I didn't have much time to dry out after the Great British Beer Festival because I had just less than a week to turn around and head out to Amsterdam for the European Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference. Besides being a place where anything goes, Amsterdam is a great location for a bunch of beer writers because of the robust brewing industry in and outside of the city. Like many other countries [caption id="attachment_2629" align="alignright" width="300"] The guys from Kompaan Craft Brewery[/caption]around the globe, their market is growing by leaps and bounds (or, by hops and hops? Ha!) Drawing influence from modern brewing styles from the USA, Dutch beer also has the advantage of a long, shared history with Belgian brewing which makes for an interesting mix. This conference hosts beer bloggers and writers from 11 countries all over Europe as well as a couple from the USA.  We enjoyed some great speakers and special events but, of course, the best part of it all was all of the great beer and breweries we had a chance to try. Some of my standouts were beers from Oedipus Brewing, Brouwerij T'Ij, Oersoep Brewery, and Kompaan, and BaxBier. We did do a wee bit more than drink though. Here are some of my other conference highlights: Live Beer Blogging Five minutes each, 10 breweries, 10 beers. Drink and...go! It was here where the professional drinkers among us were separated from the rest. Have you ever tried to taste a fantastic beer, talk to the brewers, take notes and blog all at the same time? In five minutes? Let's just say I'm still eligible as an Olympic amateur. Off-Flavors It's a necessary evil to taste beer that has been tainted to taste like motor oil or cat pee. While it may not be most people's preferred way to spend a Friday afternoon, this practical Multi-Sensory workshop from FlavorActiV was great practice. [caption id="attachment_2638" align="aligncenter" width="400"] That's corn on the left, band-aids in the middle, motor oil in the back...[/caption] Learning About the Pale Ale Did you know that the closest thing to a 19th century Pale Ale that we can get today is Orval? Or that the first use of the term "Pale Ale" was in 1705?  Learning about the true history of the Pale Ale was an interesting session by Martyn Cornell. Beer Photography Ok, so we learned a lot from Teo Krijgsman about how to photograph beer if we were in a professional studio. While dragging along several lights, props and photoshop wouldn't work real well in a pub, it was cool to learn some tricks from the pros. Put a light behind a beer and it'll glow in the picture! Jopen Dessert Pairing  The crew at Jopen were so kind to host us for a fantastic BBQ at their big brewery (oh, and free run of the taps as well) but my favorite bit was when we went for a dessert pairing at their location at the historic Jopenkerk in Haarlem. My favorite pairing was the Chocolate Nemesis cake with the Haarlem Shake Export Stout made with raspberries and black pepper. Oh, gorgeous... [caption id="attachment_2634" align="aligncenter" width="400"] That's the Chocolate Nemesis on the left.[/caption] Pilsner Urquell Dinner We were treated to a wonderful dinner with all the free beer we could drink from Pilsner Urquell. Love, love, LOVE the mobile tank bar. It's hard to beat a Pilsner Urquell fresh from the tank. Also, just look at their Tapster. I'm not sure he should work anywhere else--he's the prototype for a beer dude. De Molen Excursion We had a lovely post-conference excursion to De Molen. With a tour of the impressive facilities, a gorgeous lunch and plenty of beer samples, this trip was totally worth getting caught in a torrential downpour for. Love that windmill!   I met a bunch of great people there--Alex, Rick, Andrew, Charlie (among others!)--and had plenty of great beer too. Next year's conference will be in Sheffield and have a different take on it but if this year is anything to go by, you'll definitely find me there. Cheers Maggie --Beer Sommelier