Day 1139: February 12, 2018 Stoute Bie by Brouwerij de Bie

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Feb 12, 2018 at 9:32pm PST

Name: Stoute Bie

Style: Stout

Producer: Brouwerij de Bie 🇧🇪

Alcohol content: 5.5%

Serving Style: Bottle

Purchased from: Prik & Tik, Arendonk, Belgium

Sweet cocoa and caramel flavor. Light coffee bitter.

Day 1140: February 13, 2018 Tonka From Belém by Brasserie Fantôme

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Feb 13, 2018 at 9:52pm PST

Name: Tonka From Belém

Style: Saison

Producer: Brasserie Fantôme 🇧🇪 and Morada Cia Etílica 🇧🇷

Alcohol content: 8.0%

Serving Style: 0.75l Bottle

Purchased from: Bierhalle Deconinck, Vichte, Belgium

Nice dry funky aroma. A little floral. Flavor is a nice dry yeasty funk. Dry tart finish. Quite tasty.

Day 1141: February 14, 2018 True Love by Champion Brewing Company

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Feb 14, 2018 at 9:27pm PST

Name: True Love

Style: Lager

Producer: Champion Brewing Company USA 🇺🇸 collab with Cockfight Skateboards

Alcohol content: 4.5%

Serving Style: Bottle

Purchased from: de Bierbrigadier, Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Clean hoppy lager. Bitter with a light malty finish. Meant to be comparable to a Mexican-style lager

Day 1142: February 15, 2018 Sazobe by Viedi

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Feb 15, 2018 at 9:53pm PST

Name: Sazobe

Style: American Pale Ale

Producer: Viedi 🇱🇻

Alcohol content: 5.8%

Serving Style: Bottle

Purchased from: Riga, Latvia

Fruity and a light hoppy bitter. A light maltinsss. Pretty good overall flavor.

Day 1143: February 16, 2018 Recipe 1000 Sauternes by Mikkeller

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Feb 16, 2018 at 8:56pm PST

Name:  Recipe 1000 Sauternes

Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Producer: Mikkeller 🇩🇰

Alcohol content: 9.0%

Serving Style: Bottle

Purchased from: Wijnhuis, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Nice grapey sweet flavor from the three years in Sauternes barrels. Rich caramel and vanilla toast. A little boozy.

Day 1144: February 17, 2018 Smeerolie Mexicake by De Moersleutel

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Feb 17, 2018 at 10:49pm PST

Name: Smeerolie Mexicake

Style: Imperial Stout

Producer: De Moersleutel 🇳🇱

Alcohol content: 10.0%

Serving Style: Can

Purchased from: de Bierbrigadier, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Day 1145: February 18, 2018 Hazelnut Porter by Birrificio Lambrate

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Feb 18, 2018 at 9:33pm PST

Name: Hazelnut Porter

Style: Hazlenut Porter

Producer: Birrificio Lambrate 🇮🇹

Alcohol content: 5.5%

Serving Style: Draft

Purchased from: ’cause BEER loves FOOD, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Heavy hazelnut cocoa caramel aroma. Flavor is hazelnut bitter. A bit watery body.

Day 1125: January 29, 2018 Mežs (Forest) by Alus Darbnīca Labietis

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Jan 29, 2018 at 9:09pm PST

Name: Mežs (Forest)

Style: Spiced / Herb Beer

Producer: Alus Darbnīca Labietis 🇱🇻

Alcohol content: 5.5%

Serving Style: 0.5l Bottle

Purchased from: Statoil DUS | Lido, Riga, Latvia

A bit of a juniper herbal flavor. Little tart. Fruity. Dry hopped with Kazbek, an Eastern European wild hops. Inspired by Latvian folk songs on juniper berry beer.

