A celebration

On 21st November at 12:00 in the Butcher's Tears shop on Witte de Witstraat I'll be celebrating reaching my 8th decade. 

There should be three historic beers to try: 1955 Lees Best Mild, 1956 Lees Strong Ale and 1832 Truman XXXX. 

Everyon is welcome to come along. Just remember to bring me a present. 

Butcher's Tears Stout tasting, part one

The first part of my talk last Saturday at Butcher's Tears. Where I discuss 1805 Barclay Perkins Brown Stout.

 

Tasting of historic Stouts

I'll be hosting a tasting of four historic Stouts and one Porter at Butcher's Tears on Saturday 8th August at 15:00. It should be lots of fun 

These are the beers we'll be drinking:

• 1805 Barclay Perkins Brown Stout
• 1832 Barclay Perkins TT 
• 1875 Reid's SSS
• 1900 Cairnes Double Stout
• 1936 Whitbread Mackeson Stout

All the beers have been brewed by Butcher's Tears. 

It isn't the largest of venues. I suggest either buying tickets in advance or getting there nice and early. You can buy tickets here:

https://butchers-tears.com/product/ron-pattinson-stout-lecture

They cost a very reasonable 25 euros, which includes a glass of all five of the beers. 

 The evnt will take place at the Bucher's Tears shop:

Butcher's Tears shop
Witte de Withstraat 108, 
Amsterdam.
https://butchers-tears.com/ 

 

 

Augustiner Edelstoff

Since the weather has turned warm, I've mostly been drinking Augustiner Edelstoff on my weekly visit to Butcher's Tears.

It's a lovely drinking beer. Light, but with enough flavour to jkeep you interested. Perfect for casual afternoon drinking. Nothing too distracting.

I do love Austiner's beers.It's hard to beat their Helles when it's served Bayerischer Anstich (straight from a wooden cask). But it's a very delicate beer that doesn't come over as well in the bottle. Edelstoff fares much better.

What style of beer is Edelstoff? I'd call it a Spexial. A pale Lager that's stronger than a Helles. Many Bavarian breweries make one. With a gravity of around 13º Plato and 5.6% ABV.

The classic way would be to call the weaker one a Helles Lagerbier and the stronger one a Helles Export. Though that system has largely broken down since WW II. Agustner do call their standard beer Helles Lagerbier. So ther eis still that.

I'm glad I can get hold of a decent Lager when I'm out. It's depressingly difficult in Amsterdam. Mostly, it's just Pils of varying degrees of awfulness. Edelstoff is a class better. And better class.

I thought you might want a change from Youngs. If only for a day. 

In Amsterdam

Yet another video. This time recent stuff. Recorded in the last few days. 

New local update

Checkpoint Charlie it is. Our new local. That seems to be settled. For the time being, at least. Despite the prices going up. Twice. (When I were a lad, prices only went up in Amsterdam once every couple of decades.)

Outside Checkpoint Charlie.

I feel quite at home there now. Which I should do, after more than a year frequenting the place. Some of the barstaff seem to recognise us. Which, again, they should do after a year. Lucas has chatted with a couple of the other regulars. It would be more of a surprise if he hadn't, sociable beast that he is. Alexei plays the pinball. Which is probably the main reason he turns up.

It's not the same as Butcher's Tears. Yet. All those layers of interactions need time to build up. Like layers of paint. I'll give it a few more years.

Tears II garden.

We've visited Tears II, the Butcher's Tears shop, a couple of times. And had a couple of beers in their massive garden, which was pleasant. But it's not a pub. Ruling it out as our local. 

Hard work building up a local. But it's work I'm prepared to put in.

Thimble fests

Last weekend there was another festival at Butcher's Tears. This time it was a Franconian Anstich Fest. That is, gravity-served Lager from Franconia.

I wasn't going to miss out on that. Incorporating, as it did, two of my favourite things: good Lager and gravity dispense. There were some cracking beers: Heckel Vollbier, Hartleb Landbier, Gradl Dunkel and Zehender Maibock. Too many beers for me to get around to all of them. Especially when I had two of the Zehender Maibock.

