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 358: December 24, 2015

Diary entry:

Had a couple work emails come in late in the day yesterday, including one for the big document I have been working on for a few months, aside from all the projects. Since I want to finalize this before the end of the year, and had nothing else scheduled for the day, I decided to pop in to the office for a few hours this morning to finish it up.

Back home after a couple hours, relaxing for maybe going out for a beer later tonight.

But first, a toast to Oscar, the Dutch “Beer Geek” who was suffering from ALS but went out on his own terms today. He was an iconic figure in the Dutch beer community, and I had an opportunity to meet him and share a bottle with him at the Borefts Beer Festival by De Molen in September this year. A special collaboration beer, De Strijdende Kater by Ramses and De Bierderie, was made in one of his favorite styles, and I understand a new beer will be released in his honor each year going forward.

After this, I decided to stay in for the rest of the evening, enjoying a good night’s sleep. My Christmas present to myself.

The Beer:

Name: Rudolphe

Style: Winter Ale

Producer: Brasserie De Silenrieux

Alcohol content: 9.0%

Bottle size: 0.33 l

Purchased from: Bierhandel Willems & Zoon in Grobbendonk, Belgium

Rudolphe by Brasserie de Salenrieux. Rudolphe is guiding the sleigh tonight, so had to set him free. You can definitely taste the 9%, should keep that nose glowing. Fruity, raisins. Poured with a big, cream colored head. Quite some carbonation, but not blocking the flavor. Mellows out quite a bit sitting in the glass.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

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 357: December 23, 2015

Diary entry:

So I still went into the office today, to see how much I could get done still on whatever was still in my inbox.

By noon, I realized that I wasn’t going to be accomplishing too much today, so I decided to call it a half-day and use a few hours of vacation.

Couldn’t decide though.  Brussels or Amsterdam?

In the end, I decided on Amsterdam, since I’ll be in Brussels with my brother on the 30th, and may even go this weekend for the Christmas market.

There are a few beer bars in Amsterdam I have never visited before, so I decided to pay them a visit. I honestly didn’t realize they are all owned by the same group as the Arendsnest!

I visited Beer Temple, which specializes in American craft beer, and also paid a visit to Craft and Draft. Craft and Draft wasn’t on my original agenda, but the manager of Beer Temple mentioned that they may still have the Xocoveza from Stone Berlin left after the December 7 introduction, so I decided to give it a shot.

After some ribs from Cafe De Klos, first 🙂 My favorites!

The Beer:

Name: Xocoveza For The Holidays & The New Year

Style: Milk Stout

Producer: Stone Brewing Company – Berlin

Alcohol content: 6.9%

Bottle size: 0.25 l draft

Purchased from: Craft and Draft in Amsterdam

Xocoveza For the Holidays and the New Year by Stone Brewing Company – Berlin. Berlin Brewed. Not Escondido. The beer is still lovely, and only 6.9%. Chocolate milk flavors with an excellent bitterness. Creamy and a little sweet. I can understand why people were looking forward to it. Was surprised when Beer Temple told me it was still on tap at Craft and Draft, their sister bar. Beer Temple’s two kegs were gone in 2-3 days, while this has lasted a few weeks on draft outside of the Amsterdam city center. “Less Beer Geeks,” was cited as the reason.

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 356: December 22, 2015

Diary entry:

Had my last scheduled meetings of 2015 today. Not a single workshop, meeting, conference call, offsite, etc. scheduled between December 23 and Jan 3! Not sure what I’m going to do with myself!

The only downside of the last meetings today, is that the last of these was scheduled from 6PM – 7PM, and wound up going until 8PM. But once it was done, I was done!

I will still be at work tomorrow, and maybe Monday/Tuesday next week…undecided there yet. Nothing else planned until my brother arrives in Brussels on the 30th. A totally open agenda!

Something tells me beer will be involved.

And the couch.

And movies.

