This post provides an overview of all beers from Nevel. The beers Mattias makes are just too unique and beautiful and deserve a separate post to do all of them justice. Interested in my visit to the brewery, then click here to read that article.
Nevel has barrel-aged beers, stainless steel tank-aged beers, and some special beers and collaborations. Below is a short description of all beers within these categories. A translation of the Dutch names is provided where applicable.
Barrel aged beers
Bast (Bark)
A dark, forest-inspired beer, with birch bark, spruce-, and pine tree, and blackthorn with blossoms. Earthy tones with some sourness and hints of vanilla. This beer is aged for fourteen months.
Dauw (Dew)
Blend of three elderflower-infused beers of different ages. The young beer adds bitterness and floral aromas, whereas the old beer gives the beer a smooth character. Some bitterness in the aftertaste accompanied by floral notes from the elderflower.
Echo
Two-month maceration of local grape (Solaris and Souvignier Gris) skins on the wild base beer.
Frivool (Frivolous)
Three-month maceration of Gamay grape skins on young beer, then barrel-aged for eight months. This beer is then fermented for 5 months with blackberries. The result is a beer that resembles a mix of natural wine and wild beer.
Gloed (Glow)
The barrel aged for 21 months and subsequently fermented for four months with 430 g/L local cherries, and 75 g/L black currants. A dry and sour beer with hints of vanilla and cinnamon.
Halm (Straw)
Brewed intended to become Alm, this beer with Sweet Wormwood went through a ropey phase. After six months on stainless steel and seven months in the barrel, the result is a more sour version of Alm.
Grondslag (Base)
A blend of the best barrels of wild base beer without any herbs or fruits to bring the aromas from the wooden barrels to the forefront. An average age of 25 months results in a lot of aromas from the wood, bitters from the hop, and sourness with hints of dried fruits and citrus zest.
Jubel (Jubilee)
Eighteen months barrel aged on fresh sherry barrels containing just a tiny bit of sherry. Purposefully oxidized, resulting in a wine-like sour beer with hints of macadamia, dried fruits, and Mokka.
Frisky Sour
A blond beer with weeds, barrel-aged for seven months. Slightly sour with hints of citrus and honey. This beer is a collaboration with Wilderland from Amsterdam.
Meander
Best Dutch beer of the year 2021. Barrel aged for 21 months with the addition of rhubarb and black currant leaves.
Mijmer (Muse)
Eleven months barrel aged, with 115 g/L black currants macerated for five months. Added to that are slightly roasted fennel seeds. The result is a sour and complex fruity beer.
Purper (Murrey)
Eight-month barrel-aged blond beer brewed with buckwheat with the addition of aronia berries and lavender. The tannins from the berries result in a dry finish.
Rust (Peace)
Eighteen-month barrel aged resulting in pronounced aromas from the wood. This beer was awarded a bronze medal at the Dutch Beer Challenge in both 2019 and 2020.
Schijn (Gleam)
A complex blend of different barrel-aged beers with an average age of at least ten months. For this beer 450 g/L prunes of different varieties have been used. Both fresh prunes and prunes that had been macerated before were used. This beer has been infused with basil for a week too.
Tank fermented beers
Alm (Alpine Pasture)
A dry, slightly bitter beer with ‘forgotten’ herbs like Sweet Wormwood. The Wormwood gives the beer a citrussy and grassy flavor. This beer was awarded a gold medal at the Dutch Beer Challenge in 2019.
Dwaal (Wander)
A Belgian wheat beer-like beer with local Szechuan peppercorns and common hogweed seed. Full and elegant beer with a touch of acid. The spices add a nice depth to this beer.
Erve
A hop forward dry and bitter beer with hints of stone fruit and citrus. Reminiscent of a mix between a Brett IPA and a Saison.
Tomaat (Tomato)
A collaboration with DESEM, a pizzeria in Nijmegen. Roasted tomatoes and fennel seeds were added to this blond barrel-aged beer, resulting in a refreshing beer that pairs well with sourdough pizza.
Hof (Court)
This beer was intended to become an Erve. However, just like with Halm, after the primary fermentation, it got ropey. After aging for half a year in a stainless-steel tank, the beer was bottled and turned ropey again. Once the beer was less viscous the results were surprising. An almost lambic-like beer, funky, sour, and low in carbonation was the result.
Minne
A slightly sour blond beer made with Japanese quince resulting in hints of citrus and apple, with a fruity bitter finish from the local hops.
Collaborations/Special
Clouded Reflection
This beer is a collaboration with Afterthought Brewing from the US. American Cascade hops, ginger, and lemon grass meet locally grown angelica root and Cascade hops. Primary fermented with the Nevel yeast culture and barrel-aged for seven months with the addition of the Afterthought yeast culture. The result is an American-style Saison with a herby finish.
Nevel X Heilung – Alu
This beer was brewed for the Danish amplified history band Heilung and is the only beer that’s not made with the house culture. This beer is made with a Saison yeast culture and contains a mixture of Scandinavian herbs (e.g., bog-myrtle and meadowsweet) and caramelized Danish honey.
Tam (Tame)
This barrel-aged beer is a collaboration with two Michelin-star restaurants ‘De Nieuwe Winkel’. This restaurant provided the koji fermented and roasted chestnuts that were used to brew it. The use of chestnuts gives this beer a warm and nutty autumn character.
Iris
This beer, named after the Greek goddess Iris, is a collaboration with another brewery from Nijmegen, De Hemel. It’s a wheat beer with angelica root.
Check out Nevel’s web shop to see which beers are currently available: https://nevel.org/en/webshop/. Deliveries are shipped throughout the European Union; additional costs vary by country.