The beers would have confused the hell out of a style Nazi. Most seemed to be named fairly randomnly. Heckel Vollbier was stronger than Scharpf Märzen. Several were called Landbier. One of the vaguest terms in German brewing. Even more so than Kellerbier, which popped up several times, too. Trying to categorise Franconian beers is a short path tto madness.

It wasn't as crowded as the Czech festival a couple of months back. Which suited me. Not much queueing for a beer or a slash.

The kids seemed to enjoy themselves. And why not? They were getting free beer. And very nice beer, too.

I don't go to many beer festivals nowadays. In recent years, it's just been the ones at Butcher's Tears and the Berliner Bier Meile. And what do those have in common? Good-quality Lager and full measures. Oh, and plenty of seats.

I used to go to many more. The main Belgian one, whatever that's called now. The Borefts Festival. Others in Stockholm and Copenhagen. But that's all a few years back. Now, I just can't be bothered with most festivals.

Why is that? Well, I've already told you, really. Lack of seating, long queues for beer. But the biggest reason of all is small measures. If you're lucky, you might get a 15 cl serving. But it might well be just 10 cl or even a piddling 5 cl. I've got two glasses sometimes to take the edge off my frustration. Or taken along my own Imperial pint glass.

A combination of small measures and long queues wring all the pleasure out of a festival for me. Getting in line for your next beer as soon as you've been served your last makes for a queueing festival rather than a beer festival.

Then there's the beer. Most festivals don't serve anything any different from the beers I can usually buy. Either Belgian styles or the murky muck, junk-laden sours and over-pastried Stouts that seem to be brewed everywhere nowadays. Nothing that's going to drag me out of my bed. While a proper Lager is something that's undeservedly rare. Outside of the festivals I do still attend.

Thimble fests. I doubt I'll be going to another one soon. 

Butcher's Tears Pivo Festival

A couple of times a year, Butcher's Tears is home to a beer festival. There's the Franconian Anstich Festival, featuring gravity-served Lager. And the Pivo Festival, with Czech Lager. I really enjoy both.

Now the Berlin Beer Festival is no more, I get very few opportunities to drink good Czech Lager. Fuck all, really. Which is pretty annoying. I'd much rather get stuck into half litres of good drinking beer than piss around with thimbles of sludge.

It's also a day out for the family. Though Alexei took a bit of persuading. He kept insisting he had studying to do. Where is his sense of priorities? Obviously, drinking Czech beer takes preference. Especially as he wasn't paying for it.

I went for amber or dark beers. Dolores and the kids for the pale ones. The selection of both was pretty good. I made sure that I got some of the Fleku 13º, having missed out last year. It's still as good as ever. Though the Cernokostolecky 13º was its equal. The Vinoharadske amber 13º was another cracker.

No detailed report, as I've a nice lump of pork to roast. I will leave you with some photos. As you'll see, it got pretty damn crowded.

Here we go again

Every Saturday me and Andrew walk down to Butcher's Tears for a few beers. Meeting up with my mates Will and Lucas.

We used to get down there between 15:30 and 16:00. But since they started closing pubs at 17:00 a few weeks ago we've started going earlier. What's the point in going to a pub for just an hour?

The plan was different this week. As Lucas had to work on Saturday, we arranged to meet on Sunday instead. Which was also the last time they were going to be open until the New Year. I'd have to reschedule our Sunday Dinner to be a bit earlier to get to the pub on time.

When 14:00 rolled around on Saturday, I weirdly fancied a pint.

"Do you want to go sown the pub, Andrew?"

"Sure."

He's never one to turn down a beer. Especially when I'm paying. Which is always when we go out together.

 

There were only a few other punters when we got there. It filled up a bit, later, but wasn't packed.

Since the hours have been restricted they've had a more limited range of draught beers. Just three or four instead of seven of eight. There was a new one, though. Something simply called Blond. Barman Hubert explained what it was.

"It was supposed to be a Pilsener. But something went wrong in Belgium [where some of their beers are brewed]. I think they used the wrong yeast."

