Beer Tasting at Brouwerij de Molen

I was invited to a beer tasting event with dinner subsequently last month at ‘Brouwerij de Molen’ (literal translation: Windmill Brewery) in Bodegraven in the South Holland province. It was a business related event, and the brewery is really located inside a windmill.

The Netherlands is famous for beer brands such as Heineken, Amstel, Grolsch and Bavaria which I often call as water beer. I almost never drink them. So it was a big revelation for me to learn that the Netherlands actually produce real beers or something along the gastronomic beers that you can only find in Belgium. Well surprise, there is one in Bodegraven! And it looks like that the ‘Brouwerij de Molen’ is the only beer brewery in the Netherlands brewing the best beers in the country.

At ratebeer.com, an international site where beer enthuasiasts rate beers from all over the world, one can find a number of Brouwerij de Molen’s concoctions on the Top 50, even on the Top 10. Interestingly, it is the only Dutch brewery that entered the Top 50.

Anywho I don’t want to go into beer technicalities but what I do want to tell is that I enjoyed the beer tasting. I find the ‘Mooi & Machtig’ really grand. This is the cherry on top of the icing and can easily be served as an aperitif as well. Unfortunately, they only brew this beer for tasting and not for commercial production. All the beers we tasted had over 12% alcohol content which is pretty high for beer.

The nearest to taste to Mooi & Machtig is the ‘Bommen en Granaten’ so I bought four bottles to take home with me. The brewery has a little beer shop where consumers can buy their own locally brewed beers, as well as beers from other breweries around the world.

After the beer tasting we had dinner. I had the usual seafood but I did not take fotos of my starter and main, however I did for our desserts. Dinner was good and I would rate the food here 4 stars out of 5. And the beer? 5 stars of course =)

For the beer enthusiast, this is your place.

Brouwerij de Molen. Not joking but the brewery is in a windmill.

The beer guide telling us the history of the brewery.

The beer tasting starts!

We tasted 3 types of beers. The first one was a Stout (left foto). The second one was a Blonde or Pale Ale (see first foto at the top of this entry). The third one is the Mooi & Machtig, the most impressive (right foto).

Before dinner was served we were led to the little beer shop:

Brouwerij de Molen also sells other beers, imported beers.

I bought four bottles of Bommen & Granaten.

Then dinner was served and I had a pint of stout to go with it:

This was really good.

No fotos of the dinner except the desserts. Here is mine, a bavaroi tart with ice cream and melon... could not finish it.

The others had chocolate muffin with warm chocolate inside and some ice cream and melon.

Mt. Rainier, Ptarmigan Ridge

Tina drove Mark and I around to Mowich Lake and dropped us off. We would have to climb Ptarmigan Ridge and descend the easier Emmons Glacier to get to the other car waiting at the White River Campground. This picture shows the northwest side of Mt. Rainier. Ptarmigan Ridge is on the left.
Moss covered rocks by a small creek.
The "entrance" to Spray Park.
Kids playing on the snow at Spray Park.
Colorful rocks and Indian paintbrush on the lower slopes of Ptarmigan Ridge.
This is what we came to climb! A steep 2,000' face, the icy chute below the buttress and a short rock climb.
Our route is shown in red.
The snow was absolutely perfect. It was firm, but not too hard for crampons or ice axes.
The air was about 40 degrees and calm. There wasn't any rock or ice fall while we were climbing.
Mark swinging his ice tool near the top of the face.
The sun rising near the Stuart Range as seen from 12,000'.
After climbing the face, we had two options. One was to go left and cross below a large ice cliff and get right on the Liberty Cap Glacier. We chose to go right, break out the ice screws and climb the icy chute below the rock buttress.
The ice was also in great shape.
The views looking down on the glaciers and valleys were amazing.
The last obstacle was this exit gully. It was a bit of a challenge to climb rock wearing crampons and carrying a large pack.
Our shadows projected onto the rock as we head towards Liberty Cap.
Climbers moving over the sun and wind sculpted snow at about 13,500'.
Mark checking out a bergschrund near the summit.
Doug and Mark on Liberty Cap.
A black bear at Glacier Basin.
It was a nice change to approach a climb on Mt. Rainier from a new area. It was great to finally make it up Ptarmigan Ridge. This is one climb we will never forget!

