Dutch Beer of the Week

Brouwerij Stilj and Crans Craft Beer Robust Irish Coffee Porter

I started writing this post at the end of November but was then sidetracked by work on the Jan/Feb issue of Opening Times, the CAMRA magazine I edit. After immersion in that, Christmas came along and I was distracted by various events involving food and drink. So here we are again and back to the beer.

The name's a mouthful isn't it? So is the beer but we'll come to that in a minute.

This is a collaboration between two brewers new to me and, I first thought, two brewers who don't have their own breweries. Stijl does in fact have a small kit but larger runs are made elsewhere - mainly at Berging Brouwerij, who I have heard of and who brewed this particular beer  It's all very complicated isn't it?

So, let's start with Brouwerij Stijl.  It's based in Almere, which is roughly north-east of Amsterdam in Flevoland province, and started up in early 2016. The people behind Stijl (which, fairly obviously means 'style') are husband and wife team Raymond Geraads and Anneke Geraad-Broeren.  Raymond, who has a background in aviation, is the head brewer and recipe developer. Anneke is the creative mind responsible for designs, social media and also some brewing at the Stijl 'Brewlab'.

Crans Craft Beer is described as a 'nano contract brewer' and is also based in Almere. The brewer is teacher Jan Ronald Crans, also know as De Biermeerster (The Beermaster). You can read all about him and his beers here

So, now to the beer. It's 8% and includes both wheat and barley malt. Nothing unusual there. It was then aged for six  months on oak chips that had been soaked in Connemara whiskey - with some coffee extract added for good measure.

As you may expect it pours a deep dark brown with an appealing light tan head.  The nose has coffee and whisky notes along with a touch of peat there too.  There's a touch of malt sweetness as you drink along with roast, coffee and also touches of dried fruit too. There's a decent body to this beer without it being too heavy. A growing bitterness develops as you reach the finishing line.

I must say I rather enjoyed this - everything comes together very well to make for a satisfying rounded beer.