Trappist Westvleteren: How to score some of the ‘best beer in the world’

Trappist Westvleteren: How to score some of the ‘best beer in the world’ 
Brewed by the Belgian Trappist Monks at the Abbey of Saint Sixtus, the Westvleteren Brewery is known around the globe to produce perhaps the best beer in the world. This is could be due to the Monks esteemed reputation as brewers, the unmatchable taste and quality of their beer and the rationed/ reservation style of ordering.  


According to Ratebeer and Beeradvocate, the Trappist Westvleteren 12 has complex dark flavors of caramel malt, figs and dark fruit which makes it one of the best beers on the planet, no scratch that, the universe. This beer is not sold in stores and it is only sold in small quantities (60,000 cases per year) every week right at the gate of the monastery, from their hands to your trunk! So for any beer enthusiast, or those curious to what the best beer tastes like, living in Europe is like being so close to the Beer Mecca of the world, you just have to make the trip to try it!

Here’s how to get some Trappist Westvleteren:

The Call:

First you have to check out their webpage to see the beer schedule and when you can call the ‘beer phone’ (yes kind of like the bat phone).
 

  
You call the beer phone during the times listed on the left side only. It shows what beer you are calling for, so if you call for a yellow block “TW 12” that is what you will get. If you get a busy signal, call them over and over until you get through. If you get a recording, press ‘1’ to talk to someone.

Then when you speak to someone they will ask you for your licenses plate number. He will then ask what day and time you can pick it up. Your options are on the other column of the website you saw online, indicated by the color you ordered. He will tell you your day and time for your pick up!

The Pick Up:

You will receive 2 cases of the highly coveted beer! There are no changes available! Don’t be late for your order and do not show up with a car that has a different licenses plate or you will not receive your beer! They ask you to pay with your credit card and your receipt will say that you are not allowed to resell your beer (Niet verder verkopen). Also you are not allowed to order beer with that license plate and phone number for the next 60 days! So you better make it last until then! :)

If you missed the calling times for the beer phone, and you find yourself in Belgium one weekend, you can still try the Westvleteren liquid gold! Across the street from the brewery they have a beautiful café called ‘In de Vrede’ where you can order it in glasses and drink it at your table. They have a small gift shop where at times, if you are lucky, they sell a 6 pack per person.

They also have gorgeous and historic walks in the area listed on their website, so you can make your beer pick up a really beautiful day out in the Belgian countryside. http://www.indevrede.be/wandelen.php?lang=en

Address: Donkerstraat 13 - 8640 Westvleteren, Belgium - T +32(0)57 40 03 77

Prices: €30.00 (Blonde), €35.00 (8°) and €40.00 (12°) per 24-bottle crate (excluding bottle/crate deposit). Deposit for empty bottles and crate: €12 (€9.60 for the crate plus €0.10 per bottle). But most people would want to keep the crate as a souvenir.

Follow on Reading: To learn more about how the Monks “Make the beer to live but do not live for the beer” check out the article by The Independent, who got a rare interview, called: Monks who make the world’s best beer pray for quiet life.

Author’s Profile: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.

German Bakery Technology: Combating Cooties!

German Bakery Technology: Combating Cooties!

We tend not to think about how gross it is to touch money then touch the food we are going to eat. Or maybe we just block it out so you don’t think of the frequently passed bacteria on your scrumptious baguette.

In 2014, The Wall Street Journal wrote an article about Why You Shouldn’t Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is. NYU researchers found that hundreds of different kinds of bacteria is passed from hand to hand when you exchange money.

“Easily the most abundant species they found is one that causes acne. Others were linked to gastric ulcers, pneumonia, food poisoning and staph infections, the scientists said. Some carried genes responsible for antibiotic resistance.” How disgusting is that! Um, acne?!

TIME also wrote about Dirty Money and how majority of the U.S. bills are contaminated by cocaine. And that paper money can carry more germs than a household toilet.

