WAYWARD WINE

Pilgrims, Delft Tile, Modernity and Leffe and Chouffe Beer in Rotterdam Holland

Posted on September 14, 2015 by waywardwine

171 days of our EU Austerity Drinking Tour find us leaving Amsterdam’s fantastic beer, canals, and a windmill city for Rotterdam.

With the end of our trip a month out and 12 countries under our belt, we city hop more efficiently now. I do not draw or photograph as much. My wife barely keeps a journal of each day. We just hit the ground running, see, drink, and eat cheaply but with great diversity. Winter and public transport also limit the amount we cram in.

So, Rotterdam: a sleek, gray city of international trade and business. Amsterdam it is not. In honor of modern Rotterdam, we stay in a hostel made of Orwellian Rubix Cubes.

Every wall and ceiling cut at an angle. It feels like living in a cramped futuristic spaceship from the 70’s. At least breakfast is fantastic (they even serve organic French wine! At a hostel).

Treking out we struggle to find a grocery store. Seems the future will put our Austerity dining measures in jeopardy. Luckily, some bread and cheese keep us mobile. We hike the stolid waterfront toward the town Delfthaven. Bronze rabbits at the Modern Art Museum punctuate the dull walk.In Delfthaven, we randomly discover an adorable time capsule of a town. Then things get strange. A plaque declares the Pilgrims, yes, America’s founding Caucasians, actually stayed in Delfthaven for years before leaving here on the Mayflower for what would become Plymouth in 1620.

A bit of soft, gooey, sentimentality for the United States sinks in. So we try to visit their church: closed. We find Pilgrim brewery: closed. Hungry again and fed up, we chase the setting sun back to our hostel. But along the way run into a park-filling Chinese lantern display, with creepy Santa:

15 Euros per person is too steep for our Austerity measures, so we enjoy it along the perimeter and then watch the waterfront go to sleep.

Our grocery stop fills our arms with beer for the evening.

But we can smell Belgium. The boarder sits mere miles away. So we break our terroir-only rule, and open…

Brasserie d’Achouffe, La Chouffe: Ardens Blond Bier, Achouffe, Belgium.

APPEARANCE: looks a hazy, medium intense gold, with small fizz and white head. AROMAS: smell pretty intensely of, well, pot (and not the kind you cook in). It’s green bottle was its undoing. This La Chouffe is skunked. But that burns off to become honeydew melon, vegetal, and of oranges. PALATE: feels acidic, with some tannins, extra alcohol 8%, medium plus body. FLAVORS: taste pronounced and of alcoholic sweetness, fresh oranges, fresh cut grass, lightly roasted grain, and Pinesol. The length is medium plus. CONCLUSIONS: This is merely Good (3 of 5). A bit too funky and green likely because it was skunked?

So let us right this ship with this:

Leffe, Royale, Nouveau Blond Bier, Dirant, Belgium.

APPEARANCE: the clear, golden amber color, and off white head seem innocuous enough. But then… AROMA: intensely rich buttered popcorn, apple, black pepper, and smoked bacon plate my nose. PALATE: feels dry, zippy and tart, moderately bitter, a pretty warm 7.5% alcohol, making for a plump medium plus body FLAVORS: taste complex, chameleon, and fairly intensely of raw cane sugar, butter, walnut, and caramel up front, but it then morphs into cinnamon, peach, vanilla, white pepper, ending on a long tomato finish. CONCLUSIONS: Leffe’s Royale is balanced, complex, and lovely. It is very good bordering on outstanding (5 of 5) (thank you black bottle).

But we really stayed in Rotterdam for one thing: Delft Tile. Our visit to Meissen twenty days ago (read post: here) gave us the ceramic bug. So we pop on headphones and tour the factory.

Delft, and its trade connections with the East India Company, spawned an industry hell bent on cracking the code of China wear. Although popularity for your grandma’s collection has waned, Delft kept on the cutting edge of craft. This tile staircase from the 1910s is testament.

Today, they churn out many of their classic repertoire under the gaze of passing tourists like ourselves.

But back in the day, they decided to make a life-sized copy of Rembrant’s The Night Watch (which is way cooler than the original…that we missed in Amsterdam).

The museum is a maze of experiments, with copies of Moroccan screens, medieval sanctuaries, and wooden shoes. But the real treat is the still running factory.

