I just got back from 3 weeks in Europe.  Each day with rare exception (when I was traveling to the next city by train), I would be on my feet from about 9am to about 5pm walking from one tourist sight to another.  Then some rest in the hotel and then back on my feet again (dinner) from about 7pm to about 9:30pm.  I wore The Beast almost every day except one day when it rained most of the day.  Turns out The Beast does not have good traction on wet cobblestones.  I am 5'11" and weight about 165.  These shoes were absolutely outstanding for me.  Walking on streets, sidewalks, up hills (to castles) or down (from castles) and on cobblestones (the worst surface to walk on in my opinion), my feet felt great.  No pain or soreness in feet, legs and most importantly knees.  A few points in the interest of full disclosure:  (1)  I have worn Brooks shoes for many years.  My feet seem to do very well in Brooks.  (2) I replaced the stock insole with gel insoles immediately upon purchase.  (3) I bought some reasonably thick synthetic material Wigwam socks (not a fan of cotton socks).  I figure if these shoes perform well on cobblestones in Europe, then they are truly some special shoes.  Now that I am home I am wearing them regularly.  I also like the grey-black color scheme as it does not show the dirt from use like the typical white only athletic shoes.  One more point:  I will try to describe a lacing pattern that one guy in a shoe store showed me.  The lace from the 2nd to the last eyelet makes a loop to the last eyelet on the same side of the shoe and then comes across the shoe and into the loop created between the 2nd to the last and the last eyelet on the other side of the shoe.  I found this lacing pattern to make a definitely noticeable improvement in how the shoe gripped my feet and kept them stable.  Highly recommend the shoe and the lacing pattern.

December, 2010 update:  about two months ago I bought a replacement pair of The Beast shoes.  While they looked identical to the previous pair, much to my surprise I discovered that somehow Brooks had taken a significant amount of weight out of the shoe.  Comparing the two shoes - the weight decrease is quite noticeable.  After using the new version for the last couple of months I am pleased to report that I have not noticed any decrease in the comfort or support that I now expect from The Beast.  If this performance continues, I will be greatly impressed as the weight of the old The Beast shoes was always a negative to me.