Since the Netherlands apparently suck at football, the hosts of the ProBieren event at De Groote Weiver thought it would be a good idea to drink beers from participating countries instead of trying to beat them. A theme was born.
Five beers from five different countries. All for € 15, with snacks included. A pretty solid deal. They do this monthly, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to join the last few sessions (themed Wood aged, Stout & Porter, Beer & Food, so pretty good ones…)
Speciale Vlo – Brouwerij ‘t IJ
The only Dutch beer in the line up was this limited release from Brouwerij ‘t IJ in Amsterdam. A Belgian style pale ale which held the middle between an IPA and a Belgian Blonde. Nice, but not spectacular.
Ghisa – Birrificio di Lambrate
A very light stout that had good flavours of malt and forest fruits. Quite light in body which made it a more summery version of what you would expect.
Belgian Triple – Mikkeller
A Danish take on a Belgian Staple. Mikkeller is very good at brewing all kinds of beer and this is no exception. The drawback for me is that it’s a very good triple. Loads of brewers make that and Belgium is too close for me to find this a very special beer.
Golden Pride – Fuller’s
The English one in the line up. An amber ale that had loads of flavour. A bit malty but also soft stewed fruits. Quite fresh for an ale and the bottle looks very cool too!
Berliner Art – Brewbaker
The second country that beat us at the championship, Germany. A very good IPA from a country from which you don’t find many non-German style beers. At least, I don’t. A good IPA which was a bit gentle on the hop but had a very rich body. I might check out Brewbaker a bit more when I get the chance!
Malt Fascination 
Scarily, Golden Pride was about as strong a beer as I’d ever drunk until a few years back – it was the classic ‘end of birthday’ pint (occasionally with a large port poured into it…it’s tasty but deadly). I think it’s still referred to as a ‘barley wine’ over here…
Good to hear that the Ghisa is good – I picked up a bottle of the higher strength Imperial Ghisa at the Breat British Beer Festival last year and it was also quite tasty. I need to do more research into Italian beer – we don’t get much of it (other than Peroni) in the UK.
Port poured into a beer? That must be a weird combination of things to taste…
Until recently the situation on Italian beer was the same here. Now you can get Birra del Borgo and Birrificio di Lambrate in our town and a few town over too. Don’t know how it is in the rest of NL. Had the ‘My Antonia’ from Birra del Borgo recently and that was bloody good beer. Huge bottle though (never sure if that’s a good thing or not).