The gift shop is grand and ranges in things from classic to modern. You can even get your photo screen-printed to a plate (so I cheat):

And yes, internet, the toilets have been “Delft-ed” as well:

A butterfly? Really?

The town of Delft is ours to wander. No tourists. Just centuries’ old guilds, Vermeer’s birthplace, cobble-lined canals, and quaint, red-shuttered buildings.

But, in no time, we pack our bags in our strange hostel, ready for Belgium. See you on next Monday’s post for flared goblet glasses of fabulous beer.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Beer, Belgium, Delfthaven, dutch, Holland, Rotterdam, rubix cube, travel | 4 Comments

Dutch Beer and Windmills at Zaanse Schans and Amsterdam

Posted on September 7, 2015 by waywardwine

After Amsterdam and its bicycle, canal packed turmoil (see last post here), we require a direct injection of Dutch kitsch. So we day trip to Zaanse Schans: one of Europe’s oldest industrial centers: aka the Disneyland of Windmills, wooden shoes, tulips, and cheese.

Like a wildlife preserve for endangered species, Zaanse Schans has provided refuge for Holland’s ancient windmills and dying handcrafts since 1925.

We walk along mini canals, over mini bridges, passing mini clapboard homes, and, consumed by all the adorableness, well, try to paddle our way to somewhere… Interpretive centers and gift shops abound inside each home and mill. We taste milled mustards, cheeses, and grains, but the cold, gray day beckons us outward.Monet came to paint here over a century ago. Zaanse’s chill, still, timelessness remains.

But along the half moon bay we finally find some hot action. Brace yourself for some 16th century linseed oil grinding, wind mill heat!!!!

Honestly, we fear for our lives. The whole place creaks, cracks, and crunches. We yell over the din in vain. Ancient beams barely hold these multi-ton granite stones as they fly at full tilt.

Now deaf, we enjoy a mute drizzle outside.

We walk out of mill Disneyland and into the suburbs of Zaandam. Here, even modern modern industrialism sits beside its heritage:

But back in our AirBnB wedge of a loft, a ferry ride from Amsterdam, we finish of the best Dutch beer suburban grocery stores could provide.

Grimbergen, Abdijbier Dubbel 1128, Beer, Enschede, Holland. €1.05/30cl

APPEARANCE: a clear, rich, ruby brown, with rapid small fizz and a cream-colored head. AROMAS: medium intense raspberry, cranberry sauce, chocolate, and vanilla. PALATE: seemingly sweet, mildly tart and bitter, yet plump in alcohol (6.5 %) and body. FLAVORS: tastes of buoyant cranberry juice and sauce, caramel, toffee, and chocolate icing. At least the wheat toast reminds us that this is beer. The length was medium plus. CONCLUSIONS: Grimbergen Dubbel Abbey Beer is complex, cloying, and very good (4 of 5) but a bit too enjoyable to be taken seriously.

Next up, we give can a chance:

Hertog Jan, Traditioneel Natuurzuiver Bier, Arcen, Holland. €1.21/500ml can

APPEARANCE: looks a clear, mild gold, with a thin white head. AROMAS: smell of chopped hazelnuts, grapefruit, golden pear, steel, and honey. PALATE: feels dry, pretty tart, with medium hopped bitterness, and medium alcohol 5.1% and body. FLAVORS: taste of moderate orange, clove, nuts, and steel. The length is medium. Good (3 of 5) but a bit lacking.

Well, let’s give Hertog Jan another chance. Maybe a 750ml bottle with a cork might gain our respect.

Hertog Jan, Grand Prestige, Zara Donker bier, Holland. €4.09/750ml cork bottle

APPEARANCE: looks a clear, intense ruby copper, with a thin, cream colored head. AROMAS: smell full-some with oranges, coffee, mint, and toffee. PALATE: feels dry, full of twangy acidity, extra bitterness, a high alcohol: 10%, and full body. FLAVORS: taste of pronounced black cherry syrup, prune, brown sugar, orange, and toasted oak. The length is long and complex. CONCLUSIONS: Hertog Jan’s Grand Prestige is greater than the sum of its parts. That sounds cliché, but nothing here tastes of grain or hops anymore. This is Outstanding (5 of 5), demanding beer. It completely overwhelms our palates. Well done Dutch!

