| Industry | Alcoholic beverage |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| Headquarters | Bodegraven, Netherlands |
| Products | Beer |
| Production output | 500 hL |
| Owner(s) | Menno Olivier |
| Website | http://www.brouwerijdemolen.nl/index.php/en.html |
Brouwerij De Molen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌbrʌwəˈrɛi̯ də ˈmoːlə(n)]) is an award-winning small craft brewery, distillery and restaurant located in Bodegraven, a town in the South Holland province of the Netherlands, within the rural area known as "Het Groene Hart" (the "green heart" of the country). The brewery, whose name means "The Mill", is located inside a historic windmill building known as "De Arkduif" that was built in 1697. The premises also include the brewery taproom and a retail beer store offering European and American craft beers, as well as regional products such as farm cheese.
Having started out as a homebrewer, and after stints at several small breweries, head brewer Menno Olivier worked professionally at Stadtsbrouwerij De Pelgrim in Rotterdam prior to founding De Molen in 2004.
The De Molen beers often have whimsical names consisting of paired words such as "Donder & Bliksem" ("Thunder and Lightning"). They have participated in joint projects with other notable European craft breweries such as Mikkeller and De Struise Brouwers. They have also participated in re-creations of historic beer recipes, such as those of the defunct British brewery Barclay & Perkins.
De Molen has created a broad range of beers of widely-varying styles, primarily by doing very short production runs. This has led to their products being in demand by beer enthusiasts due to their limited availability.[1] Many of their offerings are brewed only once a year, or on a one-off basis. Like many newer Dutch, Belgian and Scandinavian craft breweries, they are partially inspired by the American microbrewery movement, including its trend toward higher-alcohol and more strongly-flavored brews.
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The capacity of the brewing system is 500 liters per batch, with annual production averaging a total of 500 hectoliters. The equipment includes converted dairy tanks used as fermentors. De Molen's beer is bottled by hand at the brewery, in capped 335ml and corked-and-caged 750ml bottles with a wax finish which are individually numbered. Batches of beer that are considered unsatisfactory are used as the basis of De Molen's distilled 21% ABV "Beer Liqueur".
In 2010, De Molen was rated tenth in RateBeer's "Best Brewers in the World" list of the top 100 notable breweries.[2]
De Molen's products have dominated the RateBeer "Top 10 Best Dutch Beers" in both 2008 and 2009, occupying 7 and 8 of the 10 slots[3] in those years, respectively. Each beer so honored received a 'Silver Medal' or 'Gold Medal' rating from this popular beer rating site.
De Molen brewer Menno Olivier was the recipient of the 2008 "Zilveren Knuppel" ("silver bat") awarded annually by the Dutch craft beer enthusiast society PINT[4] for important contributions to beer culture in the Netherlands.
The De Molen Tsarina Esra was voted the Most Appreciated winter beer of the 2008 PINT Winter Beer festival.[5]
De Molen and several of its beers were listed among the "Beers of the Year 2008" at noted UK beer journalists Roger Protz and Tom Cannavan's website beer-pages.com.[6]
De Molen's Hel & Verdoemnis also won a Gold Medal at the 2008 Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival.
Since 2009, De Molen has been the host of an annual event titled the Borefts Beer Festival. This typically occurs in the early autumn, with the participation of a range of innovative European craft brewers, such as Belgium's Picobrouwerij Alvinne and De Struise Brouwers.
Numerous other beers have also been produced.