WE HAVE TAKEN INSPIRATION FROM THE PAST TO CREATE
A NEW HYBRID SELECTION OF BEERS BREWED WITH BOTANICALS TO CREATE
A SUBTLE AND LASTING DEPTH OF FLAVOURS. USING BOTANICAL INGREDIENTS
MEANS THAT WE GIVE IT A TRULY UNIQUE FLAVOUR AND THIS IS WHY WE
THINK THAT GOING BACK TO THE PAST WILL ACTUALLY LEAD US TO
THE NEXT STEP IN BEER’S EVOLUTION.
Once there was just beer without hops. Early beers were in fact terribly sweet due to the barley and a lack of a bittering ingredient. The Lowlands found itself in a favourable position as their inclination to sea-faring saw them bring back a whole host of exotic herbs and spices, and brewers began to experiment using those to counter the sweetness of the malt. Pre 16th century Dutch beer grew to be renowned for its unique tastes.
We take inspiration from the personal journeys we’ve been on. Our diverse backgrounds as brewers, mixologist, distillers and foodies gives us a different perspective on what beer can be. We think that brewing with botanicals gives more character to the beer. We are fascinated by the art of distillation, especially of gin & genever. It seemed a little unfair that they got to have all the fun to create explosively flavourful combinations using botanicals.
Natural, rich, simple and full of flavour: botanicals such as herbs, spices, fresh or dried plants and fruits leave us without boundaries for our creative process. Don’t get us wrong, we love the incredible aromas that hops provide beers as much as the next person. Using botanical ingredients means that we can give our beer its truly unique character. We have taken inspiration of the past to create a subtle and lasting depth of flavours for the future.
We source our botanicals keeping in mind two essential criteria; quality and taste. We go to great lengths and literally all corners of the globe to get the best. Thankfully our friends at Jacob Hooy are able to help us. Established in 1743 it’s the oldest spice store in Amsterdam (and quite possibly the Western world). Their wisdom regarding fruits, flowers, roots and seeds has been passed on from one generation to another.
While other brewers think malt, hops, water and yeast, a beer at Lowlander starts with peeling dozens of oranges, extracting bags full of herbs, make teas and tinctures. We use a variety of ways to get the best amount of both flavour and aroma of the botanicals into our Lowlander Beers. Luckily the Jopen brewery in Haarlem let’s us be as creative as possible with botanical brewing and we are proud to call them our brewery partners.
Grains are crushed to bring out the inner starch. Wheat, oats and barley are typically used.
Mixing the grain powder with hot water extracts the malt’s sugars to form a sweet liquid (wort).
After operating the grains, the wort is heated along with delicate hops and sturdy botanicals. Bitterness and flavour begin to form the beer character.
Yeasts like low temperatures wort to feed on and so it must be cooled.
Men make wort because yeast make beer during fermentation. Sugar is converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide, a beer is born.
Yeasts and botanicals are filtered out to get tasteful beer.
Delicate botanicals are added and the beer is left to imbibe the flavour and aroma notes of these botanicals.
When it comes to brewing with botanicals, there’s only one way to figure out what works best. If you’re interested in knowing more about the nitty gritty of our brewing techniques don’t hesitate to get in touch. Our brewmaster David is happy to chew your ears off explaining how Lowlander Beer gets its exceptional flavour.