Just another week

Not much happened this week. At least, nothing extraordinary. Some regular things went on, like going to buy a bottle of whisky the day my paycheck arrives, work, reading and so on...

I did finish reading The War of the Spider Queen. Quite an exciting series, but the end was not as spectacular as I had hoped, but it was up to expectations. After that I didn't really know what to read next, since I have some 10 comics on the shelf that are unread, a dozen books and just as many magazines. And, of course, I still have to do some research for our holiday to Mexico in three weeks.

For that holiday, I did get my shots against hepatitis and all kinds of other scary shit. The worst thing about getting injections is the bill afterwards...

Now I am reading Raymond E. Feist's newest book "Into a dark realm", which is quite badly translated to Dutch (the literal translation of the Dutch title being "a journey through the night"). The book is quite entertaining, though.

Yesterday I went to the Whiskykoning for another bottle that had been on my wishlist for far too long. A Lagavuling 12 years old. Cask Strength. Great whisky. I really love it.

Of course, when I was there, I had to buy something else as well, which turned out to be a Japanese Nikka White. An Islay style Japanese whisky, which is quite nice for its price.

I have planned another whisky tasting on February 8th, with a couple of friends and collegues, as well as their friends. I had to plan what we were going to drink and together with our host we decided to go for the different casks that whisky finishes in. So we have a Bourbon, Port, Wine, Sherry, Madeira and Rum finished whisky. Really looking forward to that tasting!

Last week, my headphones stopped working at work. Which means that I have music in one ear only. That really sucks. Our workplace is like a big hall, with 40 developers in it, which means there is noise all day. Music is the only way to do a bit of work while being focussed. That sucked. It gave me the chance to order a new set of headphones, and with them I had the chance to order some books as well. More Drow adventures coming up, since I order The Sellswords. A trilogy about some characters that have been populair since appearing in the highly acclaimed pulp fantasy series about Drizzt...

Marriage preps

We have just under five months to go before I become Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer and I will no longer be single then. A friend of mine recommended getting a master in management and organization before getting married, and I am getting to know what he meant.

We have so much still left to do, but we are quite busy getting things done and making agreements with all kinds of people.

Up till now we have:

• Booked the place where we are going to say "I do"
• Booked the place where we are going to have our party
• Booked the place where we are going to have our reception
• Booked the place where we are going to have dinner
• Made an almost final guest list
• Been looking at rings

Anneke's cousin is already making a test version of the dress, but the final version will be made after we went to Mexico. Which means that, since they have not yet selected the fabric it is going to be made of, I cannot start looking at a suit that I want for June 10th.

We booked the bar where Anneke and I had our first date about four and a half years ago. The owner is a nice guy and arrangements were quickly made. He also had all kinds of good ideas, and combined with our own plans we expect it to be a very good party.

Still so much to do, but we are getting there. The only drawback thusfar is that our vacation to Mexico in February is more or less forgotten by everyone, including us. Marriage is just too big a deal to have anything else to talk about...

30 different whiskies

Last Sunday we went to another whisky tasting. It was called the "Bottoms Up tasting", because the shop owner (the whiskykoning) want to empty some of his open bottles that have been sitting on the shelf for a while.

The idea was simple. He put every bottle he wouldn't mind emptying on a huge table, you pay an entrance fee and off you go! Thomas, Floris and me went at it, a little bit in the same way we did the Whisky Festival, last November.

We poured a little bit more in a glass, but shared every glass with the three of us, unless it was a really incredible one.

In the end we tasted 32 different whiskies, of which 30 were single malts, and 29 were Scottish.
The list is quite long, but here it goes...

1. Rosebank Blackadder 12 58,3
2. Rosebank Ultimate 7 43
3. Bruichladdich ? 10 43
4. Bruichladdich OB 56,5
5. Springbank Dun Bheagan 28 48
6. Caol Ila Blackadder 12 58,8
7. Highland Park Aberdeen Distillers 14 43
8. Glenrothes Blackadder 13 45
9. Old Crow OB 40
10. Arran Blackadder 8 55,2
11. Teaninich 21 57,2
12. Caol Ila Ultimate 9 43
13. Fryske Hinder OB 3 40
14. Blackadder 13 60,5
15. Bruichladdich Old Master's 13 58,7
16. Caol Ila Dun Bheagan 10 43
17. Blairfindy Blackadder 40 52,3
18. An Quaich 9 43
19. Gooderham & Worts OB 45
20. Benrinnes Ultimate 18 43
21. Ardbeg Spirit of Scotland 55,8
22. Old Man of Hoy Blackadder 10 43
23. Bunnahabhain The Macphails 10 40
24. Old Master's Something (can't read my own writing)
25. Bunnahabhain Old Master's 20 57
26. Rosebank Ultimate 11 43
27. Rosebank Secret Treasury 10 44
28. Arran Blackadder 6 56,7
29. Edradour OB 10 57,2
30. Dufftown 17 58,5

