March 19, 2021

Amsterdam guys build brown cafe in flat

Filed under: Architecture,Food & Drink,General by Orangemaster @ 11:01 am

Like countless others, twentysomethings Amsterdam residents Max and James really miss going to the cafe (pub/bar) and having a beer. So much so that they built their own Amsterdam-style cafe in their flat on the third floor. It’s in a corner with the washing machine, and it’s 2.5 x 2.5 metres.

The DIY brown café includes Amstel beer (brewed by Heineken), brown laminate planks, heavy curtains and ‘prullaria’ (knick-knacks). Cafe Van Dissel, named after Jaap van Dissel, Director of the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (aka RIVM), also has rules: not too much messing with your phone, you have to hang up your jacket even if it’s in half in the way when you sit down, for the real experience. They only serve Dutch bar food and beer, so no cocktails or other ‘fancy’ things. However, for Dutch jenever and Berenburg they’ll gladly look the other way.

The first visit is free, and you’re expected to bring a gift for the second. They even have a hard boiled egg holder (like those cupcake holders but for eggs) and are hoping for traditional Dutch table carpet (yes, carpet, not cloth).

I’m now rethinking my own Tiki bar plans.

(Link: ad.nl)

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May 28, 2020

Shop on Belgian-Dutch border off limits to both countries

Filed under: Food & Drink,Weird by Orangemaster @ 2:24 pm

Bart Cuypers’ beer shop Bierparadijs (‘Beer Paradise’) is technically in Belgium, but only accessible from exit A16, leading to an industrial area that borders the Netherlands. Due to Covid-19, Belgium, like many other European countries, is policing its border, in this case some 100 metres from the beer shop.

Cuypers doesn’t currently have any customers, and like many other businesses he’s getting some government support to keep up the place and its employees until he’s able to operate more normally. Right now everybody wants beer but there’s no decent way to get to it.

The Dutch could get to his shop as long as they take another exit just before the border check, which is meant for people entering Belgium. However, the Dutch cannot go to Belgium without a valid reason, and jokes aside, stocking up on beer is not a valid reason. The Dutch are 98% of Cuypers’ clients, as many beers are 25% cheaper in Belgium than in the Dutch supermarkets.

Back in 2008 we told you about a murder on the border and sorting that out was quite complicated.

(Link: volkskrant.nl)

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March 27, 2018

Heineken pulls controversial advert in the US

Filed under: Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 10:18 pm

heinekenjpg

Heineken, and the oblivious people that green lit this script, have produced a “terribly racist” advert that has been pulled after America’s Chance The Rapper called them out on it, on social media.

With the tagline ‘lighter is better’, referring to a range of light beers, a light skinned barman sees a similarly light skinned woman and slides a beer down the bar past two black patrons and one black musician. The beer slides for a long time being light and all, but the unfortunate message is loud and clear.

Chance The Rapper said it seems like companies pull stunts like this to purposely bait people to write about them, and that in this case, he had to say something. Heineken had since apologised, saying they “missed the mark”.

The offending commercial is shown at 0:33:

(Link: www.nu.nl)

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March 26, 2018

Monks reach agreement with rogue supermarket

Filed under: Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 2:48 pm

beer-in-shot-glass

A while back, Dutch supermarket chain Jan Linders was selling Belgian Trappist Westvleteren beer known for being hard to get your hands on, as it is sold in limited quantities. I’ve had it once and I can understand why people chase this beer down.

Jan Linders claimed that it had permission to sell 300 crates of the exclusive beer without any further explanation, while the Saint Sixtus Abbey that brews the beer was shocked since people cannot buy more than two crates at a time at the Abbey itself, and must wait two months for subsequent orders.

Luckily for Jan Linders, they won’t get sued by the Abbey, and Jan Linders promised never again to sell their Westvleteren Trappist beer. The Dutch supermarket chain also drew attention to themselves for selling the beer at 9,95 euro a bottle, normally sold at 1,66 euro a bottle.

More about Dutch abbey beers here: (Netherlands gets a second Trappist beer after 125 years).

(Link: nltimes.nl)

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August 29, 2017

Bringing back a truckload of beer crates

Filed under: Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 10:43 pm

Truck of beer

Students from the local beer joint in Dalfsen, Overijssel drove an entire truck full of empty plastic beer crates to the Jumbo supermarket to cash them in, about 1,000 in total. Beer crates and any bottles in them are worth ‘packaging deposit money’ (‘statiegeld’ in Dutch).

For three years, the beer joint saved up the crates and after deciding it was time to cash them in, they had to find a supermarket that was willing to do so. Other supermarkets turned them down, even Heineken turned them down, but the manager of the local Jumbo was ready to take the job on. It took four men to unload 869 beer crates with empties and 115 without, which instead of putting into the small bottle return machine were placed directly into the containers to go back to the breweries. The whole thing took two hours.

And how much deposit money did the students get back? A cool 3.620.14 euro, which may pay for a Jacuzzi and more beer, of course.

