| Dutch Beer Tastings |
| pils - witbier |
| Introduction |
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The Dutch beer scene Concentration brought with it the inevitable accompanying reduction in variety of style and flavour. By the late 1970's, industrial pils had removed pretty well all vestiges of an indiginous beer culture and accounted for something close to 99% of production. Things have improved dramatically since then, in a statistical sense, but pale lagers ranging from dull to positively unpleasant still account for 90% or so of beer sold. In the larger towns there is the choice of a witbier or amber ale, but stray outside the connurbations of western Holland and your options will be pils or pils most of the time. Since the depressing days when the remaining independent producers were slowly being picked off by Heineken and their rivals, there has been a little improvement. From a low of around 20 in the early 1980's, the number of active breweries has shot up to around the 40 mark. However, when you consider that this total includes half a dozen brewpubs and that the largest of the new micros brews less than 5,000 hl (compared to the 13,000,000 hl + of Heineken), it makes you realise how little impact these changes have really had on the the market. A more important factor in the revival of interest in stylistic diversity has been the stagnation then slow decline of beer sales in Holland. Faced with a shrinking market, larger brewers have been keen to get into the only area experiencing growth: special beer (this means anything even slightly more daring than crappy pale lager). Even though it accounts for less than 10% of the total, it has been expanding quickly and offers comapanies a greater profit margin than the highly competitive pils market. Their attempts at brewing special beer have met with mixed results and produced a few true monstrosities. The witbiers are pretty OK, but most Dutch versions of amber ales in the Belgian style are disgusting, syrupy muck. |
| For more details on Dutch breweries and their beers, see Dutch Breweries. |
| Beers |
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This section contains details - name, strength, type, brewer
- of beers brewed in Holland, plus my own highly subjective ratings of them. I hope,
eventually, to include most of the beers which are regularly available.One-off celebratory
brews which are never likely to be encountered again, will be excluded. When a brewery closes (as some inevitably will), I will leave its entry in this page for at least 12 months, though with a clear indication that it is no longer active. This seems reasonable, as the beers will still be around for at least a few months, until stocks are exhausted. It's surprising what gets forgotten at the back of a cellar. Odd crates 5, 10 15, even 30 years old (I once tried a Crombé Kriek which had been lying unnoticed in the brewery's cellar for decades) find their way back into circulation more often than you might expect. Bottle-conditioned beers, especially the stronger ones, can remain drinkable for a considerable time. For the same reasons I will not remove the listings for discontinued beers. |
| Notes on my tasting procedure I don't claim that the opinions stated below are in any way objective or definitive. They are my own personal views and are inevitably influenced by my own tastes, preferences and what I had for breakfast the day of the tasting. What I have attempted to do, is to eliminate as much extraneous bias as possible. Whenever possible, I have attempted to do the tastings 'blind': that is, I did not know the identity of the beer I was rating. For draught beers, this is not usually possible, but the 'Blind' column in the tables below will indicate this. This is the procedure for my home tastings of bottled beers:
In some of the tastings I deliberately included a 'marker' beer, used to give me something to measure the other beers against. I would deliberately choose a beer that I knew to be a good example of the style being tasted. For complete fairness, I was also unaware of which the marker was. In every set being tasted I tried to include at least one beer which I expected to be good (it didn't always turn out to be the case) so I was not able to automatically assume all the beers would be crap and evaluate them accordingly. Just for variety, I threw in a few non-Dutch beers, again to add perspective. None of this, of course, guarantees complete objectivity or even consistency between different tasting sessions. This is not a defintive evaluation or an absolute rating of the beers listed. It is my opinion and nothing else. I only hope that it may give those who know nothing of the beers involved a little insight into their relative merits. |
