Dutch Beer of the Week

Brouwerij Rodenburg Bronckhorster Saison Nouvelle

More like "Beer of the Fortnight" I'm afraid as it's been a busy time here at JC's Beer Blog. Anyway, down to business.

I've been a fan of Rodenburg beers almost since they started back in 2010. I see from my programme for the 2011 Bokbier Festival that I raved about the Dubbelbock ("Fab!!" read my extensive tasting notes). The brewer and owner is Steve Gammage, a Yorkshireman living in exile in the Netherlands for over 30 years now, and his beers are invariably some of the best in the country in my experience. The odd "Bronckhorster" name refers to the locality in which the brewery is situated by the way.

The brewery website doesn't really do justice to the beer range and apart from the one we're about to have a look at I would pick out Hoptimist (a 9% double IPA) and Scrooge (a Christmas beer at 8%) as real star turns out of what is an exceptionally fine selection. 

So, Saison Nouvelle. Saisons were of course very much on trend until recently (then every brewer - at least in the UK - that wanted to polish its "craft credentials" jumped on the sour bandwagon). It's a much used and abused style - too many brewers seem to think that just because they've made something with a saison yeast then, hey presto!, it's a saison. If only.

What I want in a saison are three things - some spice notes from the yeast, a decent hop character, and most importantly, a good dry finish. This certainly delivers on two. It's a honey-amber in colour with some hints of spice and hop drifting up as you pour. There's a gentle sweet fruitiness (perhaps a hint of marmalade - that's about as considered as it gets from me) and then the hops come along to play. Nothing too big and bold but assertive enough to take over and run through until the bitter and, yes, dry finish. A touch more spiciness would turn what is by any standards a very good beer into a classic I think. 

After making my notes I had a look at RateBeer (as you do) and the reviewers there seem to be all over the place with this one - some of the reviews make me wonder if I drank the same beer.

Dutch Beer of the Week

KLEINE BEER BROUWERIJ DOUBLE TROUBLE

This is billed as an "American DIPA", or double IPA. At 8% there are some who might complain that it's too weak for that "style".  Who cares as long as it's a good beer?  And as we shall see, this is a bit of a star turn.

First a bit about "Little Bear"  (go on, who thought "beer" meant, well, beer?). It's based in Lemmer in the north western province of Friesland, an independently minded part of the Netherlands which has its own official language, Frysk, and flag. The national beer revival has been slow to catch on here although among the province's 14 breweries and "brouwerij huurders" it does boast one of the longest lived of the new wave Dutch brewers.  De Friese Bierbrouwerij was founded way back in 1985 and is still going strong (their Dubbel Tarwe Bier was one of the first new wave Dutch beers that made me sit up and take notice).

Kleine Beer started in 2014 and the people behind it are Bernd Beesma and Marcel Top. They have a small pilot kit and once a recipe has been perfected it's brewed elsewhere - so far all of the beers seem to have been made at another Friesland newcomer, Admiraal BierBrouwerij Aldtsjerk.  The core range comprises three beers: a blond (De Beer Uit Lemmer), a dubbel (LE-4) and this little beauty.

The label is very informative and tells us that the malt grist comprises Pale Ale, Pils and Pale Crystal malts. So we get a medium copper-amber beer. Now some of these very big IPAs have an almost condensed tropical fruit aroma which I must say I'm liking less and less these days. Luckily there's none of that here - instead there's a whiff of bitter and resinous hops which is a hint of what's to come. The hops are Cascade and Chinook and together these create a notable and lasting bitterness just nicely underpinned by the malt which gives that slight balancing sweetness in the background.  You can taste almost every one of the 80 EBUs here. The finish is bitter and moreish. I'll be buying more of this when I'm next in the Netherlands.

On a food matching note this pairs well with Babyback Ribs. I only know this because the label tells me that as well. There's a recipe on the website!

Dutch Beer of the Week

Oldskool Brewery Simcoe Hopfen Weisse

After last week's look at a rather old school beer here's a beer from Oldskool Brewery. It's a hopfen weiss which is to say a south German-style wheat beer loaded with hops. That might be something of a generalisation but you get the picture.  Now I'm not a huge fan of the usual Bavarian weissbier - I really don't get along too well with the banana-clove-bubblegum stuff. Give me a dunkel or a helles any day of the week. However a hopfen weiss is a rather different animal. That big hit of hops really does it for me. I first encountered the style at a Schneider night at Common Bar in Manchester and was pretty much blown away. More recently Manchester's Cloudwater Brewery has produced some pretty stunning examples.

Oldskool Brewery is another Dutch "brouwerij huurder" - a brewer without a brewery. Nothing wrong with that - some of the best beers in the Netherlands have (and do) come from brewers who don't have their own kit.  Oldskool is based in Eindhoven (the home of Philips) and is the project of Dennis Kort who develops his beers at home and then gets them made at a commercial brewery. He's been doing this since 2013 and has had his beer made at Rodenburg, Maximus and, mostly, De Hemel in Nijmegen, which is where this one comes from.

