Monthly Archives: May 2012

Getting ready to move

Fiber, knitting, ,

Quick knitting update: I’m working on a lightweight scarf for Redbeard that combines my love of knitting, numbers and codes. But, I have gotten stalled out about 3/4 of the way through with all the packing and cleaning we’re doing to get ready to move back to the US.

Speaking of packing, I just entrusted the good folks at the local post office with lots and lots of these:
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These are fat quarters (always loved that name) that use traditional Dutch patterns. I found them at a fantastic local quilting store – I spent way, way too much money in this place! But, it inspired me to make my daughter a new “grown-up” (i.e. twin-sized) quilt and to replace the baby quilt for my son that we LOST with a bigger quilt (maybe also twin-sized, we’ll see how overambitious I’m feeling).

Cologne

Beer, , , , ,

We took a trip to Cologne last weekend, doing all the tourist things like visiting the cathedral, the Roman-German Museum, the Chocolate Museum, and of course, drinking lots of Kölsch.

Kölsch is a bit of a hybrid beer — brewed with ale yeast, fermented a little cooler than most ales, and then cold-aged like lager.  I think the first time I had it was French Broad’s Gateway Kolsch, which I had on my first trip to Asheville, in 2010.  And since then, I’ve only seen it a few times.  We looked for bottled Kölsch, and were only able to find one that was actually from Cologne.

Luckily, I found the incomparable European Beer Guide page on Cologne, and was able to make a good list of which ones I wanted to try and where to find them.  Most pubs in Cologne serve just one brand of beer (even if they aren’t brewery-owned).  But Cologne is pretty small, and there are pubs all over.  They are mostly family-friendly, so it was easy to work in quite a few in a weekend of seeing the sights with the kids.  Since Kölsch is supposed to be drunk cold, it’s typically served in small, skinny glasses (20cl, about 7 oz.), carried around in a distinctive tray for speedy service.  So it all adds up to a pretty pleasant pub crawl town.

My favorite Kölsch is probably Früh Kölsch.  We had a nice, sausage-heavy lunch, tempered with tender white asparagus and sauerkraut, at Früh’s pub Früh am Dom.  The pub is just off the cathedral square, and looks like a normal scale pub from the front, but expands a long way back and downstairs.  It’s nice and cozy throughout.  Their Kölsch is very mild and clean, with just a little sweetness and not much hop bitterness.  For a sweeter version, they serve Radler, a shandy made with their Kölsch and lemon soda.  I didn’t like this quite as much as the straight Kölsch, but it was very light and refreshing, with some bitter lemon peel flavor to keep it from being sickly sweet.  It was pleasant but not hot in mid-May, but I can imagine the Radler being very nice when summer starts heating up.

A close runner-up would be Pfaffen Kölsch.  Their bar is in the Heumarkt square, just around the corner from our hotel.  I went there twice, but never actually made it inside, since there was a crowd out front enjoying the nice weather at all hours.  The service was very quick, with a waiter coming and going with the typical tray of tall, skinny glasses at all times.  Their Kölsch is pretty malty, a little reedy, and nicely light and refreshing.

Lower on my list is Mühlen Kölsch from Malzmühle.  You can see their pub from Pfaffen, at the other end of the Heumarkt.  But a couple of roads and a tram station lie in the way, making it a bit of a trek at the best of times.  There was also a Pirate Party rally going on in the square, and a cluster of cops on motorcycles, making it even harder than usual to get through the traffic.  Once inside, the pub was nice enough, though not as cozy as Früh am Dom.  Though it was hard to get to, it was very busy — in fact, it was the only place we had trouble getting a table.  I found their Kölsch a little disappointing — definitely hoppier than most, dry, and astringent.

I also liked Gilden Kölsch more than average.  Their pub on the Heumarkt was much more modern and spacious than most, but still ran back from the front quite a bit, and into the basement.  Unlike most of pubs we went to, the only antique thing in Gilden was the barrel of Kölsch on the bar.  Their Kölsch is mild, with a bit of herbal hoppiness.

My least favorite Kölsch was definitely Gaffel Kölsch.  Quite a few of the restaurants had Gaffel banners, and I had a large glass (40cl, but still the same shape) with dinner, and found it bland and lagery.  I also didn’t care for Peters Kölsch, which was very dry and hoppy (and now contract brewed).  Though it probably doesn’t help that they were badly understaffed and it took me 10 minutes to get a glass.

We also had some non-Kölsch beers — some Franziskaner Hefeweizen on the train, and a very nice Paulaner Kristalweizen (I think the first kristalweizen I’ve had) with lunch.  Since it’s filtered hefeweizen, it was pretty much the same as a hef, but without the cloudiness or yeasty character.  It went perfectly with juicy grilled chicken tacos.  And at the Chocolate Museum, we picked up a bottle of Strubbe Chocolat — kind of an amber ale with a definite chocolate flavor.  Not something I’d go out of my way for, but an interesting novelty beer.

Trappist breweries are irritated about US “Trappist” brews

Beer, ,

Apparently the Trappists are irritated that there are a lot of American beers with the word “Trappist” in their names:

The fact that a number of breweries in the USA are using the word Trappist to describe beers that are clearly not produced by Trappist monks has drawn the attention of the International Trappist Association, or I.T.A. The Association considers it a growing problem. For one thing, they don’t like the idea that a consumer might mistake a commercially brewed American beer for an Authentic Trappist brew.