Day 1126: January 30, 2018 Bersalis Kadet Oak Aged by Brouwerij Oud Beersel

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Jan 30, 2018 at 9:42pm PST

Name:  Bersalis Kadet Oak Aged

Style: Soured Belgian Triple

Producer: Brouwerij Oud Beersel 🇧🇪

Alcohol content: 5.0%

Serving Style: Bottle

Purchased from: Oud Beersel Brewery, Beersel, Belgium

Sour Ale. Fruity, toasty, and a bit funky. Nice blend of sour and oak. This beer is Bersalis Kadet (Belgian Tripel) aged an extra year in barrels previously used to mature Oud Beersel’s lambic beers, and this second fermentation provides the beer with its Bretty, sour character. There is also a third in-bottle fermentation.

Day 1127: January 31, 2018 Odense Classic by Albani Bryggerierne

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Jan 31, 2018 at 9:41pm PST

Name: Odense Classic

Style: Vienna Lager

Producer: Albani Bryggerierne 🇩🇰

Alcohol content: 4.6%

Serving Style: Bottle

Purchased from: Gas Station in Odense, Denmark

Malty sweet aroma. Hoppy bitter with a malty undertone.

Day 1128: February 1, 2018 Kerasus (2016) by Brouwerij Alvinne

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Feb 1, 2018 at 11:11pm PST

Name:  Kerasus (2016)

Style: Cherry Sour Ale

Producer: Brouwerij Alvinne 🇧🇪

Alcohol content: 6.0%

Serving Style: Bottle

Purchased from: Bierhalle Deconinck, Vichte, Belgium

Great characteristically extremely tart Alvinne sour base. Excellent cherry flavor – deep fruit, not too sweet.

Day 1129: February 2, 2018 Goudenband Barrel Aged by Brouwerij Liefmans

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Feb 2, 2018 at 10:13pm PST

Name:  Goudenband Barrel Aged

Style: Flanders Oud Bruin

Producer: Brouwerij Liefmans 🇧🇪

Alcohol content: 9.5%

Serving Style: 0.75l Bottle

Purchased from: Prik & Tik, Arendonk, Belgium

Liefmans Goudenband aged 40 weeks in California Pinot Noir wine barrels. Vinegary toasty aroma. Flavor is a toasty, oakey semisweet balsamic vinegar leaning tart. Good nutty richness as well. A bit of vanilla coconut toast.

Day 1130: February 3, 2018 Oude Kriek Boon (2014) by Brouwerij Boon

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Feb 3, 2018 at 10:36pm PST

Name: Oude Kriek Boon (2014)

Style: Kriek

Producer: Brouwerij Boon 🇧🇪

Alcohol content: 6.5%

Serving Style: 0.75l Bottle

Purchased from: A gift from work for the project go-lives we achieved in 2017

400 grams of cherries per liter of the one-year-old blend of lambics. Deep cherry fruity aroma. Flavor is cherry and a decent tart. But not an overpowering young sour. Light sweet. A bit dry.

Day 1131: February 4, 2018 Morpheus Undressed Foederbier by Brouwerij Alvinne

The Beer:

A post shared by Brett Domue (@metsbwd) on Feb 4, 2018 at 9:39pm PST

Name:  Morpheus Undressed Foederbier

Style: Flanders Oud Bruin

Producer: Brouwerij Alvinne 🇧🇪

Alcohol content: 6.9%

Serving Style: 0.5l Bottle

Purchased from: Prik & Tik, Arendonk, Belgium

Morpheus Undressed, further aged in a 75 Hl Foeder. Lovely sour. Fruity, and toasty. Excellent sour vat..

Day 869: May 18, 2017

The Beer:

Name: Spontanbeetroot

Style: Fruit Lambic

Producer: Mikkeller

Alcohol content: 7.7%

Bottle size: 0.5cl bottle

Purchased from: Prik & Tik, Arendonk, Belgium.

Spontanbeetroot by Mikkeller. 7.7% ABV Beetroot Sour. Nice spontan-series sour. But the beetroot has trouble coming through. Though it worked quite well paired with some roasted beetroot.

Day 388: January 23, 2016

Diary entry:

Took it easy today, catching up on some blog posts, trying to get caught up before flying out to the US next week.