What do my scores mean? < 20 cut out the middleman and pour straight down the sink 21 - 30 pretty nasty, gulp down quickly or hold your nose 31 - 40 chill heavilly and pray 41 - 50 can be drunk unchilled without evoking nausea 51 - 60 safe to drink 61 - 70 you might actually enjoy this 71 - 90 can survive a serious examination 81 - 70 don't swallow too quickly 91 - 100 treat like 50 year-old Islay
| Pils |
| The world's favourite beer style Before we start, I'll admit that this isn't my favourite style of beer and not what I would drink, given a choice. Many of the beers below, I had never tried before. After sampling them, there are several I will do my best to avoid in future. Overall, I found the standard to be disturbingly low. My expectations weren't all that high but I was still shocked at just how bad many of the beers were. There were quite a few which I was pleased to pour down the sink as soon as I had drunk enough to do the tasting. Good to know for future reference. Distinguishing features of the 'international' pils style: Features inappropriate for the 'international' pils style:
|
| Beer Brewery |
Taste | Comments | Blind? | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alfa edel pils (5%) Alfa |
Aroma:smoke, vegetables, grass Taste: bitterish, sweetish Aroma: margarine, celery, smoke, herbal Finish: celery, cardboard Aftertaste: bitterish, very short |
Unpleasant hop character. | Y | 23 |
| Amstel 1870 (5%) Heineken |
Aroma: vanilla, citrus, celery Taste: sweetish, bitterish Aroma: malt, smoke, biscuit Finish: biscuit, malt, hop Aftertaste: bitterish |
Drinkable if not exciting. | Y | 35 |
| Amstel pilsener bier Heineken |
Aroma: celery, smoke, citrus Taste: sweetish Aroma: smoke Finish: sweetish, cardboard Aftertaste: bitterish, very short |
Slightly unpleasant. | Y | 27 |
| Brand Pilsener (5%) Brand (Heineken) |
Aroma: celery, vegetables Taste: neutral Aroma: butter, smoke Finish: cardboard Aftertaste: bitter, very short |
Fairly nasty. | Y | 20 |
| Brand Urtyp Pilsener (5%) Brand (Heineken) |
Aroma: malt, fruit metallic Taste: bitterish Aroma: vanilla, spicy, pepper Finish: pepper, hop Aftertaste: Very bitter, lasts long |
Pleasant commercial pils. | Y | 55 |
| Budels Pils (5%) Budelse |
Aroma: pine, hop, margarine Taste: bitterish, sweetish Aroma: fruit, sugar, cabbage, butter Finish: sweetish, metallic, resin Aftertaste: bitterish, medium length |
Slightly unpleasant. | Y | 30 |
| Dommelsch pilsener (5%) Dommelsche (Interbrew) |
Aroma:citrus, cardboard, hop Taste: sweetish Aroma: vegetables Finish: stale hops Aftertaste: bitterish, short |
Thoroughly horrible. Undrinkable muck. | Y | 14 |
| Us Heit Twels pilsener (5%) Friesche |
Aroma: raisins, pear, smoke Taste: sweetish, bitter Aroma: vanilla, hop, grass, honey Finish: wood, sweet, butter Aftertaste: bitter, medium length |
Something along the lines of the Czech original. Slightly green tasting. | Y | 47 |
| Grolsch premium pilsner (5%) Grolsche |
Aroma: hop, butter, grass mint Taste: sweetish, bitterish Aroma: hop, herbal, grass, butter, pepper Finish: chicory, pepper, margarine Aftertaste: bitter, medium length |
Good smell of aroma hops and a pleasant spiciness in the finish. Only spoilt by a tad too much sweetness and slightly too prominent butter. By a mile the best of the standard commercial pils beers. | Y | 60 |
| Gulpener pilsner (5%) Gulpener |
Aroma: butter, biscuit, raisin Taste: sweet Aroma: butter, cream, smoke, raisin Finish: sour cream, celery, grass Aftertaste: bitterish, short |
Very buttery, no hop aroma. | Y | 37 |
| Heineken Pils (5%) Heineken |
Aroma: citrus, celery, vegetables, smoke Taste: sweetish, bitterish Aroma: smoke, vegetables. Finish: celery, cardboard Aftertaste: bitterish, short |
Slightly nasty tasting, with an unpleasant rough hop flavour | Y | 23 |
| Plzen (5%) Ij |
Aroma: flowers, rubber, spice Taste: sweet Aroma: cabbage, hop, vegetable, smoke Finish: smoke, burnt, honey Aftertaste: bitter, medium length |
Rough hop flavour and some off aromas. | Y | 36 |
| Leeuw pilsener (5%) Leeuw |
Aroma:celery, citrus, cardboard Taste: sweetish Aroma: smoke, vegetables Finish: vegetables Aftertaste: bitter, very short |
Revolting. Terrible rough hop flavour. | Y | 18 |
| Lindeboom pilsener (5%) Lindeboom |
Aroma: vanilla, smoke, celery Taste: sweetish Aroma: smoke, celery Finish: smoke, cardboard Aftertaste: bitter, short |
Musty tasting. Not nice. | Y | 24 |
| Gouverneur (5%) Lindeboom |
Aroma: Plum, raisin, biscuit, toffee Taste: sweetish Aroma: caramel, apple Finish: fruit, sugar Aftertaste: bitterish, short |
