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Tag: beer

Wien, Bayern & Berlin Reise – 2

Published on 25 September 2022

On On Vindobona!

On this not so sunny Sunday, after a typical Austrian breakfast of Kaiserbrötchen, I went on a little audio-guided walk, leading me to some Art Nouveau / Jugendstil / Secession buildings.

I eventually ended up at Hotel Sacher for—of course—a piece of Sachertorte and an Anna Kaffee, a coffee with egg liqueur and cream. Somehow I managed to just beat the crowds: I only had about four people in front of me in the queue, while by the time I left, the line was at least twenty persons long…

The afternoon was reserved for hashing, so I went back to the hotel to change into my running kilt, and take the metro and train to a station a little outside of Vienna, where the Vindobona Hash House Harriers would start their trail today. As expected, it was great fun, although the trail was challenging at times. Who would have thought Austria is hilly?

After some last beers with the hashers and a tasty Thai dinner at Bangkok Station—actually on the Tullnerbach-Pressbaum train station platform—I headed back to the hotel for a shower, and to get ready for some more bars. On the program tonight: Brauhund and Hawidere!

Wien, Bayern & Berlin Reise – 1

Published on 24 September 2022

Welcome to Wien!

With just a slight delay—just twenty minutes—I arrived in Vienna. After a quick checkin and shower at the Ibis hotel, I was already back on schedule.

Usually I like to start with a visit to the city museum to get a general overview of the history of the city, but unfortunately, Vienna’s city museum was closed for renovations. So instead, I went to Time Travel Vienna, one of those places with animatronic puppets, 3D films, and special effects. This one even had pyrotechnics at the end! But I must admit, since I’m a sucker for reconstructions—wether it is built, drawn, or computer generated—I actually quite enjoyed it!

After that it was time for lunch already, and I simply had to start with a classic Wienerschnitzel. Figlmüller seemed like the perfect place to have one, and considering the queue, I did well making a reservation well in advance!

For my after lunch coffee I went to Fenster Cafe for something quite peculiar: coffee from a chocolate lined ice-cream cone. It was nice being able to eat the ‘cup’ after emptying it, but I’ve been picking chocolate out of my ‘stache until hours later!

Since Vienna actually is actually a stop on my—‘temporarily’ on hold—Limes Route cycling tour, I had to visit the Römermuseum, of course. It even had some excavations of ancient Vindobona in the cellar.

I then actually wanted to visit Cafe Central to sit in the same seats as Trotski and Freud, but there were really long queues here as well, and this time, I didn’t have a reservation. So I went to CaffèCouture instead, for a proper, no-nonsense cortado.

After a quick stop to buy some Lederhosen—you’ll see them later—it was finally time for some Austrian beer! First stop: Mel’s Craft Beers.

The next beer stop was at the—undoubtably heavily BrewDog inspired—Hefenbrüder, where I had a pizza as well.

Now, usually I avoid drinking Belgian beer abroad: why pay more for something you can have cheaper and fresher at home? However, today was Zwanze Day, and Ammutsøn was the only bar in Vienna joining in the celebrations. Admittedly, it was a lot more expensive to try the new Zwanze beer than it would have been in Brussels, but it was so nice to meet fellow Cantillon enthousiasts, and try the beer at the same time as my friends in Brussels.

The last stop of the night was at Beaver Brewing Company, luckily not far from my hotel…

Belgian & Dutch Nash Hash

Published on 1 August 2022

Belgian Nash Hash 2022

In one of my FyneFest Trip posts I mentioned how the Glasgow H3 gave me a hash name. I also mentioned my home kennel—BMPH³—might have to say a thing or two about that…

Well, the weekend after my return from Scotland, it was already time for the Belgian Nash Hash: a yearly, weekend long event for Hash House Harriers, organised by a kennel of the eponymous country, but open to hashers from all over the world. When I arrived at the checkin, I did in fact receive a badge with my new name, but—ominously—with an asterisk next to it…

So after quite a bit of running—and a bit of beer drinking—in the beautiful Condroz, I was called into Circle. There I was confronted with what had happened in Glasgow, and as expected, the RA and the rest of BMPH³ didn’t agree with it, and deemed I needed a new hash name. After some debating, in true courtroom style, I was eventually found Kilty as Charged, which will henceforth be my hash name. The official naming that ensued, involved quite a bit of beer and flour… A lot more than in Glasgow, where, by the way, I will always remain Out of Kilter!

