2012/01 – Into The New Year 2012

10 Jan

Welcoming the New Year

Drinking & Smoking into the New Year

Jan. 2012

We have been celebrating since the new year began – and it began in family style at Andrea’s Pharmacy with us and our wives, children, friends and dogs gathered to have fun, eat fresh grilled hamburgers, a very tasty “midnight” soup by Josef and, of course, lots of beverages and fine cigars.

Gottfried treated us once again to a Feuerzangenbowle, a mix of red wine, spirits, oranges, fruits and a stick of sugar burned over it and melted into the pot that was delicious.

Midnight we watched the fireworks outside the pharmacy go up into the village sky and then had some more of the bubbly, the cigars and wished everyone a happy 2012.

Then Frank from Belgium and his wife decided to visit us – he is addicted by now to our scene, and although it is Januray and shitty weather, they came over for a day to celebrate with us.

Well – not just the weather was shitty, but when we decided to let our wives do some shopping in Mainz and retired to smoke a cigar at the Proviantmagazin we learned that it would be a “historical” smoke, as we smoked the last cigars in their smoking area. They have decided to make it a non-smoking restaurant which is quite silly as their space is big enough to have a separate smoking area but the logic doesn’t seem to have reached them.

OK by me, as there are still many other good places to smoke and enjoy and I can bring my business elsewhere.

One of them is Herve’s Chez RW around the corner where we had a fantastic dinner with great food and service and, of course, great cigars. Like the Partagas Encuentro cigars that I had saved for Frank or the H.Upmann Half Coronas of which we fired up five to try them again or a very tasty and outstanding Bolivar RE Benelux courtesy of Frank.

Herve joined us as usual and showed us some vintage cigar pressing stocks that will decorate the smoking lounge.

All in all a very pleasant beginning of the year, especially having a six-pack of one of the most rare and sought after Trappist beersin the world, the Saint Sixtus Westvleteren abbey beer, an abbey from the 9-th century that houses just 30 Trappist monks leading a very quiet and secluded life – a beer that is only apportioned by appointment and that my friend Frank brought for me from Belgium.

I will drink two bottles to fine cigars in the summer and put the other four away in my cigar lockers for aging and see how they develop.

I mean, how is this for exclusive beer – you have to call a very busy line at the abbey, give your car’s licence plate number, agree on a specific 15 minute time frame on a specific pre-arranged date to pick up some bottles, you cannot use the same phone number or car licence plate again within one year to pick up any beer and you agree not to resell it …. See the fine print here :

www.sintsixtus.be/eng/brouwerij.htm

To have this beer makes me feel very honoured and by now I have a well filled cellar full of very exclusive Belgian beers that will complement the cigars just wonderfully – look forward to a series of beer and cigar tasting in the coming summer ….—–

PS : Just received the exact info on this sixpack from my friend Frank :

This sixpack was a one-off offer, NOT available at the abbey and therefore even MORE rare than the stuff sold at the abbey.

The sale went like this : You had to reserve a newspaper on a certain day where the abbey would have a voucher to buy a single sixpack per person.

At 0730 hrs that day all those newspapers were already sold out all over Flanders.

Then next day you had to go to a certain supermarket with that voucher to get that one sixpack.

Proceeds from this sale went to fund the reconstruction of the abbey/brewery that has suffered a fire damage.

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Then the year continued with a classic lively Pharmacy cigar gathering, but that is my next report …

Stay tuned.

Nino