Next EU Austerity Drinking Tour Monday sends us to Rotterdam, for more beer and travel.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged amsterdam, Beer, dutch, Hertog Jan, travel, windmill | Leave a comment

Thirsty Thursday: Refreshing Riesling from High Desert: Mercer 2012

Posted on August 20, 2015 by waywardwine

Damn. Summer and record droughts will not go away. I tire of sweating in bed (as does my wife). Therefore, chilled whites are still required to fool me into imagining myself cool.

Oddly, let’s go to a hot, sandy, desert: Yakima Valley, Washington:

Prehistoric floods left silt for vine-friendly drainage. But this is high desert with six inches of annual rain. Nonethless, Riesling can work here thanks to hills floating 3,000 feat above sea level (aka cold nights) and enough water irrigated from Cascade Mountain snow melt.

The Mercer’s have been farming these deserts for over a century. They turned to wine-making a bit ago. To cool the day down we open their Riesling from Yakima. Yes, the vintage is 2012. Yet Riesling has a propensity for aging gracefully, thanks in part to its high acidity. Let’s see:

First up, a matcha green tea wafer from Bourbon in Japan is our pairing.

APPEARANCE: looks a clear, pale, dried hay color, with lime juice highlights…promising.

AROMAS: smell powerfully lime peel, salt, peach, honey, and…well…linseed oil, paraffin, wax, hell, let’s call it petrol: the holy grail of German Riesling (or anathema to those who blame poor grape pressing). These free terpenoid alcohols (geraniol, linalool, and nerol) are clearly here.

PALATE: feels off dry, but the medium plus acidity tells you not to care and actually be happy some sugar resides to tame it. The 13.3% alcohol registers as viscous and medium bodied.

FLAVORS: lead with moderately intense honeyed peach lifted by lime juice and a wee bit of salinity. Yet that viscous, fabricated, tuetonic petrol carries a medium plus length.

CONCLUSIONS: Yes, Mercer’s 2012 Riesling could benefit from higher acidity and less residual sugar. But complaining so, shows how far this Washington wine has come. I cannot help but compare it to German and Alsatian Riesling. That is compliment enough. The Yakima Valley is too hot to garner the taut, high acids of the Mosel. Yet this Mercer remains refreshing yet complex and magically reminiscent of its Germanic heritage: very good (4 of 5). Also, it deftly pairs with a green tea wafer from Japan.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Germany, riesling, summer, travel, Washington, washington wine, White wine, wine, yakima valley | Leave a comment

Gulping Gulpener Beer and Gross Grolsch While Touring Amsterdam Holland

Posted on August 17, 2015 by waywardwine

This may be 2015, but bear with me as I hopelessly attempt to cram the drinks and experiences from Wayward Wine’s EU Austerity Drinking Tour. We covered thirteen countries in seven months spanning the winter of 2012-2013.

Today, you find us 168 days in. Constant travel and drinking on a dime has ravaged our sanity (and livers). We last spent New Year’s Day with Dutch family friends Tineke and Dirk (read post here). Now we enter Amsterdam:

Amsterdam is not a city. It is an endless spiderweb of canals, facades, and brothels.

A rare moment of Bike-less respite.

Between these, we trundle our luggage along, not realizing the menace that surrounds us: the bicycle.

Yes, bike-ists swarm like bees, ready to cut you off at intersections or jam a handle bar in your side. At least in Italy you can hear Vespas coming. But the bicycle is a silent ninja of hate. Here, your apartment contract includes a bike. They persist at fishing out 20,000 a year from the canals…hopefully to burn them.

So let us turn to drink.

We last enjoyed Holland’s only Trappist brewery: La Trappe. Since this is Amsterdam (and we must ferry to our stay in the burbs), let’s go grocery on this! We reset our palates to “low class” with Bolognese Chips:

Now our souls are prepared!

GULPENER:

Probably the best unintended city name (Gulpen) for a beer ever, we begin gulping with Gulpener’s Korenwolf: Gulpener Korenwolf Witbier Holland The more eagle-eyed may have noticed the beast ravaging Europe: the most adorable hamster pest, the Korenwolf (or grain wolf):

ADORBS!!! It’s wearing a black vest with white gloves!

