B is for Beer

Thank you Tom Robbins, for bringing beer to the children with the book, B is for Beer.

According to No Exit Press, the book explores "various aspects of beer culture - ancient, modern, and otherworldly; brutal, infantile and divine."

Though reader reviews have been a bit mixed, let's be honest - it really is a children's book so comparing it to his previous works doesn't seem fair.

Gotta get my hands on it....

Starter Logo

I made us a starter card - it does make the whole thing seem real to set it down on paper. We'll be working with a designer soon to make a kickass logo, but we figured we'd self-legitimate in the meantime. Johnny is Grain Alchemist and Creek is Minister of Information.

"Market Research" - Beer & Honeymooning in Amsterdam

Being Dutch, or Dutch enough to love the Netherlands, we headed to Amsterdam in September of 2009 for our honeymoon. While we were there, we figured it would be responsible to do some research about comparative breweries oversees.










Our first beer-related stop in Amsterdam was the Bekeerde Zuster - translated as "twisted sister." One of Amsterdam's only breweries, tauting itself as a "steam brewery," brewpub sits just off Nieuwmarkt, one of the city's oldest market squares on the far side of the Red Light District. Though it has been active since 1614, it is called "New Market" because, it is indeed less old than other parts of the city.





Johnny loves seeing brewing equipment. It makes him very happy.

At the Bekeerde Zuster, now part of the Beiaard Group, which serves the beer at several cafes throughout the city, we sampled the Manke Monnik (a Trippel), and the Witte Ros. Pretty delicious. The Witte Ros (White Night) is a wit - almost too light even for me, but refreshing.

We walked by an apothecary, Jacob Hooy & Co, founded as you can see, in 1743. The barrels and drawers, still filled with mixes of herbs and teas and traditional candies, have been in use for more than a century.























Here we are at the Beiaard Cafe near the Spui, closer to the center of Amsterdam.




























Next was the Rembrandt Corner Cafe, and yup, it's next door to Rembrandt House Museum, where it is a delight to see the actual north light through the same windows captured so often in his work. They don't make beer, but they have cool ceiling fans run on conveyor belts, so it was worth it.









Amsterdam has a couple of excellent beer stores with a selection of incredible beers from all over Europe. The Cracked Kettle, along with de BierKoning (Beer King) have hundreds of beers from dozens of countries and breweries, large and small. Being surrounded by hundreds of bottles is delightful. I remember being in the Cracked Kettle when I first moved to Amsterdam and being delighted that the owner was from the US - Massachusetts or Ohio, I think. He had a dream and damn if he's not living it. Opening a beer shop in Amsterdam, there are worse things.



The finale, and indeed the highlight of the trip, was Zeeland, the southwestern region of the Netherlands bordering Belgium. Zeeland, where my (Creek's) family goes back ten generations, has a rich history of ship building, bright textiles, intricate silver jewelry, and fierce defense to be ruled by no one but themselves. Clearly my people.

Even better, the rich brewing traditions of Belgium and the low country are thriving at de Mug Braai-Tapperij brewery. The Mug, which means "The Mosquito" - is pronounced "Moo" finished off with the patented throaty Dutch guttural sound. It's situated on a side street that leads like an artery to the central market square - which has been in continuous use for several hundred years - in Middelburg, a small and very relaxed city about three hours by train from Amsterdam and a bit less from from Brussels.
























Being a people of sand, sea, salt, and water - the Mug played with theme: The Strandgaper (named for a clam) and Zeezuiper bother refer to sand and see as well as just being fun to say. And both are an otherworldly pleasure to drink.

The Selection of Beers at the Mug was pretty spectacular for such a small place. In addition to their own brews, they had a selection of brews from Belgium, Germany, and throughout Europe.

Things are kept simple. You can get blocks of cheese (young, or aged), and/or nuts and/or small pieces of cold sausage to go with your beers.

Our Story

Van Houten Brewing Company (say "van HOW ten" ) is a Marin-based, family owned and operated craft nanobrewery-in-planning. Johnny and Creek Van Houten, a husband and wife team, are the mainstays of the operation. Johnny's dad, Tom serves as consultant and works with Johnny to perfect recipes. Between the two of them, they have almost 20 years of homebrewing experience.

Johnny and his dad, Tom, began their quest for great beer while attempting to recreate a limited edition beer which had fulfilled its mission by becoming unavailable. They decided to try to make it themselves and found that their own beer was even better. Let’s face it, there is an alchemical chemistry geek appeal to brewing - the hydrometers, spiral copper tubing, magnetic stirrers, and large boiling kettles over rocket-ship-like flames all has a certain appeal.

Creek joined the team by loving Johnny, who instilled in her an undiscovered love of beer, which bodes well for their marriage. She is the Minister of Information and honing her skills in navigating government acronyms on our way to official breweryhood... or is it breweryship.... brewerydom?

Anyways, the beer began showing up at movie nights and pirate parties – then weddings and anniversary gatherings, and the requests began. And so, the microbrew movement settled in and thrived, and California got their IPA on, while our father and son team continued their quest honing skills in British Ales, and German Lagers, (not to leave out the Belgians). Perhaps it is our Dutch and British blood that causes us to yearn for old style beer brewed by the simplest means possible.

Ten years later, we’re just plain tired of people asking us for beer so we’ve decided to take the plunge, make our dreams come true – and bring great beer home.

Sometimes we get help from our friends (like Shakes and Hank at right) doing what we lovingly refer to as "market research."