Bastiaan and I have been dreaming of owning our own business abroad for a very long time. Next year we will have been together for twelve years, and we have shared this dream since our first date in Neude, Utrecht. Five years ago, the research began: where would we go, what would we do? We knew for sure it had to involve beer. Bastiaan has been a professional brewer for 10 years. Maybe we could add a campsite, and make cheese, yes, because that's a new passion. And then we'd go to Austria, because we're both spoiled snowboarders. In the summer, I want to organize mountain bike tours, even though I've never ridden one before, and in the winter, snowboard tours. And then we'd end the day in our own beer garden. As mentioned, we sought contact with various Dutch entrepreneurs in Austria. It soon became clear that our savings account was not up to the house prices and the cost of living in Austria. So, we'd do something different. Not just give up. It can't be that you can only go abroad if you have a lot of money. Why not Southern Europe? We both love the sun, and our dogs love the sun. And we can go to the snow in winter. After all, you can also snowboard in Southern Europe.
At the Utrecht Library, we picked up road maps, language books, and travel guides. The planning could begin: in the summer of 2023, we would be in our car, looking for a place where we could realize our beer-cheese-making-and-luxury-camping dream. It was a cold January day, the Christmas tree was going back in its box, a bottle of red wine was on the table, and the television was on. "Are you dreaming of a house and your own business in Spain?" It seemed like the TV was talking to us. That's us! We didn't have to think twice; we signed up for "The Spanish Village." At that time, we didn't know where exactly, only that it would take place in the province of Valencia. We sent an email to RTL. We signed up for a Spanish course, even if we didn't get through, it would be useful for the plans we had already made for this summer. And we had to make beer. At this moment, we only knew that we would end up in the province of Valencia. We love a Weizen in the summer sun. And we wanted to bring the taste of Spain back into our beers. Oranges! Bastiaan brewed 25 liters of our spontaneously conceived beer. We soon received a response, and a new task, then another response. It was going fast, very fast. I think we're going to participate, I told Bastiaan. It was the end of March. Less than 24 hours after returning from our winter sports trip, we drove to Schiphol early in the morning, destination Alicante. With a box of beer in the back seat. Off to the selection weekend.
The selection weekend lasted 4 days. On Tuesday, we got to see the fixer-upper house, Casa el Premio. We both fell in love instantly. Can we handle such a big project? Doubt briefly crept in. But we can do this, we're going for it. This is meant to be. The next day was the day: we had to present ourselves to the municipality. We decided to do the presentation almost entirely in Spanish. After all, we had taken an 8-week Spanish course, so we thought we could do it. When we stood in front of the door, the tension hit. The production assistant explained that she would knock on the door and then we should stand to the left of the TV. And then we could start presenting. Primarily look at the audience and the municipal council, not at the cameras. Clear instructions. She went inside and there was a knock on the door. This was it. We squeezed each other's hands again. "You have to go in now," said the soundman standing with us in the hallway. Hesitantly, we opened the door. About 50 villagers stared at us. It's just like on TV, I whispered to Bastiaan. We started presenting, it went well. We opened the beers, served the tapas; there was applause and laughter. What a relief, it went well! After waiting for about three hours, we were called back by the municipal council. Mayor Angel began to address us in Spanish. We didn't understand anything except "Bienvenido a Zarra." We're in! We are one of the four couples allowed to participate in the RTL4 program "Het Spaanse Dorp Zarra."