This Witbier (wheat beer), from Gulpen, Holland costs. 90€ / 30cl bottle. APPEARANCE: looks an apt, hazy, medium intense yellow gold, with white head. AROMAS: smell full of lavender, honey, pastry dough, and lemon. PALATE: feels dry, tart, a bit grainy, with mild 5% alcohol, a medium body. FLAVORS: taste richly of grapefruit juice, honey, cardamon, and lavender again. They last a medium plus length. This is a very good (4 of 5), refreshing, varmint-inspired wheat beer.

Other solid Gulpener offerings included their:

Gulpener, Dort (€0.70/30cl):

APPEARANCE: a medium amber gold color with cm of white head. AROMAS: ripe watermelon, malted barley, molasses, and dried mint. PALATE: dry but fruity, with mild acid and some bitterness, 7% alcohol, leading to a medium plus body. FLAVORS: remind of watermelon, malt, golden sugar syrup, and corn flakes. Length is medium. Quality is good (3 of 5). Great value.

WinterVrund Winterbier (€.90/30cl): a darker amber ruby color, with juniper berries, musk, coffee, and apple pie aromas, a mildly tannic palate, with warm 8.5% alcohol, extra body, with extra flavors of French roast coffee, Whisky, and a juniper berried finish that lasted a medium plus length. Very weird, kinda wild and musky but very good (4 of 5).

Gulpener’s, Herfst Bock (€.90 / 30cl) is a tart, tannic, rich, peachy, malt focused beer with lovely roasted hazelnut, caramelized pear and vanilla shell of medium plus length and very good quality (4 of 5).

They even have an organic range. Gulpener’s Ur.Amber biologisch beer for (€1.20/30cl) is a caramel, red apple, lettuce, and citris intense amber. Simple but solidly good (3 of 5).

Gulpener’s organic sibling to the Korenwolf weizen is Ur.Weizen, biologisch beer (also €1.20): a bright, buoyant, yet herbaceous, spicy, and round, with pronounced pear, grapefruit, orange puree, clove, basil, oatcakes, and amber honey flavors and very very good (4…. screw it, 5 of 5) OUTSTANDING!

But let us all rise for Gulpener’s Giganten Gladiator Robuust Bier:

I wonder what the alcohol is…

At €1/50ml and 10% alcohol, Gladiator wastes nobody’s time. APPEARANCE: looks a clear, mild gold, with thin white head, and small, slow fizz. AROMAS: smell like Pillsbury croissant dough or Twinkies. PALATE: feels dry and full bodied. FLAVORS: Twinkies dominate (scary thought), with ethanol, mint, malt, and steel supporting? Really, this is just a good (3 of 5) way to get wasted but ridiculous.

Maybe an 11.6% beer might be better. More is more-er…right?

For €1.59 / 50 cl can you get a clear, richly golden, fizzy beer. AROMAS smell of “sweet” ethanol, honey wheat, and pear. PALATE: feels dry and mildly structured. But the disastrously high alcohol, at 11.6%, means a massive body and medium FLAVORS of…alcohol, burn, ugliness, caramel, and dry oatmeal that last too long a medium length. Grolsch is Gross. Acceptable (2 of 5).

Completely hungover, we tour Amsterdam with limited zeal.

The Neoclassic-tastic Royal Palace is magnificent and aspirational.

The marble map floor is a fantastic snapshot of early America and Holland’s limited imperial ambitions:

They even had a gold clock based on a favorite David painting:

But Amsterdam is truly for wandering. We pass countless merchant apartments with false, ostentatious facades akin to Hollywood wild west sets. We shop for antiques and Delft tiles. We sample Reypenaer cheeses. Then finally we find Anne Frank’s house.

The massive line and expensive tickets sends our Austerity Tour away. But we find the real entrance, gaining closure for poorly written high school essays.

While my wife slips into a hotel desperate for a restroom, I make small talk with a couple in the foyer. Leaving, they give me two days worth of their boat tour tickets. Score!

So instead of more museums, the next day, we get on a boat.

Not desiring worse beer and worse headaches, we drift past Heineken brewery.

As our tour continues, my wife dreams of living on a river boat. I revel in not having to dodge bikes.

As night falls, hotels and riverfront restaurants blaze.

The next day we do it again, but take a different boat route. It feels nice not to have to plan more visits, deal with people, or think for once in six months.

Amsterdam is intricate, dirty, seedy, fabulous, and strange. Touring it by boat, twice, took the edge off the bicycle crammed, manic streets. We found Gulpener to be a reliable beer, as long as one avoids its malt liquor like, 10% + alcohol manifestations in can.