I pride myself on being a beer journalist versus a beer critic, but make no mistake, I am a very critical person. There isn’t a single thing in this world my brain doesn’t internally assess, analyze, and apply a grade or rating to. It’s not voluntary; I’m simply wired that way. That level of awareness is helpful in my profession, but never so much as during a recent excursion where I was not only invited, but encouraged to be critical. That event was a preview of Riverside Cruises’ “Hops & Heritage”, an eight-day, seven-night luxury cruise along the Rhine designed for beer enthusiasts. And critical I was…or at least a tad doubtful.
As an avid traveler, former member of the brewing industry, and a beer writer of nearly two decades who is equally as passionate about ales and lagers off the clock, I have spent a great deal of time exploring beer-centric locales nationally and internationally. I’ve done so as a thirst-driven civilian and as the guest of regional organizations and hospitality companies. While the latter is helpful from a financial perspective, the best experiences and articles typically come when I take the bull by the horns, do my homework, and coordinate my own itineraries, travel, site visits, and interviews. As such, I have a hard time letting go…or expecting much when I do.
Little did I know when boarding the Riverside Debussy, for once I was going to be able to take a step back and a load off, and not only was everything going to be OK, it was going to be exceptional.
There’s Amsterdam, then there’s Amsterdam!
Early on, I learned a longtime friend and colleague of mine, beer author, journalist and cartoonist Em Sauter, would be attending the Hops & Heritage preview. Like any pair of nth-level beer nerds, we made arrangements to arrive in the city where we’d begin our journey, Amsterdam, a day early. From there, we went down the rabbit hole researching all the must-visit beer spots the city’s popular Old Town area had to offer. By the time we arrived we were ready, and got straight to work exploring. Hours later, having consumed a lovely variety of regional beers at a handful of standout bars, we felt we’d really nailed our assignment. And we had…because the very next day we would return and see them all in a new light while also exploring some other quality venues.
Peering back through the jaded lens of a longtime journalist, even with the best of intentions, most host organizations – particularly those that are not associated with the brewing industry – know little about beer, much less how to put together a top-tier itinerary for travelers looking to experience the best a region has to offer. Rather than go it alone, Riverside teamed with James Kellow, a member of the British Beer Sommeliers Guild who is based in both London and Amsterdam. His years of study and experience, matched with knowledge of his home city, benefited all of us.
Not only did he take us to premiere beer bastions, but he leaned on long-held connections with the owners of those establishments so they could share their stories and thoughts on Amsterdam’s beer culture with our group. Anyone can pour someone a beer and offer a brief explanation about the style, flavor, and aroma, but a tasting becomes truly experiential when a personal connection is made. Meeting some of Amsterdam’s foremost beer pioneers on their turf, often in back rooms or while touring their passion projects, provided that connection and took things worlds beyond simply walking in the door and drinking a beer as Sauter and I had done a day prior.
On our own, we’d packed into the upper-tier seating area at Cafe Gollem Raamsteeg during a busy afternoon service. With Kellow leading the pack, the bar opened early just for us, allowing us to sample Belgian ales from a gargantuan list taking up three walls of the bar, including a rare treat – lambic on draft – while our guide offered insights into monastic brewing traditions. Next up was In De Wildeman, a relaxed bar that was among chef-author Anthony Bourdain’s favorites in the world, for an exceptional pairing of smoked porter with smoked mussels, followed by a dry, funky Dutch kriek (barrel-aged cherry-infused sour ale) and a history lesson about ancient Amsterdam and the engineering of its canals.
From there, it was on to Proeflokaal Arendsnest (pictured above), a 25-year-old canal-side brasserie sporting 52 taps stocked exclusively with Danish beers, ranging from traditional to New-World-inspired (read: hoppy) styles, including several made by the owner, who spent part of his afternoon with our group. The itinerary even included a stop at 40-year-old beer emporium De Bierkoning, for a sampling of an herbaceous medieval-style gruet from Netherlands brewing outfit Jopen and the opportunity for us to purchase bottles to take home or consume during our sailing.
