Amsterdam: A highlight of my visit to Amsterdam three years ago was ‘tArendsnest, a bar focusing on the best Dutch beers, served in a civilized setting with staff who are both service minded and has the required beer knowledge.
Well, the owner, Peter van der Arend, is not content with this. In September, he is opening de Biertempel, the first American beer bar in Europe. 15 beers on tap, 50 in bottles. Time to pick up your wooden shoes and book a ticket? I see the Beer Nut has done just that. A pity my family has decided the spring break will be in Paris.
Delirium Cafein Brussels seems to be doing well – last year saw an expansion with a new tap room, and they have even opened a Delirium in Tokyo. I have, however, had my doubts about their franchise in Gothenburg, Sweden. I would have thought you’d need a population of a million or two or a large stream of tourists to justify a list with thousands of beers.
Well, it seems like it got too tough, according to Swedish beer blog Ofiltrerat. The premises have been taken over by the people who run the renown Rover, and it will open as Ölrepubliken during September. International beer focus, 30 draught beers and 300-500 bottles.
I’m going to start lobbying at home this week to see if I can make a trip to BeerTemple. After cancelling my holiday this week, I have a steep climb…
With the crap service at Delirium in Göteborg it’s not really surprising that they didn’t make it. I’m more surprised they held out for so long.
If the new pub is taken over by the people behind The Rover I don’t mind that they’re reducing the selection. Those people know what they’re doing. This should be great.
I think, on balance, I’d rather visit places with a smaller selection of interesting beer. I sometimes feel a bit depressed in places with huge menus knowing that I’ll never make it through the whole lot.
You’re not wrong there Bailey. In those situations I waste too much time drooling on the menus. It usually means someone else has to choose or people go thirsty.
At the Delirium bars you’re lucky if you get to see the menus, as there are just a few of them in a huge place. And the staff usually prefer to sell crap beer to students, so don’t bother to ask for advice.
Actually, I did visit Delirium in Brussels last March with Joe Stange. He somehow appeared with a phone book menu in his hand, but we only got as far as seeing they had Cosmos Porter from De Dolle on tap, and that’s as far as we went with the menu