I discovered De Molen brewery in a little shop in North London called Kris Wines (definitely worth a visit if you can). I was drawn in by it's laughably basic label (surprise surprise): it's a white label with black type - that's it. Each bottle is numbered and batched so you know it's brewed on a very small scale basis.
I was impressed. This is a brewery who really focus on one thing only and do it well. If you're not keen on sediment or haziness this might be one to skip, but if you're taking the time to read this I imagine you're keen to give new things a try!
So, imagine my delight when the Craft Beer Co advertise this smashing festival on Twitter (@thecraftbeerco if you're keen). 10 De Molen beers to sample!! It was enough to get a tube-dodger like me hurtling through the underground to pastures new. Plus the Craft Beer Co seemed like a place I should definitely visit. They have mind-boggling collection of hard-to-find beer; bottled, kegged and casked. The scotch eggs aren't bad either.
I arrived fairly early but having just three beers on offer was a little bit disappointing. It was the second day of the 'festival' after all. But three was better than none, and it wasn't as if I was going to drink 10 beers anyway. Later on they'd eventually got 6 on the go (out of the actual 8 they had) so I shan't grumble. This isn't the sort of establishment I'm going to start criticising. They need to be severely congratulated for bringing such wonderful beers to London. The staff were jolly nice too.
So, what are they like? Well, read on dear follower and ye shall discover.
The first effort was Donder and Bliskem (Thunder and Lightning), a pale, hazy pilsner-type beer. It wasn't heavily aromatic, with pale malt and straw flavours and a clean hop smell. It was only delicately carbonated so was an easy drinker; the head didn't stick around for long. What characterised the beer was its intense bitterness. There wasn't a lot of sweetness in the aftertaste and the bitterness prevailed long after the beer had gone. It's not my favourite sort of beer but a very solid effort and classily finished. It's the sort of drink that would prove very dangerous if readily available on a hot summer's day. Besides, it's best to start slowly and build a head of steam. One doesn't start with smoky stouts, does one!?
I then moved on to Heen and Veer (Outbound and Weather) which De Molen describe as a twist on the Abbey Style Ale, brewed with an unusual yeast strain. In my humble opinion I think it's such a twist it can barely be described as Abbey style. I've never tried a Belgian ale like it, anyhow. It reminded me more of an American craft ale, with plenty of hops involved. This was one of my favourites with an unbelievable scent. Passion fruit flew unashamedly up my nostrils, but it's no one-trick pony. Add plenty of floral notes and pine-like hop and this beer is a party in your nose, no doubt.
It was nice to see a good head follow my sips down the glass, too. Whilst it shared some of the bitterness of the Donder and Bliskem it was properly balanced with good sweetness in the saliva making it much more enjoyable. I detected a hint of honey too, to round it off. As you can tell, I was impressed.
Finally, Hemel and Aarde was drunk (Heaven and Earth), a heavy stout as black as night. Unsurprisingly there was lots of smoky bonfire goodness to sting the nose. Its unique selling point is that it uses peated grain from the Bruichladdich distillery (the world's most heavily peated malt, no less!) and it's definitely present, but not as much as I expected. Whilst you can smell peaty whisky from 10 paces, this one had to be sought in deep inhalations. It was a fine reward for looking like a ponce though. I don't know this for a fact but I'm guessing that perhaps peated malt doesn't contain the enzymes needed for starch breakdown (gotta have sugar to create booze!) so they can only use limited amounts of it in the brew.
The aftertaste was of course very sweet and full of body, but surprisingly short on bitterness, which is a surprise. It was nowhere near the levels of bitterness as seen in the Donder and Bliskem. It goes to show you can roast grain to cinder but it can't match the bitterness of hops! The hops they had used, however, showed themselves politely, and impressively considering the bamboozling levels of flavour flying around. What also impressed me was how it didn't leave syrupy thickness in the mouth for such a strong, dark beer. In fact, as time went on (this weren't no gulpin' beer) it showed it's ale-like qualities, the smoke and peat letting the more delicate flavours have their say before rounding up the show with a flourish.
I did try a couple of others (stolen from other people's glasses), both smoky affairs, and can confirm that this brewery do not make bad beers. Like most other finely crafted, high quality things, these beers are fairly hard to get hold of but I strongly urge you seek them out and you will reap the rewards for your tenacity.
Donder and Bliskem - 6.2% - 8
Heen and Veer - 9.2% - 10
Hemel and Aarde - 10% - 10
http://www.brouwerijdemolen.nl/index.php/en.html
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