Stroopwafel in your beer, why not
A creative brewer finds inspiration everywhere. Apparently also at the market, where the smell of warm stroopwafels evokes associations with hops, alcohol, a brewing kettle and… well, stroopwafel beer is apparently a thing. Does it sound good to you?
Funnily enough, there are three different stroopwafel beers, from three different breweries. All three are stouts, though: robust dark beers comparable to Guinness. The kind of beer where your spoon stays standing upright in the glass, so to speak. It’s not surprising that the brewers think of cookies and pastries in this context, because stout generally has a bittersweet flavor, with notes such as chocolate, almond cookies and coffee. No, stout has nothing to do with being rowdy or naughty; it’s English for ‘powerful’, and stout beer usually is. Beer that makes your chest hair grow, according to the experts, so consider yourself warned.
Glass of syrup
Hop Hooligans is a microbrewery from Bucharest. Apparently, the Romanian brewers also visit the Netherlands now and then, perhaps to visit fellow brewers and sample a beer or two, who knows. Where else would they have tasted the stroopwafels that inspired them to brew their stroopwafel beer? They made it into a sweet-bitter stout, with the aroma and flavor of syrup and caramel. Sounds good, right?
Hops in Haarlem
But the Romanians aren’t the only ones who enjoy a stroopwafel, at least when it’s liquid and contains alcohol. Brewery Uiltje has made a beer with loads of stroopwafel, if you believe the label. A Haarlem-based company, famous for its hoppy beers, which always taste a little bitter. That makes them highly drinkable, and that’s dangerous territory with a few of those stroopwafel owls in the fridge: 14 percent alcohol, pure and simple, writes Bierista.
Dessert to finish
The Irish brewery Hope also jumped on the stroopwafel bandwagon. Wait a minute, do they have stroopwafels in Ireland too? They probably pronounce it ‘stroepwaffel’, and the label says: Waffly Rich Stout, so people who weren’t raised with a stroopwafel in hand still know what it’s about. A stout with flavors of coffee and caramel. ‘Dessert in a can,’ enthusiasts write on the brewery’s website.
