Germany (and Holland) trip- 2014

Discussion in 'Germany' started by Bierman9, Aug 10, 2014.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
Page 3 of 5
  1. boddhitree

    boddhitree Pooh-Bah (1,839) Apr 13, 2008 Germany
    Pooh-Bah

    :stuck_out_tongue: Yes, that's my German side. But I think this raises a point I've said here before. The people, y'all, in this here German forum, we all form a distinct group that you can't find in other places here on BA or any other beer site I've been on.
    Do you see those sort of post in let's say, the UK/IRL forum? I don't read the local US forums, but I can't imagine them having reviews and help in understanding the relationship between the beers we drink in relation to one another. We have a special thing here. We got standards, so y'all pitch in. Otherwise, I don't see the point of me doing it either.

    BTW, I loved the pics... keep those up!
     
    #41 boddhitree, Oct 23, 2014
    spartan1979 likes this.
  2. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,174) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Yeah, I've decided that Bierman has to be my new tour guide. :slight_smile:
     
    #42 steveh, Oct 23, 2014
    Gutes_Bier likes this.
  3. Bierman9

    Bierman9 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,313) Dec 20, 2001 New Hampshire
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Auf gehts! !!
     
    #43 Bierman9, Oct 23, 2014
    Gutes_Bier and steveh like this.
  4. Bierman9

    Bierman9 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,313) Dec 20, 2001 New Hampshire
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I'm baaack.... and now in the Netherlands... Had a rare, late train from Würzburg which made me misconnect.... getting to Maastricht 2hrs late... Just chilled there, hitting a couple of their great pubs.... Knijnspiep and Pothuiske... latr settled into Café Frape for a nightcap or more.... Settled on the Val Dieu Grand Cru, on tap, as recommended by their owner... Probably the best bier of my trip...
    [​IMG]

    Next day, I made my way to Amsterdam for sightseeing and, yes, bier!! Took lots of pix of the architecture, canals, bikes, etc...
    [​IMG]

    Settled into de Wildeman for some Tripels.... love that style... Out for more pix, then to the De Prael Proeflokaal... Tried a few new things... A Tripel, a Scotch Ale, and this Barleywine....

    [​IMG]

    More sightseeing, then back to Wildeman for more Texelse Tripel and meatballs!!

    [​IMG]

    Back to Maastricht and some Zzzzzs....

    Next day I travelled to Overloon for their great WWII museum... lots of great armor there.... was the site of the biggest tank battle on Dutch soil in WWII...

    Here's a German Panzer which got knocked out in the battle...

    [​IMG]

    Back to Maastricht and had some more goodies at their local pubs...

    [​IMG]

    On Thursday I ventured out and hooked up with BA @Brabander... We looked at a few WWII sites in and around Eindhoven before venturing to Westvleteren.

    [​IMG]

    Brabander picked up a couple of cases of 12, and we then visited Struise.... He later dropped me off at the train station, and I headed back to Maastricht for a night cap...

    My last day, Friday, I took the train to Coo, Belgium and then walked to the Museum in La Gleize, Belgium. A Tiger tank which was knocked out in the battle is right out front...

    [​IMG]

    Way friggin' cool!! Back to Maas later to enjoy my last eve in Europe... Had some food, then found a pub which had some Rochefort 10.... Nice!! I'm there!!

    [​IMG]

    Off the next day to AMS for my flight home... had time to stop at the Wildeman for a couple of more Tripels...

    [​IMG]

    Was then off to the airport and home.... Nice trip!! Indeed!!


    Prosit!
     
    #44 Bierman9, Oct 24, 2014
    Alewife, drtth, JHDStein and 10 others like this.
  5. -N8

    -N8 Initiate (0) Feb 7, 2014 Germany

    Thx for the post!


    Mein Frau and I can't wait for our Thanksgiving week vacation to Ghent, Brugge & Amsterdam next month!
     
    #45 -N8, Oct 24, 2014
    Bierman9 likes this.
  6. Bierman9

    Bierman9 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,313) Dec 20, 2001 New Hampshire
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I highly recommend de Wildeman in AMS... especially if their owner, Simon, is on... he's great! De Prael Proeflokaal is also cool.... Brugge has De Halve Maan, 't Brugs Beertje and Cambrinus, amongst others, which are all top-shelf!!