Even though we are talking about ‘Dirty Dollars’ it must be the same with 'Icky Euros'. Even though they are much more prettier and colorful than the US dollars, they most likely have the same about of microbes living on there.

Okay I think you get the point.. and I don’t want to gross everyone out any further! If you really do the research, I think we all will be swiping our credit cards to pay for a pack of gum just to avoid touching the fecal cocaine glitter on the money.

So what about the bakeries!? Well, in Germany they are getting it right!! I went to one of my favorite food stores in Germany to get some German Brotchen goodness and I saw this new contraption. I actually said outloud…“NO WAY! How COOL!!”
 

Here you tell the bakery employee with the acne-causing-dollar-dust free hands what you want to have, he places it in the bag for you, then from his side of the counter he inputs the price of your purchase. Then from your side you use this handy dandy, cootie combating money machine. You can either insert the money or you can even swipe your credit card (which is a rare thing here!). Then.. voila! You take your bread! How come it took so long for this to happen!? Well let’s just be happy that it is here.

Here is a video of how it works!

 

 

Author’s Profile: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.

Wiesbaden Street Food Festival

 Wiesbaden Street Food Festival 

Calling all foodies! The Wiesbaden Street Food Fest is a place where it is publicly acceptable to literally eat your way across the fest! 

Challenge accepted!

This early September indoor and outdoor festival at the Wiesbaden Schlachthof is one of a kind! If you love the food at German fests, sometimes it is hard to search for something delicious through all the beer and wine stands. Well not at this fest! Here the food stand is king and I was the loyal servant on a quest in street food heaven! Companies from all over Europe, from fine dining to BBQ to Vegan, came to Wiesbaden to display their culinary works of art, one food stand at a time.

Man oh man, this fest did not disappoint. Here are some of the highlights I saw and what I ate:

For my first stop I was looking for an appetizer type of dish. I had to pace myself and I didn’t want to overdo it right away! I came across a food stand from Berlin called Pan Kowalski. They offer a new food concept to show what pierogi’s are capable of when you fusion a traditional Polish pierogi with hip street food. It was delicious! It was a great balance of a fried dish but wasn’t oily at all and still felt like you were eating healthy. They were served on a bed of fresh grilled vegetables with an option of beetroot and horseradish sauce to compliment. Check out their facebook page to hopefully catch them around Germany!
 

I really loved the culture of the fest. While I was eating my amazing pierogi’s we were listening to the cool Jamaican tunes from the Jerk chicken stand.

There aren’t many other fests where within arm distance you can get an American doughnut, some Asian desserts and Spanish churros. One of each please!

Inside the Schlachthof they had food stand and also vendors like olive oil vendors where you can buy their products.

Music was really everywhere and it added such a nice atmosphere. What I loved about it was that there wasn’t a formal set stage and a list of bands, they would play in any area that looked like they needed some music! This Dixie band was just too cool!

Nope. Nope. Nope.: That is all I said while walking passed this stand. And as I still look at these photos it is a big: Nope. However if you are extremely adventurous and want to see what it is like to be Bear Grylls on his TV show Man Vs. Wild, then by all means feel free to sample at the insect stand.
  

Then a complete contrast to eating insects, it was now time to check out the vegan burger stand that was in a cool silver vintage bus. Their very clever name is ‘Food V(eg)an’ and they are from Taunusstein, which is a town just North of Wiesbaden. I ordered the ‘Hipster Burger’ which had fresh bread, vegan patty, lettuce, tomato, onion and BBQ sauce. It was so good I think even a meat lover would love it! They also offered a ‘Corleone Burger’, ‘Gandhi Burger’ and scrumptious sweet potato fries. 

