Things to do in May: Dutch Beer Week

From 11 to 21 May, it’s Dutch Beer Week. More than eighty beer-related activities will take place in various locations across the country.

Tastings in local pubs, beer walks, workshops, and behind-the-scenes visits to several breweries—it doesn’t get much better than this week. Food has also been taken into consideration: restaurants have been selected where you can join a beer dinner, there are masterclasses, and several five- or six-course dinners at special locations. We’ll tell you about a few highlights.

Opening
As is traditional, the Beer Tasting Festival will take place from 11 to 13 May in the Grote Kerk in The Hague. Forty Dutch breweries will present their beers to you and your friends.

Workshops and masterclasses
There are plenty of workshops and masterclasses to attend throughout the country. In Almere, for example, you can take a brewing workshop. In Beverwijk, you can take a workshop on identifying beer and learn about its history and ingredients. In Enschede, you can attend this masterclass on which cheeses pair well with different specialty beers.

Beer Behind the Dunes
Twenty chefs from The Hague will prepare dishes for you that pair perfectly with a particular type of beer. The beers will be selected by Arvid Bergstrom, a certified international beer sommelier with two cookbooks to his name. You can read more about the event here.

Walking tours
There are also several beer walking tours, during which you’ll visit special locations accompanied by a beer sommelier. In Everdingen, for example, you’ll visit a brewery in a fort.

Visit to the brewery
From 19 to 21 May, you can also go behind the scenes at more than one hundred breweries in the Netherlands. There will be presentations, brewing demonstrations, and tastings. Here you can see where else you can go.