    Prosit!!!
     
    #46 Bierman9, Oct 26, 2014
    -N8 and JackHorzempa like this.
  7. -N8

    -N8 Initiate (0) Feb 7, 2014 Germany

    i really enjoyed your WWII gear photos also
     
    #47 -N8, Oct 26, 2014
    Bierman9 likes this.
  8. Bierman9

    Bierman9 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,313) Dec 20, 2001 New Hampshire
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader


    Ok, Herr Tree... I will try to get those reviews into this forum soon.... with pics!!

    Prosit!!
     
    #48 Bierman9, Oct 26, 2014
    boddhitree likes this.
  9. Bierman9

    Bierman9 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,313) Dec 20, 2001 New Hampshire
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Ok... a quick recap of the IPAs and DIPAs I had while on this trip....

    They are Amarsi IPA, SHIPA Polaris, Schoppe XPA, Crew Drunken Sailor and Backbone Splitter...

    I drank at least one of each on Germany, and rated all of them while in Germany, save for the Splitter, which I rated back home, from a bottle I brought back.... And, my apologies for the lack of depth... I just don't have the experience, or eloquence, of my fellow German rates.... ;-)

    They all possessed a rindy, pithy quality, with lots of bitterness.... Not much in the way of any sweetness was to be found....

    Amarsi (taste 4.15/overall 4.12)

    [​IMG]

    Rindy, grapefruit, some mango... quite pithy. A touch of sweetness... quite nice....

    SHIPA Polaris (taste 4.05/overall 4.00)

    [​IMG]

    A touch of toasty malt... quite rindy... has a minty aspect (Polaris).

    Schoppe XPA (taste 4.00/overall 3.97)

    Sorry - no pic... A bit of caramel, some tangerine... fairly bitter, and, again, rindy and pithy...


    Crew Drunken Sailor (taste 4.15/overall 4.10)

    No pic... some caramel and toffee in the malt profile... solid citrus and rindy, pithy bitterness.... quite tasty...

    Backbone Splitter (taste 4.25/overall 4.22)

    [​IMG]

    A hint of toasty malt... citrus... some apricot... grapefruit... rindy and pithy... solid!!

    All in all, for these particular DIPAs, I had the Backbone as tops, followed by Amarsi, Crew, SHIPA, then Schoppe XPA.... All quite nice, and great to be able to find these in Germany these days...

    Shifting gears, I had a Pax Bräu that no one here seems to have had... Kaliber 12... Found it at Liebick, in Germering, near München. I saw it there and asked about it at the shop.... Guy said it was strong and complex, but pricy... For some reason, when he further said €21.95, I said wtf and bought it without blinking... Later on my trip I was in Rothenburg... Went there to pay my respects to the innkeepers I had stayed with for 20+ years... The Herr passed away in 2009, but the Frau passed suddenly (if you can, at 90 years), last December.... So, I had the Kaliber 12 with me.... and popped it in the Rothenburg Burggarten to toast my dear, passed friends. In that respect, the cost was trivial.... quite worthwhile... Found it later on Ratebeer, and styled as a Belgian Quad... had some caramel and brown sugar sweetness... then lots of dark fruit - raisins and dates...sherry-like richness and lots of warmth.... Quite nice!!

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    So there you have it.... just a small smattering of the Biers I enjoyed on my latest sojourn to the Fatherland....

    Prosit!!
     
    #49 Bierman9, Nov 2, 2014
    boddhitree, JHDStein, leinie13 and 6 others like this.
  10. Bierman9

    Bierman9 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,313) Dec 20, 2001 New Hampshire
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    What, no reply, @boddhitree ? I did this for you, ya know! ;-)

    Prosit!!!
     