It is time to sit down and eat my ‘Hipster Burger’! The fest had nice tables set up in the middle so you can rest for a little bit. All this eating was very tiring. ;)

One of the biggest ‘wow factor’ stands was the impressive ‘Peanut Butter Bacon Burger’. I hope to not disappoint, but I did not try that. However it must have been a great combination because the stand constantly had a line of people ready to get their PB-and-B-Burger on. 

If you fancy a cocktail, you can drink it in this very cool double decker English bus!

We were about to leave and then we bumped into some friends who said we *must* try the Italian rice balls. Okay twist my arm, I listened to their suggestion. Ran by a really nice Italian man named Francesco, the stand was called the ‘Food Agent’. I ordered the spinach mozzarella rice ball. How was it you ask? Well if loving these rice balls is wrong then I don’t ever want to be right. It tasted like a big, softer mozzarella stick filled with savory rice and spinach. If you are curious to try this at home I found a recipe online: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rice-balls-recipe.html

This fest travels the area so be sure to bring your appetite and check it out! Here is the facebook page to follow: https://www.facebook.com/StreetFoodMarketRheinMain

Author’s Profile: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.

6 Down and Dirty Tips on How to Book a Cheap Ryanair Flight

6 Down and Dirty Tips on How to Book a Cheap Ryanair Flight

Being a thrifty traveler, I always price out different planes, trains and automobiles. So many of the times you just can’t beat the price of the Ryanair flight. If you are willing to give up a little comfort, then you will save! And to me, saving means more money for more trips!

What comforts are you losing?

You have to walk further to the terminal. But hey, this burns some of the calories that you are about to stuff yer face with on vacation.

You are not called into board the airplane in any order. Have you ever seen a Rugby Scrum?

The seats are harder than normal and they do not recline.

Don’t plan on sleeping unless you can sit through the attendants selling stuff the whole time. Scratch cards, food, duty free and little baggies of hard alcohol.

Nothing is for free. Here you will have to buy your peanuts and tomato juice.

You will walk up and down the attachable stairs to the plane. Also you will either have to walk on the tarmac to the plane or take the bus out to the plane. (Perhaps packed like sardines, but that is normal on those buses.)

The baggage crew throws you your bags from the belly of the plane and you have to scream, "Mine! Mine!" to catch the right one. (Okay that one was a joke people!)

Here are 6 tips how to book a cheap Ryanair flight:

1. Parking: To save money, come very early and park at the parking lot as far away as possible then use their shuttle bus to get to the terminal. The farther away the spot, the cheaper the parking costs.

2. Early Flights: Some flight are ungodly early and then when you add the 2 hours of being there before the flight it is now considered in the middle of the night to some. However these are normally really cheap! For example, out of the 3 flights that they have each day to London, the earliest one is the cheapest. Also to catch these flights and actually catch some zzz's before the flight you can stay right by the airport. Either stay at the airport directly at the terminal at B&B Hotel and roll out of bed into the check-in line. Know that the rooms are small, clean, very basic and the breakfast is expensive. Or you can stay right in town at a guest house and most let you leave your car there and they will drive you to the terminal in the morning. Bless their early waking hearts.

3. Fare Finder: The Fare Finder is a semi-new search option with Ryanair. A few years ago you had to manually check each variable of destinations and dates to find the cheapest flight. I am guessing due to the increasing amount of great flight searching websites like skyscanner, Ryanair had to step up their game. Here you can add your starting point and either chosen destination, or just check out whatever the cheapest flight is. When I had a free weekend, I use to just go to where the cheapest destination was. This is exciting because you really discover new places that you normally wouldn't have chosen.



4. Debit Card: Once you found your cheap flight and you click "book", there are still ways to save. First you receive a discount for selecting to use your debit card vs. your credit card. You save about 1 euro a person. It may not sound like a lot but it all will add up in the end, especially booking for a larger group.








5. Extras: These are options you do not need: Reserved Seats, Checked Baggage and SMS Flight Details. They may look interesting but you will be charged for it. You will be assigned a seat at the airport, so you do not need to reserve one. Pack all of your items into your 10 kilo carry-on and then print your information instead of receiving a SMS. Adding those extras would have made my 33,36 euro roundtrip flight to 95,85 euro. A 62,49 euro difference!



