The Tuesday Stat Attack: 9 The Netherlands

Regional Forums United Kingdom and Ireland
#1

Our second ‘Low Country’ after last weeks Belgium.

So what is this country famous for then? Amstel, Heineken and Tulips from Amsterdam; canals, dykes, wind mills, cycling, being flat and a Liberal attitude to ‘Soft Drugs’. Two of the worlds best selling and boring cheeses come out of the nation, so if you like bland cheese wrapped in red or orange wax you’re in.

The country has also produced a few Old Masters who could paint, some footballers who could play a bit and a Blade Runner called Rutger Hauer. Max Verstappen who can drive was actually born in Belgium, but that doesn’t appear to stop people wearing Orange gear and claiming he’s Dutch. Oh and Anne Frank was born in (and sadly died in) Germany.

Beer wise it used to be a nightmare for beer hunters, but today it is awash with interesting breweries, brewers and styles, not just Light Lagers and the occasional Bock with a Goat on it’s bottle label.

The top raters from the Netherlands are:

1 Benzai 20022
2 bierkoning 18773
3 kermis 18395
4 mike_77 11639
5 Maakun 10309
6 tricksta_p 10081
7 Borresteijn 9960

The top raters of Dutch beer are:

1 bierkoning 5979 38%
2 Benzai 5363 34%
3 kermis 4289 27%
4 Borresteijn 3923 25%
5 sjogro 3507 22%
6 Maakun 3443 22%
7 deanso 3169 20%

A meager 1080 different beers (or ciders, meads and sake) would see you join the top 50 raters list for the Netherlands.

Just like a lot of our friends in Belgium, we have seen the Netherlands regular raters leaving the site, or not actually rating on here any more.

We have 12 Provinces to chase on Ratebeer and you will find some British names on the leader boards of those Provinces, as well as on the countries overall leader board (@madmitch76, @jmgreenuk, @cgarvieuk and @Stuu666 being the ones I noticed).

Please note I didn’t use the word ‘Holland’ once, apart from just then!

Over to you guys and galls.

<*))))))><

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#2

South Holland

You didn’t look hard enough !

#3

???

<*))))))><

#4

I only have 18 rates from Netherlands however spread over 6 regions. Spent a day in Amsterdam like a decade ago, did tour of Heineken which was a fun tour for young tourist. I enjoyed eating krokets from vending machine and also some kopstootje which is where you drink shot of genever and then sip beer in a slightly unique way. Love to go back with beer goggles on and see what’s what.

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#5

It’s also produced several first-class cricketers, eg. fast bowler Andre van Troost who played 67 matches for Somerset.

It’s no.7 on my country list, thanks in large part to De Molen, Emelisse and La Trappe. Interesting that the good stuff really only seems to have kicked off 10 years ago:

My Rating Avg Entered Updated
De Molen Tsarina Esra Reserva 4.3 4.01 8/3/2011
Emelisse White Label Imperial Russian Stout (Bruichladdich BA Peated) 4.2 3.91 10/30/2016
Emelisse Imperial Russian Stout 4.1 3.85 8/12/2012
De Molen Rasputin Bourbon BA 4.1 3.91 8/21/2016
Uiltje Cuvee du Owl Barleywine 4.1 3.61 9/4/2021
Jopen Mooie Nel IPA / Northsea IPA 4 3.58 8/19/2016
La Trappe Quadrupel 3.9 3.86 7/13/2014
Bax Bier Koud Vuur 3.9 3.58 8/19/2016 9/26/2017
Kompaan 39 Bloedbroeder 3.9 3.69 5/29/2017
Oedipus Thai Thai 3.9 3.38 9/18/2017
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#6

59 rates, (Ranked #12 for me) 3.1 Average (Ranked #24)

7 Ratings 4 or higher, which seems to be a high percentage of winners with only 59 ratings. Though if the average is only 3.1 that speaks poorly of the other end of the list!
De Molen Ziel & Zaligheid (Soul & Salvation)
De Molen Fone50
De Molen Tsarina Esra Imperial Porter
La Trappe Dubbel
De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis Misto BA
De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis (Hell & Damnation)
Zundert Trappist 10

3 of those where had in our trip to London. the Z&Z is my second highest rating ever, enjoyed at fonefan’s 50th. Another of the De Molen’s was shared at a tasting at ChrisO’s place.

I have never been so no place ratings, and have only managed ticks from 6 of 12 regions.

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#7

Max Verstappen has a cousin in Ireland who drives taxis called Hanks.

