Brewing with a View

As I stand on the dike that I can see for miles in all directions. There’s the Afsluitdijk to the left of, the 30 mile long dike with a highway on it that connects Friesland to Noord-Holland. Built in the 1930’s and making what was once a part of the sea into a lake. Far ahead I see the lighthouse of Vlieland and next to it Terschelling. The ferries taking tourists to these to popular vacation destinations both leave here. A bit closer I see modern yachts, older sailboats and every other kind of ship that you can think of. Behind me is the town of Harlingen, one of those typical Dutch villages that once was a city, walls and moats and all. And below me is the main reason for my visit: Het Brouwdok and it’s brewer Gerard.

Gerard is a proud product of Friesland, even though he has lived in the West working in IT he returned to his homeland to brew. He also started studying the one thing that is only taught in Friesland and that is the Frisian language. If the brewing doesn’t work out he can still do that. But so far, the brewing is high one and only profession.

As far as locations got it doesn’t get any better than this. It was also here, in the back of this huge structure, that Gerard started brewing. And with success because the brewery quickly grew and now there is this big, modern installation. Italian made and with a bottling line. It all looks beautiful and brand new. And with the huge ceiling and the light it shines.

Here are the Brouwdok beers (meaning Brewdock) brewed. But not every bottle and keg that leaves the brewery has a Brouwdok label. He also makes beer for others because this is unfortunately still needed. Good as a source of income, but it also means making beer for local breweries that sell it to bars and shops where his beer would fit as well. Because the beer is good. No brewing mistakes, nice and clean with good flavors.

The brewing side of Brouwdok really is a one man operation. He often does everything himself, including the bottling which I know from experience is better done with two or more people. He has one companion who takes care of the sales.

These beers that he does make are for the local market. And the local market is not as adventurous as the more populous Western part of the country. They love their blondes and triples here, so this is what he usually makes. There is no national distribution yet on any large scale. You can get the beers in Friesland and some other parts of the north but that is about it.

Name

The name might lead to a little confusion though and could turn out to be a slight problem in the future. The name was chosen because there was a big change they could move into the nearby Entrepotdok, the building used by customs to get goods into the country. This didn’t pan out however though they are still close to the sea. Another problem is that the new Brouwdok in Dutch sounds very much like Brewdog.

Tasting

If you don’t want to trek through all of Friesland to search for Brouwdok beers I suggest visiting the brewpub that is next to the brewery. Beautiful, wooden and light with direct access to the water. There are tables, couches to fall asleep on and a dog. This is the real winner with all the beautiful views and most of all good beer. Tasting paddle is possible and the best way to sample the many taps of goodness. Of the beers that I have tried the Baltic porter and a smoked beer were my favorites.

It might take a while for Friesland to catch up but BrouwDok has the most exciting beers in Friesland that are made by a brewer himself. That alone should be worth the trip to Harlingen, the tasting room with amazing view is just a great extra.

Website of Het Brouwdok

Beer in Monuments

Today (September 14) it is National Open Monument Day. Buildings all over the country open their doors so people can have a look inside. Often these buildings are open only on this day. A once a year opportunity to stand in some Dutch history. This made me think of a number of places where I had good beer that are also in monuments and are worth a visit.

A top 5 of Monumental Beer Places

De Waag, Doesburg

One of the oldest, if not the oldest, café in the country that has been pouring beer and making food for people since 1478. It is truly a beautiful building in a wonderful city where everything has been restored in such a manner that it feels very medieval. There is wood everywhere and signs of medieval times with shields and flags. The very high ceilings give it an imposing stature and their list of beer is worth a trip too.

In de Blaauwe Hand, Nijmegen

I had the pleasure of being here once for an Oproer tap takeover. While half of the old building in Nijmegen were destroyed in an erroneous bombing by the allies in World War 2, this bar stayed and has been there now for 700 years.

The name ‘In the Blue Hand’ refers to the blue painted hands of the workers who died the wool in the building next door. Indigo was the color most used. This has likely been a place for drinking since the 16^th century. And the beer? Great selection and rotation. Food also nice.

Fort Everdingen

A fort from the old Hollandse Water Linie, a line of forts all around Holland and Utrecht, once built to keep the French and other invaders out. With better weapons and airplanes these forts became obsolete and were turned into other things. This one for a while was the depot of the army’s explosives department before it was turned into a campground and brewery/taproom for Duits and Lauret. The fort alone is beautiful to walk over, but the location is awesome as well. It is located next to one of the great rivers of the Netherlands and to cycle there is by far the nicest thing you can do.