That's what it tasted like. It had the spicy flavours associated with some Belgian yeasts.

"It tastes a bit like Leffe Blond." I told Andrew when he let me take a sip. "But better."

Andrew seemed pretty pleased with it. At least, he ordered a second pint.

"See you tomorrow, Hubert." I said after settling our bill.

"I don't think so."

"Why? Won't you be working?"

"They're closing the pubs again from tomorrow."

Damn.

"Just as well we came down today, Andrew."

Who knows when the pubs will be open again. What will I do on Saturday afternoons?

Franconian goodness

It's been far too long since I've been to Franconia. Happily, Franconia came to me.

In the form of the Franconian Anstich Fest at Butcher's Tears last weekend. Lots of lovely Franconian beers, served the way god intended: straight from the cask. And they had Monchsambacher. Such wonderful stuff.

The older I've got, the less I've enjoyed most beer festivals. Too may people, too many beers, too few seats. Thankfully, none of those failings apply to the festivals held at Butcher's tears. And there's no travelling involved, other than a 15-minute walk. 

I love Lager. I've said it many times, but it bears repeating. Good Lagers, I mean. Brewed the old-fashioned way and served up without too much fizz.

I almost forgot one of my other pet hates at beer festivals: tiny glasses. You can fuck off serving me 10 cl or even 15 cl. That's why I used to take my own pint glass to the Borefts festival. I don't want 20 mouthfuls of beer I'll never remember. I want to give each beer the respect it deserves. Which, unless it's super-strong, is at least a half litre. Then again, I've be known to drink Imperial Stout by the pint.

A great festival, just hope they do another.

Mild Ales with Andrew

When I'm in town - which is most of the time nowadays -  I usually troll on down to Butcher's Tears on a Saturday afternoon. To meet up with my mates Will and Lucas for some leisurely pints outside. 

My son Andrew mostly comes along. Not really a surprise he's keen. There's free beer on offer. He's unlikely to turn that down.

This week was a little different. Lucas was away visiting his family in London. While Will was off birdwatching in Georgia.That left just me and Andrew.

"Do you still want to come to Butcher's Tears, Andrew?"

"Of course I do."

Well, there's that settled.

I needed to drop by, anyway, to make a delivery. Dolores harvested some wild hops from her secret spot this week and had just finished drying them. Not a huge amount, maybe 200-300 grams. But enough for a small special brew made from all Amsterdam ingredients. Dolores keeps some hops for making tea and lets Butcher's Tears have the rest.

Entering the taproom, I'm pleased to see that there are two Milds of draught. I go for the stronger one, of a modest 6.4% ABV. While Andrew opts for the 6% one. You can see our pints above. Mine is the darker one. Very nice it was, too.

Drinking Mild with my son. It's been a dream of mine ever since he was born. There's something really special about sitting in a pub with your child. When they're of drinking age. It was also special when the lads were younger. Just not in a good way. Andrew tended to do a runner if I didn't keep a close eye on him. The times I've had to chase him down Nieuwe Dijk.

Sharing pints with kids is important to me. Probably because it's something I never got to do with my dad. He died when I was fourteen.  Just a few years too early.

We were just about to finish off our last beers when a couple of Andrew's university friends suddenly appear. They were going to a party in the next door building. Andrew decides to tag along with them.

"Great, I haven't had a dance in ages, Andrew."

"Daad."

"Only joking. I'm off home."

"Dad. Could I have some money?"

Some things never change.

Butcher's Tears
Karperweg 45,
1075 LB Amsterdam.
https://butchers-tears.com/

Three pints of Mild

That was my order at the bar yesterday. I was in my local brewery, Butcher's Tears, having a few beers with a couple of mates.

We were all on Flying Bed, a proper Dark Mild, brewed the English way. That is, not coloured with fucking chocolate malt or roast barley. No, done the proper way with crystal malt, No.3 invert sugar and caramel. A superbly drinkable beer. Enough flavour to keep your interest across a pint or five, but not so much that it overwhelms you. The epitome of a session beer.

