Story – Beerndx

Beer tasting with the intern

A job application came in from Rob. Can I do an internship at BeerNDX? During the introductory meeting, we obviously could not ignore the question: “Do you drink beer? “Yes, preferably Amstel.” Do you also drink different beers? Our second question was. Yes, Jupiler. Since we had an excellent conversation with Rob, he began his internship at BeerNDX, provided he had to discover more of the beer world. So there was a beautiful Saturday in early March where Rob went to discover the (matured) beers of Hertog Jan, and what better place to taste these beers, then at the Bourgondische Bierkelder (Burgundian Beer Cellar).

On a beautiful sunny Saturday, Rob and our photographer entered the food halls in Breda. Crossing the food halls we came to a door that would lead us to the Burgundian Beer Cellar. The first thing you see as you walk down the creaky steps are candles on empty beer bottles and especially lots of full bottles of beers of all shapes and sizes. Inquiry with Bas shows that he now has a total of around 9000, mainly 75cl, bottles in Breda and Megen.

Today Rob joins the matured Hertog Jan tasting, with the following beers: The Hertog Jan Double from 2015 and 2019, the Hertog Jan Triple from 2015 and 2019. The Hertog Jan Grand Prestige from 2019, 2015, 2010 and to top it all off a ‘Hertog Jan Ongekend # 2’ from 2014.
It can only be called ‘Burgundian’ if the tasty beers would be accompanied by some tasty food, and so during the tasting, several tasty things passed by. Including ‘bitterballen’ (look it up!) made from Zealandish bacon.

The beers for the tasting, next to each beer the matured counterpart.

Rob listens to Bas’s story with full attention. We start with a Hertog Jan Double from 2019 and he gets a leaf on which he can take notes. Fermentation? Aftertaste? Suddenly Rob looked as if he was reading Chinese, but with some explanation from Bas Schampers he did pretty good. In addition to the Double from 2019, a glass from 2015 was poured. Rob immediately started to take a big sip, but he saw the rest smelling the beer first, so he did as well. When asked what he smelled, he said: “The 2015 beer smells different from the 2019 beer, but I have no clue what I’m smelling. ”I do taste that the beer from 2015 is a bit more sweet, while the beer from 2019 has a more bitter taste”. It appears that the 2015 double has very little carbonation, Rob adds. Bas explains that the carbonation disappears from the beer over time, but that it also matters out of what bottle the beer is poured. The neck of the jug ensures that more air can enter, so that the carbonation disappears faster. “Learned something new” said Rob, who is passionately writing along.

In the meantime, plates with mozzarella, Serrano ham, fuet sausages and much more are brought to the table. Time for the Hertog Jan Tripel from 2015 and 2019. First, Bas explains that this type of beer is generally not very suitable for maturing, but that it is interesting to try as an experiment.
Rob likes the Tripel from 2019 a lot. He starts to learn how to taste and describes the aroma as spicy. The taste he finds pleasantly bitter along with some spices. He says somewhat proudly, “I find the taste of this beer complex”.
The 2015 Tripel is immediately a lot less complex. The bitterness has almost disappeared, in terms of taste it becomes a bit more intense, but that is mainly because it has become a lot sweeter. Apparently not everything gets better with age.

The fellow tasters extensively test the Hertog Jan Triple.

It seems to be time for the final, the Grand Prestige.

But first, a plate full of all kinds of Syrian delicacies arrives. Since Rob’s head was still full of newly acquired beer knowledge, he was unable to remember the names, but it certainly was tasty.

Time for Rob, who until 4 hours ago would still see the Grand Prestige as a dark beer, to taste the holy grail of Hertog Jan. “This sight doesn’t immediately make me thirsty, it is really dark beer man.” While he then tries – as an accomplished taster – to find out which scents he can discover, the terms of the other tasters fly around in the cellar. “I smell raisins.” “Clear notes of liquorice and chocolate” the other shouts. Rob seems to summarize it all and notes “Sweet” with determination.

After reconsideration, Rob again compares the 2019 Grand Prestige with that of 2015.

The 2015 is then poured and many of the tasters in the hall are a bit disappointed. The carbonation has largely disappeared, but not much has changed in taste. Rob looks at me questioningly and says: “I don’t taste any difference at all, maybe a little less bitter ?!”.
When Bas pours the 2010, the smiles return to the faces, the intensity in the beer has increased enormously. The beer has become fuller, sweeter and at the same time very pleasant. “I do taste a big difference here,” he says, while he expertly writes on his testform: “Sweeter”.

