G-Shock #19: Sakura's here!

I’m not really in the mood to make a complete new G-Shock article. Spring has arrived recently in The Netherlands and I am enjoying the colors of the trees and flowers in the vicinity. An early cherry blossom tree started bloom already two weeks ago. We have a kind of cherry blossom tree in our garden too. It makes me want to wear the Mat Dial DW-6900SN-4. I already reviewed this model in November actually. It is a watch I have worn a lot since I have it. Although it is pink, it is not really very outstanding. Maybe it looks even classy, due to it’s glossy finish.

Since I have it, I got a lot of nice remarks about it. Well, pink isn’t probably for anyone, but this one does it nice with my slightly tanned skin. It will probably look even better in summer.

I think this pink version is the best of the “Mat Dial” series, although the turquoise version looks nice too. As there have been a lot of big releases lately, which sucked up practically all my money, I unfortunately haven’t gotten one of those. They seem to get a little harder to get, so I am afraid it won’t happen in the future too.

Not only the sunshine in he garden made me happy today. I got a tip from a friend where to get a “Bouwsteen” (“Building Brick”) of Westvleteren. This Bouwsteen is a special package, containing 6 special bottles of Westvleteren 12º and two special glasses. This package is sold to fund renovation of the Saint Sixtus abbey. Normally Westvleteren beer is sold only at the abbey and in the café on the other side of the street. A few years ago an American website pronounced the 12º from this very small Trappist brewery as the best beer of the world, and unfortunately it hasn’t been moved out of the Top 50 list since.

"Ad aedificandam abbatiam adiuvi", it means "I helped building the abbey"in Latin. 

From a hand full of beer lovers, now people all over the world try to get a bottle of Westvleteren beer. Could I buy 10 wooden crates (240 bottles) n the past on a free afternoon, now the beer is strictly limited to one or two crates per car. Beer can only be ordered on special times and a license plate number is required to order. Still it can take hours before you reach the monk who takes the orders, or when you are less lucky, the tape telling you the beer is sold out.

These packages created a lot of stir in Belgium. It was for the first time sold in a supermarket chain (Colruyt). A complete hype was the result. With a receipt of a door to door leaflet, you could buy one of these packages in such a supermarket. On the Belgian national radio people were warned around 12:00 not to go out to a supermarket anymore as in many cities the traffic was jammed and long cues of people were standing in front of the Colruyt supermarkets. It even reached the Dutch 8 o’clock news.

These packages showed up on eBay pretty fast and it’s hard to get this package under €100.-. A Dutch chain of wholesale supermarkets also participated in the fund raising for the abbey. It is actually harder to get these packages and the beer is not very known here, so, if you are a pass holder, you could subscribe for one of these packages. I learned too late, but luckily, not all people who ordered a pack collected it. Their loss, my gain. Still, not cheap, but a fair price, where the profit will 100% go into the abbey and not in the pocket of profiteers.

But we were writing about a G-Shock, isn’t it. Well, maybe there is not much to write about this model, what would be new. Maybe just look at my photo’s. That was actually the only reason I started writing this article. Enjoy the photo’s and enjoy spring (if you live on the northern Hemisphere).