While coming over to Brussels to attend FOSDEM, don't miss this great opportunity to taste some of the finest beer in Belgium (and, hence, in the world).

When?

Friday 5 February 2010 from 18:00(-ish) onwards, but feel free to join the party at any time of the evening. We will be there until the bar closes (well after midnight).

Beer, Beer and some more Beer

Like last year we are currently negotiating the price and sponsorship opportunities te be able to offer some free beer. There are 25 different draught beers available. In addition to these, there is a cellar full of normal and specialty bottled beer. The beer menu on the Delirium website, while perpetually out of date, gives a good indication of the wide selection available.

Improved beer distribution algorithm (v3.2)

As in 2009, this year's event will take place at the Delirium Café, in a beautiful alley near the Grand'Place in Brussels. In addition to the enormous variety in beers, the location also has enough room to accommodate the vast crowd of geeks we tend to be.

As with every edition, we have made some incremental improvements and optimizations to the now notorious Beer Distribution Algorithm. Please familiarize yourself with BDAv3.2 as described here and help us make this event the greatest ever.

What has changed

Access control

This year, we have reserved the ground floor of the bar (which has also been expanded since last year) as a private party for FOSDEM. The Delirium Café has offered us an extra room so we will be able to move around a bit easier. Delirium Security will help us keep this area FOSDEM-only. If you meet a guard at the entrance to the bar, make it clear to him that you are there for the FOSDEM party. This is done by giving the code FOSDEM3 to the security, also printing this page can come in handy.

Tokens for beer

Last year's system of tokens worked very well, which is why We decided to keep it but have chosen a special token card, as last year we had some very inventive visitors. When you arrive at the bar, find a member of FOSDEM staff (look for flashy yellow t-shirts stating so). In exchange for money, you will receive "beer tokens".

Tokens are 3EUR each. One token, one beer. For the sake of simplicity, "soda" (cola, lemonade, etc) is beer too -- at least as far as tokens are concerned. Tokens may be bought individually, but FOSDEM staff prefers to deal with paper money rather than metal money. It's lighter and easier to sort.

Free Beer!

Since 2009 we offer some Free Beer, as last year Google sponsors this beer. To ensure a fair distribution of Free Beer, and not just a bulk distribution to early birds or similar, Free Beer will be distributed periodically throughout the evening until it runs out.

What has not changed

Quality of Service

To keep latencies low and throughput high, we need everyone's help. The easiest way to keep things going smoothly is for everyone to implement a transmit and receive window. Do not order individual beers -- order beers for people around you too! Trays will be made available to efficiently move more than one beer from the bar to where they are needed. Similarly, when ordering beer, please take a moment to collect any empty glasses around you on a tray and send them back to be bar with whoever is ordering beer.

The Delirium Café staff is working hard to make our evening as pleasant as possible, but we're legion.

Laws of Physics

Sadly, even the FOSDEM Beer Event is subject to some basic laws of physics. We were unable to get an exception for the principle that no two solid objects can occupy the same space at the same time. If you find the bar getting too crowded, it might help to go for dinner and come back later. The bar will be open until 06:00 (that's 6am). While FOSDEM staff will stop distributing tokens sometime after midnight (we have a conference to set up early in the morning), the tokens will be valid all night and after tokens run out, beer can be exchanged directly for cash too (same price).

A note of caution

Unlike some other beers, Belgian beer is not just coloured water. Some beers contain significant quantities of alcohol and will give you a pounding hangover (as a side note, consuming lots of (pure) water helps preventing that). FOSDEM staff is not responsible for any hallucinations you may experience as a result of this event. :-)

Be there!

A lot of work has gone into making this beer event the best ever. We've taken into account the suggestions from previous years and are confident that this edition will be a blast. Bring your friends and join us for a great evening out as well as a great opportunity to socialize with fellow contributors from all around the FOSS ecosystem !

Contact and location

If you manage to get lost somehow, despite this handy little map, call Jochen. He might not be able to help you find the way, but he should be able to find someone who can! :-)