My first beer from this new brewery - but of course there is nothing new under the sun at all: Menno Olivier started the justly famous De Molen brewery and as such is the supreme pioneer of U.S. style craft beer in the Netherlands, and any beer lover who has not spent the past two decades on another planet will know what happened next there. Though the bubble has burst meanwhile and - as in other countries - craft brewing is now in decline in the Netherlands for a number of reasons, the effects of De Molen, Uiltje, Kees Bubberman and so many others are lasting, with every Dutch beer drinker now being familiar with IPA, sour ale or barrel aged stout. Apparently Olivier, after having left his own brewery in the clutches of Bavaria in 2019 and then leaving the brewery himself, was unable to resist brewing and erected his own small craft brewery again in 2024 in Spain, where he resides now. I have been curious about this for a while so here we go. Medium thick, firm, busily shred-lacing, pale yellowish beige, tiny-bubbled, beautiful head lasting very long in relation to ABV; misty copper brown robe with bronze glow, dark even for an oldskool DIPA or TIPA - this must be a very malty one. Very herbal aroma of bergamot in a very tea-like way, dried orange peel, gin, wet toast, fried red onion, moist autumn leaves, freshly baked wholegrain bread, tonic water, dried wormwood, grapefruit zest, camphor, old bayleaf, even a weird background hint of actual liquorice candy (something I expect from a stout sometimes but never from an IPA), star anise, English Breakfast tea, walnut bread, vermouth. Dryish onset, dried lingonberries, touch medlar, underlying umami note (almost olive-like), fine-bubbled carb being not too active but still providing a minimum of minerality; full, rounded body, oily edges, layering cereally, brown-bready and nutty effects to a generally quite dark-malty whole but in a dry way - so no chocolate or fudge effects here (and none expected), just a dry, bready but 'dark' maltiness eventually almost superseded by a whole complex of drying, bittering herbaceousness - the dried citrus peel effects from the hops of course, but much more prominently, the overwhelmingly tea-like effect of the bergamot, bringing back all those black tea, clove, liquorice and even potpourri scents. Very lightly toasted malt bitterness accentuates the basic bitterness of this ingredient as well as the bitterness of the hops, but the alcohol, though considerable in volume, admittedly remains fairly well hidden, providing nothing but a late, soothing, vermouth-like glow. Way more malty than any present-day IPA (except for black IPAs perhaps) - which in this case probably shows the ageing brewer's longing for the days when he started up De Molen... We should not forget that in those days, NEIPA did not exist yet and IPAs were not at all expected to be hazy and sweet, on the contrary. This Eruption is, in that sense, first and foremost an eruption of nostalgia, refusing to meet the whole young generation of craft beer hipsters' expectations; this is the old master showing you how it was done back then, and how his creations - though admittedly the stouts were probably more impressive back then than the IPAs - changed the Dutch beer scene forever. Perhaps a bit heavy on the bergamot, which does take over the whole show here from beginning to end, this beer remains a testimony of Olivier's skills and experience - but even more so, a testimony of how much the beer world has changed between De Molen's earliest days and the present day. I was not expecting to become so philosophical and nostalgic, actually, but this 'blast from the past' did it, even in spite of the bergamot being overly present. It certainly stimulates me to purchase more from Olivier's "péchés de vieillesse", to quote Rossini...

From tap at In De Wildeman, Amsterdam. Man what a throwback, thick resinous Amarillo hop on steroids. Malty with caramel, sugary orange, sticky pine resin, some alcohol. Potent bittersweet flavour, strong and sticky. Reminds me of old skool US DIPA or hoppy Red Ale.

Interesting herbal taste. Almost like Eucalyptus.

Hmm had deze kleur niet verwacht, caramel, te alcoholisch, den, harsig, ben er niet weg van

Op tap bij Borefts '24. Amber kleur, vuilwitte kraag. Vrij moutig, brinta, geparfumeerd, bergamot, hoppig. Medium body, iets alcoholisch.

Borefts 2024. A clear dark amber beer with a beige lacing. Aroma of resinous bitter hops, grapefruit, pine. Taste of resinous bitter hops, red malt, grapefruit, long bitter finish.

20/IX/24 - on tap @ Borefts Day 1, Brouwerij De Molen (Bodegraven), BB: n/a (2024-902) Thanks to the Brewver crew for sharing today’s beers!

Clear amber beer, small creamy eggshell to yellowish head, unstable, a bit adhesive. Aroma: lovely, very floral, a bit fruity, mango, more floral notes, good! MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: fruity start, pretty soapy bitterness, floral notes, a bit sweet, malty, some caramel. Aftertaste: dry, bitter, a bit grassy, hoppy, floral finish.

Würziger, herb hopfiger Beginn, viel Bergamotte. Spritzig, weich, etwas alkoholisch, würziger aber trockener Abgang. 10/11/9/10//9