My kind of pub crawl

Festival over, we went to the pub. The wife Derek and I headed to Amsterdam on the Sunday after the Borefts festival. High on the agenda was a recommendation from Ron's mate Mike for Oude Jenever, so early on the sunny afternoon we darkened the doors of In De Olofspoort and received a wonderful impromptu tutorial in 3-, 5- and 10-year-old jenever from the friendly barman. You're right, Mike: it does taste like really good Scotch.

While in the area we also paid a brief courtesy call to De Prael. The brewery's eclectic tasting room was little more than a hole in the ground last time I was through Amsterdam, and the comfy chairs they have now are far more conducive to beer tasting than the alley in which they used to serve them. Derek got the round in, serving me Gepijpte Nelis, a smoked version of the dark autumn bock. With its fruity spices, it's perhaps closer to a Belgian dubbel than a Dutch bock, and the gentle smoke character lends a little complexity to an otherwise quite simple strong and sticky beer.

From there we headed down to Beer Temple. I was at the grand opening of this American-themed bar in 2009, or at least I stood outside. This was the first time I've ever been able to sit inside and peruse the prodigious selections. I figured it would be easier and more economical to limit myself to the draught offerings, but then I spotted a can in one of the fridges: Maui Coconut Porter, a beer I've been hunting for several years, having heard amazing things about it. So I duly bought it, popped the ringpull, poured it and got ready to be amazed. I wasn't amazed. It's a very fizzy dark brown beer giving off quite subtle coconut scents. It tastes extremely dry, a little sulphurous, and rather gritty, like a stout that's had a bit too much roast barley added. The sweet coconut flavour makes a very late appearance and lingers oilily on the lips. I definitely think I'd built it up too much. I mean, it's nice, in its own way, but at the same time a huge disappointment. The main thing is that it's done and I won't have to go to Maui to experience the loneliness of the long-distance ticker.

Beer Temple has commissioned its own house beer from Dutch brewery Jopen, and of course it had to be an IPA. Tempel Bier is a little bit on the light-to-watery side: a session beer in a pub without pints. But the refreshing zesty orange flavour can't be argued with. The fresh hoppy benefits of not having to cross an ocean are used to full effect.

There were a couple of strange versions of familiar beers on tap, including Flying Dog Double Dog on cask. The softer carbonation produces a different sensation to the bottled version, coating the mouth with extra-sticky toffee malt and turning the citric hop notes into something funkier and more spicy. John John Dead Guy is a barrel aged version of Rogue's Dead Guy Ale. Rogue's in-house distillery makes barrel acquisition particularly easy for them, and this one had seen some of their own whiskey before the beer went in. I'm not a fan of Dead Guy normally and this was little better. Massive wood flavours don't help the cloying stickiness, though the little bit of bretty sourness helps take some of the edge off, as do the sharp vegetal hops. I'm still glad I was just stealing a sip of someone else's rather than having a glass to myself.

The Maryland-based Stillwater brewing company were holding a tasting session in the back of the pub while we were there and as each tasting tray was brought to the corralled punters, the relevant beer went on general availability to the rest of us. RateBeer tells me that the two we tried were imported from no further away than Belgium. Jaded was brewed with the assistance of De Struise and is a dark red-brown ale doing a great job of balancing Belgian fruity esters with fresh and pithy hop zing. ’t Hofbrouwerijke near Antwerp was the birthplace of Love & Regret, another zesty one, though this time loaded with aromatic spices like coriander and white pepper. Apparently it was actually done with heather, lavender and chamomile, but you get the idea.

There was more white pepper -- a flavour I really enjoy in beer -- in Dieu du Ciel's Route des Épices. This time there is real pepper present: green and black corns are added to the recipe. There's a lovely rich chocolate biscuit aroma, but after that it's all pepper all the way. Before moving on I spent a bit of time with Marshall Wharf Old Ale. The Maine brewery has done a fantastic job with this: cola red and with a pungent vinous, almost vinegar, nose. It's one of those big textured strong ales filling one's face with sweet treacle and moreish umami, finished off with a distinctly sharp hop bite. Amazing stuff. I could have had another, but one does not leave Amsterdam before dropping in to Beer Temple's sisterhouse Arendsnest.

