Utrecht / Netherlands - which beers to try?

[BavarianGal]

Hi
Keg and I are going to Utrecht this weekend and I was wondering if some of you have some suggestions of beers to try or even pubs!
Keg found online a Bierhuis which claims to have 800 different bottled beers mainly from the Netherlands and Belgium. 
Unfortunately we won't have time to try all through 
So any suggestions are welcome!
Cheers!

[johnrm]

I have worked there but never stayed over so cannot recommend anything, sorry. At short notice, Google may be your best friend!

[McMelloW]

TRy the Drie Dorstige Herten in Lange Nieuwstraat. Only 5min walk from the Domtower.

[Keg]

Cheers for the tip McMelloW.

Seeing as not many people might have been to Utrecht, here's a short guide to the beer scene there:
The bars in Utrecht have a reasonable selection on offer, generally Heineken/Jupiler/Hoegaarden/La Trappe and a few Belgian beers such as La Chouffe/Duvel.  It's seems to be fairly rare to find any Dutch craft beer around, which I found strange as a bit of research online told us that Utrecht was the real starting place of the craft beer revolution in the Netherlands.  In fairness to them, the places that do serve craft beer are mad for beer education - we couldn't order a craft beer without the bar staff making sure that we understood what we were getting, e.g. they warned me that I was ordering a porter and that it's very different from 'normal' beer!

There are some local Breweries (De Leckere & Maximus are available in a few bars), but to be honest I didn't think they were anything spectacular.  The bar with the widest selection seems to be Kafé Belgie (www.facebook.com/KafeBelgie) with about 170 bottled beers available and 20 rotating taps. 

If anyone ever gets the chance I would recommend trying the 'Smokey the Barracuda' Smoked Imperial Porter, it's a collaboration between Kafé Belgie and Brouwerij De Kromme (Brewed at Maximus) to celebrate 30 years in operation – it's fantastic.

Another place of note is Bert's Bierhuis (www.bertsbierhuis.nl), it's a beer store rather than a bar, and claims to sell over 800 different beers.  It's a cool store; with beers arranged by country (8 degrees and a few ciders were the Irish representatives).  It has a brilliant selection, at reasonable prices (plenty of beers below €2, most €2 - €3, the only negative is that it closes at 6 or 7pm most days.  We have stocked up on some Dutch craft beers for further research




My favourite beer of the trip was a Porter (with Fuggles & Challenger hops) by a local brewer, we found this at an Irish Bar, Mick O'Connell's, according to the chalkboard on the bar, the brewer is a regular there.  Stapzwan Porter is just on batch #2 so far, I hope they don't change it because it really was great (http://www.stapzwan.nl/).

All in all the Dutch beer scene is worth a look... oh, and Utrecht is a nice little city too!

[dcalnan]

It's a brilliant city spent a day there a few years ago, mainly in the university so I didn't spend time in bars, I'll definitely make a note to visit these places.

[BavarianGal]

Dcalnan Utrecht is a little jewel with all its canals, little cafes and restaurant! And all the buildings, cycling culture, food, beer etc just great!
I spent after that weekend mainly my time at the University, too, so I was glad to appear there a bit earlier than needed to be able to have a look around!
If you are close by there anytime again it is definitely a spin worth! Also the surrounding is great to discover by bike!