Plus tomorrow I’ll be attending a couple of beer events, so don’t want to overdo it today and be unable to enjoy myself tomorrow.

Managed to get quite a lot done, including a lot of photo editing, so happy with that result.

And a good night’s sleep also helps.

The Beer:

Name: Hr. Frederiksen

Style: Imperial Stout

Producer: Amager Bryghus

Alcohol content: 10.5%

Bottle size: 0.5 l

Purchased from: De Caigny in Essen, Belgium

Hr. Frederiksen by Amager Bryghus of Kastrup, Denmark, a suburb of Copenhagen. Batch 833. Pours a pitch black color, with a little head. Deep, cocoa aroma. This beer possesses dark bitter flavors, tending towards a little burnt. The flavor are even deeper than the aroma. Full body, not watery at all. Eight different roasted malts and American Centennial hops give the body and the bitterness.

From December 1 through December 24, I’m going to try to use a Christmas Beer for each day of Advent as part of my #ottadvent15 2015 Advent Calendar. Follow along with the tag ottadvent15.

Day 353: December 19, 2015

Diary entry:

One of the last weekends of the year. And instead of Christmas markets, this weekend is all about the beer festivals. Right now, the winter beer festivals are in full swing, with at least four for me to choose from this weekend alone!

Today, I decided to stick to only one festival though.

Original plan was to take the train in to Breda and enjoy the beers at the Winterbier Festival Breda starting at 1PM, but there were train troubles all over my part of the netherlands today, so I had to take matters into my own hands instead, and drive over. That did limit my beer tasting potentials, but did give me some freedom in other areas.

I arrived in Breda and somehow, miracurlously managed to find a parking space in a lot that was way too full, especially with the number of people who parked over their lines taking up multiple spaces. For €14-daypass. Yeah, train would have been cheaper. *sigh*

I decided to stop for a bite of lunch before starting on the beer, and ran into Nils from BierNetwerk and his girlfriend at Cafe SamSam in the market square, and they invited me to join them as they were also about to order some lunch. An interesting bacon goat cheese sandwich.

Unfortunately, they wound up having to leave before hitting the festival, but I managed to find it ok, and had a decent couple of hours tasting a few of the beers.

Bulldog by Brouwerij Frontaal – 7.5% IPA – Fruity in front, and a bit bitter on the aftertaste. A good IPA for the non Hopheads.

Winterbier by Brouwerij De Beyerd – 8% Winter Ale –  Fruity aroma. Spiced and a bit fruity. Bubblegum. A bit of the 8% coming through.

Limited Edition: Imperial Red Ale by Brouwerij Bliksem – 8.2% Imperial Red Ale – Surprisingly fruity. Much more so than I expected! But the. A nice bitter aftertaste follows.

Christmas Eve at a New York City Hotel Room by Evil Twin Brewing – See Beer-of the Day below.

Abominable Winter Ale by Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) – 7.3% Winter IPA – Amber color. Hoppy aroma. Definitely hoppy on the flavor as well. But spices mixed in with some malts. Quite good.

De Strijdende Kater by Ramses Bier – 10% Brown, Strong IPA – Collab with De Bierderie. This beer is for Oscar, a Beer Geek and Dutch beer icon. Smokey aroma. Tropical, rich flavor. With a nice underlying bitterness.

GROM by Brouwerij Bliksem – 10% Russian Imperial Stout – Dark brown/black. Decent tan head. Chcolate aroma. Nice chocolate coffee flavor base. They’re gonna barrel age this with vanilla. Could rock!

Rhodesian Bourbon Oak Aged by Brouwerij Frontaal – 12% Barleywine – First impression. Coconut, chocolate, and dark. But beyond that? YUM. I like this. Not oversweet. Not over alcoholic. Excellent. Try it!

Barrel Reserve – Dark Side of the Moon by Kissmeyer Beer & Brewing – 9.5% Imperial porter – A decent porter. Vanilla and dark flavors.