Hanks Verstappen.

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#8

Have 71 rates from the Netherlands.

My top rated at 4 is: De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis (Hell & Damnation)

For holidays have been over with the family on the ferry afew times from Newcastle to IJmuiden near Amsterdam, stopping over before catching trains onto France or Italy (as my wife’s mother won’t fly). Before Brexit also did afew online orders from Sterk in Amsterdam, also Ciderwinkle, and traded with sjogro . It really is a shame Brexit has stopped all that!

In terms of cideries, there are 43 active with De Vergeten Appel from Tilburg having the most listed with 15

The top 5 for most Netherlands cider and cidery ratings is:

NetherlandsCider Ratings

sjogro 57
Maakun 32
danlo 28
Benzai 15
EvNa 12

NetherlandsCideries

sjogro 27
Maakun 18
danlo 16
bierkoning 8
EvNa 7
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#9

Welcome to The Netherlands, guys! I was not even aware that I’m in the top 5 Netherlands Cider / Cideries ratings. I only drink one now and then… I have to mention Elegast Cider here. First fulltime Cidermaker of The Netherlands, making some great Barrel Aged and terroir Ciders and located at a very nice place near Hilversum in the center of our country.

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#10

Just a paltry 4 Dutch rates for me, from 3 breweries covering just 2 of the 12 regions. Took a look at the number of breweries and was quite surprised, never had the place down as a big beer place, always thought that was Belgium’s part of the Benelux accord (Netherlands for Cheese and Luxembourg for, er, castles?). Have been to Amserdam several times - but always just passing through Schiphol en route somewhere else. There were a couple of visits to our factory in Middelburg, and a very enjoyable time was had, favourite place was a really drab and dark brown bar, but the beers were great as was the atmosphere. Am hoping that once all this virus nonsense goes away I may manage another visit or two, and next time I’ll try and add in some time in Amsterdam and check out what it has to offer (beer-wise, not herbal ciggies etc.) and look for mouses in clogs

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#11

92 beers from 42 breweries, partly thanks to 4 trades with some very generous Dutch people. 9/12 regions.

Not been to the Netherlands since a cheap ferry trip to Amsterdam when I was at uni. Not sure I even had any beer, I was too busy rooting through the bargain bins in the porn shops.

Before Brexit I did a few orders from webshops, mainly for new US states.

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#12

Nederland is my 7th highest rated country at 441 rates. Have done a fair few trades with the likes of @monstermagnet and others and quite impressed at how the country’s craft beer scene has blossomed in recent years, with some astounding strong dark beers, great lambic / wild ales and exceptional haze as well as some bonkers experimental stuff. Definitely seems the country could be at the forefront of craft in Europe.

Top rated beers:

My Rating Avg Entered Updated
Kees Imperial Stout 1850 4.7 3.95 11/28/2017
De Molen Bommen & Granaten Port Barrel Aged 4.7 3.82 3/10/2021
De Molen Hemel & Aarde (Bourbon BA) 4.6 3.97 5/6/2015
Bronckhorster Nightporter 4.6 3.77 6/11/2016
Kees Caramel Fudge Stout (Woodford BA) 4.6 3.84 12/17/2018
De Molen Said & Done (Bowmore BA) 4.6 3.76 7/30/2019
De Molen Hemel & Aarde (Heaven & Earth) 4.5 3.94 7/29/2014
La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged Batch #16 4.5 3.94 5/21/2015
Jopen Meesterstuk 2013 4.5 3.61 12/25/2015
Tommie Sjef Druif (- 2017) 4.5 3.82 6/5/2016

Visited Netherlands many many times over the years, travelled to every major city and town and really like the place. Germany tends to get the reputation for being a well-organised country, but Netherlands is on another level.

First visited aged 18 with a mate, spent a Valentines weekend on the Amsterdam Boatel a year later, went to Dynamo Rock Festival aged 20, camped in a layby on a road trip to Estonia at what turned out to be a popular dogging spot (and frantically stuffing our tent, fully assembled, in the van and driving off once the penny dropped) and later during my touring years there always seemed to be a day off in Amsterdam, or other city. Tilburg is home to probably my favourite venue in Europe the 013, and have a lot of good memories there.

One particularly memorable day was when the band I was with recorded an acoustic session at a legendary Dutch jazz guitarist’s house in central Amsterdam. He was at his country house in France, while the guy recording the session was asked to look after his apartment, and cat. During the recording, the cat went missing. We spent hours scouring the streets of Amsterdam. Photos of the cat were all over the apartment, he loved that cat more than his guitar. We were convinced it was lost. Tears were shed, insults traded, doors slammed, phone call to the jazz guitarist rehearsed. After 6 hours, someone lifted a bed mattress to see the cat sound asleep.