There have been a number of "single hop" hopfen weissen from Oldskool and I tried the Mosaic version after the beer festival in Delft. In fact this isn't "single hop" as the grist includes Spalt Select and Hersbrucker alongside the Simcoe, which of course plays the starring role. It's 8.2% and a copper-amber colour - a bit bock like in fact. This is an initial impression that doesn't go away as you drink.  There's some sweetness and while the hops don't dominate they certainly add to the overall balance with a hint of tropical fruit and a decent bitterness at the end. It's quite full bodied too.  So, while there wasn't the huge hop hit I was half expecting it was overall a satisfying and enjoyable beer. I'll certainly be trying more of these.

Dutch Beer of the Week

Stadsbrouwerij De Pelgrim Mayflower Tripel

De Pelgrim has been around since the early days of the Dutch beer revival having been founded back in 1996.  It's based in the attractive Rotterdam suburb of Delfshaven which is the place where the Pilgrim Fathers gathered before leaving for America in 1620.  The Pilgrim Father's church is still there and the Mayflower's passenger list is on the wall.  As you may expect it's something of a tourist hot spot for American visitors to the Netherlands,

The brewery and its tap are next door to the church and occupy one building with the brewery on one side and the cafe-cum-restaurant to the other. Last time I was there (which was a few years back now) we sat outside on the very pleasant terrace.  It's all well worth getting the Rotterdam Metro to Delfshaven to while away a couple of hours or so.

On to the beer. The Pelgrim range has always struck me as solid and well made but not necessarily the most go-to beers in the Netherlands. I do see from the website though that they have been winning awards for their autumnal and winter beers so obviously waves are being made.

A few years back they got a new brewer and it was about this time I tried something from them at Tilburg beer festival and which made me sit up and take notice. I was told it was an "Amarillo Tripel" and it was pretty damn good I must say.  So I picked this up hoping for something along those lines and to be honest I was a little disappointed. There was very little on the nose and the beer itself while nicely clean was essentially quite a sweet affair with the occasional hint of barley sugar. The finish was also short and sweet. I was hoping for something spicier and hoppier. All in all a perfectly good mid-gold tripel but nothing to get excited about.

However having said all of that I'm still a bit confused about this beer. RateBeer tells me that Amarillo Tripel (at 7.8%) has been "retired" and has separate reviews for Mayflower Tripel (at 7.2%).  The bottle in front of me declares its strength at 7.8% while the brewery website (as you may see) lists Mayflower Tripel at 7.3% and also tells me that Amarillo hops are added at the lagering stage (so it's dry hopped then I guess).  Clearly some tinkering has been going on here and to be honest I'm not sure it's all been to the best effect. I think a return visit to Delfshaven is in order to see what the beer's like on site.

Dutch Beer of the Week

HillDevils American Black Horse IPA

Right, this is a black IPA so let's just talk about that for a moment. I know there are some writers out there who kind of roll their eyes at the term "black IPA". How can an India Pale Ale be black?  Well if we're going to be picky I suppose it is a contradiction in terms. But - it is also useful shorthand to describe beers which combine a dark malt presence with a hop forward character and I for one have no problem with that. Rather this than the clunky "cascadian dark ale" favoured by some.

It's also a style of beer that's easy to get wrong.  There needs to be a fine balance between that malt and hop character I think. Too much hop and the dark malts are almost an unnecessary accessory. To much dark malt character and you have something more akin to a hoppy stout.  When it's done right though I find these extremely appealing beers.

So, HillDevils. They are based at Wouwse Plantage which is in the far south of the Netherlands in North Brabant - indeed they are very close to the Belgian border.  The people behind this are Theo and Marleen van Eekelen and they've been producing their beers since 2013. I don't think they are full time brewers, and indeed they are "brouwerij huurders" or brewery hirers insofar as they don't have their own kit at the moment. The labels tell me their beers are currently being made at Dorpsbrouwerij de Pimpelmeesch in fact.

Although they've been around for a couple of years I didn't come across them until the 1st Dutch Craft Beer Festival at Enschede in May. I normally flit around from bar to bar at beer festivals but enjoyed their beers so much I hung around and tried the range. It was really my sort of stuff - IPAs, Black IPAs and Double IPAs - some aged on oak chips as well. Lovely beers.

Lovely people too. I got talking with Theo and totally unprompted he said he'd send me some beers. Sure enough a couple of months later a box arrives with five bottles (4 x 33cl and 1 x 75cl plus a glass, some beer mats and stickers). This was one of the beers he sent me so here's where I insert the pious disclaimer about it not affecting my opinion of the beer etc, etc, etc. So, having got that out of the way let's get on to the beer.

The label tells you everything you need to know.The malt grist is pale ale, amber, chocolate and smoked malt while the hops are Chinook, Simcoe, Magnum and Amarillo with Columbus used for dry hopping,  With 68 EBC and a nice round 100 EBU it comes in at 6.5%. 

There's a touch of roast in the nose along with a hint of liquorice sweetness and underlying resiny hops. As you drink there's an immediate big hop hit with roast coming through and then the merest hint of smoke. The finish is beautifully long and bitter.  I'm very pleased I have a second bottle of this and will be aiming to get more on my next trip to the Netherlands. Top class.