It was a full day, but well paced, allowing time for members of the group to get to know one another before returning to the vessel we would be calling home for the foreseeable future.
Sailing in style
With this being my first river cruise, I didn’t know what to expect from the ship I’d be sailing on, its accommodations or amenities, but within a matter of minutes, my most pie-in-the-sky hopes were exceeded. Again, I’m a critical person, so this is significant. Upon arrival, staffers whisk guests’ luggage to spacious well-appointed rooms rivaling hotels on terra firma. Large beds sit opposite picture windows, providing a comfy vantage point for watching the world go by, restrooms include room to move and walk-in showers, and closets are near walk-in sized. Work spaces include a mini-fridge that can be stocked with a customizable array of beverages (including beer). I can honestly say it was the grandest home base away from home I’ve had in my nearly two decades of beer-related travel.
Over that span, I’ve come to realize how important it is to hydrate and eat throughout multiple days of imbibing. Sometimes the latter can be difficult to fit in, and in many cases the quality of food that’s accessible is limited, lackluster or both. That is not the case on the Riverside Debussy, which is equipped with a full scale restaurant offering an everchanging buffet stocked with countless options meeting any dietary requirements, from healthful grazer to vacation-grade indulger. Exotic canapes, salads, pastries, soups, sandwiches, sides, and mains lead up to a carving station featuring all manner of roast beast. One day, as an add-on whim to an already full plate I had half a roasted duck…and that was just lunch. At night, service switches to white-linen with menus featuring gourmet fare, something which Riverside is particularly well known for in the cruising industry.
If the above is not enough to sate one’s appetite, no problem. Food is always available in the form of regularly rotating tablescapes made up of breakfast items in the morning, snacks throughout the midday, and desserts in the evening. A trio of always-staffed bars serve everything from coffee to beer to an impressive list of wines and signature cocktails. On top of that, there is special programming, including a tour of Amsterdam’s canals on a smaller vessel, during which guests indulge in an array of after-dinner confections before returning to the ship to find a setup of snacks that have been grilled while they were away, plus nightcaps at the rooftop bar.
Keep in mind, all of the above is in addition to the Hops & Heritage portion of the trip; the norm for a Riverside sailing. For a meal developed specifically for the beer programming, culinary was elevated to an even loftier level. Our group was ushered into a private dining area called the Vintage Room, where we were treated to a seven-course beer-pairing dinner presided over by Kellow and the ship’s executive chef. The latter brought out members of his brigade for tableside service elements such as saucing and the lifting of smoke-filled cloches for dishes that included tuna and foie gras with lemon vinaigrette, crispy lobster with pineapple salsa, and venison filet with truffle potato foam and dark chocolate jus (pictured above). Kellow’s pairings for the evening hailed largely from The Netherlands and included a witbier, cherry-infused lambic, doppelbock, tripel, quadrupel, and barley wine. The meal was impressive and thoughtful on all fronts.
Female empowerment and fromage
While our initial beer destinations in the Netherlands were of the well known and can’t-miss variety, we discovered a locale both obscure and fascinating in our second port of call, the historic city of Enkhuizen. Bells rang out from the Drommedaris tower as we disembarked and made our way to Café ‘t Ankertje, where we sat down to an al fresco lunch that included beers from that establishment’s owner and one of the Netherlands’ most well known female brewers, Karin Mazereeuw.
As we sampled her “six shades of beer”, a lineup of largely Belgian-inspired core offerings produced under her label, De Brouwvrouw (Brouwvrouw translates to “brewster”, a medieval term for a female brewer), she shared how, tired of being bilked by beer suppliers that underestimated her in large part because of her gender, she decided to start brewing her own beer. Thirteen years later, she is respected across the nation for her largely Belgian-inspired family of brews, which include a bright witbier (unfiltered spiced wheat ale), and a ruby-hued dubbel tasting of dark bread and dates.