(Link and photo: ed.nl)

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December 28, 2016

Dutch chocolate company to brew beer

Filed under: Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 3:22 pm

Dutch chocolate company Tony’s Chocolonely, whose goal is to raise awareness for the slavery that still persists among people harvesting cocoa to make chocolate, has decided to brew some beer, and it’s called ‘Chocolate Milk Stout’.

Together with Amsterdam brewery De Prael, this new beer claims to be ‘smooth with a taste of chocolate’ and will be available in Amsterdam as of 1 January 2017.

(Link: nieuws.nl)

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November 6, 2016

Ajax FC send 27 crates of beer to Scots

Filed under: Food & Drink,Sports by Orangemaster @ 11:55 am

Amsterdam’s football club Ajax has sent 27 crates of beer to Scottish club East Kilbride FC of South Lanarkshire to congratulate them for breaking Ajax’s world record of most games won in a row last Saturday by winning against BSC Glasgow FC.

Former goalkeeper and now Ajax’s general manager Edwin van der Sar recorded a video message to congratulate the Scots telling them to ‘have some beer on us’.

A truck full of beer, Belgian Jupiler beer, basically Stella’s big brother, was driven right onto a dark and cold pitch with patches of snow.

Enjoy this classy football moment in English:

(Link: www.at5.nl, Photo by Wikimedia user Carolus Ludovicus, some rights reserved)

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October 13, 2016

Belgian beer has world premiere on tap in Utrecht

Filed under: Dutch first,Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 12:49 pm

According to Johan Schmit, owner of Olivier’s cafe in Utrecht, his venue has the world premiere of selling Belgium’s strong Duvel beer on tap. Duvel needs extremely high pressure carbon dioxide on a tap to be served properly, something a normal tap cannot handle. And to be able to do so, the Duvel Moortgat brewery developed a new tap that Olivier has had the honour of trying out.

It could work or it could also not work, which is why no marketing has been done so far. And maybe fans will still want to drink it out of the bottle, who knows.

The beer in the picture is probably ordinary Dutch beer.

(Link: nieuws)

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August 11, 2016

Heineken pretends to care about people, gets caught out

Filed under: Sports by Orangemaster @ 9:47 pm

Heineken is seriously thinking about getting bars owners in Amsterdam to serve its beer with tap water on the side to promote ‘responsible drinking’ and bars owners are not thrilled at the idea.

For those who don’t know, a large proportion of bars around the country are stuck serving Heineken because that’s how they pay for their beer-tapping equipment and basically stay in business. Being shrewd in business is one thing, pretending to care is totally ridiculous and hypocritical. Isn’t the goal to sell as much beer as possible?

Normally I’d brush this off but ever since Dutch athlete Yuri van Gelder went from being ‘Lord of the Rings’ (his discipline) to ‘Lord of the Drink’ in the Dutch and international media this week for having consumed alcohol and being kicked out of the Olympics for it, it’s time to call Heineken out on their bullshit.

The Dutch have this party tent idea they set up at the Olympics and other major sporting events called the Heineken Holland House: a bigazz orange party tent for the athletes and their fans to have a drink and watch Dutch athletes perform on TV. After a Dutch athlete has a win, they often pop down to the HHH and let people applaud them and probably have a drink as well.

Heineken’s response to the incident was that they don’t sponsor, they only facilitate a place to party. Hello? The Dutch Twitterati published Heineken sponsorship contracts to make their point clear after which the beer giant admitted to not have expressed itself properly – no kidding.

And if that wasn’t stupid enough, beer competitor Grolsch started making puns on Heineken’s slogan “Heerlijk Helder Heineken’ (roughly ‘Delicious Clear Heineken’) using Van Gelder’s name: ‘Heerlijk Van Gelder Heineken’, which sounds similar. And look at how they drove the point home, suggesting Van Gelder drink 0% beer instead (picture).

Back in 2010 Van Gelder was dropped from the Dutch team for the Gymnastics World Championships after he admitted using cocaine. After cleaning up his act, surely training very hard like all athletes and now breaking the rules, he’s been sent home from Rio.

The way Heineken handled its position was lame and attempting to push water to go with your beer as some sort of responsible drinking is super lame.

Heineken, shut up or go home.

(Link: at5.nl)

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August 4, 2016

Small Dutch town revives Medieval beer tradition

Filed under: Dutch first,Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 8:48 pm

The Bible belt island town of Goeree-Overflakkee, South Holland, has started brewing the first local beer since the Middle Ages. The beer is called Solaes, and it is brewed by Jan-Willem Kramer, inspired by local Medieval artists of those times.

Following what seems to be the religious tradition of goodwill, Kramer was also inspired by a visit to an Amsterdam brewery that notoriously employs people who normally cannot easily find a job – I’m guessing it was De Prael – and decided to do the same thing.

The city sorted out a space to set up the brewery and Kramer learned how to make beer – so far so good. Local entrepreneur of a goodwill shop Cees de Knegt joined Kramer and now they organise beer tastings, but only for a few hours on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The pair have no plans more than to sell beer to locals and to “stray beer collectors”. If anyone has had some, let us know.

(Link: www.ad.nl)

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