So we made it our last stop. Things have changed a little at Arendsnest in recent years. Gradually, the blackboards are starting to take over the walls. Since the pub serves exclusively Dutch-brewed beers that's probably a clear sign of how robustly healthy the beer scene is in the Netherlands these days.

A couple from Jopen to start: their Extra Stout is a tour de force with some fantastic smoky roasty aromas and a smooth texture given a cheeky burnt kick at the end. Barrevoet is their barley wine: dark red almost to the point of blackness. In combination with some majorly aromatic and grapefruitish hops it's almost a black IPA. But what's in a style? All you need to know is that it's one to look out for.

Perhaps inevitably, De Molen now has a blackboard to itself in Arendsnest. From that came Rijn & Veen, a cloudy pale ale with a lovely big orangey aroma. The taste is a little bit of a let-down, however: sharp and with some unfortunate disinfectant notes. Hemel & Aarde was a much better proposition: a sublimely smooth imperial stout with a touch of smoke on the nose. The flavour is heavy on the roast side but balanced by lavender perfume. Easy-drinking, balanced, but softly powerful too.

The airport train beckoned, so just one more for the road. My big finish was Bommen & Granaten: a dark red ale of a full 15.2% ABV, and possibly tasting like more. It's incredibly viscous, almost chewy. A knife and fork job. The flavours are sweet of course, but amazingly not cloying. "Turkish delight" was one comment as the glass got passed around. I was still tasting it all the way to Schiphol and was still thinking about it when I got to my own bed in Dublin hours later. Sometimes, good beers follow you home.

Taking care of business

It was a busy three days in Amsterdam. We arrived on Tuesday to glorious sunshine and, not used to such things, immediately scurried for the shade of 't Arendsnest. Among the beers we kicked off with was SNAB Pale Ale, a deliciously sherbety faux-American number. There's a light touch on the hops, but just enough to convey peaches and mild grapefruit to the drinker. Mrs Beer Nut's pale ale was Wiegeleir, a cloudy amber beer flavoured with apriccots. I didn't really latch on to the fruit in this, spotting orange blossom and bubblegum instead, with the whole overlaid with sharp and bitter yeast tones and a whiff of bleachiness. It's a complex beer but not always in the right directions.

Barry showed up on Wednesday and we planned the afternoon by the canal in Haven van Texel over the Texelse Dubbel. A light and fruity take on the Belgian dark ale standard, with almost a bit of citrus zest thrown in. No plums, figs or similarly heavy fruit, but a surprising amount of fruity banana esters. It's a lunchtime sort of dubbel.

At De Bekeerde Suster, my companions both went for the uninspiring house beers, but mine was a Deugniet tripel. Despite bottle conditioning it pours a very clear blonde with an aroma of fresh, juicy melons and succulent peaches. The flavour adds spicy orange notes to this, turning a little bit harsh at the end. Deugniet loses its charm as it warms, picking up cloying orange flavours like vitamin C tablets, but it's great beer right up until then. From there we headed to Gollem for a light pre-prandial. My wife chose Witkap Stimulo, a very pale cloudy beer with just a bit of lemon and a hint of herbs, but otherwise quite dull. Meanwhile, I was back with the safe bet of John Martin's Pale Ale.

With dinner put away, it was time for the main event. Amsterdam's newest specialty beer bar was packed. Elbowing my way to the bar I met Ron who was similarly engaged. With an armful of drinks each we made our way out to the yard.

