Great Japan Beer Festival 2007

Yesterday we went down to the port of Yokohama to a new convention center there to attend the "Great Japan Beer Festival 2007" with our friends, Mika and Mikio. It was a 3-day event, and yesterday was the last day and also 'Respect For The Elderly Day', a national holiday in Japan. Price of admission was ¥4,000, and included a small glass which you took from station to station trying unlimited samples of various beers from Japan, Belgium, Germany, and probably a few other countries as well. There were probably 30-40 different vendors on site. I don't think that there were so many serious beer connoisseurs as there were people there that just wanted to get schnockered on as many varieties of beer as possible! We did happen to run into the owners of two of our favorite pubs, Cheers and Trafalgar, who were there to try some new potential wares as well as pass out fliers for their businesses. My favorite beers were definitely the Belgian varieties, especially the wheat beers, though there were a couple excellent German weizens also. Amongst the more exotic brews I tried were wasabi beer (yes, which was green), shiso (beefsteak herb) beer, and peach beer. Good thing is there were a few sinks on hand to rinse your glass between stations, though I saw a few tipsy-poobahs stagger up for refills with remnants of their old beer unfinished. Probably a pretty toxic mix! And yes, once or twice I heard the clang of glass breaking. Additional (or replacement!) glasses were ¥700. We headed out for lunch in Chinatown while everybody was still feeling up-and-up! Here's some pics! Cheers to drinking on a work day!