The two bourbons on the list were crap. We just don't like bourbon, and by now I have given it amply opportunity to surprise me. During the tasting there were two mystery bottles and one fony bottle. The mystery ones were tasted and turned out to be the 28yo Springbank and the 40yo Blairfindy. Both incredibly incredible. The fony was an Ardbeg bottle filled with Cutty Black...

In the end, the top 9 for me would be (in no specific order):

• Blairfindy 40
• Rosebank 28
• Teaninich 21
• Caol Ila 12 by Blackadder (58.8%)
• Rosebank 12 by Blackadder (58.3%)
• Sweet Speyside by Blackadder (60.5%)
• Ardbeg Spirit of Scotland
• Bunnahabhain 20 by Old Master's (57%)
• Old Man of Hoy 10 by Blackadder (43%)

In the end I, of course, had to take a bottle home. One I tasted... So the choice was not too big, since some were just not special enough, some way to expensive and others were sold out 3 years ago. In the end Rob, the shop owner, found one remaining bottle of the Teaninich for me. I really liked and it, and again yesterday...

Some other information: I liked the Frysk Hinder a lot better than the whisky from my own province called Millstone. Also, I can recommend most bottles by Blackadders, since they have never disappointed me (no guarantees, of course).

All in all, it was a remarkable afternoon, with plenty of stuff to talk about in the near future... Damn I love whisky ...

Dinner at Hielander

This evening we went for dinner in Alkmaar, at Whisky Restaurant Hielander. We learned about the restaurant by an article in WhiskyMag, and they were quite enthousiastic. Of course, traffic was hell, with about 3 accidents on the road, which caused a delay of about an hour.

When we finally got there, after a 3 hour drive of 140 kilometers, Anneke was already waiting for us, as well as the proprietor, Wullie.

We started right away, with the first of six courses: smoked salmon, with a little bit of salade and caviar. He poured us a 17 year old Bowmore, by Signatory. Quite a good combination of smoked fish and a smoky Islay whisky.
The second course consisted of a red union soup with cayenne pepper and sherry, with a Deanston 12 to go along with it. Fantastic combination!
Third was a carpaccio of veil, with a little bit of veil liver terrine. A Glendullan 15, by Ultimate was the whisky for this course. Good food, the whisky was properly chosen as well.
Fourth, the main course, "wood pigeon" brest and leg, with a little bit of mashed potatoe and blood sausage. Along came a Glen Keith 10. A suprise to me, because I never had pigeon, blood sausage or Glen Keith before.
The dessert was a bit of cheese cake, with red fruit sorbet ice cream and a Imperial 8, from the Battlehill series. Really good!
Finally we had coffee with a Big Smoke 60. The shocker of the evening. A vatted malt that really did it for us. Great whisky. Kick ass whisky, with a strong coffee to go with it.
After dinner we hung around for a bit and tasted one of his own bottlings, a 10 year old Springbank which was really great.

To finish up we had some discussions about the whisky market, and about buying and selling to make a little profit. Of course we had some whiskies: Bruichladdich 13 by Provenance, Caol Ila 12 by Chieftains and a Laphroaig 7 by Ultimate.

So, in the end we had 10 different whiskies tonight:

• Bowmore 17, Signatory, 46%
• Deanston 12, 40%
• Glendullan 15, Ultimate, 46%
• Glen Keith 10, 43%
• Imperial 8, Battlehill, 43%
• The Big Smoke, 60%
• Springbank of some kind
• Bruichladdich 13, Provenance, 46%
• Caol Ila 12, Chieftains, 50%
• Laphroaig 7, Ultimate, 46%

The whisky winner of the evening was the Caol Ila for me. Although, in combination with the food the Deanston and Imperial were exceptionally well chosen. The food was great, the drinks as well. Wullie is a good guy to have a chat with and the price of the evening is quite good. A recommendation for all whisky lovers out there!!!

