European Christmas - Day One

Hello Folks, I have been meaning to start blogging again for a few months now. (The last blog post was over two years ago!) Dang, time flies. Earlier this week, C and I got home from our nine day trip to Europe. So, now that I have some fun and interesting items to post on the blog, I figured I will try to get the blog up and running again. Hopefully, I can divide the Europe trip into a few different blog posts complete with pictures and links to more pictures. The Europe blogs will also tie in nicely with the previous beer posts because there was plenty of indulging in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Our trip: We left Saturday December 22, 2012 to visit our friends Megan and Todd, who are living in Eindhoven in the Netherlands for the next 16 months. Thanks to our tour guide (Megan), we had a full itinerary set a couple weeks in advance. Our flight from Chicago arrived in Amsterdam early Sunday morning, and Megan and Todd were there to pick us up and drive to Eindhoven, which is about an hour and a half away. C and I obviously took the obligatory photo of the "I am Amsterdam" sign at Schiphol airport.

Basically, we dropped our bags at their house (more on their awesome rental down the road). We immediately took the Autobahn to Dusseldorf, Germany to wander the Christmas markets and take in the sights. The Christmas markets are essentially collections of wood sheds with vendors selling everything from food and drink to crafts and clothing. There are little clusters of vendors scattered through the city. We indulged on some traditional German fare...see below.

Without a doubt, the best potato pancake I have ever had, and I have had plenty. Winter in Europe apparently also brings Gluhwein. Nearly every street corner in Dusseldorf had a vendor selling this hot alcoholic beverage. It was described to me by Megan as hot wine; however, after a quick google search, I found that it specifically tends to be Port that is heated and then spiced with various holiday spices (cinnamon, sugar, vanilla, cloves etc.) Unfortunately, C could not partake given her current situation (baby on board) but Megan and I certainly did. Evidence is below:

Todd took a pass because he is not a fan, and after trying it, I see why. It tastes like cinnamony old cider. I'll stick to beer. At least it was hot! Once we completed the Christmas markets, we took in some of the sights around Dusseldorf. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Moving onto the beer portion of the blog. Dusseldorf is known for producing altbier. The internet information, at least in English, regarding altbier is pretty sparse because it is pretty rare to find outside the Dusseldorf area. From what I have been able to gather, brewers in the region began using top-fermenting yeast but then storing the beer at cooler temperatures for relatively long periods of time before enjoying. Dusseldorf is littered with pubs creating their own brands of altbier. Most of them only carried their traditional altbier and possibly one variation. During our night in town, we tried altbiers from Fuchschen, Uerige, Schumacher, and Schlussel. The beers generally carry the same flavor profile with slight variations of hoppiness. Alts tends to be easy-drinking and range from 4%-5% ABV. The best Alt in my opinion was on tap at Fuchschen. It is relatively hoppy up front but has a solid malt character throughout. The finish has a caramel quality that is quite pleasant. It paired extremely well with the Pork knuckle and the wienerschnitzel. Salivate below.

Once we finished dinner, we drove back to Eindhoven to catch up on sleep after basically being awake for 48 hours. I plan to post another blog in the next week or so with the next little bit of our European Christmas. If you cannot wait until then, here is the link to all of our photos from the trip https://plus.google.com/photos/116574417469700558183/albums/5828513222030173265?authkey=CIj4ttOJ3LrilgE Until then, feel free to comment or ask questions. Happy New Year!