After the recent visits to Belgian breweries, again time for another Dutch brewery. Not just a run-of-the-mill nano brewery producing maybe one or two different beers, but a brewery with over 20 beers brewing wild beers only. Beers brewed with local ingredients: heritage grains, fruits, herbs, botanicals, and even vegetables. And did I say that this brewery was the winner of the 2021 Dutch Beer Challenge Best Dutch Beer award? As you’ve seen in the title, I’m talking about Nevel. Nevel started in 2014 under the name Katjelam, then changed to Nevel Artisan Ales in 2016, and since 2020 it has been known under the name Nevel. The beers they produce show that not all wild-fermented beers are sour, but of course, they have some delicious sour beers in their repertoire too! I met at the brewery in Nijmegen with co-founder, brewer, and owner Mattias Terpstra. Nevel is a Dutch word that translates to mist, haze, or fog.
Thirsty after a long car ride from Brussels, I sat down with Mattias in the small shop/reception. He poured me one of his favorite creations, Weide, and we chatted away after which he showed me the brewery and impressive barrel collection. Weide is a Saison like delightfully crisp and refreshing beer that’s low in alcohol. It’s of course, as are all Nevel’s beers, fermented with a wild yeast culture.
The House Yeast Culture
All beers are brewed using a house culture of wild yeasts. This culture is a mix of yeasts harvested from local grapes and a few milliliters of a wild yeast culture that Mattias got from Dwayne Schaaf, Ebb, and Flow Fermentations, via Milk the Funk. The first brew with the mixed culture was a success and the same culture has been used ever since. For every new batch, the yeast from the previous brew is used by adding it to the wort after cooling. The yeast from the previous batch is usually harvested using top cropping.
How it started
The brewery, then named Katjelam, was founded in 2014 by Mattias and Vincent. They knew each other from studying physics in Nijmegen. From the start, the idea was already to use local ingredients and they were interested in wild fermentation, brewing, and experimenting with commercially available Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus cultures. After graduating in 2016, they decided to pursue this as a full-time job, moving the brewery to a new location and changing the name to Nevel Wild Ales. Contrary to most starting breweries, they didn’t want to start small and gradually scale the production up. They opted to start on a larger scale from the beginning, hiring two employees.
Recent changes
After the COVID pandemic, they were forced to continue without employees due to rising prices and a difficult market. So, Mattias and Vincent continued with the two of them. At the end of 2021, the brewery moved to its current location in an industrial area in the north of Nijmegen. With this change, it was decided to sell its brewing kettles and from then on rent equipment in a nearby brewery in Groesbeek. Earlier this year Vincent decided to pursue another career, and Mattias has since led the brewery on his own. All work is not done by him, impressive looking at the scale of the brewery and the number of barrels. For some tasks like bottling, foraging, or picking fruits volunteers he has the help of friends and volunteers.
Mattias brews 2500 liters of wort per month, totaling 30,000 liters per year. Every season three new beers are released, a younger tank fermented/aged beer and two-barrel aged beers. So, at least twelve new beers are released each year. Members of Nevel are the first ones to receive these beers. All approximately 170 members receive a seasonal box four times a year, including some special membership-only ones like single-barrel beers.
As this will be the first full year brewing and leading the brewery totally on his own, the focus for Mattias in the short term will be on stability, finding his rhythm, brewing in harmony with the seasons
Sustainability
From the start, the key mission of Nevel and Mattias has been brewing in a sustainable manner and brewing beer in connection with nature. This is not only reflected in the ingredients that are used, but in other aspects of the brewery too. First and foremost, of course, the use of wild yeasts and local organic produce. Secondly, most ingredients are bought straight from the farmer/producer. By working together with local farmers Nevel supports them to grow heritage grains like Emmer wheat, spelt, Chevalier barley, and rye. Lastly, by working together with local food forests, Nevel supports permaculture initiatives. Important partners include ‘Food Forest Ketelbroek’, for example for fresh Szechuan pepper, and ‘De Ommuurde Tuin’, for their rhubarb and black currant leaves.