6. Follow the Rules: If you do not read the fine print you will be charged at the airport. Print out your boarding pass after you check-in from home! They will charge you for each page they print. Be there early! You cannot and will not be able to check into your flight any later than 40 mins before your flight is scheduled to take off. Even if it is delayed by an hour and you can see the people waiting on the other side.. you will not get on. Finally, you have to pack light. To save you from throwing away your stuff (seen it/done it) or missing your flight, please pack very light. Think of this Ryanair journey as the new way to 'backpack through Europe'! 

To learn more about this airline that we love to hate and then still always fly with them, check out the book: Ryanair: How a Small Irish Airline Conquered Europe.

About the author: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.

How to make your own Wine Fest at home!

Sometimes you just can't go to every wine fest! Or maybe you have kids that would rather be watching Dora the Explorer in their jammies than sitting on a fest table watching you drink wine? Or maybe you just hate being around other humans?

Whatever your reason: Here is everything you need to make your own wine fest in the comforts of your own home: 

Wine: Try out different kinds. Damn you are so refined now...a living room wine fest and a wine tasting all wrapped in one. Sounds like a fan-freaking-tastic Saturday night to me.

Pretzels and Spundekäs: A must. Either hard pretzels or fresh soft ones. But who doesn't love eating those little sticks like your mouth is a mini wood chipper?

Here is a recipe for Spundekäs if you don't shop in Germany: http://fourchetteknife.com/tag/spundekas/

Cheese with a side of cheese. Try some Camembert or Brie cheese.

Grapes: Great compliment to all of the cheese you are eating. 

Dust off your best platter and: TA DA!

Normally at fests your unnecessary, drunken ravaging hunger will drag you to the Flammkuchen booth. So get one of these and you will be in thin-German-no-sauce-pizza heaven in 10 mins when cooked at 200c.

Even if you are having a wine fest at home with your friends or family... or let's be honest here... all by yourself... there is nothing holding you back to dance on your living room coffee table like a rock star!

About the author: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.

Rheingau Wine Week in Wiesbaden: ‘The Longest Wine Bar in the World’

Rheingau Wine Week in Wiesbaden: ‘The Longest Wine Bar in the World’

What brings people, couples, friends, towns together to rejoice with great enthusiasm? Love? Freedom? World Peace? No. The answer is: Wine Fests.
 

Every year in the middle of August, the Rheingau Wine Week is held in Wiesbaden for 10 glorious days! Located around the historic town hall, there are an impressive 120 booths of Rheingau Wineries to tantalize your taste buds. You will not leave thirsty!

This year the festival celebrated its’ 40th Anniversary. Hovering above the fest there was a beautiful wine glass made out of gold balloons and with a ‘40’ balloon hanging from it.   

The special aspects of this festival that make the Rheingau Wine Week stand out from other festivals in the area is the size of the fest and the picturesque Wiesbaden city Schlossplatz surroundings.

Every year the fest attracts over 400,000 guests and goes through 250,000 bottles of wine!

This fest is perfect for ‘stall hopping’. At this fest there are more than 1,000 different wines and sparkling wines at the 100+ different wine stalls. So using my public school math, you could sample a glass of wine at each stall if you have 10 drinks each day at the fest for 10 days. Not sure how your liver will feel after that, but it is a possible task!

If you don’t have a taste for wine, the beer lovers can visit the Ratskeller stand which is the only beer stand at the fest!

While drinking you are surrounded by beautiful tall architecture in the middle of the Parliament, the Town Hall and the Market Church. All gorgeous, inspiring, facebook-selfie-posting-worthy buildings.