Fruity with a bit too much sweetness and a thin finish. Not offensive but not very enticing, either. | Y | 29 |
| Oranjeboom premium pilsener (5%) Oranjeboom (interbrew) |
Aroma: herbal, cardboard, grass, vegetables Taste: sweetish Aroma: sugar, chicory, vegetables Finish: fruit, metallic Aftertaste: bitterish, short |
Slightly stale hop aroma, too sugary in the mouth and too thin in the finish. What bitterness there is, is rather harsh. Traces of off-flavours. Not very appetising. | Y | 19 |
| Christoffel bier (5%) St. Christoffel |
Aroma: citrus, spicy, coriander, cream, grass
Taste: very bitter Aroma: pine, spice, pepper, chicory Finish: herbal, hoppy, wood Aftertaste: very bitter, long |
Very bitter beer, with a quality hop flavour. | Y | 72 |
| Witbier |
| Orange peel and coriander I had thought that Dutch breweries generally made a reasonable job of interpreting this style, until I tasted them blind. Overall, the beers were very disappointing, with few reaching an acceptable standard. It was disturbing how few of the beers had the correct flavour profile for the style. Almost none have any sourness, which I would consider intrinsic to the type and most were far too sweet. Distinguishing features of the witbier style: Features inappropriate for the witbier style:
|
| Beer Brewery |
Taste | Comments | Blind? | Score | >
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Witte Raaf (5%) Arcense (Interbrew) |
Aroma: lemon, coriander, butter Taste: sweetish, sourish Aroma: wheat, lemon, sugar Finish: none Aftertaste: none, very short |
Artificial lemon smell in the aroma, far too sweet in the mouth, no finish whatsoever. Crap. | Y | 20 |
| Wit Voetje (6.5%) Bockaar |
Aroma: citrus, hop Taste: very sweet Aroma: sugar, caramel Finish: sugar Aftertaste: sweet, very short |
Manages to have almost no witbier features. Far too sweet and no trace of wheat anywhere in the taste. Awful. | Y | 14 |
| Koornbeurs (5%) Drie Kruizen |
Aroma: wort, malt raisin Taste: neutral Aroma: wheat, toffee Finish: wheat, fruit, dry Aftertaste: none, very short |
Bland, flat beer that doesn't seem to have worked out as intended. | Y | 24 |
| Zeeuwsche Witte (5%) De Halve Maan |
Aroma: burnt, hops, coffee Taste: sourish, bitter, sweet Aroma: burnt, herbal, sugar Finish: espresso, sourish, sweet Aftertaste: sweet, long |
Weird beer containing ridiculously diverse and inappropriate tastes. It can't taste as intended and something must have gone terribly wrong somewhere. No witbier characteristics. | Y | 18 |
| Valkenburgs Wit (4.8%) Leeuw |
Aroma: wheat, butter, sourish, spice Taste: sweetish, sourish Aroma: butter, spice, wheat Finish: orange, metallic Aftertaste: bitterish, medium |
Butter a bit overwhelming in the aroma followed by too much sweetness on the tongue. Not much flavour development inb the mouth. At least it bears some resemblance to the style. | Y | 35 |
| Wieckse Witte (5%) De Ridder (Heineken) |
Aroma: celery, bitter, citrus Taste: sweetish Aroma:celery, wort Finish: none Aftertaste: celery, short |
Disgusting stale hop aroma that overwhelms everything else. Completely wrong for a witbier and revolting, too. | Y | 12 |
| Witte Wieven (5%) Scheldebrouwerij |
Aroma: coriander, wheat, orange Taste: sourish, sweetish Aroma: coriander, wheat, citrus Finish: coriander, fruit Aftertaste: bitterish, short |
Good coriander aroma, but a little one-dimensional. OK | Y | 47 |
| Rabenhaupt (5%) St. Martinus |
Aroma: coriander, lemon, orange Taste: sourish Aroma: Fruit, orange, caramel Finish: curacao, wheat, coriander Aftertaste: bitterish, medium |
Smells a bit like washing up liquid, but fairly complex in the mouth. Tastes as if its still a little green. Quite pleasant. | Y | 52 |
| Brugs Tarwebier (5%) De Gouden Boom |
Aroma: wheat, butter, coriander Taste: sourish Aroma: wheat, lemon, orange Finish: citrus, coriander Aftertaste: bitter orange, medium length |
A Belgian beer that I included as a benchmark in one of the tastings. Delilcious spiciness complimented by a refreshing citrus sourness. Very tasty and in the correct style. Easily the best witbier I have tasted so far. | Y | 79 |
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More Dutch Beer Pages
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| Dutch pub guides |
Dutch Brewery Pages
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| Amsterdam Pub Guide | |
| Rotterdam Pub Guide | |
| Haarlem Pub Guide | |
| The Hague (Den Haag) Pub Guide | |
| Utrecht Pub Guide | |
| Pub Guides to Other Dutch Towns | |
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© Ron Pattinson 1997 - 2003