Dutch Beer of the Week

Baxbier Kon Minder

The great revival in Dutch beer has been slow to catch on in the three northern provinces. While the country as a whole now has now fewer than 318 breweries and beer firms only 27 are located in Friesland, Drenthe and Groningen. Possibly it’s something to do with the Protestant Calvinist tradition historically prevalent in these parts – although Groningen at least had a notable brewing tradition in the past.

It’s starting to move though. Indeed, with De Friese Bierbrouwerij  established in 1985 Friesland has one of the oldest surviving new-wave brewers in the country.  One lively centre is the university city of Groningen which has a scattering of good beer bars and a growing number of craft brewers.

One of these is Baxbier which has been in production since about April last year. When I say “in production” I mean that Sepp Jansen and Jeroen Bax currently have their beer produced elsewhere – this bottle of Kon Minder (5.1%) was brewed to their specification at Brasserie de Marsinne in Belgium* – although the plan is to get their own premises in Groningen.  

I first tried this on draft at the Nederlandse Bieren Festival in Delft and my typically perfunctory notes say “pale, light, citrus and very good”.  It was described there as an American Pale Ale and the website calls it a Citrus Pale Ale. For me though it’s an interesting hybrid.  While it’s beautifully hoppy from the use of Cascade and Citra, there’s also wheat malt in the mash and additional ingredients are orange peel and coriander seeds so there are notes of a classic witbier in there too. The end result is a beer that’s crisp and refreshing but with an added depth, or an extra dimension if you like, from the very restrained spicing.

I’ll certainly be looking out for this one again.

* While the label tells me it was brewed in Belgium, Ratebeer says it was made at Brouwerij De 7 Deugden in Amsterdam

Nederlandsen Bieren Festival

After Carnivale Brettanomyces it was time to get back to more regular beer – and where better than a beer festival?  Many Dutch beer festivals seem to be one day affairs and often seem to be held on a Sunday, too. Not only that but a fair few are open air and, given that the Dutch climate is not unlike that in the UK, getting wet is often to be expected.

On Sunday 28th June there were two I fancied – one in Tilburg, which I have been to and enjoyed in the past, and one in Delft. In theory it was possible to fit both in but after the previous few days something less hectic was called for.  I’d not been to Delft for some time so I found myself at the Nederlandsen Bieren Festival – and very enjoyable it turned out to be.

Delft itself is a very pretty little town. It’s sometimes billed as a smaller, and less frenetic, version of Amsterdam and it’s easy to see why with a network of canals lined with gabled buildings. There’s some history to the place too. Vermeer was born here and there is a clutch of historic buildings worth a look. The town is also home to a couple of Deltware factories and the Markt, with its splendid 17th Century Stadhuis, and the surrounding streets are littered with shops selling the stuff (which ranges from the stylish to the unbelievably kitsch).

Anyway, enough of the travelogue let’s get down to the beer. What attracted me to this event was not the number of brewers present but the sheer quality of those present. There were just a dozen but most of the top rank of Dutch craft brewing was represented. There are some images of the programme here to show you what I mean.

The brewery stalls were arranged in a row down Vrouwjuttenland - which is a street with buildings on one side and a canal on the other (only one man fell in and he arrived in a kayak) .As usual I flitted around at random with no real plan although I made a point of getting to the Het Uiljte stand sooner rather than later (as usual with Het Uiltje queues built up quickly and their beers were among the first to go).  The CC Porter (7.7%) was seriously good. The CC is coconut and coffee, a combination which might not work in less expert hands but here was a terrific beer with a lovely balance between the various elements. OK, you’ve got to like coconut but if you do then this will be a beer for you.

Brouwerij Kwartje was a new one for me. Based in Den Haag they only started brewing this year and if their RIS (Rye Smoked IPA – 6.5%) is anything to go by they are set to really make a mark. Perhaps a bit heavy on the smoke for me this was nevertheless a very well made beer.

Another new-ish name was Bax Bier, a 2014 start-up from Groningen. Their American Pale Ale Kon Minder (5%) impressed (more on this one in a later post) while the Hiphopper (6%) was a sensationally good IPA – clean, hoppy, bitter and extremely moreish. The hop grist includes Mosaic, Chinook, Simcoe and Ahatanum so that’s to be expected really.

While I won’t bore you with every beer I tried (including one pour away clunker) justice wouldn’t be done without mentioning VandeStreek  who can always be relied on to come up with the goods. Their Koper (6%), a rye pale ale, was full-bodied with some initial sweetness balanced by the usual dryness that rye often seems to bring to a beer. Beautifully drinkable. However for me the star turn was their fabulous Imperial Red (11%). This was launched last year and has been aged in a red wine cask (Bordeaux I think it was). My brief notes say “full bodied, rich and very drinkable”. Glorious stuff.

Two other things worth mentioning I think. First there was a cigar and beer matching stall - the benefit of holding an outside festival I guess. Perhaps of more significance was the presence of a cider stall. While it's starting from the lowest possible base there is definitely a growing interest in traditional cider and perry in the Netherlands. That's a trend to watch, I think.

After that it was just time for a beer in the rather good Klooster before a lurch back to the station.