Grolsche
Bierbrouwerij N.V.
Brouwerslaan 1,
Boekelo,
7548 XA Enschede.
Tel: 053-4833333
Fax: 053-4833100
Homepage: http://www.grolsch.nl
Brouwerijstraat 1,
7523 XC Enschede. ** CLOSED **
Eibergseweg 10,
7141 CE Groenlo.
Tel: 0544-479111
Fax: 0544-461111 ** CLOSED **
Founded: 1615
Annual production: 3,404,000 hl (2004)
| Beer
|
alc |
Plato |
Description |
score (100) |
| Grolsch 2.5 Lemon |
2.5% |
|
Pale lager flavoured with lemon. |
|
| Grolsch 2.5 Pink Grapefruit |
2.5% |
|
Pale lager flavoured with grapefruit. |
|
| Grolsch Oud Bruin |
2.5% |
|
Dark lager.
Apple, toffee and wort aroma; very sweet taste with caramel, toffee,
sugar and fruit aromas; short sugary finish with fruit and chicory
aromas.
Very sweet, as to be expected from the style, but it could profit
from at least a hint of hops somewhere. Just a bit too sugary,
for me. |
36 |
| Grolsch 2.5 |
2.5% |
|
Pale lager. |
|
| Grolsch Premium Blond |
4.2% |
|
Pils. Introduced in June 2005. |
|
| Grolsch Premium Pilsner |
5% |
|
Pils.
Good smell of aroma hops and a pleasant spiciness in the finish. Only
spoilt by a tad too much sweetness and slightly too prominent butter.
The best mass-produced Dutch pils by a mile. Bitterness 30 EBU. Unfortunately,
since the move to the new brewery the beer has been pasteurised.
More than 90% of Grolsch beer sold in Holland is their pils. |
60 |
| Grolsch Zomergoud |
5% |
|
Golden ale. Seasonal - Summer. Brewed with elderflowers and lime-tree
blossom.
Coriander, basil, grass and flower aroma; sweetish taste with fruit,
hop and lemon aromas; bitterish herbal finish. A very light herbal
beer. Quite bland.
NO LONGER BREWED |
40 |
| Grolsch Premium Weizen |
5.5% |
|
Unfiltered pale wheat beer.
Hazy golden colour, thin fine-beaded head; orange, cloves and basil
aromas; sweetish taste with cloves and orange aromas; bitterish finish
with wheat, honey and cloves aromas.
A reasonable go at a hefeweizen. Has more authentic spiciness than
Erdinger does nowadays. Maybe a touch too much authentic character
for the Dutrch market. I would like to be proved wrong.
Introduced 2006. Tasted 12.05.2006. |
54 |
| Grolsch Herfstbok |
6.5% |
16.5º |
Dark bock. Seasonal - Autumn.
Toffee, caramel and celery aroma; very sweet taste with sugar and
toffee aromas; very sweet, sugary finish. Ridiculously sweet.
Colour 70 EBC; bitterness 30 EBU.
Has almost 50% of the Dutch bokbier market. |
24 |
| Grolsch Lentebok |
6.5% |
15.6º |
Pale bock. Seasonal - Spring.
Tobacco, honey and cardboard aroma; very sweet taste with sugar, hop
and honey aromas; sweet finish with sugar, sugar and suagar aromas.
Like sugar solution with added hop aroma. Terrible, totally lacking
balancing bittereness and, even worse, tasting like it's been artificiallt
sweetened. The ingredients, ominously, include "sugars". So sweet
it's likely to make your teeth ache after the first sip.
All the Dutch beers in this style are crap. |
26 |
| Grolsch Noaber |
6.9% |
|
Amber ale. Spiced with liquorice. Top fermented. |
|
| Grolsch Wintervorst |
7.5% |
|
Dark, spiced beer. Seasonal - Winter.
NO LONGER BREWED |
|
| Het Kanon |
11.6% |
|
Pale lager.
Fruit, wood and alcohol aroma; sweet/bitterish taste with raisins
and honey aromas; bitter finish with cream, caramel and wood aromas.
Alcoholic and unsubtle. I'm not sure what style it's supposed to be. |
46 |
| Amsterdam Explorator |
6.8% |
|
Pale lager.
Brewed for the French market. |
|
| Amsterdam Navigator |
8.4% |
|
Pale lager.
Brewed for the French market. |
|
| Amsterdam Maximator |
11.6% |
|
Brewed for the French market. |
|
Bought by SABMiller at the end of
2007. The company used to operate two breweries in the east of Holland,
one in Groenlo (from which the name Grolsch derives) and one Enschede (which
was badly damaged by the firework explosion). A single, new site at Boeklo
(just outside Enschede) was opened in 2004. When this is fully commissioned,
the other two will close.
They regularly brew one-off beers, sometimes packaged in larger versions
of their famous swing-top bottles. Sadly, most of these beers have been
pale yellow, not very disctinctive nor in any particular style. Grolsch
Amber, a Belgian-style ale at least as good as any of its rivals from south
of the border, was unfortunately dropped in 2002. More recent develoments
in the product line have been low-strength fruit-flavoured beers. Sorry,
but I haven't been able to force myself try any of them yet (despite knowing
the bloke fronting their Dutch TV ads). Another range of alcopops - Zinniz
- was no great success.
Grolsch has in the past dabbled (not too successfully) in foreign takeovers.
It doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be a serious European player
or a just a big fish in the relatively small Dutch pond. The vast majority
of Grolsch's foreign sales are in the UK, where its has a joint venture
with Coors (51% Grolsch, 49% Coors). In 2004, about 50% of Grolsch sales
were in its home (Dutch) market, 33% in the UK and 17% in the rest of the
world.
| worldwide sales |
| year |
total volume (hl) |
sales outside Holland |
| 1999 |
2,920,000 |
|
| 2000 |
2,910,000 |
|
| 2001 |
3,090,000 |
|
| 2002 |
3,270,000 |
1,500,000 |
| 2003 |
3,370,000 |
1,700,000 (UK 1,000,000) |
| 2004 |
3,404,000 |
1,700,000 |
Source:
Grolsch website |
|
