The Beer Tourist

Just returned home from the 5th annual Copenhagen Beer Festival (Københavnske Øldage). It takes place in May every year and is one of the beer festivals in Europe (if not the one) with the most different beers available, this time some 900. This year it was held the sports hall Valby Hallen just outside the city centre. The festival with its 75 stands and almost 10,000 visitors held over three days (20- 22 May this year) is about to outgrow the venue- and the food facilities (more like sausage stalls) seem to suffer the most from that, partially located outside the building, exposed to the rainy Danish spring weather. Any lover of quality beer should not let this discourage him or her from adding this event to the calendar. With so many new high quality Danish microbrewers this festival is a perfect opportunity to sample some brews that are hard to find anywhere else, even in Denmark. Danish importers make sure that high quality beers from other countries, especially from Belgium and the UK, are available as well. You can read more about the festival on the web site for the Danish Beer Enthusiasts (Danske Ølentusiaster), member of the European Beer Consumers Union, (in Danish only) on www.ale.dk