Olivier, Utrecht

To be honest not my most favorite place to go to for a beer in Utrecht. High ceilings and incredibly noisy. Makes it hard to talk to the person next to you which is a shame. It is a beautiful place because it was once a church, and a secret church at that.

There have been people living here since the year 1000 and in 1640 the house was sold to a catholic family. Catholics were not allowed to have mass in public so the used parts of houses and other buildings as secret churches. The family used their house as secret church as well until every religion was free again to hold their meetings.

And now it is a Belgian Beer Café. So get a table and drink a nice Belgian beer while soaking in a millenium of history.

Brouwerij ‘t IJ, Amsterdam

Forget about the windmill where ‘t IJ is famous for. Even though it has become iconic it is not even part of the brewery. Only the structure next to it is. Because the brewery started in what were the former bathing houses for this part of the city. This stems from a time when not every house had a shower or bath so people needed to go the public baths for some cleaning. Not that you can see a whole lot of that still but it is a historic building and another part of Amsterdam history.

Leeuwarden

Friesland, a province in the north of the Netherlands next to Groningen. A province with a proud history, culture and even their own official language. A province known mostly for dairy products and speedskaters.

Their most famous alcoholic beverage is a drink called Beerenburg, a type of spiced jenever/gin that has been around since the mid 1800’s.

Beer? Not so much. There are a handful of breweries in the province and a couple of above average beer café’s but it won’t attract any outside tourists who come for just the beer culture. Simply because there really isn’t one yet. Nearby city Groningen has done a lot better with it’s high number of breweries and bars. But this is also a bigger city with a large student population.

The most known Frisian brewery these days is Grutte Pier, named after a folk hero. Even though they do not have their own brewing installation they were one of the first local breweries and ran into some luck when they immediately won an award for their tripel beer. You can find this, and often another one too, on many a menu in Leeuwarden. The very old brewery Us Heit, once featured in Michael Jackson’s Beer Hunter show on television, is still around though but not very visible. We did visit Het Brouwdok in Harlingen, but more about that in a later post.

But that doesn’t mean it is a barren wasteland not worth a visit at all. The capital Leeuwarden has a few places though that merit taking the train over for a day. It is not the biggest city in the country and all the places I am describing here are all within the limits of the old city.

Let’s start with buying beer in a shop while it is still early. Jelle’s has a brilliant collection of beer from both Friesland to all over the world. So bring a suitcase for all the wonderful stuff that you will have trouble finding anywhere else in the country. It is not a beer shop alone but has a beer selection bigger than most smaller beer stores.

If you want to have a choice out of all the wonderful but standard Belgian beers walk over to the Dikke Van Dale. This café is worth a visit for the atmosphere alone. Huge high ceilings and ‘fake’ books on the walls. The Van Dale is the Dutch dictionary, hence the books. If you like to rummage through an entire book of (mostly) Belgian beers than this is definitely the place for you. The list is simply amazing, though it doesn’t feel like an actual beer café. It is more of a restaurant where you can have a very nice lunch or piece of cake.

We happened to wander into Café Spoek on our way back to the hotel and were surprised by the nice atmosphere. Lot of music memorabilia around and what appeared to be local clientele. Their beer list is more than interesting too. It seems they have opted for a just a few breweries but they then do have everything that brewery has produced. So a lot beers from for example De Scheldebrouwerij. Great to find their Oysterstout just after I wanted one after dinner. A day later Gerard from Het Brouwdok in Harlingen told us that he also liked coming here and I can see why. Maybe not the best beerhunting place but a nice bar to hang out for a few hours.

If you do like beer hunting then De Markies is the bar for you. Awesome selection, beautiful bar and very knowledgeable staff. This is always an extra in a bar. Lot of taps too with mostly interesting stuff from local breweries, Dutch breweries and international beers. The bottle selection is impressive as well. Some great sours, stouts and other fancy beer stuff. They do tastings for a group, including a interesting talk if you are interested in that. Best thing is that you can get a tasting board of 4 glasses from the taps. I have wanted to visit this place for a while now and I was not disappointed.

If you are visiting Holland and want to make a beer trip out of it then maybe Leeuwarden isn’t the right place to go compared to other cities. If you are here for a bit longer than you should definitely come over.