The Beer:

Name: God Jul Whisky (2015)

Style: Winter Ale

Producer: Nøgne Ø

Alcohol content: 9.5%

Bottle size: 0.33 l

Purchased from: De Caigny bottle shop in Essen Belgium

God jul Whisky (2015) by Nøgne Ø. 9.5% ABV, 33 class bottle. Love the liquorice flavor on top the dark chocolate, dark fruits, and spices in this one. Delicious!

Commercial Description (Bottle Label):

From all of us to all of you: a very merry Christmas! This full bodied ale is brewed to celebrate the dark winter season. Aged in fresh whisky barrels for two and a half years it has really become the warming friend that will embrace you and give shelter from the cold.

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 355: December 21, 2015

Diary entry:

I’m still at work this week, at least for the start of the week. Not a whole lot going on, but taking the opportunity to catch up on the last document reviews in my queue, and be ready to support in case of any issues for the year-end close. I’ll take a few days off later in the week and next week…

I did have an offsite meeting in the afternoon up in Den Haag, which was rather easy to get to today. And made a stop by the Fiddler afterwards to try their local brews.

The drive home left a bit to be desired…apparently no one told everyone in The Hague that they’re supposed to be on holiday this week. Still quite a lot of traffic getting out of town. Coupled with the high winds and the rain, made for an interesting drive home.

The Beer:

Name: Hoppy Christmas

Style: American IPA

Producer: BrewDog

Alcohol content: 7.2%

Bottle size: 0.33 l

Purchased from: De Caigny bottle shop in Essen Belgium

Hoppy Christmas by BrewDog. Hoppy (single hop – Simcoe) aroma and flavors. Some maltiness. But very hoppy bitterness (70IBU). 7.2% ABV. A very welcome change from all the sweet Christmas beers from the past weeks.

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 354: December 20, 2015

Diary entry:

I met up with a colleague from work today who is also into craft beer, and we made the journey over to Essen, Belgium for the OBER Christmas beer festival. This is the biggest Christmas and Winter beer festival around, and has been running strong since 1999. And yet somehow, this is my first time ever attending!

But first, we stopped in to De Caigny bottle shop for some final restocking for the year – I must say, they had a really impressive selection today! Took a lot of willpower not to throw a ton of beers into the shopping cart. I did manage to pick up a few though that I’m really curious to try.

We got to the festival hall just before the noon opening time, and the line was snaking across the parking lot to the street! In years past, I heard the festival was a bit too crowded, so this year, the organizers took to pre-sale tickets for the event, with a limit to how many people could attend. Based on the line at opening, and how many people were present in the hall around three hours in, I must say, that was a good thing to do!

As it was, the festival was pretty busy, but by no means un-navigable or over crowded. And somehow, they managed to keep stocks of almost all of the beers for quite a while. None of the beers I went up to order was out, though a few were on their last botltes from what I could tell, and towards the end of my time there, the Out of Stock signs were beginning to make an appearance on the shelf of bottles the servers were pouring from.

Our starter pack that came with our pre-sale tickets contained 7 tokens, and I got an extra for being a member of PINT, so I had 8 possible beers I could order. But I did make the choice to spend a token on a plate of meat and cheese so we had something to nibble on, so only 7 beers for me. With around 180 to choose from, that leaves quite a chore to choose which beers to sample. Luckily, they had an English-language beer list brochure with nice write-ups inside. Too bad they had no WiFi, otherwise I would have also done more online research (which I should have done in advance.)

In the end, I tried the following (including a couple which were tastes of the beers John, my colleague, ordered).

Nen Engel by Domus Huisbrouwerij – 8% Dunkler Bock – Some sweet. Some bitter. Not bad. But too cold from the tap. After this, I decided only bottles for the rest of the day.

Feestbier by Brouwerij Broeder Jacob – 8.6% Belgian Blonde – Honey and some spice.

Winter 15 by Brouwerij Hof Ten Dormaal – 6% Sour beer with Sloeberries – Interesting fruit flavors. Toasty. The Sloeberries give a very interesting flavor and aftertaste.

