It has been a while since the last post due to my return to the U.S.  Special Thanks to Ken and Cheryl, Anh and Gary, and Mark and Danielle for putting me up over the course of my stay (or more appropriately "putting up with me" over the course of my stay!). I cannot thank you guys enough for your generosity. 

Upon my return we had a visitor, Mike, my homebrewing buddy and neighbor from Philly.  After a couple of days showing him Dusseldorf, Mike and I drove to Leuven, Belgium for the Zythos Belgian Beer Festival.  We had two days of tasting Belgian beer, with over 500 to choose from.  They had my beloved Poperinge Hommel beer on tap, as well as St. Bernardus Abt 12.  Both of which brought back memories of our trip to St. Bernardus last year.   We had some amazing beers and even noticed that the American hoppy ales and IPA's are catching on in Europe.  Many were made with American hops imported from the Pacific northwest.  We met some folks from the Netherlands, including a guy that was at least 7 feet tall.  There was also a surprising amount of folks from the U.S. there, to the point that we avoided them, opting to hang with the Dutch instead.

When we returned from the Beer Festival, Mike and I jumped on a train to Amsterdam.  I returned to the Beirtuin, Windmill Brewery, Beir Fabriek, and DePrael, and then we also hit some other pubs along the way.  Mike found a cigar shop with a very cool speakeasy in the back.  Since I do not smoke cigars, he introduced me to high end Port wine, which was a nice surprise and very enjoyable.   Amsterdam has so much, I just love that city.

Upon our return from Amsterdam, I packed up Mike and the family and headed off to Achel Monastery and Brewery.  Yes, another one of the 11 Trappist breweries.  It was a beautiful day to enjoy lunch and a beer in this beautifully restored old farm and stable complex.  It is only about an hour and 15 minute drive, so we may be back! 

From there we checked into our room at an Alpaca farm.  It was fun for Marissa to pet and feed the Alpacas.  There was also an artist that lived next door, who created a garden filled with copper sculptures.

And Mike's visit was not yet complete.  We had an extra couple of days to finish showing him around Dusseldorf, including visiting the Schumacher, Uerige, Fuschen, and Schlussel breweries, all known for their altbeer.  Throw in some schweinehax from Schweine Jane's (best in DD), and Mike's trip to Dusseldorf was complete.