Beer Temple specialises in American craft beer and the chief draw, I think, will be the presence of draught beer from Anchor, Left Hand, Great Divide and Flying Dog. I only got a chance to glance at the bottled menu, but it looked very impressive, with Southern Tier among the additions. Beer Temple provides a new focus for the beer tourist in Amsterdam and underlines the wonderful internationalism in the city's beer merchants, a feature which places Amsterdam above Brussels in my evaluation of European beer cities.

Among the samples we, er, sampled there was Left Hand's Blackjack Porter, a super-chocolatey treacle-thick black beer which, while very sweet, is filling and satisfying rather than cloying. Among the handful of non-Americans at the taps, there's a house beer commissioned locally for the bar. Tempel Bier is a blond ale with wonderful American hop flavours of the mild variety, imparting peaches, manadarins and bubblegum.

After a good old natter with 'Neen and a brief chat with Beer Temple proprietor Peter, and with regret that I couldn't find Rick who had suggested the whole thing in the first place, Barry, Ron, me and herself set off for In de Wildeman.

Order of the day here was a driedoppelrauchbock, weighing in at 9.4% ABV and going, naturally, under the name Affumicator. The nose is typically rauchbier-esque: smoky bacon and iodine to the fore; a shock followed by pleasing anticipation. It tastes as sweet as you might expect from a big doppelbock and is similarly sticky, but this is infused thoroughly with those big hammy rauchbier flavours and a bitter kick right at the end. I sat and sipped this for a while, enjoying every mouthful.

Among the other beers tried from Wildeman's massive selection, there was Mug, a spicy pale gold bitter with hops on the nose and a very Chouffe-ish peppery fruit character. Barry moved to Oesterstout, an imperial from Amsterdam's Scheldebrouwerij. I wasn't a fan: too much artificial candy flavour for my liking, like fake chocolate, with unpleasant fruity overtones. We called it a night soon after.

To kill the time next morning before the pubs opened, Barry and I went for The Heineken Experience. I was pleased to see that the picobrewery in the main hall (mentioned by Ron here) is still going, though he was too busy chatting up the American girls to tell us anything about his beer, and it wasn't on sale in the gift shop. The most interesting experience in the Experience happened at the tutored tasting, a slow and measured analysis of the lager. The sample we were given was not Heineken -- or if it was, it was Heineken with an extra complex dose of bitter and fruity hops. It was really quite tasty, but that was the last we saw of it: in the tasting bar at the end we were back to plain, dull, thin, tasteless Heineken. So at least they know how unpalateable their beers are.

Staying with Big Daddy H, our meanderings took us next to a crappy English theme bar where, out of sheer novelty value, I went for Murphy's Red. I assume this is brewed in the Netherlands as it hasn't been seen on these shores for many a year. The beer is a pale copper colour and watery as all hell, with just a sugary background and a nasty cardboard aftertaste.

And then it was lunchtime. Our restaurant gave particular promenance to 't IJ's beers and I took the opportunity to try Natte, the dubbel, having been denied it last time I was in the Netherlands. It's quite a beautiful beer: sharp and yeasty with that characteristic IJ brett flavour, but light enough to be easy-drinking and lip-smacking.

The weekend was drawing to a close and we finished where we came in, holed up in 't Arendsnest. Barry went for SNAB's Otter SB, a chewy, malt-driven pale beer which I found a bit stale overall. Mrs Beer Nut picked the La Trappe Bockbier. It's quite understated -- a bit of the expected caramel and toffee, with a very mild undercurrent of violet and lavender. After Barry departed for his train our last drinks were De Friese's Speltbier which is interestingly dry and grassy, while being spicy and herbal at the same time. The herb prize, however, goes to the hopless Jopen Koyt. It's a murky shade of fawn with mild spice on the nose but with lots of fascinating herb and spice flavours. I can't think of a better descriptor for it than "medieval" and reckon it would go great from a clay mug.

We were only in Amsterdam for a bit over two days, but as usual we crammed a lot into it. Too much for this post, in fact. More Dutch beer stuff coming up...