Bart Biert with exotic beer and a story
Beer is beer, right? How many times have I heard this. Or even worse: I don't like beer. Can't. Beer is so versatile, different from just that glass of lukewarm lager that you once drank in the football canteen. Beer is almost a miracle drink. With just four ingredients – water, grain, hops and yeast – you can brew so many different types of styles, all of which can taste very different. And then we haven't even talked about other ingredients that you can mix in. Think of a kriek (with cherries), a wheat beer with coriander and Curaçao orange added or a Belgian tripel with spices. Then there are breweries that take experimenting a step more seriously, which leads to our own Lowlander. For the people of Lowlander, every beer is an opportunity to tell a story. A story about the botanicals, about the background of those ingredients to ultimately produce a beer with something extra. And beer and a story, those are often the best moments.
Founder and Chief Botanical Officer Frederik Kampman (that title alone, don't you imagine it?) got inspiration and ideas for Lowlander during his time working at a gin distillery in the United Kingdom. The fascinating world of cocktails and botanicals attracted him enormously and Frederik started to wonder what would happen if you started brewing with ingredients from the distilling world instead of distilling. What extra character could you give a beer if you included spices, herbs and flowers? The Dutch have always been a people who love to travel, and with that comes a history of exotic spices and herbs - the idea behind Lowlander was born. The perfect combination of Dutch history and knowledge botanicals from the distillery world and the dream of making beer that is slightly different.
We throw all the time now botanicals in the mix, but what exactly are they? Botanicals are herbs and spices, such as basil and cardamom, but they can also be flowers, such as hibiscus. It is not surprising that you think about cooking rather than brewing beer. Although there is currently a lot of experimenting by brewers all over the world, you don't often see the ingredients from the Lowlander range: Curaçao orange and dragon fruit, ginger and lime leaf, spruce needles and juniper berry. Sounds more like an interesting curry than a beer, but the people at Lowlander know what they are doing and brew refreshing beer with an exotic touch.
At Lowlander they understand that you don't know which beer to start with. So many crazy, interesting and especially exotic flavors, a little help would be nice. The people at Lowlander have also thought about this, because on the website itself you can choose what you fancy. Bitter? Tropical? Spicy? Click and you will see which beer suits you at that moment. So can the Indonesian Pale Ale are with white tea and coriander seeds (fear not coriander haters, coriander seeds definitely taste different from the green evil). Or maybe you are more in the mood for something floral with a kick and then you get the Organic Blonde Ale with elderflower and rosehip.
Also completely nice and incredibly on trend are their selection of low alcohol beers. The taste, not the hangover and that is sometimes very useful. Think of a Cool Earth Lager with lemongrass or a juicy IPA with mango, cardamom and orange peel. Both only 0,3% alcohol, hey, we like that. If that low alcohol is not for you, there is plenty of other beer to choose from and soon even a Rescued IPA Genever. Brewed from leftover beer from the catering industry with the idea that throwing away beer is never (never) an option. Headbutt at its finest, of course.
Interesting beers with the best ingredients and also good for the planet? Lowlander just does it. In addition to the 'normal' natural ingredients of beer (water, hops, yeast and grain), they are brewed with so many more natural additives that Lowlander is extremely aware of the give and take of Mother Earth. Are you taking some? Then give something back. For example, in 2018 they brewed a Winter IPA with spruce needles from discarded Christmas trees. For their 0,00% White, the folks at Lowlander work together with PeelPioneers leftover collects citrus peels from the catering industry. The icing on the cake is that they are part of 1% For the Planet (part of the proceeds goes to charities). At Lowlander, for example, they plant a new seagrass plant in the Wadden area for every Cool Earth Lager sold. Well, we think that's cool too.
Now that you know a little about the craft and knowledge botanicals and other ingredients are not in Lowlander's beers, it will come as no surprise that they are also good at pairing of beer and food. Because taste is Lowlander's showpiece. Like chefs botanicals add to dishes to create more depth, Lowlander does this in the same way with their beers. You can experience it yourself at one of the many pop-up events they host, some of which are: Hotel Krasnapolsky, the gardens of The Taste Museum and other fine and beautiful roof terraces in Amsterdam, and that's just a selection. However, you can also get started yourself and the folks at Lowlander will have one whole range of dishes with the right beer, easy and clear on their website.
Want to know more about pop-up events and Lowlander beers? Then be sure to take a look here even.