Snowlapin by Fort Lapin Brewery – 10% Belgian Brown Ale – Aroma of cola, then Root beer. Very carbonated. Interesting flavor.

Yvan Denisovitch’s Breakfast by Brasserie Du Brabant – 10% Russian Imperial Stout – Ah. My morning cup of coffee. This is very coffee flavored.

Augrenoise Blonde de Noël by Brasserie Augrenoise – See Beer-of-the-day below.

Knots Natuurbier by Varenbroek – 9% Belgian Strong Ale – A bit sweet, a little underlying bitter. But not all that special.

Chimay Grande Réserve Vieillie En Fût De Bois by Bières de Chimay (Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont) – 10% Trappist Ale – Really nice oak flavor added to an already great beer. Lovely!

Perfect Day by Brasserie Du Brabant – 8% Imperial Pilsner – Quite nice! Citrus and bitter. A good blend of flavors.

Canaster Winterscotch by Brouwerij de Glazen Toren – 9.5% Scotch Ale – Ok. Not quite as flavorful as I expected from the write-up.

Imperial Kroezer by De Hopscheppers – 8% Russian Imperial Stout – Dark dark brown. Dark aromas. Coffee. Cocoa. Flavors dark. Edging towards dark fruits. Lekker.

A quick lunch at the frituur across the street, then we began the trip back to the Netherlands.

But before we made it back to the carpool location in Best, a quick pit stop in Oirschot for the third festival of the weekend, the Kerst en Winter Speciaalbier Festival 2015 at Brouwerij van de Oirsprong. They were out of a number of beers when we arrived, but I was pleased to see a couple of the beers that I had on my potential list from the Essen festival available here as well, as well as a few they didn’t have there!

Lupulus Hibernatus by Brasserie Les 3 Fourquets – 9% Winter warmer – Wee bit sweet. Pretty strong.

Abbaye d’Aulne Super Noël by Brasserie de l’Abbaye d’Aulne – 9% Belgian Strong Dark Ale – Dried apple flavors. Really quite interesting flavor.

X-Mas Spicy by Brouwerij De Vlier – 8.5% Belgian Strong Dark Ale – Quite a nice mix of spices. Not too sweet…but it is sweet. Pretty good though!

Winterbier by Van de Oirsprong – 6.5% Winter Ale – Very herbal. Not as sweet as most of the xmas beers. But a bit of. Honey maltiness. This beer was released at the festival

And that was quite enough for the day, and for the weekend. Enjoyed an evening on the couch at home after all of that 🙂

The Beer:

Name: Augrenoise Blonde de Noël

Style: Blonde Christmas Ale

Producer: Brasserie Augrenoise

Alcohol content: 9.5%

Bottle size: 0.2 l pour from a 0.75l bottle

Purchased from: The OBER Kerstbierfestival in Essen, Belgium

Augrenoise Blonde de Noël by Brasserie Augrenoise. A 9.5% Christmas beer brewed at an annex of St. Alfred in Casteau, where the former Castle of Augrene serves as a home for the mentally handicapped. The label was hand-drawn by residents of the home. Brewed with Orval’s yeast strain, fermented in an open tank. All ingredients come from Orval, and the brewing is assisted by the former brewer of Orval. The beer is yeasty, yet fruity. It’s smooth. Very smooth. Toasty. But interesting. Really quite enjoyable.

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!

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 352: December 18, 2015

Diary entry:

Oh yeah, things definitely quieted down in the office today.

My room itself was empty besides me today, and I think it will remain that way for the next two weeks. Will be nice to have it all to myself for a bit.

There were a number of people still on the floor…one of the perks of being in the finance department of a large corporation is that you always have plenty to do around Christmas and New Year’s due to the year-end closing of the books.

I did get my first meeting on a subproject of project three that I had not been involved in yet. Not sure how much I will need to be, but at least I’m in the loop now, and can bring the topic to others in my department who may need to be more intimately involved next year.

So all-in-all, a good day.

