Most of my time I spent reading Brewing Up a Business, the story of how Dogfish Head started and grew into one of America's best craft breweries. A lot of what I learned from Mel at Wachovia comes up in this book. It made me even more thankful for having the opportunity to learn from her.
On May 3rd I hopped on the ICE and made the 7 hour trip to Brussels to meet up with Alexandra. If I could transplant one cultural aspect from Europe, it would be their public transportation. The ICE left at exactly the time it said it was going to, was extremely smooth and enjoyable, and arrived EXACTLY when it was scheduled to. The ease of transportation was incredible. This is obviously, not a new concept. Whenever people visit Europe, most of them come back with stories of train rides. Why we do not have this in the United States is just disappointing.
The first weekend in Brussels, I attended my very first "Castle Party". We attended the Spring Promenade at Schloss Merode which is in Northern Germany near the border with Belgium. Castles, cars, wine, and some Kolsch from nearby Cologne were all activities of the weekend.
The car pictured above is a Bug Eyed Sprite, which is the "automatic win" car in the "car game" which we used to play on road trips with the family. The only one we ever saw in the U.S. was on the way to Lake Lure and dad misidentified it at first as a Miata (granted he does wear glasses and was driving at the time). Well dad, I found a sexy green one outside a castle. Looks like I win that round.
Andres and I standing in front of the castle.
The bridge to the main building. It wasn't the biggest castle in the world but it has a pretty awesome mote around it which people would take boat rides in.
We got a private tour of the lower part of the spiral which they are going to turn into a little party room. I think you could convince me to go to a party inside the spire of a castle. It was remarkably cool and well vented. They have a disco ball, colored lights, and a pretty nice sound system.
So the "Spring Promenade" is a fundraising event held to help raise money for the restoration of the castle. A portion of the castle burned and the proceeds go to helping restore it to its original beauty. The hosts of the party were amazingly nice people and one of the guys used to be involved with the European Brewing Convention and we sat around, drank Orval and talked beer for awhile. Great afternoon!
Back in Brussels, I finally get my hands on some of the world's most delicious beers. Orval is one of my favorites.
From left to right is Westvleteren 12, L'achouffe Double Hopfen Triple, Cantillion Grand Cru, Cantillon St. Lamnivus, and a special triple hopped Duvel which I am taking back to Munich for my brewing buddies. Westvleteren 12 is regarded as one of the world's best beers. I think that it lives up to the hype. It is a quadruple and tastes of strong dark fruit. It is also one of the most sought after beers in the world as production is limited and distribution is even more limited. You are allowed to order 1 case per month per car. You have to go pick it up yourself, and there is some limited distribution throughout Brussels and even some of it makes it to the states but the markup has to be insane. I paid 10 euro for that bottle and it was probably worth it though I don't see myself getting one for every pizza night.
Spending time in Brussels was really enjoyable as it allowed me time to relax, sleep in, do some cooking and catching up with friends and family. I also spent a significant portion of time refining the resume and starting the job search. I also spent time planning out my trip to Italy via Ryanair. More on that with the next update!
Location:Brussels, Belgium
No comments:
Post a Comment