A bit of a backlog... February the 7th I visited the third edition of Het Grote Bierdiner Aan Zee (the big beer diner at sea) in the Old Church in Scheveningen. So far I have visited every edition with my father and my brother. The concept is simple: the renowned beer sommelier Arvid Bergström invites five different chefs, from five different restaurants and also five breweries. Each chef prepares a dish that is paired with a beer from one of the breweries. Some beers are unique, some are adaptations and some already fit the dish they are paired with. For the first course we have smoked mackerel with some refreshing other ingredients like lemon. The beer by Haagse Broeders, a monastery brewery in the old city center of The Hague is amazing in itself and pairs lovely with the dish. It is dry, but full of flavour with very low bitterness and a great texture. In the bar, after the diner, one of the brewers told me this beer was his fault. He put in the wrong yeast. When he realised this yeast would eat every last bit of sugar he compensated with extra hops. I don't think even he could have imagined the beer would come out this great, but being able to improvise and saving your brew shows you really know what you are doing.

An amazing birthday beer! I had this cask lagered wild ale at both editions of the great beer diner at sea. As I wrote before the batch at the second diner was even better, so I took a bottle home. After lagering another 8 months it developed even more. It is the first time I can properly assess the color, which happens to be a beautiful maroon and as expected there is no real head. The nose is quintessential wild ale, but laid back. The mouth is complex. Mild tannins, vanilla, oak and what not, with green 🍏 and sour 🍇 keeping it together. One to sit back and enjoy sip by sip. If you ever find yourself in my hometown of The Hague, the international city of peace and justice, take some time to visit the monastery in the old town and pray they have a bottle on stock.

Course 2. This batch #7 of this outstanding Brett has lost some ABV and has gained some vanilla notes compared to the batch last year. A little less dry than last year. Great with this sea bass dis.

This lovely dish with confit whiting pairs very well with this great, dark, barrel aged wild ale. The, relatively mild, sourness really accompanies the dish. It is medium dry, with hints of vanilla and tannines.