If you are new to wine fests in Germany you may be surprised at the higher price when paying for your glass of wine. There is a deposit added to your drink (called a Pfand) and you will get the deposit back when you return the glass to them. If you go up for a drink with only the exact euro that is listed for the wine, then wait in line, you may be caught off guard when you don’t have enough money. Some people like to keep the glasses as a souvenir, however I am not sure how the wineries feel about this. At this winefest you can purchase your own *new* glass that is special to the Rheingau Wine Festival each year. On the glass there is always a nice design with the theme of commemorating the state capital.

There are several food stands and the selection is in keeping with the overall vibe of Wiesbaden: rich and quality. Popular dishes there are local favorites like Spundekäs cheese dip with pretzels and Flammkuchen which is similar to a thin pizza.

To really get into the Rheingau Wine Week spirit you must try one of the beautiful and delicious fruit and cheese platters! Everything on the plate compliments the flavor of the Riesling wine. 

Out of all the other wine fests in the area, this is the fest to really party at night time. While others may be a bit sleepy and refined, this fest is a perfect place to literally dance in the streets. You can dance in the street or on your fest table to 1 of the 50 different music groups playing on 3 different stages.
  

I love the motto of this fest and it is pretty much the motto of my existence. So every August I encourage you to go to the Rheingau Wine Week to: "Discover well-known and new, taste and enjoy".

Here is another motto: I Only Drink Wine on Days Ending in "Y"

About the author: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.

Rüdesheim’s Annual Wine Festival

Rüdesheim’s Annual Wine Festival

One of the many things I love about Europe is how villages transform their center town squares into enchanting festivals. The Annual Rüdesheim Wine Festival is a perfect example. On the cobblestone old town center, sitting on fest tables nestled under the trees, it is a delightful location to sip Riesling wine!

Since 1912, every year in the middle of August Rüdesheim holds this wonderful fest for all wine affectionados. Rüdesheim is already such a gorgeous town on the Rhine River and there are so many locations to explore, so going to this fest is just an added bonus!

During the day, on a relaxing scale from zero to ‘wild and crazy dancing on fest tables’.. it is a 2. However at night time a young crowd joins and the tempo kicks up a bit. During the day, the ambiance was so relaxing and they were playing soothing music. When I was there they were playing relaxing Celtic flute music and I could have stayed there drinking all day… and perhaps have a nap or two. After the spa music, the traditional German band started up on stage. Oom Pa Pa! 

During the day it is a very kid friendly fest!

There are many wine vendor stands located throughout the fest, but not too many where it is an overwhelming decision and you can certainly find a favorite there!

A couple of food vendors are on the outside circle of the fest. They range from tradition Rheingau favorites to exotic like the Asian noodle stand. There are no noisy rides or big flashing candy stands at this fest, but rather quality over quantity. 

We got the delicious vegetable Flammkuchen… a local fest favorite!

Tips for the fest

Try the Pinot Noir! Your taste buds will be delighted and it is a perfect drink in warm summer nights in Germany.

Bring a lot of cash! The deposit (Pfand) for a wine glass is 5 euro each. This is the most I have ever seen at a fest. Meaning you pay for your drink, then you give them 5 euro as a deposit to ensure you will bring your glass back. When you do return the glass you get your 5 euro back. So if you, your spouse and another couple get drinks, you will pay around 3 each euro for the wine, and plus the deposits, which equal 32 euro a round.

Also the flammkuchen wooden trays have a deposit of 8 euros.

Parking

I think the best parking lot is located at the street ‘An der Ringmauer’. It is inexpensive and in a great location.

This is a fest not to miss during your time here in Germany. Also what else is not to miss is trying delicious Flammkuchen. If not at the fest then in your own kitchen!

Flammkuchen is a very thin bread dough with traditionally crème fraiche, thinly sliced onions and bacon. It is served on a wood board with a handle that looks like a big paddle.

A great recipe for Flammkuchen can be found here: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art173819.asp

Cheers!
 

About the author: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.