My travels took me to Einhoven, en-route to a music festival in nearby Tilburg. The downfall of my bar crawl around the fifth largest city in the Netherlands was that all the bars I encountered had far too many appealing beers on offer, reducing me to checking out a paltry three places.
First up was the brewery tap of 100 Watt, Eindhoven Stadsbrouwerij (Bleekweg 1). This is pretty new 10hl brewpub set up in an old factory. They have 12 of their own creations on tap, with more available in bottles, covering most styles, from Pilsner to Belgian triple to stout. I had a tasty, hoppy American Pale, followed by a dangerously drinkable 8% Dutch dubbel, '75 Watt', which completely disguised its strength.
Next on my list was Van Moll (Keizersgracht 16A), top-rated spot in the city on many beer lists. Wow! This is a great place, set in an old office with the brewery in the basement & bar above. The selection on tap consisted of 12 Van Moll beers and 12 guests, with a superb bottle list for those uninspired by the 24 taps.
'Black Metal Manilla' jumped out at me, a great black IPA from Van Moll, whilst I also sampled a more mellow beer in the same style from Estonia's Pohjana Brewery.
After moving on for a spot of pizza and a bit of Euro football on a big screen, I stepped into Drinkers Pub (Kerkstraat 11). This is a narrow but cavernous place with a really, really long bar.
Scribbled names on the beer engines were tough to read, but the beer menu was amazing, with pages set aside for beer writers recommendations. First choice here was a brown ale from local brewer Oldskool, a cuckoo brewer using local breweries spare capacity to make their beers. This particular brew, 'Ja, ik wil', was a wedding special and a pleasing, malty, bitter brown. Then, with a combination of infantile attraction to a bit of bad language and intrigue for an unusual style, I spotted the salt beers from the Fuck You Brewing Co. They came with a little sachet of 'craft' salt attached to the bottle neck, each of three beers utilising a different worldwide salt. The barman's enthusiasm about these tempted me straight into the saltiest, 'This ain't Salt Lake City'.
And I really can't decide if I liked it or not... I reckon a 15cl sample would be great, but my fondness for it wore off as I worked my way through the bottle. I began to wonder why I picked the saltiest one... I think I was looking a little green and queasy by the end of it. Great, interesting idea, but I think next time I come across salt-enhanced beer I will share it and perhaps try it before I've got a bellyful of other ales and pizza. 