As the pints steadily slipped by, we discussed the current insanity in the UK and the general uselessness of it politicians. All UK immigrants, we agreed we were lucky to have got out when we did. We were members of a fortunate generation, able to move wherever in Europe the fancy took us. And also the luck to arrive in Amsterdam before housing became unaffordable. What chance would current UK youth have? Fuck all, was the consensus.

Brewer Eric came and sat at our table. Handing over a bottle of S4, beer he brewed to an old Truman's recipe of mine. Which was nice. But then he got talking about the council's redevlopment plans.

Butcher's Tears is at the end of Amsterdam's most unusual street. A random collection of buildings or randomly different sizes. A row of single-storey garages. Odd bits of light industry and at its end, a lovely little brewery.

Which will have to move out in July. The council has been eyeing up this piece of, in their view, underdeveloped land for years. Gradually nibbling away at its edges one demolition at a time. This year they're going for the jackpot, clearing away most of what remains.

When I moved to Amsterdam it was an exciting, edgy city. Much of its energy was generated on the margins. In squats and repurposed industrial buildings. Every year a little more of that old city is lost. Replaced by a safe middle-class blandness.

Another piece of the fun old city is to be destroyed. It's a sad day.

But it's still way better living in Amsterdam than being trapped in the UK's madness.



Butcher's Tears
Karperweg 45,
1075LB Amsterdam.
https://butchers-tears.com/

Franconian Anstich Fest

I'm turning into a right lazy git in my old age. Turning? If I'm honest, I've always been a lazty git. How much I could have achieved with a little more diligence.

For someone as lethargic as me, the Franconian Anstich Fest on Saturday was perfect, being just around the corner, at Butcher's Tears. The closest brewery to my house by quite a way. Not that I would have missed a chance to drink gravity-served Franconian beer. A rare treat. I'd even have endured the tourist hell that is the city centre for some of that lovely Franconian stuff.

Persuading Dolores to tag along was easy enough. "None of that weird modern junk, just proper drinking beer." I guaranteed her. I know the sort of stuff she likes. And it isn't beer that looks like orange juice.

Just half an after kickoff, we turned up. Which meant we got seats. A little later and we'd have struggled. Heartening, as I wanted the event to be a success. Because then it might be repeated. And I could slurp back more of that lovely German beer.

No dicsussion about where to start: Monchsambacher Lagerbier. I've only had it once before and it blew me away. And that was after several days drinking top-class Franconian beer. Big one for me, small one for Dolores. It didn't disappoint.

Gradl Leupser Dunkel next. Man, what a lovely drinking beer. It did that suicidal thing where it threw itself down my throat before I could stop it. Best have another just to make sure of it delightfulness.

"What do youi fancy next, Dolores?"

"The Helles."

It's Schlenkerla Helles. "You do realise that's a smoked beer?" I warn.

"I'll have something else, then."

"It's not really smoky. Just a tiny little bit."

Graham Povery confirmed its very slight smokiness. I'm not sure believed me. Dolores took his word for it and got a half..

"See, not really smoky, is it?"

"No, not like that horrible bacon beer." Praise indeed.

I finished with another Gradl Dunkel. Such a lovely beer. Not even heard of it before.

A really great little festival. And only €4.50 for a half litre. Early to say this, but it might well be one of the highlights of my year.

Random Dutch beers (part three)

More of this stodge. You'll have noticed I'm no Beer Nut.

Don't expect any particular logic to the selection of beers. It's just whatever caught my eye at Ton Overmars. I attempt a bit of variety. Tempting as it is to just get a crate of Abt and a half crate of Prior every Saturday.

Christoffel Nobel 8.7% ABV
Dry-hopped strong pale beer., it's described as. It's a slightly hazy gold. Looks quite pretty, especoially with the foamy, almost Duvel-like head. Ever had a strong Dutch Lager? Bavaria 8.6, Grolsch Het Canon, that sort of thing? It's similar to those, but bitterer. Has the same underlying malty warmth. I could imagine necking a can or two of this on the top deck on an NS train on the way to Bodegraven. Three cans more like. It takes the best part of an hour. Even better than Gordon's Platinum. And that's journey-shortener supreme.

