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Belgian brew Laugh
General Beer Discussion by STALEYIV
I found this quick story very interesting and funny. I figured I would post to show how "world class" Belgian beers truly are: Belgian Brew Herman De Croo (search), the president of Belgium's parliament, usually has one of those good Belgian beers with his lunch. That's why he had to cancel a luncheon with Iranian lawmakers because the devout Muslims (search) insisted he not drink. De Croo was all set to entertain members of the Iranian parliament with world famous Belgian beer. But when his tee-totaling guests asked him to ban the brewski, De Croo said no and said of himself, "Even for the tolerant Herman De Croo, that was a bridge too far." [:D] Courtesy Foxnews.com
19 years ago
My company does a lot of work in Saudi Arabia, where you can't have alcohol either. One of the guys here who was over there for a few years said that the rich local guys would pay like $500 for a bottle of johnny walker that you snuck in. He also said the americans would buy big jugs of grape juice, add some sugar, and let it sit for a month and ferment. Nasty, but that's all they had. The Saudis didn't care as long as the americans didn't bother anyone.
The story did not have much else. I am sure I can do research and find out and I will do just that. I am sure it was not Stella Artois and I am not sure if it was in Belgium or Iran. My guess is the Iranians came to Belgium since a newly elected government was just elected in Iran. The story also reads as if the Belgian government was hosting the party. I am thinking the brew of choice was a fine Trappist ale, I could be wrong. [:)] Here is the full-story on this very interesting happening: http://fullcoverage.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050630/od_afp/belgianiranparliamentfoodoffbeat_050630135544
"The parliamentary lunch in the Belgian and European Union capital was scheduled for a delegation of Iranian lawmakers headed by the head of the conservative Tehran assembly, Gholam Ali Hadad Adel." I figured it had to be in Belgium. They'd be arrested for even bringing the beer into Iran! I probably would have sucked it up and not drank during that lunch. Reason being that there is no law requiring the Belgians to drink during lunch, which in fairness doesn't outweigh the fact that it is law for the Iranians. Of course, the Iranian's rules have no bearing in Belgium, but they could have been respected out of friendship, if that's a goal.
