Beer of the week resumed!

Hello everyone,

I've been so busy this week starting my new class I haven't had time to update the blog. The time has come!!

I would first like to get up to date with my "Beer of the Week"postings.

This first beer is for the week of February 6th:

Euro Shopper Bier!


For those of you unfamiliar with Euro Shopper its the most generic brand you can buy. This beer cost me about 50 cents. I thought it was great that the generic brand of europe also has beer!

Style: Pilsner Lager

ABV: N/A

Aroma:  Aluminum / the color yellow

Taste: Bud light / Aluminum

Head Retention: Horrible

Bitterness: O

Ingredients: Water, barley malt and hops. 

Side Notes: Great beer!! if you drink purely for the effects of alcohol.

Overall Rating: 2 out of 10 wooden shoes (Cheap and effective!)

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This beer is for the week of January 30th:

Grolsch Herfst Bok!

Style: Karaktervol Bier

ABV: 6.5%

Aroma:  Malty, minor scents: sweet & caramel.

Taste: Medium/Heavy. Very roasted malts. Malty sweet flavors as well. Bit of a dry finish. Definitely a fall beer.

Head Retention: Avg / Good

Bitterness: Nice hop balance.

Ingredients: Water, barley malt and hops. sweetened with sugar, coloring: caramel (not sure how I feel about the later two ingredients?)

Side Notes: Similarities in this beer to the autumnal fire by Capital Brewery. Proost! (cheers in Dutch)

Overall Rating: 8.3 out of 10 wooden shoes ( good beer!)

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This beer is for the week of January 23rd:

Grolsch Weizen!

(Yes, this beer and the previous one were tasted out of a Nutella jar. I washed it out to be used as a cup because we're low on them!)

Style: Weizenbier

ABV: 5.3%

Aroma: Very fruity. The classic wheat aroma is really pronounced.

Taste: Modest Hefeweizen, powerful Weizen aroma helps to dominate the flavor. Delightfully refreshing. Good balance of flavor with drinkability. Slight yeast flavor finish. 

Head Retention: N/A

Bitterness: not bitter, very smooth. generous carbonation disguises itself as bitterness.

Ingredients: Water, Tarwemout, Gerstemout, Gist en Hop. (Water, Malted Wheat, Malted Barley, Hops and Yeast)

Side Notes: Drinkability is off the charts. Does the Weizenbier beer style justice.

Overall Rating: 7.8 out of 10 wooden shoes (pretty good beer!)

Going to Prague and Barcelona

Hey everyone!

I'm on my way to Prague and Barcelona!

I already did last week and this weeks beer of the week but I didn't get a chance to post it.

Check in after Super bowl sunday for pictures from my trip and the Beers of the Week

I hope everyone is doing well!

Take care!

Brian

Intermission

Hey everyone,

Heres a random photo of some art I made today in class during a whole day of presentations. Its made from the left over peel and parts of some clementines.

Photo of my classroom where my lecture is held.

Stay tuned in the next few days for this week's and lasts week's "beer of the week" postings!!!!

The Open Air Museum in Arnhem

Last Saturday I went with the Exchange Student Organization to the Open Air Museum. The museum has recreated or brought in many important buildings in Dutch history. Its a "miniature Netherlands"

We were fortunate to have a hilarious tour guide who made the journey quite magical

Our first stop was the house of "poor man" who lived in the netherlands so many years ago. (sorry about the random dutch girl taking up most of the photo)

This is the "sheep barn" - the farmer moved the sheep out to the fields to graze all day and then back into their "house" to collect their manure and use it as fertilizer.

A tired sheep.

An altert sheep

I think this was used for the clay making process in building a house? but I'm not sure...

If you look a little closer in the last photo you can see this beautiful bird...

Billy Goat!

The barn of a rich farmer...

This is a photo of our tour guide (on the left) explaining that the blue line around the barn helped keep the devil out! blue is associated with the sky and therefore heaven, so at night when the devil comes out of the ground he will see the blue line and get scared!

Inside the rich farmer's house

This windmill was invented to make lumber out of whole logs... It was revolutionary for its ability to turn the rotational movement of the blades into a piston like up and down motion. 

The center of the Open Air Museum

A shipyard. The white outlines are used to find the door with what little light you have at night.

During our visit, the museum was having their "christmas market!"

A blacksmith's workshop.

The blacksmith at work.

Random car owned by an early transportation company

The trolly that ran around the park

Our group on the train!

The first train station in The Netherlands I believe

A house that could be built in a few days...

They also have their own brewery!!!!

Translation: "drink beer for every man" or "beer is the drink for every man"

Kegs

We met a group of people (35 or so) that dress up in different centuries, that day they were dressed up like the 50s.... He also carried a camera that was from 1929. It still works!!!

Shop that spins wool

We stopped in this restaurant for some mini dutch pancakes!

This guy is wooden shoes!

These guys were making rope!

They had an iceskating rink... and we had a blast!

it was our friend Simone's (from Itay) first time on the ice... he struggled to say the least... but was hilarious to watch! 

If you look closely you can see that this building has a wheel that converts water to energy!

This road was built for so the wheels could ride on the brick and the horses could trot on the dirt.

The dutch are wonderful at landscape architecture!!!

I hope you enjoyed my excursion. Check back tomorrow for the Beer of the Week!!