The Beer:

Name: Kerst Pater Special Christmas

Style: Winter Ale

Producer: Brouwerij Van Den Bossche

Alcohol content: 9.0%

Bottle size: 0.33 l

Purchased from: Bierhandel Willems & Zoon in Grobbendonk, Belgium

Kerst Pater Special Christmas Bier by Brouwerij van den Bossche. Fruity with some spices. Tiny hints of dark, but hard for them to come through the 9% ABV. Some raisiny sweetness does linger

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 351: December 17, 2015

Diary entry:

For a lot of people in my office, today was the last work day of the year. A lot of people don’t work on Fridays due to a family part-time day, and most are also taking the next two weeks off for the Christmas holidays.

Had a few “last of the year” meetings — one for project two, one for an oversight board I sit on over all three projects.

And then we had our year-end state-of-the-department GWO meeting for the finance and PMO organizations. Unfortunately, I missed the start due to the last meeting I had to attend, but was there for some interesting and informative presentations on one of our corporate priorities.

And more importantly, the Christmas drink.

Alas…only Heineken was being served on the beer front.

So I had a glass of wine instead.

The Beer:

Name: Spéciale Fêtes

Style: Winter Warmer

Producer: Brasserie Saint-Monon

Alcohol content: 7.5%

Bottle size: 0.33 l

Purchased from: Bierhandel Willems & Zoon in Grobbendonk, Belgium

Spéciale Fêtes by Brasserie Saint-Monon. A 7.5% Winter Warmer. Dark and fruity. A bit sweet. Some spices. Only 7.5%, but seems like the alcohol carries this one a little.

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 350: December 16, 2015

Diary entry:

Three-Hundred and Fifty Days!

Only 15 Days to go!

So close, I can almost stop tasting it!

Had to change offices at work today, moving from the 14th to the 15th floor to make room for some bigger groups who needed the bigger room I was sitting in. I think I’ve now been in almost every office on these two floors at some point or other. Luckily I don’t have much to move. Less than 30 minutes to unhook everything, move it all, and have it all hooked up again and be back to work.

But what a mess! The group that was in this room must not have had cleaning done in here for a few months, at least!

The Beer:

Name: La 44 Christmas

Style: Winter Ale

Producer: Brasserie De La Gleize

Alcohol content: 6.0%

Bottle size: 0.33 l

Purchased from: Bierhandel Willems & Zoon in Grobbendonk, Belgium

La 44 Christmas by Brasserie de La Gleize. 6% ABV Winter Ale. Fruity aroma. Flavor of black liquorice and some dark fruits, plum maybe. Only 6% ABV, so not at all bad on alcohol burn.

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 349: December 15, 2015

Diary entry:

An early start today, as I had an open agenda this morning.

Wait. What? Why early then?

I got hit with a pile of documents to be reviewed for Thursday, and luckily with an open agenda this morning, I was able to buckle down and read through a couple hundred pages. Not the most exciting reading, but it had to be done. And I was able to give my feedback so hopefully these documents are all able to be approved on Thursday.

And then, from reading to writing, as I’m also trying to complete my final revisions on the Business Information Plan I’ve been working on for a few months. Amazing, as I completed the first 65-page draft in a few hours back in September, but it’s taken three months to have it reviewed and make the adjustments suggested by others. But that collaboration for you 🙂

In the afternoon, I had one important meeting on project three. This project is going to be pretty huge in 2016…

My last meeting of the day was back to project two. Also very important…

The Beer:

Name: Christmas Leroy

Style: Scotch Ale

Producer: Brouwerij Het Sas / Leroy

Alcohol content: 7.5%

Bottle size: 0.25 l

Purchased from: Bierhandel Willems & Zoon in Grobbendonk, Belgium

Christmas Leroy by Brouwerij Het Sas / Leroy. 25cl Bottle, 7.5% ABV. A “scottish ale” style winter ale. Dark in color. A little sweet, but not in an overbearing way. Decent levels of alcohol and flavor mixed. A good beer!