Dutch Nash Hash 2022

A couple of weeks later, there was a nash hash in the Netherlands, which would be my first foreign nash hash. The location was The Hague, and the weather was once again great. Only a few hashers from BMPH³ attended—the Dutch Nash Hash coincided with the German Nash Hash—but I already knew a couple of the Dutch hashers, and in general hashers are a friendly bunch anyway, so I felt comfortable quite quickly.

As a Belgian hasher, I’ve been quite spoilt when it comes to beer, and it came as a bit of a shock—especially after finding a home-brew in the welcome pack—that the only beer on offer was ‘Big Beer’, i.e. Heineken and Amstel… Since, as a matter of principle, I refuse to knowingly drink beers by AB InBev, Heineken, Carlsberg, Asahi, etcetera, it required some creativity to fulfil my beery needs during the weekend. Luckily, I had done my research, and prepared a list of craft beer bars and shops in The Hague. As luck would have it, those places were never too far from where the pack was, so I was able to sneak off every once in a while to get a proper beer to enjoy with the rest!

Oh, since the home-brew in the welcome pack wasn’t cooled when we received it, I just took the bottle home with me. I drank it a couple of days later, properly cooled, and it was actually quite enjoyable!

FyneFest Trip – Day 8

Published on 8 June 2022

Edinburgh

After a very good night in the DogHouse—just a tiny bit more comfortable and warm than the yurt—it was time for some waffles and chicken, to get ready for a full day in Edinburgh, starting with a coffee at The Milkman.

The National Museum of Scotland is always a pleasure to visit, even after having seen all the permanent exhibitions. An interesting free temporary exhibition this time was about The Typewriter Revolution, which I then visited, before enjoying the views from the rooftop terrace.

Then it was about beer o’clock again, starting at where it all started for me, BrewDog Cowgate, followed by a place new to me, the Salt Horse. In between I simply had to grab a tattie dog at The Piemaker, because, why not? To change things up a bit, I also had a wee dram at the Bow Bar, where I had a nice chat with some other patrons, who recognised me from FyneFest.

Another place I won’t skip whenever I’m in Edinburgh, is Wings. This time, I tried the Deep Spice Nine rub, and The Genghis Khan, Pyong Damn, and Schticky Wingsh sauces. Again very tasty, but apparently hotness level three is still quite mild for me, so the next time I’ll have to make sure I pick some of level four and higher!

After dinner I had a couple of bar stools booked in The Wee Vault, Vault City’s taproom. Since the place has more taps than seats, a booking was very much recommended! Enjoyed some great pastry sours there, and couldn’t resist the temptation to buy a glass. So add that to the FyneFest festival pint glass, and the whisky glasses received after the distillery tour…

While in the area, I also visited Monty’s—quite a classic bar, but with some great beers, even on cask—and BrewDog Lothian Road. To finish the evening—and basically my visit of Edinburgh—I had a couple of beers in the DogHouse Edinburgh, since it was basically already closed when I arrived late the night before.

10 Years in a Kilt

Published on 14 March 2022

On the 10th of March 2012, I picked up my very first kilt, somewhere in Limburg, at the inconspicuous garage shop of the sadly no longer existing company Great Scotland. The very same night I put on my new eight yard kilt, in a MacLaren Modern tartan woven by House of Edgar to take it for a spin, and a first pint.

Since then, this kilt has served me well, as I walked many miles, drank many beers, and had a lot of fun in it!

I marked this ten year anniversary—or kiltaversary, if you will—with a little pub crawl, which of course also included the very first place I went in my kilt, Celtica. There I tried to recreate the first photo of me wearing my kilt in public…
Can you spot the differences?