    #50 Bierman9, Nov 13, 2014
    JackHorzempa and -N8 like this.
  11. BronxBirdFlu

    BronxBirdFlu Aspirant (267) Feb 9, 2010 Germany

    #51 BronxBirdFlu, Nov 14, 2014
    danfue likes this.
  12. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,363) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    #52 Gutes_Bier, Nov 14, 2014
    BronxBirdFlu and steveh like this.
  13. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,174) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Agreed -- BBF, we love to hear more and more about German beer around here, but there's no need to over-do it!
     
    #53 steveh, Nov 14, 2014
    Bierman9, BronxBirdFlu and Gutes_Bier like this.
  14. boddhitree

    boddhitree Pooh-Bah (1,839) Apr 13, 2008 Germany
    Pooh-Bah

    For y'all to understand why I've not been on for a while... my backpack was stolen on Oct. 31 evening in FFM at a bus station across from Naïv, which unfortunately contained my MacBook Air I'd bought this March. Long story shot... I left it on the bench at the bus stop for 10 to 15 seconds while I indulged my dog's penchant for chasing things around us, came back within that time, and poof, gone into thin air. Reported it to police, but even with the FindMyiPhone app, it's vanished into thin air, and I doubt it'll ever turn up again in my hands. It had most of my possessions needed to ply my trade as an English teacher, such as grammar copies, my analog calendar, my GLASSES, and of course the laptop. It's taken awhile to get back much of the stuff to where it was even near where it was. I bought new glasses, have slowly been reassembling my grammar copies, but the laptop is irreplaceable. I'm not a guy living large off the US gov. here in Germany (sorry if that sounds bad, but it's true), I'm simply making my way as best I can. I had an old MacBook Air which I'd mothballed due to beer damage that rendered it's screen and keyboard inoperable... and now use an USB connected keyboard and my TV as my computer screen. So... BA has't been my priority in life. I still have my iPhone, from which I was able to get back all my photos, Maşallah, thank God and nemaste, but I'm not going to replace my MacBook Air until at least late next spring, for I'm still paying off my credit card for the last one. This also means I'm cutting back severely on my purchases of online beer here to make my monthly budget. I'm focusing on making and drinking my own beer and finding good beer close by a little cheaper.

    Here's a good example of some really cheap beer. 2 Czech beers in PET 1.5 L bottles. Bought them at Tegut, a semi-upscale supermarket. I also found the Kostritzer Pale Ale there. These bottles are 1.5€ each, which works out to 50¢ per ½ liter. And they're still really good beers, too.
    [​IMG]
     
    #54 boddhitree, Nov 17, 2014
    Crusader and Gutes_Bier like this.
  15. BronxBirdFlu

    BronxBirdFlu Aspirant (267) Feb 9, 2010 Germany

    Damn, really sorry to hear of your loss, boddhitree. I've been there before, and while they are just things, the violation of theft stings more than the actual loss. But thankfully there's beer to help with the sting and from the looks of it you're back on the proverbial horse and trudging forth. Where in Germany are you?
     
    #55 BronxBirdFlu, Nov 17, 2014
  16. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,363) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    Sorry to hear it, @boddhitree , you have been missed. Good luck getting everything back to normal. Krusovice is a good one, I really liked their dark beer.
     
    #56 Gutes_Bier, Nov 17, 2014
  17. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Tony (@boddhitree ) I am very sorry to hear about your loss. Hopefully there are brighter days ahead.

    Cheers!

    Jack
     
    #57 JackHorzempa, Nov 17, 2014
  18. einhorn

    einhorn Savant (1,175) Nov 3, 2005 California

    Both of those Czech beers are very good. One thing we all know is Germany is a haven for decent, very inexpensive beer. Best of luck getting things back on track Tony. Maybe we can get some care packages out your way...
     
    #58 einhorn, Nov 17, 2014
  19. BronxBirdFlu

    BronxBirdFlu Aspirant (267) Feb 9, 2010 Germany

    #59 BronxBirdFlu, Nov 17, 2014
    JackHorzempa likes this.
  20. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    I very much enjoyed reading your blog post!

    I suspect that several BAs will comment that Berlin is not representative of Germany at large.

    Cheers!
     
    #60 JackHorzempa, Nov 17, 2014
Page 3 of 5
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.