While the ‘bitterballen’ from Zealandish bacon are served (seriously tasty!) Bas serves us the closing, the ‘Hertog Jan Ongekend # 2’.
It is a Grand Prestige that has been in a fermentation tank for a full year (!) Before it was bottled, that promises something. The year of fermentation has ensured that this Grand Prestige has become 10.5%. Looking at Rob’s tasting note, it quickly becomes clear what that extra year has done. “Sweet, licorice and spicy” is written on it.

The afternoon of tasting is over and we climb out of the cellar. When asked what he thought of it, he replied: “Heavy afternoon dude, did not know that there could be so much taste in beer. Particularly liked the Double, Triple and the food. I also got thirsty, so time to look for a bar to drink some beer.

BBQ Experience Center, barbecue experience all year round # 1

A good glass of beer can be accompanied by a plate full of delicious food. The barbecue is not just a suggestion that you have to make in the summer. Joey Buys from BBQ Experience Center in Roosendaal is happy to explain why you can enjoy cooking in your garden all year round.

The BBQ Experience Center showroom has been located in part of the old juniper distillery Wenneker since last year. It only takes seconds to notice that the barbecue is not limited to a grid, some briquettes and a piece of meat. Barbeques in this shop come in all shapes and sizes. It is the largest kamado showroom in the Netherlands with brands such as Kamado Joe, Big Green Egg and Bastard. But open fire is also broad and clearly represented, such as the South African Braai, Arteflame and Ofyr. Pellet grills from Green Mountain Grills and Traeger, fireplaces from Bonfeu to electric, charcoal and gas-fired grills from Napoleon.

You have build a nice business here. Explain to us, why the full focus on barbecues?

It started with the passion for cooking, but at a certain point we wanted to use our “catering skills” in a different way. We want to help and inspire people to bring their cookingskills outside. Try to lift tasty and high-quality cooking to a higher level. We want to show them that there are other preparation techniques.

So no more burgers on the grid?

Look, the easy way of barbecuing is quick baking and fast food. We want to pay attention to high quality dishes, being outdoors and staying in touch with your guests. It is, of course, also a piece of garden design, because people have increasingly moved into the garden. We also have barbecues, which you can see as an outdoor kitchen, complete with sink and everything. Everyone can come to us to get inspiration or to seek advice. Our main concern is that we can share the passion for barbecuing with others, and to help those people further.

Speaking of inspiration … can you challenge us with a tasty dish, then we will try to select the perfect beer. Deal?

Deal! Here it comes…

Beercan Chicken

Ingredients
– 1 beautiful organic chicken
– Bunch of thyme / rosemary / oregano
– 1 lime
– BBQ rub for chicken
– 1 Karmeliet Tripel

Necessities
– Chicken container with moisture container

1 – Light your barbecue and prepare it for indirect heat at 190 ° C. We will prepare the chicken and later we will put it indirectly in the barbecue. This means not directly above the fire, but next to it or with a heat shield in between.
2 – Carefully remove the skin from the chicken by putting your finches under it, possibly using a glove for this. Spread under the skin so that it comes directly onto the meat. Also spread some rub on the outside of the skin. Fill the cavity of the chicken with the herbs.
3 – Heat the beer until it almost boils. Then pour it into a chicken holder and place the chicken on the stand. Then put it in the barbecue.
4 – Cook the chicken until the breast is 70 degrees and the thighs at least 85 degrees. This will take approximately 45 minutes.
5 – Remove the chicken from the barbecue, let it cool a little and grate lime zest over it.

Ter Dolen Armand in its natural habitat, next to a barbecue.

BeerNDX has a nice suggestion for a nice beer with Beercan Chicken: Ter Dolen Armand. This beer, named after the founder of brewery Ter Dolen, fits perfectly with this Beercan Chicken. The beer has flavors of citrus fruit and spices, which fits very well with the chicken. The taste is powerful, but not predominant, and the dry aftertaste makes you long for the next sip. Don’t forget the chicken!

Women’s beer guild, more popular than ever!

You cannot get our reporter stressed out easily. He has spoken to many beer connoisseurs, and performing a speech to groups is no problem. But tonight is different. He stays in the bathroom just a little longer and at dinner he didn’t get a bite down his throat. Tonight a really tough job awaits him. He is the only man present with 40 (!) ladies of the women’s beer guild; For the love of beer!

