WEEK 54--Finding Windmill, Bottles & Temple.....

This week's column is more of a walk about than Amsterdam craft-spotting---as i did not visit many bars--it was more of going on own pace according to mood and weather....

finding MOLEN
YES...taking photo in front of a windmill is probably categorized as a "must do" for many a tourists who happened to visit Holland...
I did too--but it cannot be just any windmill---but specifically That one located some 50 odd minutes away by train from Amsterdam, to a small town called Bodegraven---the reason is obvious--that's where De Molen is housed.

在风车前拍照是去荷兰旅游的指定动作之一。

这次去阿姆斯特丹，“顽啤主张”也去了一趟寻找风车之旅，是要搭火车一小时左右路程到一个叫BODEGRAVEN的小镇，再走一段路才找到的风车。

当然，这个风车绝对不是旅游书上介绍的旅游景点。

“顽啤主张”去找的风车是荷兰最为撞意啤迷所认识的酿坊DE MOLEN的标志，这栋把酿坊，餐厅，小酒吧和瓶子店都结合一体的旧酿坊真有一座大风车。

大概十年前吧，这栋风车旧建筑是DE MOLEN的起点，现在的酿品都是从距离旧建筑前端几十米的全新酿坊生产。

"Finding Molen" was not that easy nor hard--it's under 10 minutes walk( lesser if you a runner)--to the Left side of the small train station( with your back against it)--walk along the road---and you shall see THAT windmill at the end of a small road(you will first see the modern de molen building--which is the brewery just steps away from the old windmill building where it all started some 10 years+ ago...)

bumped into Kevin the brewer at the new brew location( pleasure to have finally met)---at the old windmill where a restaurant--bar--bottle shop can be found---there's a bunch of enthusiastic brewers from nearby town ship discussing and going through hops,yeasts... and more( with help given by another Molen's brewer)....it's almost like a mini workshop going on....all while visitors like me and others enjoying the sight with some food, what's on taps and the surreal feeling of sitting inside the windmill that's Molen....

走进旧建筑内，入眼的就是餐厅和小酒吧，也有一个小小酿坊。去的时候刚好有一批从邻近小镇过来取经的自酿玩家们，一桌不同类别麦芽，啤酒花，大家和DE MOLEN酿酒师又嗅又讨论的，很有小型工作坊意味，完全符合撞意啤酒乐于分享互助的精神。

在DE MOLEN几个小时内，除了巧遇自酿玩家们，另一个让“顽啤主张”深刻体会撞意啤酒文化分享精神的是设在旧建筑内的瓶子店，除了丰富酿品收藏，店内也卖其他酿坊瓶子，重点是，价格非常合理，如果了解其他城市一些瓶子店或酒吧对一些难找到啤酒的高订价，这里的价格真的让啤迷感受到，店主想分享好酒的意图多过任何商业利益考量。

the bottle shop within the building--you don't want to miss it--you will find more than just De Molen's own beers--but the best part is the way the bottles were priced--you will immediately sense it--that this is a sharing place---if you know how some bottle shops in other parts of the world is pricing some beers--you will know what it meant to have found a bottle shop like this one....

De BierKoning
One of the most famous bottle shops across Europe.
Place is not huge-but the selection is more than enough for geeks to search high and low( literally---there's a sort of mezzanine floor and lower ground floor--so to speak).

在阿姆斯特丹，有一家瓶子店是撞意啤迷绝对不会错过的。

开在大坝广场附近，不太大的店面，里边收藏酿品来自世界各地不同城市，不同啤酒类别风格繁多。虽然这是只能带走，不能在店里尝味的地方，不过，对抱着寻宝心态上门的啤迷来说，这里是大乐园。

“顽啤主张”就在这里找到了一些不容易找到，来自美国和比利时的盛名啤酒。

It's definitely a place where treasure can be found--i did--and by the way--one of the beer i found( Dileverance by The Lost Abbey) was not on the main display shelve but sort of "hidden" on a little corner--as if it was redundant or surplus bottle...:)

Beer Temple
Of course there's many craft beer bars in Amsterdam alone.
Many bars chose to focus on certain styles--there's bars which focus on Dutch beers--or Belgium beers--or both.

阿姆斯特丹的撞意啤酒专卖吧蛮多，有好些是专注荷兰本土和比利时啤酒，不过，如果你喜欢美国啤酒，啤殿堂（BEER TEMPLE）是一定要到的酒吧。

除了30个不同啤酒泵，酒吧重点是一些盛名赫赫的瓶子选择，例如美国THREE FLOYDS的黑魔王DARK LORD，或比利时长期被列为世上最佳啤酒的WESTVLETEREN 12号的不同年份收藏。不过，要喝这些盛名瓶子难免要准备付出一定程度的欧元。

在阿姆斯特丹，完全不怕找不到适合自己口味的撞意啤酒专卖吧或瓶子店，重点是，你的时间够用吗

I went searching for some American brews--hence Beer Temple--yes--this is the bar to be if you a sucker for US brew---one of the things about this place is they do sell different vintages of DARK LORD by Three Floyds---yes--obviously you have to pay quite a fat amount in Euro--if you so fancy. ( i did not).

Amsterdam---with so many different craft beer places( breweries, brewpub, bars, bottle shop....) --the question would be ....Do you have enough TIME?