Not the Borefts afterparty

L-R: Kinsbergen, Sunshine Shack

For Borefts weekend I was staying with a friend in The Hague (hi Robert!) where a new brewpub has opened earlier this year. Van Kinsbergen is smart and modern in that angular, loft-living-by-Ikea sort of way. It feels more like an upmarket neighbourhood bistro than a pub, the brewkit tucked neatly into one corner behind glass and producing just a single beer. Kinsbergen Pale Ale is 4.5% ABV and a hazy orange colour. Pithy apricot and lemon zest are the centre of the flavour, all bright and fresh and zingy. But not clean: there's a dreggy yeast buzz here too that upsets the simplicity. This is your typical unpolished brewpub pale ale, then.

There's a guest beer list as well, with a few locals and lots of "big craft": Lagunitas, BrewDog, Beavertown, Stone. We gave Sunshine Shack a go, from Pontus Brewing in the Amsterdam suburbs. It's fairly down-the-line as New England-style pale ales go: very murky in appearance with a fruity aroma, of orange juice in particular. I'm sure the brewer meant this to come through in the flavour but it doesn't and instead there's a strange mix of sharp garlic, aniseed and mint humbugs. For all that, it's quite fun: the savoury herbs and veg elements don't clash with each other and I'm not bothered by the missing juice. Cleaning up the murk would still improve it, however.

The following day we headed for Amsterdam with no particular plans and sat watching the rain from inside BeerTemple. Our deliberations were aided by:

L-R: Blind Lion, Morning Nightcap, Aphrodisiac

Aphrodisiac by Cranker's Brewery of Grand Rapids, a chocolate imperial stout of 9% ABV. It has a massive chocolate aroma, concentrated and intense like hot fudge sauce. Fudge is the main flavour, along with lots of boozy vapours. There's a modicum of dryness included in the package; some mocha coffee and a tiny green bitterness. Mostly, though, it's what one would expect: a powerhouse of a dessert beer, warming and filling.

Morning Nightcap by another Michigan brewer, Arcadia. This is described as a salted caramel porter and is 5% ABV. It has a strangely sour aroma, and the flavour too shows balsamic vinegar and pickles which is absolutely not what I was expecting. A hint of burnt toast is the only nod towards an actual porter flavour profile. While not actively unpleasant, this was just too far removed from what I thought it would be to be enjoyable.

Blind Lion by 4 Islands, a client brewer based in Rotterdam. Hitting the New England IPA style right in the sweet spot here, this fuzzy yellow 6%-er offers a fresh peachy aroma and flavours of peach, mango and mandarin. Despite the fluff it's lightly textured and there's just enough citrus spritz to balance it, resulting in a supremely refreshing and invigorating experience. Spot on.

A decision was reached. We would, for the first time ever, cross the IJ to northern Amsterdam and visit a couple of brewery taprooms over there. The free ferry from behind Centraal station left us a ten minute walk from our first destination: Oedipus.

It's obvious that this is a working brewery first and foremost. It's in an industrial building and the "hospitality area" is little more than a bar and a few chairs and tables dropped in a corner which wasn't being used for anything else. Cosy it ain't.

I've had a few Oedipus beers over the years but Gaia, one of the core range, had not been among them. This is a 7% ABV west-coast-style IPA, orange in colour, thickly textured, and going all out for the pine resins. This type of herbal bitterness is matched by a sharper grapefruit pith and there's a gentler apricot sweetness for balance. While a perfect representation of the style it's still not very interesting: everything is apparent from the first sip with no additional complexity on offer.

The tall glass contains Swingers, a lime gose. A mere 4% ABV, it's a clear-ish yellow colour with an enticing lemonade aroma. The texture is one of its best features: a chalky effervescence instead of full-on fizz. The flavour offers a mouth-watering lemon juice sourness and a pleasant salty tang. It's clean and refreshing; much more subtle than I expected it to be.

And the other beer is a sour session IPA called País Tropical. It had a strange aroma of coconut and orange juice. The flavour is mandarin pith and apricot. I waited for the sourness to kick in. And waited. Turns out it's not remotely sour, which was disappointing. It is an easy going refresher, as tropical tasting as the name implies.

