Four

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het Gemaal

"Do you mean to say you haven't been there?"

"No, I haven't."

"The most beautiful terrace in Amsterdam. You should be ashamed of yourself."

After that harrangue from one of the barmaids in Wildeman, I just had to visit het Gemaal ASAP. I don't want to be shown up in front of my friends again.

The tricky bit is finding it. The pub being in the middle of Flevo Park. I suggest taking the tram 14 or 7 to the terminus. Then take the path leading into the park. After a couple of hundred metres you should be able to glimpse het Gemaal through the trees.

It's not a huge building. Just a single room, really. But then there's the terrace. It really does have a beautiful view, out over a small lake. Next to the pub a small orchard has been planted . Should look lovely in a year or two.

You might have noticed that the beer selection is rather limited. Only four options in all. But all rare sightings in Amsterdam. I've never seen Konrad beers anywhere else in the city. Or anywhere else at all. The come from the Pivovary Vratislavice in the Czech Republic. They have a bottled Polotmavý Ležák. That's an Amber Lagerbier to the unititiated. One of the many Czech beer styles that manage to escape the notice of style nazis. They can't be looking very hard. (Of course they aren't. No further than the last Charlie Papazian work of fiction.)

But, for once, it's neither the beer nor the ambience that's dragged me out here. It's the jenever. Because het Gemaal will be a pub distillery. When the distillery is up and running. They already sell their own range of contract distilled jenevers. Including a three-year old Rogge (rye) jenever. Very nice it is. It almost made me forget the sad passing of Jansens Rogge, the stock of whhich I finally exhausted last month.

Het gemaal is well worth the ride out from the city centre. And the park seemed much less infested with junkies and alcies than I'd feared.



Proeflokaal het Gemaal
Flevopark 13,
1095 KE Amsterdam.
Tel: 06 40100909
http://www.proeflokaalhetgemaal.nl/

New Chimay glass

I finally got around to buying myself a new glass yesterday.

"You've already got plenty of glasses." Dolores said.

"But this is a drinking glass, not a display glass."

"I thought you didn't like Chimay, dad."

"I don't, Andrew. I just like the glass. For drinking from."

"You'll have to move some other glasses out of the cupboard, Ronald. There isn't room as it is."

I hadn't realised a new glass brought so many complications with it.

Bayreuth (again)

Schinner Braustuben

The brewery tap of the Schinner brewery. Except the brewery doesn't seem to be there any more. Maybe Mike will like the beers here a little more. You never know. Though he does seem to have got it into his head that he hates Bayreuth beers.

At least they've got a larger range of beers than Pils and Hefeweizen.

Schinner Altfranken Braunbier: Dunkles, dunkles, dunkles - yeah!

If I were to go all style-nazi, the Dunkles is more Munich than Altfränkisch. (That means it's sweetish rather than hoppy. You had realised there were several styles of Dunkles, hadn't you? No? Then you need to get yourself a copy of Decoction. That explains it all.)

"I'm going to have to clean off my sausage. They've stuck it in mustard." It's never too late in the day for a sausage joke. By the look on Mike's face, he doesn't agree. He should be paying me for the entertainment I provide. Ungrateful bastard.

"Is your Kellerbier dark, Mike?"

"Yes."

"Bastard. I'd have ordered that if I'd realised."

I look more closely at the menu. "Dunkles, unfiltriertes" it says in the description of the Kellerbier. I should pay more attention.

The waitress comes by. "Do you have Schwetschen schnapps?"

"Yes."

"A double, please. And a single for my son."

"You're very well preserved for your age."

"It's due to all that smack I did in the sixties. Man."

Mike likes the beer a little more than the others in Bayreuth. That's a relief. Now I'll be able to sleep tonight. Dreaming, no doubt, of Munich and its beer gardens. We'll be there tomorrow. You should come along, too.




Schinner Braustuben
Richard-Wagner Straße 38,
95444 Bayreuth.
Tel: 0921 - 67673
Fax: 0921 - 516 6055
Email: info@schinner-braustuben.de
Homepage: http://www.schinner-braustuben.de

Relaunch

I'd hoped everyone wanted peace. But the sales of "Peace!" have been disappointing. Not sure what that says about human nature.

