Brettanomyces carnival and other wild animals
On the past days that were 5 and 6 of July, we were celebrating a beer festival in the old historic centre of Amsterdam, that will be also useful to do the first of the many I hope to write here, let's go!
The festival, in my opinion, was more like a meeting among some professionals of the beer world here in Amsterdam, but even being so small, it had a lot of assistance, that enjoyed a lot there. As the name stated, it was nearly fully dedicated to "Brettanomyces" yeast, so the result were a lot of sour beers, very common here in summer. The place, several important places in the beer culture, in the centre of the Netherlands capital.
They were:
1:De Bierkoning (Paleisstaat 125). Beer shop, right next to the Real Palace at Dam Square, with a looooooooooooooooot of varieties of bottled beer.
2:Brouwerij de Prael proeflokaal (Oudezijs Armsteeg 26) Beer pub in the Red Light District, with homemade beer they do around the corner
3:Bierproeflokaal In de Wildeman (Kolksteeg 3) Beer pub just two minutes away from Dam Square or Central Station, with several taps and also a wide range of bottled beer.
4:The Beertemple (Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 250) Just around the corner of Bierkoning, beer pub with many taps and and many bottled, mainly from US.
The further distance could be ten minutes maximun from Beertemple and De Prael, all very close. This route allowed also food for every budget, from restaurants to sandwiches from the supermarket, and also hotels and the rest of things you would need to just enjoy beer. About prices, the tasting was 1,5E a little glass, I also tasted a couple of tube glasses for 3E, and also two special bottles from Bierkoning that were 7E both. The fact that it was splited among several places also was good to take good breathes between beer and beer, because if you only drink beer, at the third litter you don't taste or anything...
I will give a short look at the program now:
The program was three black and white sheets, folded and stapled. With this few luxury you had in your hand everything you needed for the festival. First page, simple but worked introduction for the festival, with the dates. Second page, the map and addresses. From third to the Sixth all the beers(I counted 48 but I'm sure I'm forgetting any of them) with a brief introduction (Some shorter than I thought), the format you would find it and where in the event. Seven and Eight pages was for the schedule, and nine and ten for an explanation of the Talks, presentations and masterclasses.
About the activities, there were plenty of variety if we look at the festival size and the places. The "basics" for all the day were new season beers at Prael and De Wildeman, from 12:00 to 23:00. Also a lambic presentation from Frank Boon (Marriage parfait Geuze, Boon Kriek...), mixed with another tasting on Friday at Bierkoning. !,5E each beer, and you had to buy the tickets before in a van parked outside the shop. Between beer and beer, you could talk with the staff from Bierkoning Frak Boon, people from Brouwerij 'It and other local breweries. This show was repeated on Saturday at In de Wildeman. Also Oersoep guys showed a couple of IPAs on Friday at Prael and on Saturday at Bierkoning.
There were also three masterclasses:
-Robert Pattinson talked about Brettanomyces in the British culture.
-H. Ertie talked about Belgian lambics
-Oscar Moerman talked about spontaneus fermentation in lambics
I wanted to go to the first (Was the only one in English), and the other ones were in Dutch, so I didn't go and I don't know if they were interesting or not.
And last thing about activities:
A homebrewer presentation at De Prael on Saturday evening. Three homebrewers brought their beers to this pub, and I realyly would define it as a meeting with homemade beer that tasted as all the care put on it by the brewer. There you could find and IPA and a Farmhouse by De Kromme Haring, a porter and a red IPA from Zevende Hemel, and some lambics from Toon van den Broek.
This was all about the fest and the activities, and just to try to avoid making too long entries, I will describe the beers in the next one. I hope you liked it, and that you repeat!
See you next time, beer lovers!
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