Though I have some sympathy for their frustration, I think the bigger problem is that Americans don’t know what “Trappist” means.  Forget getting confused about whether a beer is made by Trappist monks or not, before I started researching Belgian beer for my trip I didn’t know that there were monks making beer for public consumption, much less associate that with “Trappist”.

Via BeerPulse.

Dutch Lager Tasting

Beer, , ,

I was in the mood for something new, but Bert’s in Utrecht was closed, and we’ve had a few bottles from our local beer shop that seemed off (pouring Trappist quad down the drain is pretty painful).  So on a lark, I picked up some half liter cans of the popular Dutch lagers at the grocery store, and we did a tasting (in order of cost):

Albert Heijn Pilsener: This store-brand pilsener was the cheapest of the batch (€0.57/can).  Also the most different from the pack.  It had more color and body than I expected from cheap lager.

Bavaria Pilsener: Not really much “there” there, for this mid-range (€0.67/can) lager.

Amstel Lager: Not Amstel Light (commonly available in the US), but Heineken’s mid-market lager.  A little grassy, and something elusive in the aroma.

Heineken Lager: This is the main premium (€0.91/can) lager here, and obviously the most famous worldwide.  Much more inoffensive in cans, since it’s not lighstruck and skunky as is typical with their trademark green bottles.

Grolsch Premium Lager: Probably my favorite of the bunch, but still pretty bland.

Hertog Jan Naturzuiver: This is the “ultra-premium” (€1.23/can) lager, which we often see at nicer restaurants.  Not noticeably better than Heineken and Grolsch.

So, I think my main conclusion from the tasting is that I’m an ale snob, spoiled by an ample supply of strong, interesting, artisanal beer, and the mild, mass-produced lagers just can’t keep up.  But I was also surprised at how much more I liked Heineken from the can than from bottles.  Although I’m generally a big fan of bottles, this makes we think I should go for cans over at least green and clear bottles.

Brouwerij de Molen

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We went to visit Brouwerij de Molen in Bodegraven today.  Their brewery and restaurant are located in an old windmill on the bank of the Old Rhine.  It was a bright, clear day with puffy white clouds floating by. So we sat on the terrace even though it was a little chilly, with the windmill towering above us.

Brouwerij de MolenWe started with their lighter beers: Jaar & Dag (Year & A Day) and Licht & Lustig (Light & Lusty).  Year and A Day is listed as a saison, but it doesn’t have the expected sourness.  But it does have a fuller body than most saison, balanced with nicely mellow hoppiness.  Light & Lusty is a much more straightforward hefeweizen, with a nice haze and grainy astringency.

Their lunch menu is a little limited, but we were able to find good choices, even for the kids.  Everything was great, even their croquettes (I have found these to be barely passable at some other places, but their filling was very creamy, almost like a nice pot pie).  So we hung around for dessert (nicely spiced apple tart) and stout: Hemel & Aarde (Heaven & Earth) and Nacht & Ostij (I’ve seen this translated as “Ungodly Hours”, but our waiter said “Monkey Business”).  Whatever the translation, the Nacht & Ostij was a very nice, creamy stout.  It has a good, strong sweetness without being cloying or syrupy.  But the Heaven & Earth was truly amazing.  It’s made with peated malt and aged in Bruichladdich whisky barrels.  The result is a rich, velvety smokiness.  Left to my own devices, I could spend an afternoon with my nose in a snifter of this one.

After lunch, I paid a visit to their beer shop (which they nicely opened just for me).  In addition to a full selection of their own beers, they also had a ton of foreign beers, including a good selection from Mikkeller, Hoppin’ Frog, Southern Tier, Saranac, Smuttynose and even a few bottles from Cigar City (Guava Grove and Jai Alai).  I resisted the temptation to get much American beer, since I’m going back the the US in less than a month.  Instead I got a few bottles from Mikkeller, and of course a few of the de Molen beers.  Alas, neither of the stouts we enjoyed are available in bottles, but I did get a bottle of Tsarina Esra aged in Cognac barrels, which I’m really looking forward to.

Sunny summer wrap

knitting, , ,

Just for a moment I’m pretending that I won’t be going back a hot, swampy mess in Florida, and so I’m going to call my newest project a “summer” wrap. Also, it’s made with Rowan’s Summer Tweed, so that helps me keep up the illusion.

It’s a Lintilla wrap/scarf, much bigger because I used a heavy yarn and appropriately larger needles. It is a little narrower than I thought it would be, but I love the pattern and plan to use it again as soon as I can get my hands on a beautiful (and lighter!) yarn.

Lots of lessons in this pattern – I learned how to do partial rows with “wrap and turn” along with picking up the wrapped yarn. I have to confess that despite doing this about a thousand times, I still don’t get why you can’t just turn yourself around and stitch back the way to came. Maybe it reinforces the stitches at the turn? Avoids a hole? I think I’m going to have to try a test patch without the wrapping and turning just to see what happens. In the meantime, I’m planning to wear this with a pretty sundress here in the Netherlands, and then probably put it away until December when we move back to Florida. “Summer” indeed.