It got me thinking. Bit of a slim volume. Just 106 pages. Only two appendices. And nowhere near enough enormous tables of numbers. What was I thinking of? My next beer, most likely.

How could I improve it? Add an index, for a start. I hate books that don't have one. Home brewers. They like recipes. OK, add forty-something recipes. Should be a great book.

But, hang on. That's not enough. What else can I offer?

I know. Stuff from my new mega-table. With full details of grists and hopping rates. Pretty groovy stuff. Great idea. I've every year of Whitbread's Porters and Stouts from 1919 to 1939. I'll stick those in. With a few others because, well, I'm the generous type.

The partly-new "Peace!" is now available from all good bookstores. More than 80 extra pages! An index! Two new appendices! Buy several copies now.

Camden Brewery beers 1922-1924

It seems like ages since I last posted a table of beer details. So here goes. This time it's the turn of the Camden Brewery.

There's a single volume of their brewing records in the Courage archives. There's nothing wildly exciting about them. They brewed a PA, a couple of Milds, a Stout and two Strong Ales. Nothing too different from what you see at the large London brewers like Barclay Perkins or Whitbread. Except for the Stout. There's no brown malt in it.

Why I have I pulished this now? I have my reasons. Hionestly. It's all to do with my current book project. One of my current book projects. If I don't get interrupted, I'll be able to make an announcement next week. If I do get interrupted (or find something more interesting) who knows when I'll tell you anything.

Milds. Almost forgot about the Milds. Interesting range of colours across the three Milds. The weakest, XX is about the colour of Bitter. The strongest, M, is in that no-man's-land of colour, around 40 EBC. Not quite dark, but not really pale either. There was no truly Dark Mild in Camden's range.

Here's the table. Hope you find it educational, or at least distracting.