The big organization is about to begin. We only have 1 day to cancel our rent, jobs, and subscriptions. But if we go, we go for it completely. We arrange for Bastiaan to brew 500 liters of our Weizen in advance, so we can actually start setting up our brewery in Spain. This was done in full consultation with the production. The month of April flew by. We did everything for the last time for now. And all this while we weren't allowed to tell anyone that we were participating. Only our parents, brother, sisters, and my best friend knew. A handful of good friends had a strong suspicion, but we said nothing. We traded in our C1 for a very large, ugly but nice Dacia. We bought a very small trailer and a ski box. Fully loaded, we departed for Spain at the end of April. We took 5 days for the trip and stayed two days on the coast. This way, we could acclimatize a bit. On May 1st, we were expected in Zarra, and our great adventure could begin. During the program, three things were expected of us: to integrate, set up a business, and renovate a room in the fixer-upper house. How and in what order we did this was up to us. Bastiaan and I went full-on for our business. We were determined to put Zarra on the map with our brewery. During the selection weekend, the mayor asked us if we could also make beer from cherries. Zarra is known for its cherries. Since the recordings only lasted 12 weeks and the entire brewing process took about 8 weeks and it was cherry season, we decided to fully dedicate ourselves to brewing. Then the beer would be ready exactly one week before the finale, and we could present it during the finale. We hand-pressed 32 kilos of cherries. The cherries were not good for sale. Too much rain had fallen, causing the cherries to burst open. Bad for sales because the farmer can no longer sell burst cherries. But they could sell them to us. Because for beer, this doesn't matter. The residual product went back to the farmers, who could feed their chickens with it. So the cherry beer became not only our beer but also the village's beer.
During the recordings, we viewed several properties where we wanted to start our brewery. We learned several things from this. For example, we learned that when a property is outside the village boundaries, permits always go through the province. Second, a piece of land already has a designated purpose, just like in the Netherlands; changing a designation is very difficult. Third, a permit is granted to the property and not to a person or company. We did not take the property that the municipality suggested to us during the recordings. It was outside the village limits, on top of a mountain, making it difficult for freight traffic to access, and it was designated as a farm. Unfortunately, not a suitable location.
July 5th was the last day of the TV program, and we were allowed to call ourselves the "honorary citizens" of Zarra. There wasn't much time to celebrate because we had to go to Marbella to sign the purchase agreement. As new homeowners, a lot came our way. We were expected early in the morning at the notary's office in Marbella. The office looked like we were on the set of an American series. An open office, lots of grey and beige tones, and extremely handsome employees. We quickly started making up characters and storylines. Our self-invented soap opera came to an end when the accountant came to get us. We discussed the deed of sale and moved on to the next room. Together with the selling party, we sat at a large, stately table. After some time, a huge man just as stately entered. We hesitated for a moment whether to stand up for him, but after a quick observation, we decided to remain seated. The gentleman read the deed of sale in Spanish. We nodded a few times, the selling party nodded, and we signed the deed. The stately man congratulated us. We have a house in Spain!
Now that everything is official, we head back home, our new home, our own home in Zarra. We can barely grasp it. In a very short time, we have forged very close friendships in the village. With the village, we experienced a very fun but also stressful period. We jump ahead to September. We were at various markets. During the series, we had received a temporary permit to sell, but now that we are on our own, we have to get serious. We soon realized that you need a gestor to arrange things. Our gestor took care of our papers to buy, sell, import, and export. We had to go to the bank to open an account. It took about three hours. That's something to get used to. In the Netherlands, you get behind the computer and it's done quickly. Now you sit at the bank for three hours, no coffee is offered, and you can't really do anything but wait and occasionally sign something. But it worked, just like setting up our brewery.
The market season can begin! Meanwhile, we brewed our new beer, the Abeja. A honey ale. Especially for the Honey Festival in Ayora. A delicious, refreshing beer, ideal for the Spanish sun. As long as we don't have our own brewery yet, we brew in a brewery in Valencia. The brewery is doing well. In the Netherlands, our Weizen con Naranja is available in various supermarkets and (independent) liquor stores. We are incredibly proud of that. In addition to our Weizen, our cherry beer will also be released in the Netherlands. It will be available in our webshop from mid-December.
In Spain, we are currently working on distribution. We want to be available along the entire Costa Blanca next summer. In addition, we are working on various on-site tastings and want to be able to host people at our Casa el Premio next year for tastings. Finally, we have an amazing property in Zarra in mind. Soon, our crowdfunding will start, and we will be looking for investors who want to develop a brewery with us in Zarra. We have wonderful ideas. We will keep everyone updated on our adventures via our social media channels and our website.