Greetings from KenTennMissAla

After leaving Vevay a week ago, I spent the night at Clifty Falls State Park near Madison, Indiana. The next morning I crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky and took a meandering route to Mammoth Cave National Park. I had been there before. Many, many years ago. The weather was fantastic with sunshine, blue skies and temperatures in the 70s – a rather late “Indian Summer” but one I was quite happy to experience! I took one of the cave tours but mostly just spent time walking in the woods and being lazy around the campground, enjoying the gorgeous weather. After three nights there, and with the weather changing, I slowly made my way towards Shiloh National Battlefield in southern Tennessee (near the borders of Mississippi and Alabama).

It rained most of the day at Shiloh. It was the third time I had visited the Battlefield and each time it has rained... I think it adds to the ambiance. Walking along the “Sunken Road” where so many men lost their lives is rather sobering.

The drive through northeast Mississippi on the country roads was beautiful. Lots of hills and trees all the way through southern Indiana to northern Alabama. A surprisingly number of colorful leaves still on the trees. Rain off and on the past three days. But the sun has come out and has burned off the fog... it's time to move on down the road, still going south...

These photos were taken this morning at Lake Lurleen State Park, a few miles northwest of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It was foggy and a brisk 36 degrees. My hands were freezing after half an hour, but I think it was worth it!

Tech bindings again?

I switched over to all techbindings for inbounds and out of bounds skiing on everything I own 4 seasons ago.. I have a quiver of skis and a boot quiver as well to cover the full spectrum of my own skiing needs.



DPS 138s in a 192cm to my 167cm lwtBroad Peaks.




Tech bindings are an acquired taste and not for everyone.

But if you have an interest in lwt high performance ski gear this is well worth a read:



http://www.earlyups.com/featured/gear-dynafit-radical-ft-12-review/#.UYE2hKqjXOw.facebook



or dig around in here as it is all done ontech bindings:



http://www.coaststeepskier.com/wphome/



http://www.getstrongergolonger.com/

Through Prospect Park to Museum of Art, and back later

The Return of the Camping Bike

The idea of bike camping has been creeping into our insular little bicycle culture for some time now, but I confess to being rather dismissive of the trend. Sure, some people go camping by bike. But so much so as to create demand for camping-specific bicycles? Nah, I thought. But seeing the decals on the new Velo Orange "Campeur" model at Interbike earlier this year really brought it home for me: Camping bikes are for real. The now in-progress long term review on the Gypsy by Trade blog has further fueled my curiosity.






The camping-specific bike is not a new concept. The original French campeurs, popular through the 1940s-1960s, were designed for cyclo-camping - a variation of cyclo-tourisme involving shorter trips and heavier loads. Typically these bikes were built with 650B wheels and wide tires. Front and rear low-rider racks were standards features.






Frames in larger sizes were often built with supplementary diagonal stays, to prevent flex.






Today, Rivendell offers several "diagatube" bicycle models based on a similar premise. This is fitting considering that the current popularity of bike camping is in no small part due to Rivendell's promotion of what they call the S24O: the sub-24 hour overnight trip. The idea is that you set off after work, ride to a local camping spot, spend the night there and return in the morning. Whereas full-on bicycle touring requires considerable time commitment, even the busiest of people can manage the S24O. There are now blogs and a flickr group dedicated to the practice.






So what is the relationship between bike camping and a camping-specific bike? In a sense, any bike that can carry camping gear comfortably will be suitable for the job. Beyond that, it mostly depends on the length and terrain of your route. Touring bikes equipped for wide tires, fenders and racks - such as the Surly Long Haul Trucker and a number of Salsa and Rivendell models - have made popular choices. There has also been a trend to convert vintage touring bikes to 650B wheels (for extra tire clearance) and use them in this capacity with the addition of front and rear racks. But a camping bike could also be a transport bike, even a cargo bike or a capable folder for that matter. There is no precise definition.








So what can we expect from a camping-specfic bicycle model? A number of features come to mind: robust tubing to accommodate the weight of gear, long chainstays for pannier/heel clearance in the rear, eyelets for front and rear racks, clearances for wide tires and fenders, and a reliable braking system. The VO Campeur is additionally interesting in its low-ish trail front end geometry, which some believe to be helpful for carrying a considerable front load.




Will camping bikes take off? The concept of bike camping already has, so it's really a matter of whether the campeur is sufficiently distinct to carve out its own niche. I suspect the concept inspires and attracts a slightly different crowd from those who would go for a standard touring bike, and that's kind of interesting in of itself to observe. Personally, let's just say I am happy to live vicariously through others' bike camping adventures, while traveling light myself. But to the bike campers out there: What is your bicycle of choice, and do you see value in a bike that is optimised for camping?