This post is a part of the 2015 New Beer Every Day Beer Diary Challenge, #ottbeerdiary. Over the course of 2015, I will be trying a new beer every day. Please read the background in the link above, and enjoy reading about the most recently tasted beers below. If you’d like to join the challenge as well, let me know in the comments below, and be sure to check out Grown-up Travel Guide and his #grownupbeerdiary, where Andy Higgs came up with the diary format in use below. You can catch up on all of our posts as part of the challenge under the tag ottbeerdiary.
Day 226: August 14, 2015
Diary entry:
The day is starting off looking pretty nice, but the weather forecast is a little iffy for the afternoon and tomorrow.
There’s a beer festival I want to attend in Rotterdam this weekend, just not sure if I want to go tonight or tomorrow.
Well, that decision was made when I saw that the afternoon was supposed to turn out to be fairly decent, while tomorrow’s weather was looking worse and worse. And couple that with my one afternoon meeting being canceled, and off I went to Rotterdam!
Booked a cheap hotel right next to the festival grounds, and took the train in to town, so I could spend some time exploring the city tomorrow morning and not have to worry about having to drive home after the festival.
Tried a few beers today at the festival, including some impressive beers from breweries I’ve not encountered before:
Gin Weizen by Gebrouwen Door Vrouwen – Berliner Weiss more than White ipa. Awesome!
C’est Zon by Kaf & Koren – Nice funk and sourness.
Green Bullet IPA by Two Chefs Brewing – Hoppy, with some bitter, and lots of real hop.
Paradiso by Cinema Brewers – Nice basil flavor. And IPA bitterness.
Tricky Tripel by Gebrouwen Door Vrouwen – Fruity. Nice flavor. Overall, I was extremely impressed with the beers from Gebrouwen Door Vrouwen. And I wasn’t the only one, because within 3 hours of the festival opening, they were totally sold out of both of their beers!
Mamba Porter Op Hout by Ramses Bier – The coffee and barrel chips from the Randall made it extra special.
This was a pretty cool festival. Nice lineup of breweries and food, but they could improve some for next time. Especially with the use of chips / coins of some sort to pay for the beer instead of needing to pay with PIN code, especially once the lines got longer. I actually wound up leaving around 8PM as the crowd got so big, and the lines so long, it wasn’t really possible to get any more beverages.
The Beer:
Name: $5 Shake – Jules
Style: American Pale Wheat Ale
Producer: Cinema Brewers
Alcohol content: 5.5%
Bottle size: 0.33l
Purchased from: Bierfestival Hop in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
$5 Shake – Jules by Cinema Brewers at the Hop Bier Festival in Rotterdam. Great pale ale flavor with hints of vanilla, red apple, and blueberry.
I also had the $5 Shake – Vincent, which is the same beer, but with Vincent instead of Jules on the label. Just not as cool 🙂
