Brouwerij De Molen

Brouwerij De Molen

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

Technical Information

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".^{[citation needed]}

Since 2012 the maximum capacity per batch is increased to 2500 liters. A new building was acquired 200 meters from the mill. The main production happens in this new brewhouse, although the old setup is still used at least once a week. The latest estimate is a production of 6000 hectoliters per year.

Awards and recognition

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.^{[citation needed]}

Events

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.^{[citation needed]}

Beers

• Amarillo, a 9.2% ABV beer made with American hops of the same name.
• Amerikaans, a 4.2% ABV cask-conditioned version of the Engels, made with American hops.
• Bloed, Zweet & Tranen (Blood, Sweat and Tears), a strong amber beer made with brown and peated malts.
• Bommen & Granaten a strong, sweet beer of 15.2% ABV.
• Borefts Stout
• Cuvee De Molen a 13% ABV strong beer aged in wood barrels, made by blending the Rasputin and Tsarina Esra.
• De Molen Porter, a 5.8% ABV Porter-style beer hopped with Kent Goldings, brewed to a historic recipe from the 1914 archives of England's Barclay & Perkins.
• Donder and Bliksem (Thunder & Lightning), a lager beer in the Pilsener style.
• Engels, made with Sladek hops from The Czech Republic.
• Heil & Zegen, a hoppy 10.8% ABV strong beer with grapefruit-like flavors.
• Hel & Verdoemenis (Hell & Damnation), a 12% ABV dark, strong imperial stout style beer with complex flavor. A deep black beer with a strong bitter taste and accents of chocolate, caramel and coffee. The recipe includes traditional English Brown Malt.^[7] Brewer Menno Olivier selected the name to reflect the beer's bitterness and high alcohol content.^[8]
  • Eiken Hel & Verdoemenis, an oak-aged version.
• Hemel & Aarde (Heaven & Earth), a 10.3% ABV dark beer made with peat-smoked malt from the Bruichladdich Scotch distillery, American Nugget hops for bittering, and a citrusy taste from American Amarillo finishing hops.
• Kannen & Kruiken (Cans and Crocks) an American-style IPA with American finishing hops including Chinook and Cascade. The name refers to a Dutch expression meaning "to have everything neatly sorted out".
• Molen Stout, 7.2% ABV
• Molen Tien, 10% ABV
• Pek & Veren (Tar & Feathers), an 8.0% ABV dark, smoked beer.
• Rasputin, an Imperial Stout. After a 2009 trademark-infringement claim was brought by California's North Coast Brewing Company due to the name's similarity to their existing "Old Rasputin" beer of the same style, De Molen changed the name on the American export label to "Disputin" in a humorous reference to the controversy.^[9]
• Storm & Averij (Storm & Damage), an American-style double India Pale Ale.
• Ton sur Ton, a 10.5% ABV strong Saison made to commemorate the service of an employee of the Amsterdam craft beer store De Bierkoning.
• Tsarina Esra, an Imperial Porter. Also produced in an oak-aged 'Reserva' version.
• Vlaams & Hollands, 5% ABV Flemish Brown Ale aged in wine and whisky barrels.

Numerous other beers have also been produced.

References

External links

• Brouwerij De Molen official website
• De Molen listing on RateBeer
• De Molen listing on BeerAdvocate