Once arrived at bar d’r Neffe in Roosendaal we are welcomed by the ladies who organized this theme evening. “Welcome, do you want a beer?” With this greeting, the reporter calmed down. Time for the interview.

Why a women’s beer guild?

There are plenty of men’s beer guilds and of course ladies are very welcome there. “Together with Linda van Hooijdonk and Birgit Danen we had the idea that having a beer guild for women would be even more fun than joining an existing one,” says Maaike. “We have only just started tasting beers and the existing beer guild was much further in terms of knowledge and tasting experience. We wanted to do it at our own pace and get more knowledge of beer ourselves. With our beer guild we want to be a group where it’s a pleasure to be among other beerlovers. However, it does have a serious note, we want to increase our knowledge of and interest in beer. Once we started and picked the name of our guild we had to go out and find us some members.

Linda: “What happened then was really crazy, in no time we had 30 members and it didn’t stop there. Registrations kept coming in. We are on 43 members including the board for now, but there are also 36 ladies on the waiting list. Why stop at 43? That is very practical. We want to go on a bus every year as an outing and that means a limit due to the capacity of a bus. And of course we need to be able to hear each other during the tastings.”

Time to taste

Then we are urged to silence. The serious work can begin and a powerpoint presentation is even started with the theme: Sweet and Sour. Lucie van Oers takes us into the world of geuze and tells the group everything about the first beer, the Faro Boon. While the ladies are seriously tasting, I ask Lucie who decides which theme and which beers are on the program. “At the annual members’ meeting, all ideas are collected and asked who wants to take on what. We are often with 3 people who organize it. In order to prepare we did some tasting in advance, somebody has to do it haha. ”

The Powerpoint presentation is being showed to the ladies.

The difference with a men’s beer guild

In the meantime, the chairwoman is pouring me the Duchesse de Bourgogne, a classic that will look great on this evening. “I don’t like this beer myself, but it fits well with the theme.” While enjoying the beer, I ask Linda what the biggest difference is with a men’s beer guild. “Actually there are 2 things. An important difference is that members sometimes take 9 months off because they are not allowed to drink, if you know what I mean. This will not happen so quickly in a men’s beer guild. We can also be a bit more exuberant with regard to the themes. I am reminded of the theme of white beer. That in itself is not very exciting you would think. There is not much difference between different white beers. But in this case everyone was dressed in white, there was a DJ and Maaike even came in a wedding dress with wedding bouquet and all.

The future

As a final question, I asked the chairwoman what her wish is for the women’s beer guild: “We want a long-term right to exist and, despite the creative outbursts, we want to be a serious beer guild and also radiate this. Going out more by, for example, also organizing events in Roosendaal such as a beerfestival or whatever comes to mind. ”

Beauty is in the eye of the (be)holder

Drinking of beer is a matter of taste and preferences.The accompanying glass is usually dictated by the brewery. It is the reason that beside vases, flutes and pint glasses the most different creations are on the market and in the pub. We will focus on the glasses with holder for you.

Beer glasses without a foot; glasses that make you drink in an uptempo. And when there is a holder, you have to make room for it. Pub owners are dealing with this and the fans are dealing with it. But that makes the fan a fan.

The coachman’s glass

With a whole building surrounding the glass, it seems an unnecessary complicated plan to conquer the beer market. And yet, the story of the coachman’s glass is interesting and authentic enough to be told. Pauwel Kwak was in Napoleon’s time an innkeeper in Belgian Dendermonde and his customers were mainly coachmen. Because they didn’t have a lot of time the fine man invented a matching glass. One that enabled the coachmen to drink and to stay at their stand. The glass with a ball underneath (comparable with a Cambridge yard glass) was attached with a wooden holder on the coach. The beer came from brewery Bosteels from Buggenhout.

The principle of the coachman’s glass is the one like that of the boot glass. When there is air in the ball (or in the pointing piece of the boot), and the drinker underestimates the final gulps, the complete content will come out of the glass like a tsunami. A real challenge.

Expensive glasses

Nowadays the holder of the coachman’s glass will be delivered with a foot to let the drinker to be able to put the construction down. A nice object for home then. And that’s why the glasses became a popular collector’s items. As they experienced it at inn De Dulle Griet in Gent. The glasses disappeared by the dozens. If one ordered a Max from the House (not to confused with the beer from Pauwel Kwak), then one should hand in a collateral: a shoe. After ordering a beer a shoe is tossed in a basket and then the thing is hoist up from behind the counter. After a toilet visit the question remains: how come my one sock is that wet?

