Brouwerij De Molen () is a small

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

, distillery and restaurant in

Bodegraven Bodegraven () is a town and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The former municipality covers an area of of which is water. The former municipality of Bodegraven also includes the communities Mei ...

, the Netherlands. The brewery, whose name means The Mill, is in a windmill called De Arkduif, built in 1697. The premises also include the brewery taproom and a retail beer store offering European and American craft beers, as well as regional products such as farm cheese. Having started out as a

homebrewer Homebrewing is the brewing of beer or other alcoholic beverages on a small scale for personal, non-commercial purposes. Supplies, such as kits and fermentation tanks, can be purchased locally at specialty stores or online. Beer was brewed dom ...

, and after stints at several small breweries, head brewer Menno Olivier worked professionally at Stadsbrouwerij De Pelgrim in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

before founding De Molen in 2004. De Molen has participated in joint projects with other breweries such as

Mikkeller Mikkeller is a microbrewery founded in 2006 in Copenhagen, Denmark that was originally based on the so-called "cuckoo", "phantom" or "gypsy" ethos; that is, the company did not operate an official brewery and, instead, collaborated with other br ...

and De Struise Brouwers. They have also participated in re-creations of historic beer recipes, such as those of the defunct British brewery Barclay Perkins.

Technical information

The capacity of the brewing system is 500 liters per batch, with annual production averaging a total of 500 hectoliters. The equipment includes converted dairy tanks used as fermenters. De Molen's beer is bottled by hand at the brewery, in capped 335ml and corked-and-caged 750ml bottles with a wax finish which are individually numbered. Batches of beer that are considered unsatisfactory are used as the basis of De Molen's distilled 21%

ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

Beer Liqueur. Since 2012 the maximum capacity per batch is increased to 2500 liters. A new building was acquired 200 meters from the mill. The main production happens in this new brewhouse, although the old setup is still used at least once a week. In 2016 they had to expand their current building with the objective to reach a 25.000 Hl. a year production.

Awards and recognition

In 2010, De Molen was rated tenth in

RateBeer Beer rating is assessing and evaluating beer using a point system. The process is similar to that used in beer judging competitions, such as those organised by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) in America, though the participants are cons ...

's "Best Brewers in the World" list of the top 100 notable breweries. De Molen's products dominated

's Best Beers of the Netherlands in both 2008 and 2009, occupying 7 and 8 of the first 10 slots in those years. De Molen brewer Menno Olivier was the recipient of the 2008 Zilveren Knuppel ("silver bat"), awarded annually by the Dutch beer society PINT for his contributions to beer culture in the Netherlands. De Molen Tsarina Esra was voted the Most Appreciated winter beer of the 2008 PINT Winter Beer festival. De Molen and several of its beers were listed among the Beers of the Year 2008 by UK beer journalists

Roger Protz Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

and

Tom Cannavan Tom Cannavan is a Scottish author and a wine journalist. He is considered a pioneer presence on internet of the British wine writing establishment. Biography In his youth Tom had a foretaste of fame as lead vocalist and guitarist in the budding ...

. In 2016

Ratebeer Beer rating is assessing and evaluating beer using a point system. The process is similar to that used in beer judging competitions, such as those organised by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) in America, though the participants are cons ...

's awards, De Molen was rated No.1 brewer of the Netherlands and ranked 6th in the "Best Brewers in the World" list.

Events

Since 2009, De Molen has hosted the annual Borefts Beer Festival. This typically occurs in the early autumn, with the participation of other brewers, such as Belgium's Picobrouwerij Alvinne and De Struise Brouwers.

Controversy

Rasputin is an

Imperial Stout Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer with a number of variations, including dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, and imperial stout. The first known use of the word ''stout'' for beer, in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript ...

; after a 2009 trademark-infringement claim was brought by California's

North Coast Brewing Company The North Coast Brewing Company is a craft brewery located in Fort Bragg, California, Fort Bragg, California. As of 2018, it is the -largest craft brewer by annual sales volume in the United States. History The North Coast Brewing Company was f ...

, brewers of a similar beer called Old Rasputin, De Molen changed the name on the American export label to Disputin in reference to the controversy.

References

External links

Brouwerij De Molen official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molen, Brouwerij De Breweries in the Netherlands Bodegraven-Reeuwijk