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Erwin

Erwin

@erwinh.bsky.social

200 followers 230 following 1.1K posts

👓 Nerds out hard on many topics! 🍻 beer, 🍶 sake, 🥃 spirits; drinking & home-brew 🎮 (retro) games, 🔊 music, 🎬 movies, 📖 reading 🚲 biking & 🥾 hiking holidays 💼 HR professional Talent & Performance 𖡡 Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 13h

Last weekend was fresh hop fest and I drank a bunch of wet / green / fresh hop beers.

I mostly agree with you in terms of quality. Also the green hop beers tend to get more samey than their dried hop siblings. BUT.. it's super fun to drink such a seasonal product.

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 13h

I've left a bottle of my first and second batch bottles on room temperature to see how they would age. Both are unpasteurised (nama) so I expect them to shift in flavour over time.

So far I've not touched them but will try them soon. Have you been brewing any sake lately?

Reposted by Erwin

Katie Mather @katiematherkm.bsky.social · 20h

Spanish beer people, please let yourselves be known to me!

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 3d

At least three; Shogun and Kanpai in London, Dojima in Cambridgeshire.

Then there is also "The Sparkling Sake Brewery" which is also in Cambridgeshire - but I'm not fully sure how they are operated.

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 3d

It's brewed at Shogun in London.

Their operation started out with lower alcoholic sake blends with yuzu and such. But they have started to brew their own sake and bottle it undiluted now.

I had some of theirs in September (can). Their brewer, Liam, brought to Amsterdam Sake Sip.

Curious to try!

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 3d

A group starts with 2 people. Must be someone around you that is at least curious about sake.

By the way, Liam sent over this bottle to Jan. It arrived just in time for our tasting. So we'll have some English sake this evening as well ;-)

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 3d

Bottle shares are super fun! And with sake they make even more sense because the bottles can run quite expensive as well compared to beer. I feel very lucky to have so many fellow passionate sake nerds in Amsterdam ;)

I'll also bring the last bit of doburoku that I hope has not turned too much yet.

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 3d

About the bottle;

Omachi rice, 70% polishing rate, SMV +8.5, Acidity 1.7, Amino Acid 1.5.

Sake is interesting because they often say they don't add cultured yeast when they use a non-sokujo moto method. In this case this actually might be true; anyone know why this is so hard to check?

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 3d

Everyone in the group is a sake professional. Most of them import sake, some are sommeliers, some own restaurants or bars that are sake focused.

If ever there is a moment that my imposter syndrome kicks in; this would be it. Only 2 years ago I had never drank sake that was worth discussing.

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 3d

This evening is another meetup of the Amsterdam sake circle. The concept is simple; everyone takes a nice bottle of sake with them, tells the story of the bottle, we drink it together, and we discuss.

The line-up of bottles always is amazing. I'm bringing this Sankan Shuzo Kimoto Junmai.

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 3d

These are NES shells. Is this another console skew? (high-end or entry level?)

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 5d

Indeed a "kleine prullenbak" (small trash bin).

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 5d

I'm pretty sure it's one of those tilting trash compartments underneath the seat.

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 5d

Just arrived at Vandestreek's fresh hop festival

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 7d

Mine just arrived - look forward to the weekend to dive into it.

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 7d

The haul

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 7d

I ordered some bottles from Midorinoshima (France). The sake book I had preordered a long time ago came at almost the same time.

Both are being inspected by my cat Barley.

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 11d

Hope you enjoy these! When I was there I had a lovely chat with the owner and some locals.

And they served a cream ale, I don't think I ever saw one elsewhere in Belgium.

I remember there was a foodcourt in a former factory building not too far away from the brewery (Hal 5). Also had good vibes.

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 11d

What is on the agenda in Leuven? I really like brouwerij de Coureur.

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 12d

Transferred my two fresh hop beers to kegs just now and I'm really happy with how they turned out. An amber Kveik (Eitrheim) and a big spelt Saison (8.5% ABV).

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 21d

Doei!

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 21d

The Xbox game pass hike was the last drop after feeling really uneasy with Microsoft for a while. I'm out!

Not sure where to go for playing games on my sofa. I wish Steam would launch an updated Steam Machine.

Does anyone want to buy a series X?

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 25d

Saison took off like a rocket and is going brrr!

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 26d

Been a busy day!

Picked the other hop plant and brewed a beer. As is almost tradition I brew a big Saison with fresh hops.

It has a 80/20 pilsner and spelt malt base, 600 grams of green hops (Centennial), and will end up around 8.5 percent ABV.

Tomorrow I will brew a kveik-based beer.

Erwin @erwinh.bsky.social · 27d

Yeah.. if your hands are not red and itchy have you even picked hops? Haha