Ok, so maybe a few more tasters than I had originally anticipated, but spread out over a few hours, and I did wind up having a burger from Smaaker in the middle, so all was ok.

Ok enough, that I went to Tilburg on the way home to see the new Star Wars movie.

A good day!

The Beer:

Name: Christmas Eve at a New York City Hotel Room

Style: Imperial Stout

Producer: Evil Twin Brewing

Alcohol content: 10.0%

Bottle size: 0.2 l pour from a 12 fl. oz. bottle

Purchased from: Firma Bier at Winterbier Festival Breda

Christmas Eve at a New York City Hotel Room by Evil Twin Brewing. A 10% ABV Imperial Stout. Holy burnt tootsie roll! This has the flavors; the dark chocolate/caramel and some vanilla. But then a burnt smokeyness follows. Nice!

Day 282: October 9, 2015

Diary entry:

A decent Friday.

Took a late start to work today since we had to stop by the town hall here in Boxtel to bring them a copy of Erin’s birth certificate. We’ve been living here for over three years, and only yesterday they contacted me that they didn’t have a copy, even though we provided all of the documents when we moved here in 2012!

Oh well. No fighting bureaucracy. Luckily we have the documents sitting at home, so just make an appointment and take care of business.

Had to walk through the Boxtel Friday farmer’s market to get to the town hall, so of course, since we had to walk back through again on the way home, we wandered through the market for a few things, such as freshly made stroopwafels. Yum!

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Fresh Stroopwafel at the Friday morning market in the center of Boxtel, The Netherlands. You can't beat a fresh one with sweet warm caramel inside. Amazing!

A post shared by Our Tasty Travels – Food Blog (@ourtastytravels) on Oct 9, 2015 at 2:55am PDT

Off to work for a few important meetings, including some rework due to another important decision finally being made. Not much rework, and luckily the word came in before I did triple work that I was planning to do today, so good timing!

But now it’s weekend!

The Beer:

Name: Daybreak

Style: Imperial Stout

Producer: Hill Farmstead Brewery

Alcohol content: 10.0%

Bottle size: .375 l

Purchased from: De Hopduvel in Ghent, Belgium

Daybreak by Hill Farmstead Brewery and Mikkeller. To end the week, break the day! Bitter dark chocolate aroma. More bitter dark flavor. Some toast from barrel. Anise undertones. Some hints of the citrus and French orange liqueur as well. Nice!

Daybreak was brewed in 2014 by Hill Farmstead Brewery of Greensboro, VT, in collaboration with Mikkel Borg Bjergsø of Mikkeller in Denmark. It’s an Imperial Stout, brewed with citrus, and aged in freshly emptied French orange liqueur barrels.

Day 218: August 6, 2015

Diary entry:

An interesting day today.

One very important meeting involving people from around the world…only no one was there to lead the meeting! Hard to get so many people together, and to have it go to waste due to no chairman would have been a waste, so I had to step up.  Unfortunately, now I have a lot more on my plate to keep coordinating until the people who should have run it are back from vacation.  Oh well!

The Beer:

Name: Batch 1000

Style: American IPA

Producer: Amager Bryghus

Alcohol content: 6.5%

Bottle size: 0.50l

Purchased from: De Caigny in Essen, Belgium

And a Happy IPA Day to you too! Batch 1000 by Amager Brughus of Denmark. Whoa! This is beautiful! Hoppy bitterness. Very slight fruit. Well balanced. Delicious!

Commercial Description:

A great deal of beer has run through our fermentation tanks since Amager Bryghus opened in April 2007. There are more tanks now, and more of US – and, admittedly, there is a bit more of EACH of us as well. But that is just an indication that we are doing well and working hard at sampling beer for you!
Now we have brewed and sampled our way to Batch #1.000, and we want to celebrate that with a beer of a type we know many of you love dearly: a juicy, American inspired IPA, dripping with hops.
There are hops everywhere in Batch #1.000 – one kind during the mashing and the boil, two others in the whirlpool, and finally three more added during both the first and second dry hopping.
Thank you for your support through all the years we’ve spent in Tårnby’s concrete Hell. We would not be here today, if it wasn’t for you.