More outdoor day-drinking followed at De Werf, a brewery with posh interiors and an expansive patio backing onto a harbor packed with rows of docked sailboats. Our party descended on a communal picnic table, where we indulged in baskets of warm, salty frites and an impressive array of house beers taking inspiration from the world’s diverse brewing centers. It was a relaxed prelude to the decadence that awaited back at the Vintage Room, namely an over-the-top beer-and-cheese pairing featuring one of the most popular white-whale beers of all time.
This extravagant extra was curated by Kellow, who presented each pairing with a heaping side of history and information pertaining to each specific beer, including its significance, producer, and the reason he selected it as the perfect foil for its corresponding fromage. Ash-coated chevre was lent added acidity care of a gose from Amsterdam, while smoked cheese from a monastery found a natural partner in a rotbier (red beer) from Bamberg, Germany’s world-famous smoked-beer operation, Brauerei Schlenkerla. Meanwhile, a vibrant Bavarian blue went toe-to-toe with the funk of a Danish mixed-fermentation sour ahead of another blue Kellow matched with the rich, bready flavors of Westvleteren 12, a trappist quadrupel regarded by many as the best beer in the world.
An altbier safari
Every head-over-heels beer enthusiast has their bucket list, a roster of breweries and experiences they hope to achieve before teleporting to that big brewpub in the sky. During the Hops & Heritage excursion I was able to line through a bucket-list item I, frankly, never thought I’d have the chance to get to: drinking altbiers in their city of origin, Düsseldorf. German for “old beer” (referring to the period predating the introduction of cold fermentation for lagers), altbier is one Germany’s small handful of indigenous ales. Amber in color, and low in alcohol, they are easy-drinking, full of flavor, and pair wonderfully with a variety of foods.
Upon arriving in Düsseldorf, we were introduced to a lively local tapped to guide us along what she deemed an “altbier safari”. What followed was a walking tour of the city’s center with stops at five local spots serving their own time-honored takes on altbier…and in many cases nothing else. Such is the level of devotion and civic pride for this beer style in its hometown. Having each version one after the other in rapid succession was an incredible opportunity to compare and contrast them against each other and gain a feel for the lovely nuances of the style, and an experience that can not be replicated anywhere else.
Being from the West Coast, where IPAs dominate, my palate is attuned to hop-forward beers. That’s likely the reason I gravitated toward the snappy, hoppy finish belonging to the altbier from Uerige, a small brewpub and distillery with a biergarten taking up both sides of the street the business occupies. Meanwhile, caramel was the lead characteristic at Brauerei Schumaker, a bitterness evocative of chicory was Brauerei Kürzer’s calling card, and peanut-husk earthiness colored Brauerei Füchschen’s altbier. Bonus: While sipping Hausbrauerei’s toasty, mineralic house alt, we found out Düsseldorf is also an epicenter for mustard, igniting something of a secondary condiment-based safari.
As if hunting down German amber ales in their native habitat weren’t enough, we then had the afternoon to ourselves to explore all the city had to offer (something that’s easy to do, as Riverside provides bikes for guests to borrow and ride around the various ports), including Düsseldorf’s best non-brewery-owned beer establishment, Holy Craft, a bar serving ales and lagers from a bevy of German producers. It was a great spot for a last call before boarding the Debussy and sailing to our our final destination where we would board a plane bound for home.
Riverside’s next edition of Hops & Heritage will include a similar experience to the altbier safari, in which passengers will be unleashed on the German city of Cologne to sample homespun versions of its claim-to-fame beers style, the spritzy, blonde-hued Kölsch. That sailing will take place from July 29 to August 5, launching from Basel, Switzerland, then traveling along the Rhine to ports in France, Germany, and The Netherlands, ending out in Amsterdam. More information can be found on Riverside’s website.