"Like some of the beers from Butcher's Tears. The ones I don't like." Dolores comments in her usual, brutally-honest way. She does really like some of their beers. Green Cap, in particular.

Next - a beer from Butcher's Tears.

La Condition Humaine IV Forgotten in Space 6% ABV
Erik likes odd names. Not sure what the name means. I've read the book. In French. (During my long only reading French period. That left me better read in French literature than English.) Can't remember bugger all about it, other than it's set in 1920's China. Not sure what relevance that has. It's golden, a bit hazy - I did buy it just 45 minutes ago at Ton Overmars.* Smells sort of fruity. In a good way. Yeah. Gently punches some spot. Wish I'd poured it a bit clearer.

Another Butcher's Tears beer:

The Last possession 5% ABV
Darker, this one. Just about amber in colour. Smells a bit spicy. Damn that's bitter. Really bitter. No. Don't really like this one.

"Andrew, try this."

"What is it?"

"A beer from Butcher's Tears."

He takes a sip.

"It's OK. Similar to what I've tasted before from those kinds of breweries."

Praise indeed.





* "You're paying for his retirement." Dolores always says.

Butcher's Tears - Ton Overmars Festival

There was a feature in local Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool the other week which really struck a chord. It was called "Centrum Mijden" - "Avoiding the Centre".

Many Amsterdammers are fed up with the city centre, annoyed by the tourists and filth. (The less tolerant ones, filthy tourists.) Instead they're sticking to their own neighbourhood.The same tendency is apparent in the beer scene. Most of recent openings were outside the centre.

I pondered this yesterday at a small beer festival at Butcher's Tears held in conjunction with a local off licence, Ton Overmars. (Where I buy my St. Bernardus Abt.) A beer festival held out my way is another indication of the decentralising trend. It's also nice to be able to walk to an event.

Ton Overmars has doing a good job of stocking beer from new local breweries. A couple more appeared this week: Noordman and De Naeckte Brouwers from Amstelveen, which is where I work. Both were due to be at the festival, but Noordman didn't show up.

I'd brought along a small present for Eric, brewer at Butcher's Tears: a bag of wild Amsterdam hops. I picked them on Saturday/ They looked really lovely, a beautiful shade of light green. I've no diea what they taste like, but they look dead cool. I hope he can find some use for them. Who else has 100% organuc Amsterdam hops?

It was a ticket-only event. Good because it meant that it wasn't too crowded. I hate crowds, especially when they slow down my beer supply. If I come over as grumpy misanthropic, well, that's probably because I am deep down. Hiding my inner rage is why I'm nice.

The photo above is from early in the day. So you'd expect I made more notes. I didn't. Not out of laziness or drunkenness, but because we bumped into our nextdoor neighbours. Not the time to be nerdy.

In case you're wondering, my one note was "Quite good. Spicy without buggering up the beer." Oedipus Thai Thai is the beer.

There was quite a delegation of Pattinsons, with both Dolores and Andrew coming along. Dolores was slightly worried it would be all "grapefruit beer" as she calls stuff made with American hops. She's not a big fan. Luckily Oedipus had brought along a Kuitbier. Much more to Dolores's taste: not too strong and not too hoppy.

We're off to another festival next weekend: Borefts. A much bigger affair. I've promised Dolores cask Bitter. Her favourite type of beer. I'll be taking an Imperial pint glass with me again. I can't stand drinking from the ridiculous thimbles they supply. Measures of less than a half pint are against my beliefs.




Wijnwinkel Slijterij Ton Overmars
Hoofddorpplein 11,
1059 CV Amsterdam.
Tel: 020 - 615 71 42
http://www.tonovermars.nl/


Butcher's Tears
Karperweg 45
1075LB Amsterdam.
http://butchers-tears.com


Oedipus Brewing
Westerdok 274
1013 BH
Amsterdam
http://www.oedipusbrewing.com/