Another admirable and interesting project regarding sustainability is the use of chestnuts as a source of starches for brewing beer. Chestnuts contain approximately the same amount of starches as grains and can therefore be an excellent ingredient to brew beer. The amount of CO2 that’s emitted during the production and processing of chestnuts is significantly less than for any type of grain. Mattias’ goal is to replace 20 to 30 percent of the amount of grains by chestnut In 10 years. The main challenge is that chestnuts need to be roasted first, and the infrastructure for that is still lacking. Currently, the only beer that contains chestnuts is Tam. For the first batch of this beer, seven kilos of koji-fermented chestnuts were roasted by the restaurant ‘De Nieuwe Winkel’. For the second batch, 40 kilos of chestnuts were roasted using the residual heat from the oven of a bakery.
And, for Nevel, sustainability goes beyond the natural environment. Social sustainability, i.e. ethical practices and social responsibility is important for Mattias too. The intention of the brewery isn’t just financial gain. Everyone in the chain gets a fair price for their product. The suppliers get a fair price for their products, and in turn, Nevel asks for a fair price for their beers.
Nevel is truly a pioneer in the world of wild beers. In terms of creativity, working in harmony with nature, and sustainability, Mattias is at the forefront.
Beers
For all beers, the primary fermentation is always done on stainless steel tanks. A fast fermentation at 30 degrees Celsius for 6 days, is then followed by either a few months of secondary fermentation on a stainless steel tank again, or for a longer time on wooden barrels. Most barrels are old red wine barrels from Spain. Herbs are usually added during aging, and for the beers with fruit, after aging the beer is transferred to plastic tanks. Most barrel-fermented beers are a blend of several barrels.
Due to the number of available beers I wanted to make a selection of beers to mention here, but it’s just too hard to select which ones. All beers have such interesting ingredients that I decided to provide an overview of all the beers in a separate post you can find by clicking here. Since most beers have beautiful Dutch names, I’ve provided a translation too.
Where to Drink Nevel’s Beers
Of course, you can find Nevel’s beers in the better craft beer stores around The Netherlands in most of the major cities. You can also order them in the webshop or become a member for €25 per month. As you might imagine, these beers pair especially well with food and can be found on the menu of some, mostly higher-end, restaurants. Restaurants where you can find Nevel’s beers are Flore in Amsterdam (2 Michelin stars), De Nieuwe Winkel in Nijmegen (2 Michelin stars), FEU in Utrecht, Konijnenvoer in Arnhem, DESEM in Nijmegen, and The Green Rose in Arnhem.
Some of these restaurants serve beers, developed together with Nevel, that can only be drunk at the restaurant. Other beers like Tomaat, a wild blond beer with tomatoes and fennel seeds that were developed in collaboration with pizza restaurant DESEM in Nijmegen, can be found in the webshop too.
Who to Interview Next
There are some interesting brewers in Germany like Kemker and Buddelship/Lost Horizon, that are worth a visit. And a bit further away in Italy and UK some nice ones as well. Furthermore, Mattias also is in contact with Senne from Boerenerf. Senne even visited Nevel for a one-week visit to help around the brewery and get inspired. Boerenerf’s beetroot lambic is the fruit of this one-week inspiration session. Of course, when I recently visited Boerenerf, I couldn’t restrain myself and took a bottle home with me. More posts are coming about my visit to Boerenerf, which was part of a hike through the Senne Valley stopping at multiple breweries, and a potential interview with Senne too.
Amazing to see Mattias’ enthusiasm and dedication to wild beer. I wish him all the best with this truly unique brewery, and I hope we meet again! And for everyone who hasn’t tried one of his many delicious creations yet, click here for a post with a short description per beer and order your favorites in the Nevel webshop. I couldn’t leave empty-handed and took home a bottle of Rust, Purper, Meander, Tam, and Tomaat.