the Start
Ahoy!
All on board!
It’s Captain Forkbeerd speaking, here!
Welcome on board of the Drifter, the vessel that might bring us anywhere we want to go, anywhere we don't want to go and anywhere we have never heard of! My voyage started a couple of years ago, when I got a new job that changed not only my life, but also my view on flavor. How? Grab your favorite drink, fix a snack, and take a seat, I'll tell ya! Beer Couple of years ago I was desperately looking for a job, running low on money, living with my parents in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. Boo-hoo! I still granted myself the luxury of doing stuff I enjoyed and made fun, both for free and some stuff that, well, isn't exactly free. So I ended up on a lovely summer day in Haarlem on the terrace of this little bar. Uiltje bar that is. A bar that feels like a living room, BUT with 30 draughts with craftbeer from all over the world! Turns out, these bastards have their own brewery as well! Captain here has always liked his booze, but has never looked beyond pilsener or the regular Belgian brews. Captain here did not like stout beers, since he only knew Guinness. Captain here thén discovered the Imperial Stout. Captain here liked... a lot... But SHIVER ME TIMBER that's expensive stuff! Anyway, closing time was coming and the bar owner was closing, meaning terrace had to be carried inside but it was easy to tell she hurt her back so Cap here jumped in to help. In the progress her husband, founder of Uiltje Brewing Company, passed and made a remark that I will never forget: "What a luxury, are you, by any chance, looking for a job?"
More beer
Obviously, both me hands grabbed this chance, had a chat and some brews after closing time and started my new job Thursday the week after. Which lead to the next episode real quick and my life got lost in a rapid without obstacles. Within 30 days the 1 day a week job turned into semi-full-time to full-time, thanks to my passion for the product! This passion lead to the next step, within a couple months of working full-time I took charge of the beer list: HOOT-HOOT!!!
Now thát was freedom! Ordering the beers I knew the guests would love, based on what THEY enjoy most, NOT what I digged myself.
I’ll speed up a little now and jump back to the tributary leading to different destinations of my voyage in later posts.
Little later I got the opportunity to open up my own little craftbeer bottleshop, that we still lovingly call bottleshop even though there’s hardly bottles in it… mostly cans…
ANYWAY, 2 years later now, still up and running even though our big friend mister C. I realized that I needed to write stuff down that made my life as awesome as it is now and that’s all based on 1 thing: flavor.
So, since I started working in the bar, I thought the passion was craftbeer, but while working alongside many passionate people, for example my dear friends the Beertenders, it became clear that it’s not just the beer, it’s flavor in general!
Food
As a result, during this process, I found out that I, without any arrogance but with a lot of pride, became a very good (home)cook in both fusion and traditional cuisines. Again, flavor.
Concluding that flavor became my life, my life is my voyage and you are more then welcome to drift along on my Voyage of Flavor!
What you can expect in the future? Jack-shit! No clue. Do not have any expectations, It’s my voyage and I won’t share unless it’s interesting to me. But hey, I thought my voyage was interesting enough to start a blog about it, so I’ll allow you to have some hope!
Picture: Cristian Geleen
His Instagram would appreciate a like as well!
It is thanks to him and Dennis that I now have this bloody awesome website that I am currently working out, thanks guys! <3