This week I went on a work trip to join the company Christmas party in Freiburg. Freiburg im Breisgau, for those unfamiliar, is a town in the south west of Germany surrounded by the hills of the black forrest and close to the Rhine river.
For my day job I work remotely for a simulation software company that is located in Freiburg. This week the whole team met in the office to reflect on the past year and celebrate the holidays.
From where I live, I can take the train which gets me in Freiburg in about 4.5 hours quite easily. This involves a change of trains in Cologne, home of the original cologne water, of which the most famous brand is still proudly advertised in the main station today:
Cologne main station.
From cologne main station it takes only one direct high speed train to Freiburg. This ICE travels in about 3.5 hours at high speed to my destination. The train will continue on to Basel Switzerland, a destination I would love to take as an extension of a future work trip perhaps. Not this time though!
Traveling at ~200 kph comfortably. These ICEs typically travel faster though!
Back to where we are here for -- Beer!
I should stay on topic. This is my entry for the #beersaturday. This is a post on beer! Well... during my time in Freiburg I got to enjoy quite the variety of beers. I was there for a Christmas party after all ^^.
Kirin Ichiban goes great with spicy food.
On the first day we had a nice dinner at the local Japanese ramen restaurant. What better to enjoy this spicy goodness with some beer from Japan! The restaurant served both Asahi and this gem, Kirin Ichiban. This beer worked perfect to keep the mouth-burning spiciness of the veggie ramen I ordered at bay. Delicious!
From Japan to "Ireland"
After we satisfied our hunger, we decided to move it up a notch and visit the local Irish pub called Oscar Wilde's. This pub is well dressed and makes you feel like you entered a local Irish watering hole the moment you walk in.
View on one of the two bars in Oscar Wilde's and it's extensive stock of whiskeys.
While being amazed with the endless whiskey menu (more on that later), I decided to start of with a local brew known as Jamie's. A red Ale brewed by the Freiburg brewing collective in honour of Oscar Wilde's dog Jamie. The drink unfortunately didn't come in a matching glass but nevertheless was really tasty:
Local brew: Jamie's red ale.
After honouring Jamie the dog, I moved on to a Helles from Ulm. A nice light beer brewed by Gold Ochsen. A nice light beer that stands by its own.
Tasty gold from the German city of Ulm
From Ireland to Scotland
As I already hinted, I didn't kept the night to just beer! The vast whiskey selection offered couldn't be ignored. At least not be me! Here you can have a look at their selection yourself.
One of the many menu pages filled with whiskeys!
With the many whiskeys listed, choosing one did not get any easier! I decided to order a 12 year old Bowmore. This whiskey is known for its distinct smokey Islay flavour. It's not the most special whiskey, but I never got the chance to taste it. And it was good. Look at the color:
Good whiskey with good company!
This one day beer trip was quite enjoyable! For one since it included good beers and good food, but most importantly, it included quality time with nice people. Since I work from home quality time with colleagues is somewhat scarce. This two day excursion was a good way to get to know my team a little better on a personal level. Already looking forward to the next get together!
I hope you all get to enjoy some good beers with the people you care about this week!
Cheers 🍻