A visit to the Hertog Jan Brewery in Arcen

 So, when we recently went on holiday to Arcen, the place of the Hertog Jan brewery, I booked a brewery tour.

 

Located about 15 minutes from the parc, this was a good spot for some learning, and of course, Quality Controlling.

 

Now, the regular Hertog Jan beers aren't actually brewed here anymore, but in other breweries of the AB InBev group.  The tour was led by a dry humoured dutchman, Ger, or as he calls himself, Gertog Jan, who worked for a long time in the place.

 

The water used for the brewing process travels 800 years underground from the Ardennes in Belgium towards Arcen, and is pumped up.  We got to taste this, and it had a really pure taste. From there, it went to the malt room, where the various sorts of malt are burned for light or dark beers.  

 

  

 

 

 

What they do brew there still is their parade beer, Grand Prestige, as well as cooperative, very limited beers from their Proeftuinen range.  These are only available once through a subscription box, but this unfortunatly isn't available to Belgium.  We got to taste one of them, the Zwarte Raaf, a very dark and heavy beer.

  

Of course, there was also a 10 second long course in tapping their Weitzen (it works btw), which could be, errm, quality controlled to the fullest.

 

After a little movie about the bottling process, the final visit was to the cellars where the Grand Prestige ripens, and of course, here was some tasting involved as well.

  

And so the tour ended, in the gift store which is dead cheap.  For example, a pack of 6 of their beers all ranged between 4.50 to 6.90 for a pack, for most of them that buys you two bottles in a store...

 

A very intresting tour, taking slightly over an hour (as we where the last group of the day, there was some more quality control time) and explaining the whole process of the making of the Grand Prestige.  If you are ever near Arcen, be sure to take it in your holiday schedule, it's worth it.

  

And now, schol! 

JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World volume 7 - Ko Hiratori and J-ta Yamada

 Today it's time to have a look at the closing book of the JK Haru series, an isekai series which, even though it is her work in the other world, isn't that ecchi at all.

 

Which is a good thing, because gratuite nudity has been exchanged for a good story!

 

The book contains mostly the "sequel story" after the events of volume 6, seeing how Kyori and Haru go on with their life.  Lupe is prime candidate to become the new madam of the brothel, while Sumo has intensified his skills in baking.  Meanwhile, Haru can't stop thinking about the grey-haired guy, as Kyori notices a change in Haru, in which she often spaces out in thought during conversations.

 

Haru tells Kyori and Lupe that she will return to venture into the forest, refusing to take Kyori along who wants to become a genuine adventurer.  Kyori has taken an intrest in Killak, a low ranked B-level adventurer, and after some dates she beds him, but this goes sour as she isn't a virgin anymore.  Lupe comforts her, seeing as she is one of the few friends Kyori has.

 

During her weekly prayer session in church, she is approached by three other sisters who never where that nice to her.  They hand her a message from Killak, and she decides to join them in an excursion into the forest, in the hopes of catching up to Haru out there.  But it is all a set-up, and after the others got half drunk, they want to rape Kyori, exposing her for the slut she really is.  But Chiba stumbles onto the scene, and while mistaken at first, quickly engages the adventurers.  First ridiculed for being a lower level, they quickly learn about his cheat skill as he overcomes them without any problems, freeing Kyori who kicks her fellow sisters across the face, and have them excommunicated from the order afterwards.

 

Two weeks later, Haru has returned from her expedition, as Kyori tells her Lupe is training Chiba.  Kyori confesses she wants to be more like Haru, as Haru recounts her adventure and how she froze up in front of the Demon Lord's castle, breaking down crying.  

 

Lupe and Haru think Kyori is warming up towards Sumo, while Haru confronts her inner self, realising she still needs to "grow" despite her inherint power to confront the Demon Lord, as God passes by to make use of Haru's services again.  He tells her Shequraso has already picked a mother to be reincarnated from, and Haru tells him he needs to watch over her and her mother.  The laughter of God however seems to indicate it will be here...  

