It has been a yearly tradition for more than 5 years now. Every 6th of April, I buy myself a six-pack of Devil's Peak King's Blockhouse IPA and I bake myself a chocolate cake slathered with dulce de leche.
I pour myself 1 litre of this beer, almost four bottles, and I enjoy it throughout the day. I eat the chocolate cake, I get nauseous from all of the sugar but this is part of the tradition.
Since brewing my own beer, I have drunk more and more bitter IPAs. My palate changed throughout the years so that I prefer IPAs over lagers, smokey whiskies over wine, and black coffees over teas.
Devil's Peak's King's Blockhouse IPA just landed perfectly in this sweet spot. The beer is extremely bitter but with all the floral notes of the dry hopped additions. This is not a beer for the fainthearted; it is not sweet such as the Warlord IPA of Darling Brew. Even though some very heavy IPAs are drinkable by even those that do not enjoy beer (such as my mother who enjoys some Imperial IPAs), this beer is only for those few that enjoy and appreciate an IPA that is bitter for bitter's sake.
So please enjoy this beer and its intimate story along with me as I share it with you.
 | A bitter beer is the nectar of only a few. Not everyone enjoys the bitter pleasure of an IPA that does not allow you to taste anything else. It is overwhelming but in that moment of being overwhelmed, something special happens. Your palate completely gives over to the beer's overpowering power. |  |
|---|
The funny thing about this beer is that it is available throughout the country. It is an incredibly complex beer, even though it is distributed by a brewery that tries to challenge some of the major league players like SAB-In Bev.
Devil's Peak Brewery is one of the biggest craft breweries in South Africa, and as I mentioned, they try to challenge the big breweries.
Alas, I enjoy this beer once a year. I go overboard a bit, I drink at least 1 litre of this beer on the 6th of April, and I bake a chocolate cake that I slather with dulce de leche. This has become a yearly tradition for me, one that I have not skipped in at least the last 5 years. With my girlfriend has been present in my life for the last 2 years now, she has already bought me cake mixtures and dulce de leche even though I was 1200km away from her. She knows about my tradition and she always helps me realise this tradition.
And this year something very special also happened...
After especially the encouragement of @papilloncharity, I asked my girlfriend @urban.scout's father for his daughter's hand in marriage. Even though we are living in 2024, and we are not engaging in traditions that perpetuate a strange patriarchal system, I felt that the right thing to do was to ask for her father's approval on my birthday. It was the best gift which I could ask for.
After a day filled with too much sugar, and great gifts, I feel so special between the people who love and appreciate me. I could really not ask for a better day.
The 6th of April is not only my birthday, I share this beautiful day with @papilloncharity, but now I will also remember this day for the rest of my life as the day I asked my soulmate's father's approval. It is really a day that does keep on giving gifts.
Sometimes a simple beer can have so many memories and special moments... For the rest of my life, this beer will symbolise my birthday and the day I asked my girlfriend's dad.
A small beer can carry so much significance. A bunch of birthdays, a new memory, the continuation of memories, and the absolute reminder of being human. I am glad that I could share these memories, old and new, with you. I am sure that @papilloncharity will be delighted to hear this news as he has been the number one supporter of our relationship. But with all good memories and moments, there needs to be the bitter ones to balance the sweet. This beer is extremely bitter, but I need to fly back home as well - another bitter thing. Long-distance relationships are not nice.
In any case, I hope that you had a splendid day and that you had a cold beer to celebrate this day.
For now, keep safe.
All of the writings are my own, albeit inspired by the events that transpired today. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.
Wow CONGRATULATIONS on both… your birthday and asking for her hand 🥰
That’s wonderful news!
Enjoy your special day 🥳🥳🥳🥳😁
!PIZZA
!LUV
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Thank you so much! I really appreciate it! Now I have so many things to celebrate on my birthday. Thanks again!
Happy happy birthday @fermentedphil! Chocolate Cake, Beer, and a nod from the Father or your chosen Bride-to-be! Wonderful, I'm sure it's been a fabulous day. Wishing you many blessings now and always🎂
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. So true, I am very lucky that I got the nod of approval. Now, I have many things to celebrate on that day besides my birthday.
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@littlebee4(3/10) tipped @fermentedphil
👏 Keep Up the good work on Hive ♦️ 👏
🙏 Don't forget to Support Back 🙏
Hey, hey, hey, birthday boy, I suppose that one day when you turn 70 years old, like I did today, you will have retired from your position as the dean of philosophy at the university and that you will remember this discussion.
A Happy Birthday to you and we hope that the two of you will have many blessings on the road ahead.
!BEER
Thank you so much! And you as well. I hope that the day was special and full of celebrations, as it should be! We have many dreams that we hope will come to fruition and bloom in the fertile soil that we root ourselves in. Keep well and many blessings for you as well!
As you know, the day is now long gone and forgotten, but I think that we had just another ordinary day, as we are not big on parties and celebrations. But it was good to reach the big 70.
Dreams remain dreams if they are not clothed in action, but nothing is impossible for determined minds.
Blessings also to you guys and have some Hive craft !BEER
I replied to this one in the other comments!
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BEER.Hey @fermentedphil, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @papilloncharity for you. Enjoy it!If you like BEER and want to support us please consider voting @louis.witness on HIVE and on HIVE Engine.
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BEER.Hey @fermentedphil, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @papilloncharity for you. Enjoy it!Learn how to earn FREE BEER each day by staking your
BEER.Well done on the excellent news!! That is definitely one of my favourite beers as well!!
Glad that you also appreciate the beer! It was interesting, I needed to drive to multiple liquor shops in Pretoria to find it. But in the Cape, almost everyone sells it! We are so lucky here with all of the craft beers even in PnP and checkers!
Congratulations on your birthday, I'm sure you enjoyed every part of it because you took everything you wanted.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it.
Though Devil's Peak looks scary for a beer name. However, I will pick it ahead of other regular beer names.
Happy birthday to you, I wish you more good years ahead
Thank you so much! The beer is named after a mountain in the area, which I am sure has some scary stories linked to it! Keep well.
Happy belated birthday! You certainly had a great time!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it! Keep well.