Being a bigger nerd

I have always liked stuff that typical nerds like: comic books, card games, board games, computer games, star wars, lord of the rings, dungeons and dragons, you name it.

Until early 2006, I still played Dungeons and Dragons on a semi regular basis. We stopped that, because most people had trouble reserving the time in their agendas, and Anneke started to finish school with her final internship. Since we played at our place that was a bit troublesome.

Now, about a year later, I am starting to miss it. I really enjoyed spending time with good friends, the game itself and just the fun we had.

My love for Dungeons and Dragons has been sparked to life again, by reading the accompanying novels. I have almost finished the six part epic saga called "War of the Spider Queen". The story in those novels is just die hard Dungeons and Dragons and since reading the first book I have wanted to play again.

Of course, this could not come at a less practical time, with our marriage and our vacation coming up. I still will be trying to get a group together and start playing again. Who is interested? Leave a message or send me an email!

Music sale!

My favorite in-town cd shop is going out of business, unfortunately. They started only two years ago, but they did not reach the expected rise in revenue. Den Bosch is most likely too normal, and too small. They also have departments in Rotterdam and Tilburg, who are doing just fine.

Unfortunately, too bad, and a shame. More shame comes to the local public, since they tend to be a bit like vultures. Now the shop is closing down, they want to get rid of lots of cds that have been sitting on the shelf for a while, and they had a 50% discount on all cds, and huge discounts on boxed sets and special editions as well.

I went there thursday (and again just a couple of minutes ago) and did myself a favor by buying a boxed set with all albums by The Doors, with a DVD added to all albums, for about a third of the regular pice.

I also bought some regular albums:

Eddie Vedder's first solo album "Into the Wild"

PJ Harvey's "Is this desire?"
The Cat Empire's "Two Shoes"
Jeff Buckley's "Mystery White Boy"

And just before I reached the counter my eye hovered over all four seasons of Monty Python's Flying Circus :D

After all was said and done, I still spent about a hundred bucks, but in normal circumstances it would have been over 200. Too bad they already sold or removed the more desireable products from the shop. I had been looking at a bunch of cds they had but still postponed buying them. Of course they were not available in the discount.


But still, one hell of a deal...

Our new alarm clock

Just before Christmas Anneke and I bought ourselves a new alarm clock. Not just any alarm clock, because then we can easily use the one we have or our mobile phones, but the Philips Wake-up Light.

The wake-up light is an alarm clock that wakes you by lighting your bedroom bit by bit, during a period of half an hour before the time you have set it to ring. After that it starts beeping just as any other alarm.

The benefit of the light is that you wake in a very natural way, just like you would when you would be sleeping outside, and be woken by the sun. Sounds good, and it is.
Buying it was a bit of a guess, since it can be the next crappy product that promises the world and delivers nothing. This one is different. We do wake up a lot more relaxed and less tired.

Thusfar, the invention of the year for us.

2007 in review and 2008 in preview

So, 2008 has begun. Which means 2007 has ended, and it is time to look back. Like some old fart, thinking about the past.

What has happened in 2007?

• First and foremost, Anneke and I decided to get married. By far the most important thing, I would guess.
• At work I got promoted from Web Developer to Technical Project Manager for the team in Minsk, Belarus. That means a lot more responsibility and many many new and different tasks to do.
• My whisky collection took off like a rocket. I started the year with some 5 or 6 bottles in my collection. At this very moment it is up to 39 bottles, 38 different ones. I had to get a special dedicated whisky cabinet, since the collection just grew out of everything else.
• I bought a car, which has saved me lots and lots of time and frustration in trains and carpooling.

That have to be the main highlights. Looking back at old posts doesn't reveal too much more.

2008 is going to be huge, I think. The plan thusfar is:

• Go on holiday to Mexico in Februari
• Get married in June
• Go on holiday to Normandy in June, after our wedding
• Go to the Lowlands festival in August again
• Start looking for a new place to live after summer

The things I want to do this year is an incredibly long list, but I won't bore you with that. I am looking forward to the following 365 days and I'll do everything I can to make this year better than everything before.

Happy new year!!!