Didn't get tickets to SAVOR? No sweat, the beer gods are smiling on you in the form of Santé: An Epicurean Adventure. The event, sponsored by the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland, will be held Sunday, June 13, from 3-6pm at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. Tickets are $75 advance, $85 at the door, or if you're the DD, $40. You can also splurge for a $100 ticket, which includes "premium food and beverage pairings, as well as guided tastings of rum, gin, and tequila not available at the main event." Sounds intriguing.

Santé won't have anywhere near the breadth and depth of SAVOR (although it shares a curiously similar name) in terms of beer, but there will be enough first-tier breweries on hand to make this a memorable afternoon. According to the write-up on BeerinBaltimore.com, current craft beer participants include: Allagash, Anchor, The Brewer's Art, Heavy Seas, Flying Dog, Harpoon, Lagunitas, Stillwater Artisinal Ales, Stone, Weyerbacher. And from abroad: Ayinger, Lindeman's, Orval, Pinkus Organic, Rochefort, Samuel Smith, Traquair House, Westmalle, and Zatec. Not bad.

At some point, everyone has wondered why the latter three Belgian beers have been named in relation to each other. Is there math involved? If so, what factor is being multiplied? Speculation runs high, and we have heard claims of all kinds. "The styles have twice, three times, and four times the alcohol content of the monks' basic brew." "No, it's the malt that's doubled, tripled, and quadrupled in the recipes." "It has nothing to do with ingredients. Most people couldn't read back then, so the barrels of types of beer were marked with one, two, or three X's." "It's how many times the beer has been fermented."

Each account has a bit of truth to it, but none is entirely correct. The simplest (while still accurate) answer is that the names have to do with the amount of malt used. However, the full explanation has more to do with an old brewing process in which the same malt was used for multiple batches of beer than it does with simple math and the unique characteristics that each style has come to exhibit today.

Hopefully those of you who attended the "Hitting for the Cycle" Belgian beer event at Marvin last night got a proper account. Sly Fox brewmaster Brian O'Reilly, who the Lagerheads got to meet during a Pennsylvania brewery tour a few weeks ago, has written what appears to be the most succinct and accurate explanation of the origin of the names available online. (Scroll down to the "From the Brewer" section.) It gets a little technical so you may want to check this out to brush up on the  steps of the brewing process and basic brewing terminology before reading it. (Beer Snob Warning: In the video, they use hop pellets instead of flowers and refer to two weeks of conditioning as "aging." Don't hate.)

Historically, the enkels (the monks' basic brew, which the Belgian blonde style most closely resembles), dubbels, and tripels had much more in common with each other. The image above from La Trappe, the Dutch trappist brewery that took the nomenclature one step further by brewing the first "quadrupel," shows how the types of beer compare color-wise today. Below is a bit of information on the three styles and some less obvious examples of each (that is, examples that don't have the word for the style in their name).

THE DUBBEL

• History: First brewed as early as 1856 by the monks at Westmalle
• Characteristics today: rich, malty, some spice aromas, mildly hopped, caramel flavors, decent carbonation
• Alcohol content: 6% to 9% ABV
• Examples: Chimay Premiere/Red, Ommegang (their straight up abbey ale), North Coast Brother Thelonious, Corsendonk Brown, Maredsous 8, Brewer's Art Resurrection

THE TRIPEL

• History: First brewed in 1934 by Westmalle (Belgium)
• Characteristics today: spicy, fruity, sweet, often clove and citrus aromas and flavors, sometimes banana and/or pepper
• Alcohol content: 8% to 12% ABV
• Examples: Chimay Cinq Cents/Tripel (White), Unibroue La Fin du Monde, Victory Golden Monkey, Weyerbacher Merry Monks' Ale, Maredsous 10

THE QUADRUPEL

• History: First brewed in 1991 by La Trappe (Netherlands)
• Characteristics today: rich, malty, very sweet, strong alcohol presence, often dark fruit aroma and flavors
• Alcohol content: 9% to 13% ABV
• Examples: Rochefort 10, Ommegang Three Philosophers, Avery The Reverend, Victory V-Twelve, Allagash Four, Mikkeller Monk's Brew

Now that we've cleared that little matter up, which do you prefer? Tammy was hooked by her first quad, Kasteel Bruin, but not many other folks are into them. Bruce can't get enough of the tripels, with Tripel Karmeliet being his favorite. Had a specific brewery's attempt at any of these Belgian beauties and been particulary smitten (or completely unimpressed)? Let us know.

A sixer of Dale's to go — on your desert island

I've had, and still do have, a proclivity toward lists and the ranking of favorites. High Fidelity inspires desert island-record discussions. Fantasy football drafts are a drug. And as tykes, my brother and I would sit cross-legged in the living room, surrounded by sorted mounds of Halloween candy or Pogs (depending on the season) and conduct elaborate trades and negotiations based on our arbitrarily prized possessions. (Should I be confessing this in print? If I ever run for public office, let's pretend this didn't happen.)

The point being: I'm no different today. So when I see the Alström brothers of Beer Advocate fame enumerating their top five desert island beers alongside a profile in The Boston Globe, I start getting ideas. Building a desert island list is a delicate task. With records, you need to take into account all the different styles, eras, and at least one sentimental favorite. You probably want some reggae in there, being on an island. So while ranking Pogs may be less nuanced, picking just five beers to drink for all of sand-locked eternity seems unfair, if not impossible. Or in other words, fun.

Like records, my favorite beers change frequently — probably every time I walk into a beer store. But here's my outline, the prototypical desert island beer list. And despite the urge to apply a beach theme, I have one rule: nothing with a lime in it. Ever.

1. The go-to quaff. You need one lighter beer, a refreshing lager you can drink by the case while watching the game (better believe my desert island gets NFL Sunday Ticket). This beer is also necessary for pairing with the fresh seafood your monkey butlers bring in off the trawler every morning. My go-to here is Victory Prima Pils, or in fantasy land, I'd take Pilsner Urquell, unfiltered and fresh from Plzeň. But no, if I really have to pick just one, it's Terrapin Rye Pale Ale from Athens, Ga. It's as light as Tahitian sand and bristling with dry rye flavor. Terrapin doesn't ship to D.C. yet, but I'm on their case about it.
2. IPA, at least one. What's a man without hops? Sad and alone on a desert island, that's what. But if there's a Bells Two-Hearted Ale or a Dale's Pale Ale in my coconut shell, I'm doing all right.
3. Sentimental favorite #1: big and hoppy. As with Jason Alström, I have to have some Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye. It's a dark, spicy beast with enough hops to put your average IPA to shame.
4. Something for the palate.You're going to want to invite guests over to the desert island, and you'll need something classy to pair with a fine cheese plate. Something in the Belgian style seems in order; I'd go with a trappist like Rochefort 8, St. Bernardus Abt 12, or a saison like Dupont.
5. Sentimental favorite #2: mellow and complex.I'm still lacking in slow-sipping beers, so I'm leaning toward a double IPA or barleywine. My choice here at the moment is Head Knocker from the Vintage 50 restaurant and brewpub in Leesburg. It's a lighter, golden take on an English barleywine, with a honey aroma and a sweetly smooth finish. The beer is now retired, but brewer Bill Madden will open brewpub Mad Fox in the fall. On my fantasy island, it's delivered in fresh casks via helicopter.
6. The cheating sixth beer. Come on, you knew it was coming. Who can pick just five beers? My cheating sixth: Fullers London Pride, the ultimate English bitter, in all its quaffable, buttery glory.

So fellow Beerspotters, let's hear it. What are your top five (okay six) desert island beers?