head up (eyes still closed peacefully), held it up for about 5 seconds, before slowly dropping his head delicately back onto his arms.

Not everyone can handle Beerfest.


Drink responsibly. Cheers!