Microbrewed Adventures - Charles Papazian [78]
MUG IS THE DUTCH WORD for mosquito. It is also the name of one of the most charming pub-restaurants in the Netherlands and Jan’s favorite local specialty beer bar. A tiny place and easy to miss, De Mug is wonderfully nestled in the village of Middelburg only a 10-minute drive from Vllesingen. De Mug’s regularly published newsletter features news of the beers they offer and events they sponsor. One can’t help notice the abundance of candles and large casks of old medium sherry, dry Madeira and rich ruby port behind the “brown” bar, so called because of its ambience. Bottles of Tabasco sauce are tucked away amidst the carved wooden nooks and crannies and an American Express sticker can be seen on the window, but that’s as far as 1995 seemed to express itself, except for the selection of 64 classic Dutch and Belgium beers (though they did have Murphy’s and Guinness stout and Paulaner Salvator doppelbock as well). Heineken is offered, but it isn’t the Heineken light lager the rest of the world knows; rather rare bottles of Heineken “Oud Bruin” and Amstel “Meibok” were offered as world classics.
The pub was established in 1973. Barend Midavaine, the owner, really loves what he is doing—and it shows. At De Mug I met folks who make beer, sell beer, think beer and drink beer. Barend’s wife is a homebrewer. Need I say more about the heart and authenticity of this tiny bar near the Zeeland coast?
I enjoyed a few beers, including a Trappist-brewed Westvleteren and a Rochefort. I savored their complexity and freshness, thinking that this was the finale for the day’s visits, but I was wrong.
Nearby in the small village of Hilvarenbeek, we approached an old brick building. I was taken behind its unassuming garage door. I glanced to the side and noted that the iron gate had a hop motif designed into one its supporting posts. Inside this unassuming brick building is a brewery that has been turned into a working museum. The two-hectoliter (53 gallons) Stichting Museumbrouwerij De Roos brewhouse, built in 1850, was hidden from the Germans during World War II and thus saved from being scrapped for war materials. The original Stichting De Roos Brewery was a top-fermenting ale brewery, one of but a few breweries that did not change its beer to the more popular lager style. Harrie de Leijer De Roos, son of the founding grandfather, only recently renovated the brewery premises. At the time of our visit he had the support of the local city council for plans on offering to the local homebrew club an opportunity to brew at this historic brewery museum.
Upon returning to Jan and Irma’s home we took off our street shoes and slipped into wooden Dutch shoes to roam around the soggy yard and into the crammed floor-to-ceiling garage. We began tasting Jan’s various liqueurs, including a homemade Scottish Drambuie indistinguishable from the real thing and a mystery liqueur whose origins Jan asked me to guess. I tasted vanilla, cocoa, coffee and Curação. But Jan flabbergasted me when he confided that he had hand roasted his own cocoa beans, saying, “You really can’t get the really true taste of cocoa unless you roast your own beans. They were very difficult to find, but I did.”
We had dinner, and the beer, brandy and stories continued. I learned that Holland’s only Trappist monastery (De Schaapskoot) would be hosting the next year’s Dutch National Homebrew Championship and would brew a special beer in honor of homebrewing. Meanwhile I prepared for another day’s adventures with a short night’s sleep.
DE VAETE BROUWERIJ in Lewedorpwas was a microbrewery I visited, conceived by yet two more homebrewers. Located at the end of a long dirt road running alongside a canal in an extremely small farmer’s shed. Inspired by their 10 years of homebrewing, Ton de Bruin and Alexander Roovers had become weekend microbrewers, producing about 25 gallons at a time. Keeping 30 different strains of yeast on culture, they fermented their Plder Blondje, Tripel, Winterbier, pale ale, Dubbel and Pa’s Best in five-gallon carboys. By trade, Ton is a laboratory technician