All About Beer Magazine - Volume 35, Issue 2
June 20, 2014 By

Local beer festivals

North Holland Beer Fest, June 8, 2014 (Haarlem, North Holland): Holland and The Netherlands are not synonymous, as that would be like calling only the East Coast the United States, but the provinces of South Holland and North Holland have the population concentration. Thirty minutes from Amsterdam, Haarlem hosts this provincial bierfest.

Bokbier Festival, Oct. 24-26, 2014 (Amsterdam, North Holland): The largest beer fest in the Netherlands, since 1978, welcomes over 12,000 thirsty celebrators enjoying “50 types of glorious” bock.

Winter Beer Fest, mid-January 2015 (Gouda, South Holland): The 22nd annual winter beer fest is held in Gouda, home of the cheese, an hour by light rail from Amsterdam. It features some hundred winter warmers from a land that knows something about winter.

Kerstbierfest (Christmas Beer Fest), mid-December 2014 (Essen, Belgium): A stein’s throw from the Dutch border, Essen hosts one of the largest beer enthusiast festivals on the planet, amassing roughly 200 draft and bottled holiday ales.

This story appears in the May issue of All About Beer MagazineClick here for a free trial of our next issue.