Camden brewery beers 1922-1924
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	dry hops (oz / barrel)	colour	pale malt	black malt	crystal malt	MA malt	PA malt	caramel	glucose	other sugar	oats	flaked maize	total
30th Jun	1922	PA	Pale Ale	1054.6	1013.9	5.39	74.62%	10.93	2.40	2	3.76		91.53%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	8.47%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
4th Jul	1922	M	Mild	1043.8	1010.8	4.36	75.32%	9.39	1.70	2		40	88.12%	0.00%	2.59%	0.00%	0.00%	0.65%	0.00%	8.64%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
4th Jul	1922	XXX	Mild	1036.6	1007.8	3.81	78.79%	9.39	1.42	2		32	88.12%	0.00%	2.59%	0.00%	0.00%	0.65%	0.00%	8.64%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
4th Jul	1922	XX	Mild	1029.9	1007.8	2.93	74.07%	9.39	1.16	2		25	88.12%	0.00%	2.59%	0.00%	0.00%	0.65%	0.00%	8.64%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
5th Jul	1922	S	Stout	1047.6				8.19	1.76	2			73.03%	5.92%	11.84%	0.00%	0.00%	3.95%	0.00%	5.26%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
11th Jul	1922	M	Mild	1043.8	1010.5	4.40	75.95%	8.36	1.53	2		40	88.41%	0.00%	2.90%	0.00%	0.00%	0.97%	0.00%	7.73%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
13th Jul	1922	XXX	Mild	1036.6	1009.1	3.63	75.00%	10.79	1.62	2		32	90.57%	0.00%	3.77%	0.00%	0.00%	0.63%	0.00%	5.03%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
13th Jul	1922	XX	Mild	1029.9				10.79	1.33	2		25	90.57%	0.00%	3.77%	0.00%	0.00%	0.63%	0.00%	5.03%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
19th Jul	1922	XXX	Mild	1036.6	1009.4	3.59	74.24%	10.95	1.61	2			92.45%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	7.55%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
19th Jul	1922	XX	Mild	1029.9				10.95	1.32	2			92.45%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	7.55%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
19th Jul	1922	DA	Dinner Ale	1036.6	1009.4	3.59	74.24%	10.95	1.61	2			92.45%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	7.55%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
20th Jul	1922	S	Stout	1044.6	1012.2	4.29	72.67%	8.45	1.63	2			74.10%	5.42%	10.84%	0.00%	0.00%	4.82%	0.00%	4.82%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
27th Jul	1922	XXX	Mild	1036.8	1008.9	3.70	75.94%	10.53	1.59	2		32	91.80%	0.00%	3.28%	0.00%	0.00%	0.55%	0.00%	4.37%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
27th Jul	1922	XX	Mild	1030.2				10.53	1.30	2		25	91.80%	0.00%	3.28%	0.00%	0.00%	0.55%	0.00%	4.37%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
3rd Aug	1922	S	Stout	1044.6	1012.5	4.25	72.05%	8.80	1.78	2			70.85%	6.03%	12.06%	0.00%	0.00%	5.03%	0.00%	6.03%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
15th Aug	1922	M	Mild	1043.2	1010.5	4.32	75.64%	8.35	1.52	2		40	87.12%	0.00%	3.29%	0.00%	0.00%	0.82%	0.00%	8.77%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
18th Aug	1922	PA	Pale Ale	1054.3				11.00	2.41	2			91.04%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	8.96%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
6th Sep	1922	XXX	Mild	1036.8				10.33	1.57	2		32	87.20%	0.00%	4.15%	0.00%	0.00%	0.35%	0.00%	8.30%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
6th Sep	1922	XX	Mild	1029.9				10.33	1.28	2		25	87.20%	0.00%	4.15%	0.00%	0.00%	0.35%	0.00%	8.30%	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
29th Mar	1923	M	Mild	1043.5	1010.5	4.36	75.80%	10.12	1.72	2			88.38%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	6.64%	0.00%	0.00%	4.98%	100.00%
29th Mar	1923	PA	Pale Ale	1054.3	1014.1	5.31	73.98%	10.12	2.15	2			88.38%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	6.64%	0.00%	0.00%	4.98%	100.00%
4th Apr	1923	M	Mild	1043.8	1009.4	4.54	78.48%	6.85	1.22			40	84.65%	0.00%	4.46%	0.00%	0.00%	0.50%	0.00%	5.94%	0.00%	4.46%	100.00%
4th Apr	1923	XXX	Mild	1036.6				6.85	1.02			32	84.65%	0.00%	4.46%	0.00%	0.00%	0.50%	0.00%	5.94%	0.00%	4.46%	100.00%
4th Apr	1923	XX	Mild	1029.9				6.85	0.84			25	84.65%	0.00%	4.46%	0.00%	0.00%	0.50%	0.00%	5.94%	0.00%	4.46%	100.00%
15th Feb	1924	PA	Pale Ale	1054.8	1016.6	5.06	69.70%	10.00	2.14	2		11	86.19%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	8.84%	0.00%	0.00%	4.97%	100.00%
13th Feb	1924	S	Stout	1045.4	1012.2	4.40	73.17%	6.70	1.29				78.36%	4.48%	8.96%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	5.97%	2.24%	0.00%	100.00%
26th Feb	1924	M	Mild	1043.5	1011.1	4.29	74.52%	7.42	1.29			45	50.11%	0.00%	5.27%	31.65%	0.00%	0.66%	0.00%	7.03%	0.00%	5.27%	100.00%
26th Feb	1924	XXX	Mild	1036.6	1008.9	3.66	75.76%	7.42	1.08			33	50.11%	0.00%	5.27%	31.65%	0.00%	0.66%	0.00%	7.03%	0.00%	5.27%	100.00%
26th Feb	1924	XX	Mild	1029.9	1006.1	3.15	79.63%	7.42	0.89			27	50.11%	0.00%	5.27%	31.65%	0.00%	0.66%	0.00%	7.03%	0.00%	5.27%	100.00%
28th Feb	1924	WA	Ale	1066.2	1018.8	6.27	71.55%	10.42	2.78			50	39.20%	0.00%	4.52%	0.00%	45.23%	0.50%	0.00%	6.03%	0.00%	4.52%	100.00%
28th Feb	1924	SA	Strong Ale	1055.1	1013.9	5.46	74.87%	10.42	2.31			40	39.20%	0.00%	4.52%	0.00%	45.23%	0.50%	0.00%	6.03%	0.00%	4.52%	100.00%
Source: Camden Brewery brewing records

I realise it's a bit wide. But I though you might appreciate all the grist details.