Brides, Beer, and Fear

Day #449 HertenHeer Blond & Bitter / Hobbybrouwerij Het Nest, Turnhout, Belgium
Previously from this brewery: First one!

Are you all having an enjoyable Sunday?  I hope so, dear readers.  Sundays are made to be enjoyed.  After a busy morning of yoga and a few quick errands, I'm now relaxing and enjoying some quiet time.

Included in that quiet time is a beer review, and today I give you HertenHeer, a Belgian strong pale ale from Het Nest, a Belgian brewer.  This one was on draft yesterday at Teresa's Next Door, where I was able to go get a beer as a reward for good behavior.  Good behavior you say?  I had spent the earlier portion of my afternoon yesterday in David's Bridal, where the Mrs. wanted to go to find  a dress for an upcoming black tie event.  I'm not sure what percentage of people reading this website are males, but allow me to just go ahead and say something very important to those of you who are: males should NEVER set foot in David's Bridal on a Saturday.  EVER.  The store was packed to the rafters with brides, bridesmaids, mothers of the bride, and all sorts of other eager and frightening women who were fawning over dresses, making tremendous amounts of squealing noises, and generally making me feel very, very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY out of place for having a penis.  When a bride finds the dress of her dreams, she rings a bell and the store explodes in applause; when it first happened, I thought it was a store employee sounding the klaxon to warn the troops that a man has intruded on their sacred space.  I kept looking to see if they were going to set loose a pack of wolves to finish me for looking in on their secret and intimidating rituals.  Thankfully, I made it out alive.  But heed my warning, gentlemen - you may not be as lucky as I was.

Where was I?  Oh yes, my beer.  In the glass, it had a bright gold color, with plenty of effervescence and a puffy white head.  There's a sweet aroma of fruit, and when you take a sip you get some biscuit and grass, with a malt and a good hop bitterness, all of which culminate in nice, dry finish.  You can taste fruit in there as well, although I can't quite put my finger on it.  Maybe plum, or figs?  I still may have been shell shocked from my afternoon ordeal, with my senses not quite back to a relaxed state.

Wish this glass was more macho

According to Google translate, HertenHeer means, "deer Lord."  Not "dear", but "deer."  Not sure what to make of that fact.  Het Nest, as all you Dutch speakers well know, means "the nest."  As best I can figure, this brewery is made up of home brewers who create beers, but still have full time jobs elsewhere.  They started as a beer tasting club, but I get the sense they'll be quitting those full time jobs in the near future.

Thing to Think About Today:
While I was focusing on making myself invisible in the store yesterday (didn't work, I'm tall), the song that kept popping up in my head was none other than White Wedding by Billy Idol.  I should have walked in with a scarf wrapped around my head and no shirt on like Idol does in this video.  That would have let the bridesmaids know I meant business....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAZQaYKZMTI