Heineken-owned Brand has an IPA and a Session IPA. The former is an OK beer. Not had the latter. On principle, as it costs more than the straight IPA, but us only half the strength. Where's the logic in that.
Heineken have yet another IPA in the Dutch market, in the form of Lagunitas. Do they brew it in Holland? It wouldn't surprise me.
Gulpener, quite a small Lager brewery, have a New England IPA, of all things.
Yesterday a beer in the cooler in Dirk van den Broek* caught my eye. Grolsch IPA. I couldn't remember seeing it before so I grabbed a couple of bottles.
I came down this morning and saw the two bottles were empty. I don't remember drinking those last night.
"Did you drink my Grolsch IPA, Andrew.
"Yes, Dad."
"At least tell me what you thought of it."
"I liked it."
Andrew got a taste for IPA while we were in the US. And also acquired a habit of hoovering up any booze we leave unattended.
Time to crack one open for myself. With a side sample for Dolores.
There's a bit of the grapefruit thing going on. Quite subdued. Not crap, by any means. Just inoffensive. I prefer a more in your face IPA. Like Sculpin. Grolsch IPA is also a bit weedy - just 5.5% ABV. Whilst Brand's is 7% ABV.
"What do you think, Dolores?"
"It's like the beers from Butcher's Tears. A bit like Green Cap."
"It does smell grapefruity, doesn't it?"
"Yes, but not too bad. Not my most favourite beer. But Drinkable." Dolores says, polishing off her sample. Praise indeed.
* A cheap and cheerful Dutch supermarket chain. Like Morrrisons, a bit.
Posts
5 comments:
I suppose they follow Brand, which had their IPA already in 2016.
Marc Janssen, whose name in on the bottle, has a very nice pilot brewery which is presumably where this came from. "Met" him online a few weeks back, he seems like a good bloke with a talent for taking interesting recipes and making them marketable - without also making them wishy-whitewashy marketese, if you see what I mean.
Yes, they've been brewing Lagunitas at Zoeterwoude for a while now. Similar sort of deal to how Lagunitas is now brewing a beer labelled Newky Brown in the US, although the latter has a recipe that bears no resemblance to real Dog. Chinook and Centennial?!?
BryanB,
interesting. I was wondering who Marc Janssen was and why his name was on the label.
qq,
thanks for confirming that. I'd assumed it was the case, given how often I see Lagunitas here in Amsterdam.
Post a Comment