 

And so the story concludes, as Haru watches a falling star, wishing for everyone both in this world and her old world to find peace and live a free life...

 

As a bonus material, there is a short story set somewhere earlier in the series where Haru learns about the history of the world, as well as an interview with the creators of the series.

 

So the series ends, and it was a damn good one of a girl isekai'd into a world where women are oppressed, yet manages to work her way upwards through pain, loss, and the finding of friendship, highly recommended reading! 

 

 

Lord Ipsqueeck's Adventures: Het Aardbeienland themepark

 Hey hey friendly followers of mine!

 

Today, I'm taking you abroad to Het Aardbeienland (Strawberryland), a small themepark located in Horst, the Netherlands.

 

Now, this was the first of 4 expeditions I did with mommy and daddy during our stay in Arcen, of which you could read a while back.  But daddy had taken so many pictures, I told him he should just make some seperate posts to recall my tale.

 

Now, first a little tip: this parc normally costs 10 euro entrance, but you can find it on Social Deal for 7 euro a ticket, so make sure to grab those, as it isn't that big at all and paying less is always a good thing!

 

 The parc is based completely around the local strawberry culture, whom they call the "Zomerkoninkje", or Little Summerking in english.

 

 The main building where you enter, which is also the souvenir shop and has some arcade spots, also has a little playcorner where you can build with blocks.

 

One of the parts of the parc, is a hall with a couple of fairy tales depicted.  Now don't expect Efteling style, these are usually wooden cut outs in a cosy setting for thematisation, and a heap of playground toys scattered about. 

 

And garden gnomes... at one point, daddy remarked they made "good use of the wintersale of the local gardening center".   In a not negatively intended way, as you have to take this for what it is of course, a little local themed afternoon out that teaches about the history of strawberries in the region.

 

Daddy also bought a local strawberry based beer.  Spoiler: he compared it afterwards with a "flat children's lemonade" and didn't rate it very highly on his Untappd.

 

 The big benefit here is the place is spacious, and wasn't crowded at all even though it was a saturday afternoon.  This gave me ample space to explore around.

 

 Another thing is that it has a lot of "museum style" look in cabinets, all themed rather well again, detailing a lot of strawberry related items.

 

 And for some odd reason, it also had pirates on the walkthrough parts of the parc...

 

 One thing to take note, at the entrance to the outside parts, there was a free sunscreen dispenser, a nice little thouch if you ask me!

 

 The outside area consists mostly of a large garden, with some little slides intertwined left and right.

 

The Aardbeien Kabouterbos shows some gnomes in the process of how the starwberries are planted and harvested. 

 

In the forest area, the playground can also be found, though this might require a little paint touch up I guess.  But it also had a lot of information once again about the whole strawberry process.

 

 

And then it is off to the larger playground in the front of the parc to take some slides.  Daddy might have a coaster counter, I have my slide counter!

 

And after all that, it was time for a good nap, because a lot more adventures where awaiting me on this vacation! And that allowed daddy to edit some video's of the walkthrough parts of the parc, which you can find below!  

 

 

And yes, your ears don't deceive you, that is music from both's Eftelings Droomvlucht as from Piet Piraat by Studio 100... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Objective markers for Border Patrol at Ekeren

 So, at the end of the month I'll be participating in the Border Patrol at Ekeren tournament, which is for small forces of 500 points.

 

Of course, my Chaos Dwarfs will be the chosen force, and as I was reading over the scenario's to devise my plans, I noticed something.

 

For the first two scenario's, you need respectively two and three markers of 20mm round size for the secondary objectives, which count as battlefield decorations.

 

Now, as I was clipping off the spare parts of the Gargant Spearhead, I had a few pieces that I put aside for terrain decoration, and then decided to use a few of them to make myself my own three markers.

 

The flattened goblin, the running human and the skeletal waypost are all excellent for this, so I took one of each and themed them to my basing style of my army.  So it looks the goblin fell into the magma, the human flees from it, and the post, well, just stands somewhere along the way...

 

A small and quick side project, but it just brings that little bit of additional flavour to the force...