In recent years I spent a nice week in Zeeland, cycling along the coast and lazily supping Dutch beers at cafes on the way… fetched supplies from Ace Drinks and Emelisse though not really sure what’s going on with that place since it was sold.

Got loads more memories but won’t bore you all. Hopefully I’ll get to go back!

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#13

Love the Netherlands and the Dutch people. I lived on the Dutch/German border in the mid-1970’s, mid-1980’s and mid-1990’s; nearest town being Roemond. Many happy memories of weekends in Amsterdam, the coast and the Dutch tourist town of Valkenburg (which used to have more hotel beds than Amsterdam, maybe still does?). Valkenburg has caves, a ruined castle on a hill and even a chair lift (the Netherlands are not so flat towards the lower end of Limburg), it’s a proper ‘Party Town’ too, loads of bars, restaurants and touristy shops. The Dutch flood there every weekend.

My beery stats are not as exciting as I’d hoped, but I’ve only been back to the country a few times since joining RateBeer;

The Netherlands are my 8th highest rated country by volume on 213 beers, from 10 of the 12 regions; like many others my 2 missing Provinces are Flevoland and Friesland. 59 Breweries have been sampled with De Molen sitting on 16 different beers leading the pack; both Koningshoeven and Bavaria on 15 and Kees along with Jopen with 14. Average beer score is 3.23.

Top Beers are many: This list shows my love affair with a certain Quad Series.

La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged Batch #3 4.8 3.88 4/11/2012
La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged Batch #6 4.5 3.89 10/31/2012
De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis 666 4.3 4.14 11/16/2014
La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged Batch #7 4.2 3.38 12/3/2013
La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged Batch #12 4.2 3.76 6/25/2016
La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged Batch #11 4.2 3.67 11/4/2017
Kees / La Pirata Hundred BA 4.2 3.84 2/8/2019
De Molen Said & Done (Bowmore BA) 4.2 3.76 8/2/2019

Top Breweries score wise:
Koningshoeven @ 3.75
Moersleutel @ 3.74
De Molen @ 3.7

That’ll do for now.

<*))))))><

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#14

Despite the fact that my first wife was half Dutch, I’ve never made it to the Netherlands. It is however my 7th most rated country with 63 rates. I used to see a lot more Dutch beer than I do now (Bacchanalia in Cambridge used to carry a wonderful selection), so my rates have tailed off a bit in recent years. Some unbelievably good beers coming from there though, with plenty over 4:

De Kromme Haring / Wilder Wald Kreeftwerk 4.6
De Molen Bommen & Granaten (Bombs & Grenades) 4.4
De Molen Amarillo 4.2
't IJ Columbus 4.1
La Trappe Quadrupel 4.1

Individual breweries don’t have massive numbers, I only have 13 for De Molen, 6 for t’IJ and Uiltje each and 5 for Koningshoeven (La Trappe) as the most rated breweries. Surprisingly Brouwerij 't IJ is the highest rated at 3.77 with De Molen second at 3.71 and Koningshoeven at 3.68. So all in all a bit pedestrian for one of the great beer countries but hopefully post-COVID we can visit at some point.

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#15

The Netherlands just squeeze into my top 10 countries. On a modest 26 samples it nestles between Norway and Sweden with both of the latter achieving a higher average thanks to their production of imperial stouts. The Netherlands averages 3.43 and that average would have been noticeably higher if Heineken and Texels had not been included as samples of the kind of mass produced awfulness that my fellow humans drink in abundance.
If I could just get more beer from Gelderland (in other words Bronckhorster), my Dutch scores would soar

Bronckhorster Nightporter 3.8 3.77
Bronckhorster / Cervejaria Bamberg ALTernative 3.6 3.53
Bronckhorster IJsselbock 3.3 3.43

As it is, I have only sampled 7 of the 12 regions with North and South Holland making up the clear majority thanks to Uiltje in the first and De Molen in the second. Travelwise, like most I know Amsterdam best and it is a city that is easy to like. However, it gives a false impression of the country which is not as liberal and easygoing as pot-houses might lead you to expect. I have paid several visits to Middelburg over the years thanks to the Roosevelt Institute, but that was work related and less beer focused so Kees beer did not feature much. Obviously, I should try some more La Trappe which I have to confess I probably mistook for a Belgian beer. For me that is both the secret and the weakness of Dutch beer. They can match the Belgians and the Germans style for style but I would be hard pressed to identify a beer that was quintessentially Dutch (but hey, I am happy to have a good Baltic Porter from Cheshire any time! [if I can find one]). But somehow I feel a greater compunction to try some more Belgian and some more German to get my understanding of the major beer traditions up to speed. Call me old-fashioned, if you like–and I won’t answer because who would say “that’s me” unless the full sentence is the winner of tonight’s quiz is old-fashioned of Nottingham.

