When you live together with multiple women like I do, you'll probably recognize this when you visit a city together.
The ladies go shopping for clothes and the husband (me) wanders aimlessly after them from shop to shop. I see it as my fate, and I am at peace with it when I see how much joy they get from it.
I often leave them in the shops and go for a walk in the area to see if there is something interesting to photograph or grab myself a cup of coffee on a terrace.
But this time in the city of Valkenburg, The Netherlands I found a shop that I really like: a beer shop!
You can often find liquor stores that sell some beers and you frequently see wine shops in cities, but shops that specifically sell beer are quite unique.
But this time I've found myself one. And it was a really nice one too!
De Zythotheek
As I wandered through the streets of Valkenburg, my eye caught a display window of Bierboetiek De Zythotheek. I recognized the word BeerBoutique, but I didn't know the work Zythotheek, which seemed a strange word for a shop. I've asked ChatGPT what zythotheek means and it came back with the following answer:
"A zythotheek is a combination of the words zytho (from zythology, the study of beer) and theek (as in library). It usually refers to a collection or storage of special beers, similar to a library but specifically for beer. It can also be a shop or space where specialty beers are showcased and sold."
So it's actually quite a logical name for a beer shop.
The logo also revealed that it was a beer shop, although I could also see it by the racks with beer bottles in the background.
Seeing this shop, my mood suddenly improved.
Inside the shop there were literally hundreds, probably over thousand different beers.
The shop wasn't even that big, but it was filled with racks with different beers in cans and bottles. The beers were categorized by type and by country of origin as you can see by the country flags in the racks.
Because I have been a beer enthusiast for many years, I have tried many different beers over the years. This is the reason why I usually can't find any beers I haven't tried yet in the beer section of the supermarkets. But in this shop there was plenty of choice as you can see!
Apart from the beers they also had a very large collection of originall glasses. A lot of beers have their own specific beer glass and often state that their beer tastes best when you drink it from that specific glass. To a certain extent, I go along with this, but I'm not going to buy a glass for every beer I buy. My cabinet at home will be much too small for that. I do have a couple glasses with different shapes at home which I us for my beers.
The owners of the shop, a nice man and woman around 70 years old, approached me to ask if I was looking for something special. Since I'm not from around here I asked for some locally brewed beers. He recommended the Gringe beer since that was the beer he brew himself. As he said; you can't get it more local than this one.
Apart from that one I found myself three other beers that I wanted to try.
Paranoia
In the evening, when we returned to our holiday bungalow, where we stayed for a couple of days, I chose to drink the Paranoia beer. I was attracted to this beer by the funny label and ditto bottle cap. As you might remember from my previous posts, I collect unique bottle caps from the beers I've had.
I already thought the drawing looked familiar, but the beer seems to be produced by brewery Huyghe in Belgium, which is known for its Delirium Tremens, the beer with the pink elephant on it.
The Paranoia is a hazy IPA with a 5.6% alcohol.
The beer had a nice golden colour and a very smooth and hoppy taste which most IPA's have. It was really a very good beer.
It was a shame that I clumsily knocked over the glass, causing half of the beer to spill onto the table... What a waste!
If I had to give it a rating I would give it a 3.75 out of 5.
Bleike Gringel
The next day we went home from our holiday destination. On our way back we wanted to stop by my in-laws' place to wish them a Happy New Year. Since my father-in-law is also a beer lover, I had brought a beer for him as well.
The Bleike Gringel is a local beer brewed at Café De Grendelpoort in Valkenburg. Their Gringel beers owe their name to the Gringelput, the water well at the Grendelpoort. Bleike is their blond beer. Hazy in appearance and a bit more bitter than blond beers normally are.
It was really a tasteful beer. Not a dime a dozen blond beer, since it has a very unique taste.
This beer is one I would certainly drink a second time if I had the opportunity. It's a pity I cannot tell the shop owner that I really enjoyed his beer.
I still have two more beers unopened which I will save for another time. Maybe I'll write another beer review for those as well.
I hope you enjoyed my blog!
Cheers!
About FriendlyMoose
I'm an amateur photographer with a love for indoor gardening, craft beer, and cycling. As the owner of the Cycling Community and the creator of the Topcomment initiative, I focus on fostering engagement and bringing like-minded people together.
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