Having downed these three sunny summer beers, it was back out into the rain again. The Walhalla brewery is not far away. While still in an industrial space in an industrial area, this taproom is rather more bar-like. The long narrow space has a single huge table in the centre, designed I'm guessing to resemble a Norse banqueting hall. The brewery itself is in a separate unit next door.

L-R: Balor, Loki, Juno

Loki seems to be the flagship IPA. It's a bright golden colour and has an intense floral bitterness, all perfume and pith. This makes it a little tough to drink, which it shouldn't be at only 5.5% ABV. I only had a couple of sips so it could simply be one of these beers your palate adjusts to as it goes.

I went for the brut IPA, Juno. This is yet another example of the style that doesn't really do much different to normal IPA. It's very fruity, showing a candy sweetness that should be an absolute no-no for something trying to be dry. The texture is watery, so it is at least attenuated, and the finish is bitter and waxy. None of it really hangs together properly, I thought. It's another OK but not brilliant IPA.

Walhalla has a numbered series of strong dark beers called the Daemons. Daemon #6: Balor was on when we were there. It's an imperial coffee porter at 9.2% ABV, pouring a reddish brown colour. The aroma is a mix of fresh coffee and smoke. A roasted bite is the first flavour to emerge, followed by a long and smooth oily coffee taste. A very slight metallic edge creeps in on the finish but otherwise it's a class act making great use of the coffee to add a luxurious richness.

And with that our north Amsterdam adventures were over but there was still more beer to be had. Before leaving Borefts we'd staged a quick raid on the De Molen bottle shop, and with our flight home looming, these needed to be disposed of.

In search of something for casual refreshment, I had picked Not For Sale, De Molen's craft lager. Expecting bland and crisp, I was shocked by the immediate blast of sweet lemon candy in the aroma. The flavour is just as sweet, the lemon turning to thick-shred marmalade before tailing out on more gentle orangeade. There's not much lager character here, but there's no arguing with that fresh citrus tang. A solid toffee malt base is the final feature which doesn't fit the style but tastes great. Poured cold, this was just as refreshing as a pale lager, but in a different way.

Põhjala has an intriguing forest-themed black IPA called Mets, using blueberries and spruce tips. Though only 7% ABV it pours much more thickly, topped by a dark tan head. The aroma is dark chocolate and strong coffee, though I think I detect a slightly tart berry note too. It's much clearer on tasting, coming across like chocolate raisins, all sweet and juicy. For bittering balance there's a kind of tobacco effect, but no subtle flavours from the hops or spruce. I liked the punchiness, as well as the gentler complexities; a thinness being the only point on which I'd ding it. This is an interesting twist on the style and proof that black IPA is still worth playing with.

To Yorkshire, and De Molé, an imperial stout De Molen collaborated on at Magic Rock. The ingredients list is eye-watering, incorporating four types of chilli pepper, cocoa, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and pumpkin seeds. It smells like a peaty scotch (yes, there's smoked malt in here too) while the flavour pushes the Christmassy cinnamon to the fore. A more typically stout-like rich chocolate follows, and then the chilli: sharp and powdery, rasping the back of the throat and inducing a sneeze or two. Like the previous one, it was a little light-bodied, this time for 10% ABV, but still offers a fun mix of unusual flavours, especially after the chilli calms down to a more comfortable warmth. While very much a novelty beer, it does integrate its various aspects into a coherent piece.

Going big before going home, we finish with Bommen & Granaten IJsbock, De Molen's powerhouse barley wine concentrated to 21.1% ABV. It's still the same dark maroon colour and has a sharp alcohol spirit: herbal, like gin or pastis. Otherwise it's not terribly different to plain old B&G: the same chewy toffee, floral rosewater and dark chocolate. It just tastes like it'll rot your teeth slightly faster than the regular version.

That's it for this trip. The takeaway being I should probably spend more time exploring the taprooms around Amsterdam's edges. A project for another day.