Day 214: August 2, 2015

Diary entry:

Today was a more relaxed day. Slept in, sat at home, and generally didn’t do much all morning. As a Sunday morning should be.

Ventured out to the terraces in town to enjoy the weather for the afternoon hours. Tried a few different beers from the Texelse brewery. Decent beers, good for sitting out on a terrace. In fact, I hate to say, all better than today’s Beer of the Day…

The Beer:

Name: Grand Cru Framboise 2012

Style: Sour Fruit Beer

Producer: Kolding Bryglaug

Alcohol content: 6.7%

Bottle size: 0.50l

Purchased from: De Hopduivel in Ghent, Belgium

Grand Cru Framboise 2012 by Kolding Bryglaug. A bit disappointing. Not much sour. Wee bit of funk. Not too much fruit. Perhaps past prime? Seems too soon. Oh well.

Commercial Description:

A light red sour fruit beer with fresh organic raspberries. Produced in very limited amount, this fresh beer provides mild tartness, fine fruit, and dry bretty notes.

Day 93: April 3, 2015

Diary entry:

Friday’s have been workshop day of late. And being the last day before a three-day weekend, seems like everyone had a bit of Spring fever today.

Seems all morning long the emails were coming in for weekend plans.  Drinks after work. A trip to Cologne on the weekend.  Spring is here!

First stop after work was to Van Moll in Eindhoven for drinks with a friend and his wife, where I had to choose this beer as my beer of the day…

The Beer:

Name: Danish Metal

Style: Imperial Stout

Producer: Amager Bryghus collaboration with Jester King

Alcohol content: 10.0%

Bottle size: 0.50 l

Purchased from: Van Moll in Eindhoven

This beer was dark. Pure dark. Dark chocolate. Dark espresso. Dark anise flavors. Dark roasted malts. Dark bitterness. Pure darkness. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Commercial Description: It was a true Texan invasion when Jester King came to Amager. We honestly lost count but we believe at least 8 or 9 of these cowboys came riding in – dragging their suitcase rollers along. And we didn’t put up much of a fight since it was the day after the Copenhagen Beer Celebration party. Morten fell asleep in the malt room and Jacob pretty much fell asleep leaning against the mash tun while mashing in. René? Well, we never saw René that day. Oh yes, we were beat. Dead meat we were. Crooked Stave came by, so did The Kernel and Off Color Brewing – or was it somebody else? Sorry, we totally lost track. But Manker was here….we think. But a beer was indeed brewed in this massive state of being wasted, and a bit of a beast it is. We took the original version of Jester King’s Black Metal – the one with a British ale yeast – and gave it a bit of a Danish spin. Hence Danish Metal was born. It’s rich and potent and powerful – just like a Texas steak. Or something. But we’re babbling. We’ll shut up now. Sorry.

Day 90: March 31, 2015

Diary entry:

First quarter is DONE!  90 Days! Three months! With at least one new beer every day!

This is actually more difficult than I expected.

I have enough new beers stocked up that I can keep this going for a few more months, it’s just that sometimes, you just want to take a break and not have a beer at night.  But I will keep this up…I’m determined to complete this challenge!

The Beer:

Name: 4D Ilan

Style: Sour Ale

Producer: Kolding Bryglaug

Alcohol content: 5.4%

Bottle size: 0.5 l

Purchased from: De Hopduvel in Ghent

Today’s beer of the day is the 4D Ilan collaboration between 4D and Kolding Bryglaug. “The first beer from American Brewer ‘4th Dimension’. Soured through a whole year and blended with both a barrel-aged version and a version matured on Venezuelan rum. Soft, funky, tart and oaky dry.” No carbonation, but very flavorful. You get the drying and the rum flavors on the aftertaste.