& Dutch 
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& Dutch
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Belgian
& Dutch beers have probably the greatest variety in colour, taste,
strength in the world. They have one other great quality :- the glasses.
Each beer has an individual glass with the mark of the brewery on and
the mark of the beer. The shapes vary enormously. Fruit (kriek
(cherry), Peche (peach) etc.) and wheat (Hoegaarden & Korenwolf
etc.) beers may be of interest to those who don't normally drink beer.
It is well worth trying a few to find some you like. I'm a particular
fan of Grimbergen (double & Optimo Bruno),
La Chouffe (Gnome beer), Brugse
Triple, Hoegaarden Grand Cru and
Kasteel (Castle) Beer. Beers like Chimay,
Westmalle, Orval and La
Trappe (La Trappe is the only Dutch trappist beer) are Trappist
beers and are still brewed by monks. There are only 6 Trappist
breweries in the world (5 in Belgium, 1 in Holland). These
are brewed by monks of the Cistercian order. If you want to
strike a blow against the big breweries then try a trappist beer.
They have a special mark
Tim Web (on the right) produces an excellent book (see right) about Dutch and Belgian beers, breweries & the location of good bars. Very handy if you're coming to Holland or Belgium. John White organised excellent Beer trips to Holland & Belgium |
Beer Words of Wisdom (Jokes, Quotes & Anecdotes)
Other beer links :- John White's Excellent Beer
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 Beers
(Brewed by Monks)
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| Orval |
Chimay |
Westmalle Double |
Rochefort My favorite Trappist |
Westvleteren |
Achel |
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| Leffe (Abbey Beer) | Brugse Tripel |
Korenwolf (Wit Beer) | La
Chouffe | Grolsch
Herfst Bok | Grolsch
Winter Vorst |
La Trappe |
Hoegaarden Grand Cru - another of my favorite beers. 8.5% |
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| Stille Nacht - Best when old. My favorite beer! | Delerium Tremens - The "DT's". Quite strong. Comes in a lovely glass with Pink Elephants on it! | Kriek (Cherry) Beer. Popular with the ladies |
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| Grimbergen Abbey Beer - one of my favorite beers. Comes in 3 strengths/flavours. The double is great and much better than the triple. The quadruple is just over 10%, tastes fantastic but don't drink too many or you'll know about it the day afterwards! | Duvel - literally Devil! Be careful when pouring this beer. Pour slowly with the glass and bottle at an angle and stop pouring when you see the sediment at the top of the bottle. | Kasteel Beer - 11.5%! A treat to drink, also a great favorite of mine. It tastes like an 8% beer so be careful! |
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| Affligem - Another good Belgian beer but it's hard to find in Holland | Verboden Vrucht (forbidden fruit) - Made by the makers of Hoegaarden. A very tasty beer with an interesting name & label :-) | Brigand - A nice tasty strong 9% beer. Not easy to get hold of, so try it if you see it. |
The festival is held in the Beurs van Berlage (the site of the old Stock Exchange) on the Damrak close to the Amsterdam Centraal train station during the first weekend of November. The entrance fee was Eur 5 and you got a free P.I.N.T. glass to mark the occasion. You have to buy tokens to get the beers. There is usually good live music but only limited food inside. There were Bok beers from all corners of Holland and a few from Germany & Holland. To get into the spirit of the event you have to try as many different bok beers as possible and still be able to walk home! There are usually 40+ different Bok biers. Plenty of choice for anyone. My favourites are the Ijsbok, the Slobberbok (from the Klein Duimpje brewery) and the Brand Double Bok. The Grolsch bok biers are worthy of mention too, especially the (autumn) Herfst Bok (very tasty) and the Winter Vorst (winter frost - beautiful taste but pretty strong). . The autumn & winter Grolsch beers come in 33 cl (?) or huge 1.5 litre bottles.
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They didn't advertise the event this year so I ended up almost missing it! I had to pop along after work on the Friday with a friend from work (Keith Duncan, thanks for your support in my hour of need!). The good point is that since it had only just opened it hadn't had chance to fill up yet and we did get to see Michael Jackson speak (the beer guy not the pop star!).
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The above 7 people are some of my friends who joined me in celebrating the 1997 Pint Bok Bier Festival in Amsterdam. I went with a group of 14 friends of mixed nationalities (Dutch, English, Canadian, Spanish & American) to try this Dutch phenomenon first hand. I could say that we talked intelligently about the varieties, the different aromas, the colours etc. but the truth is we went there for a good time and to get drunk. Surprisingly enough we succeeded! We all had a brilliant time but I must admit that for 3 of my friends Bok bier wasn't to their liking. We all enjoyed the lively atmosphere and the chance to try something different.
Bier
Koning beer shop, Paleis Straat 125, Amsterdam