‘La corne du bois des pendus’

Brewery D’Ebly was taken to court in 2012 by aforementioned brewery Bosteels. The glass associated with the beer ‘La corne du bois des pendus’ would resemble too much with the coachman’s glass of Pauwel Kwak. Both glasses have a wooden holder, so they can stand straight. And there ends the comparison. Pauwel Kwak is to be drank out of a straight glass with a ball underneath, ‘La corne’ is horn-shaped. That’s why the court ruled in favour of D’Ebly.

Laafse Lurk

And then you had the glasses of the Laafse Lurk. The Double beer was inspired bij The People of Laaf from the amusement park The Efteling where it was served. It was brewed by Arcener Steam Beerbrewery in Arcen, now known as the Hertog Jan Steam Beerbrewery. The reasons the beer no longer exists: the relative high percentage of alcohol, the glasses that invited the drinker to drink in an uptempo, and the surroundings of the park consisting of attractions for children.

Out of what exceptional glass did you drink?

Beer in movies

Beer has been in famous and less famous movies for years. Some movies are all about beer and some cameos have a more commercial intention. More about it in this article.

When someone drinks a beer in a movie or in a television show, it doesn’t always come from ascript writer. An agressive campaign from a brewery could be the source. And when a deal canbe made with a producer then it is a good deal. An audience of millions that could be teased and leaving the theatre with your brand in mind. But will it stick? It remains a gamble of course, but in a lot of cases a commercial is one too. It can not always be proved that a consumer is going to buy the product simply because it is shown to him or her.

Recently an episode of the American show E.R. was on television again.

What may I bring you?
Spring water would be fine.

And you, ma’am?
What kind of beers do you have?

Heineken, Grolsch or Amstel Light.
Just make that another spring water.

Watching this scene you can tell the named brands weren’t involved in creating it.

Of course, for decades product placement is an essential supporting act in movies and the studios extend their not too small budget wit hit. Naturally, the risk of adding beer to a scene could look forced. But they will try it anyway. Although we associate James Bond with wodka-martini, he’s on beer for a while now. Heineken beer, to be precise. But, when Tomorrow NeverDies premiered in 1997 the audience saw the secret agent only hitting a few barrels with his motorbike. When there is Heineken in a Bond movie then there was a huge deal being closed, scaling up to 50 million dollars. The brand is visible and the star is to be seen in a few commercials. The brewing company benefits from showing a known face with his beer: everybody knows James Bond.

In films komt natuurlijk al decennialang product placement voor en de filmstudio’s breiden hiermee hun al niet te klein budget mee uit. Het risico is natuurlijk dat de toevoeging van bier in een scéne geforceerd overkomt. En toch blijft men het proberen. Hoewel we James Bond doorgaans associëren met wodka-martini, is hij al een lange tijd aan het bier. Heineken bier om precies te zijn. Echter, toen Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997 in première ging zag het publiek de geheim agent enkel tegen een paar vaten van het merk rijden. Als in een James Bondfilm Heineken wordt gedronken, dan is daar een enorme deal aan voorafgegaan, te denken valt aan bedragen tussen de 50 en 60 miljoen euro per film. Het merk is te zien en de hoofdrolspeler is in een aantal commercials te zien. De brouwer is erbij gebaat een bekend gezicht bij zijn bier te laten zien: iedereen kent James Bond.

Only just in 2012 we saw 007 downing a Heineken, but the world was in a stir when it was announced. ,,Do not touch James Bond and he shouldn’t be doing such things,” was the overall response. It was a storm in a teacup. In the mentioned movie, Skyfall, the spy isn’t ordering in smoking a beer at the bar. No, he sips from a bottle at a moment when he has hadit. Fine then. Nobody complained after that.

There are movies with the plot all about drinking beer. Not a few special ones in beautiful glasses, like in In Bruges. It’s about student parties, games or alcoholic orgies. Strange Brew, Old School, Beerfest, Animal House and Drinking Buddies come to mind. The happiness marches towards you and you want to run to the fridge. It didn’t take an ad campaign from one particular brand to make you do that. ?

Which movies are you thinking of reading this article