“Get inspired by the stories and recipes of the Swaen”
Gruit – herbal beer of the middle-ages
In the middle-ages – before the effects of hop in brewing were known – people used a special herb mixture for bittering and flavouring beer. This mixture – and the eventual beer – is called Gruit, also known as grut, gruut or gruyt. And because 1 February declared is International Gruit Day, we will take […]
Recipe of the month – Best Bitter
You may have already read our latest article about crystal malts on our blog. To keep the focus on these malts the recipe of this month is a traditional English style ale, that relies on various crystal malts. British bitters emerged from English Pale Ales in the late 1800’s. They have been mainly served as […]
Caramel Malts
Historically, caramel malts were produced from green malt in a kiln covered with a tarpaulin. The tarpaulin reduced evaporation as the kiln was heated to perhaps 60°C to 75°C and kept at that temperature for up to 2 hours needed for saccharification of the starch in the endosperm. To dry and caramelize the grain, the […]
Recipe of the month – Kuyt
Earlier this month we shared an article on our blog about Swaen Dutch Pale Ale malt. This variety is a real Dutch product, made 100% from local barley, so this time we brought you an original and traditional Dutch beer recipe. Although the beer consumption in the Netherlands was mainly influenced by Belgian brewers, there […]
Beer Geeks Beat ALS Advent Calendar 2021
The Swaen is a proud sponsor of the Beer Geeks Beat ALS Advent Calendar of 2021. In this calendar you will find 24 delicious, unique beers. These are often brewed especially for this event. To support Stichting ALS Nederland (The Dutch ALS Foundation) even better, this year you can win prizes. Every day the corresponding […]
Barley – Dutch Pale Ale
The Netherlands is a country “low by the sea” and has during centuries fought against, trade partner and enemy: the sea. Many inundations with salty water have flogged the country. As a result of that the Dutch have always been looking for possibilities to win land from the sea and protect people and agriculture. The […]