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#16

Netherlands is a great place for beer, especially I like Amsterdam, I’ve been heading there almost every month for almost 10 years with work. I know all the staff in many of the craft beer beers in Amsterdam, when I turn up, they refer to me by name !

As such I have NL as my number 3 country, behind England and US, with 670 beers

Top beers :

https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/uiltje-sequence-series-007-2019-speyside-blend/803363/134671/

https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/de-molen-larie-apekool/172158/134671/

https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/de-molen-bommen-granaten-rioja-barrel-aged-w-brett/583342/134671/

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#17

The Netherlands is a country I’d love to get to try more beers from - I’ve been twice to Amsterdam, first time back in 1999, when I didn’t really take to it & again 9 years ago as a stopover on our honeymoon, when not surprisingly I liked it & enjoyed it considerably more. Had a trip to Eindhoven booked for last year which I had to cancel, I was really looking forward to visiting the Van Moll tap room.

Beer ratings - I’ve 20 from The Netherlands with a average of 3.3.
Top is - Frontaal / North Brewing Co Vertigo with 4.1
Emelisse Imperial Russian Stout - 3.9
Kees Double Rye IPA - 3.8
De Molen Twenty Five Grams & Two Chiefs Howling Wolf - 3.7

No place ratings - I do remember a small bottle shop in the tight lanes in central Amsterdam which was just rammed full of bottles & customers trying to fight there way around without breaking anything. Shame I could only fit a couple of bottles into our luggage.

I’m hoping to rebook my roadtrip in the next year or two to really do The Netherlands justice

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#18

A mere 17 rates for me (although that’s my 8th most-rated country. With an average score per rate of 2,55 it’s my lowest-rated country of those with more than 10 rates (due to a high proportion of macro crap).

I have had some good beers though; here’s my top ones:

De Molen Bloed, Zweet & Tranen (Blood, Sweat & Tears) 4.1 3
De Hemel Nieuw Ligt Grand Cru 3.9
De Molen Dag & Nacht 3.7 3.46
Uiltje Apfelstrudel Doppelbock 3.6
De Molen Ferment & Drink 3.5

De Molen obviously dominate then, but oddly I remember the other two from my top five better. Had the Uiltje Apfelstrudel at Brewdog Milton Keynes, and it was such a ridiculous beer that it made me laugh out loud, which must have freaked out my friends a bit! My wife got the De Hemel one for an enforced quiet new year in after our daughter was born; it was a great beer in itself.

I’ve so far had 7 of the 12 regions, but it sounds like several of my remaining regions are pretty tricky to get, so I’m happy with where I am on that one at the moment.

It’s yet another country that I only visited pre-RB, so no place ratings for me. However, I didvisit several times pre-RB, with two school/uni trips and two inter-railing visits. My inter-railing visits were primarily memorable for getting a lift to a campsite on the island of Texel on a farmer’s tractor-trailer - unfortunately the farmer clearly forgot we were there and drove past our campsite at some speed. Our efforts to attract his attention were unsuccessful, and we had to do a movie style jump-and-roll from his trailer!

The uni trip was definitely the most beery - they put us up in a youth hostel in the middle of nowhere, but the first day myself and a couple of mates marched the mile and a half to the nearest off-license and bought 48 bottles of Grolsch. Nearly killed us getting it back, but then everyone else in the big dorm got jealous & made the same trip - the dorm ended up looking like an off-license itself! Needless to say we had far more beer than we needed (especially as we subsequently discovered a bar in the other direction for the evenings); we ended up drinking it for breakfast, and the teachers pretty much had to force us on the coach to go back (combined with big evenings at the bar we were so jaded that we just asked to be left there to die!).

The two things that have most impressed me about the Netherlands are the extreme friendliness of everyone there, and the astonishing engineering of the Afsluitdijk (the huge dam that protects th country from flooding and created the huge and partially reclaimed Ijsselmeer). It’s a country I’d always be happy to return to (not least to get those difficult regions!)

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