To start at the beginning, and not to create any more confusion than is necessary, there is no country named Holland. There used to be, years ago, but today North and South Holland are provinces in a country named the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Vereniging Promotie Informatie Traditioneel Bier (PINT) formed in 1980. Now with 3,000 members, PINT is a force to be reckoned with in the Netherlands.
Botting line and murals at Koeningshoeven. (Gregg Glaser)
Holland was an independent country until the 16th century, when it joined with the northern and southern Netherlands in an unsuccessful fight against the Spanish Empire. The Spanish king became the “Count of Holland.” In 1830 the southern Netherlands, now known as Belgium, became independent. The northern Netherlands and other counties (the present-day provinces of Drente, Groningen, Friesland, Gelderland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Brabant and Limburg) joined to establish the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Of course, the people and the language are referred to—in English, at least—as Dutch.
Now that nomenclature is as clear as a glass of pilsner, we can talk about Dutch beer.
Pilsner Is King
As in most countries in northern Europe—and the world, for that matter—the pilsner style of lager is the beer of choice for most Dutch beer drinkers. Within this small, densely populated area (the highest population density in Europe) live 15,981,472 mostly lager drinkers. The beer style of choice has started to change in the last 20 years or so, but just a little. Pilsner sales make up about 90 percent of all beer sold in the Netherlands. And Dutch brewers brew a lot of beer—just under 25 million hectoliters (21.3 million barrels) in 2001. Although this maritime nation, with a rich and highly successful trading history, exports a great deal of the beer it brews (think Heineken and Grolsch), the Dutch still consume 86.4 liters (22.8 gallons) of beer per capita per year.
Dutch Brewing History
Like all of Europe, until the lager revolution of the mid-1800s, Dutch brewers brewed top-fermented ales. By the end of the 1800s, pilsners had taken over. World War II devastated the Dutch brewing industry. Breweries were dismantled or destroyed by bombs, and there was almost no barley for making malt. By the late 1940s, Dutch brewing was once again on its feet, with most brewers operating in the southern provinces of Limburg and North Brabant. These old family brewers continued to make a few top-fermented ales, but in the 1950s, they either failed to make a go of it or were bought out by Heineken, a brewery uninterested in ales and small brewery operations.
By the 1960s, only a few independent breweries remained in the south. In Limburg, there were Lindeboom, Gulpener, Alfa, Leeuw, Brand and De Ridder (the last two now owned by Heineken). In North Brabant, there were Budelse and Dommelsch (the latter now also owned by Heineken). By the late 1970s about 16 breweries operated in the Netherlands: a few major players such as Heineken, Grolsch and Bavaria, and a few regional independents.
At this point in time, approximately 99 percent of all beer sold in the Netherlands was pilsner. The only exceptions were the traditional strong Dutch version of a bock (often spelled bok) beer produced each autumn and possibly an Oud Bruin (Old Brown). Gulpener Dort (a German-inspired Dortmunder-style beer) was an extremely rare exception.
Modern Changes
The time was ripe for some changes in Dutch beer culture. Just as a generation of US Baby Boomers returned from studies and travels abroad (primarily in Europe) in the 1960s and 1970s to shake up American complacency with bland tasting wines, beers, coffees, teas, bread, cheeses and other foods, a generation of young Dutch people in the late 1970s returned from visits to their southern cousins—the Belgians—where they had discovered wonderful-tasting beers. Dutch entrepreneurs who noticed this trend began importing Belgian beers.
The first imports were Duvel, Westmalle Tripel and De Koninck, three beers that to this day remain on the beer lists of cafés throughout the Netherlands. The first Dutch cafés bold enough to stock these Belgian imports were Jan Primus in Utrecht, De Beyerd in Breda, In de Wildeman in Amsterdam, and Locus Publicus in Rotterdam. These four cafés remain in business today and are among the best of the best for beer lovers.
A consumer movement began at this time as well. Just as the Campaign for Real Ale in the United Kingdom formed as a grass-roots organization in the 1970s to save the tradition of cask ale in the British Isles, a group of beer lovers formed in the Netherlands to promote good quality beer. Vereniging Promotie Informatie Traditioneel Bier (PINT) formed in 1980. Now with 3,000 members, PINT is a force to be reckoned with in the Netherlands. Its stated goals are 1) Promoting beer as a cultural heritage in the Netherlands; 2) Informing the beer enthusiast on developments in the world of beer; and 3) Guarding the interest of the beer enthusiast. PINT publishes PINT-nieuws and an Internet site, Nederlandse Bierpagina’s (www.pint.nl), under the artful hand of editor Theo Flissebaalje; produces beers festivals; and sets up visits to breweries for its members.
