Disclaimer: I’m a tour guide here myself. Bias in opinions is not impossible.
It’s not unusual these days: old industrial buildings are re-purposed by small-scale, local businesses. It’s a good way to keep the industrial heritage in shape, and i’t a great opportunity for a brewery to have impressive housing which atrracts people and makes their beer tasting experience more memorable.
For Brouwerij Pronck that worked out very nicely. A building that was built well over a century ago as a waste incinerator now houses this cute brewery in downtown Leiden. Waste incineration in the city center? You must be kidding me! That indeed didn’t take long to get shut down, even though it was at the very edge of the city in those days. The building was later used as a power plant. When the energy consumption of households rose significantly in the post-war era, a switch station was necessary to safely provide the area all the way up to Schiphol Airport in the north with electricity. The switch station houses the brewery, the plant’s enormous chimney makes it easy to find from just about anywhere.
Those who look up when they enter the brewery, rather than puffing and moaning from the steep stairs they just took, stare in awe at the Mondriaan-like colors displayed along the higher parts of the walls. Pure copper with original paint from the fifties give the high walls an artsy look. Extra character is added by the copper missing every here and there from theft in periods of vacancy, or rather serving as shelter for the homeless.
Besides massive amounts of copper, there nowadays is a fair amount of stainless steel to be found inside as well. That stainless steel is used for a mash tun, kettle and a bunch of fermenters. Enough to make well over 100 hectoliters a month of their brews: mostly beer, but also some (unfermented) lemonade. In fact, all Pronck’s production happens right at the spot, no renting kettles elsewhere. The ingredients are locally sourced as much as possible and some beers are also fully organic. The amount of effort a brewery needs to put into making a fully organic product is not to be underestimated, as even the ingredients can not be put in fridges with non-organic other ingredients. Organization is key!
Pronck beer is also sold largely locally. Why drive far to drop off your beer if they can make it there, too? Honest beer means using local ingredients, be open about what you use, and re-use your waste products as much as possible. The spent grains are collected weekly by a local farmer, who can buy 1000 kilograms of animal feed a week less. Happy cows and pigs! The warm water from cooling the wort is used in the cleaning process. The lemon zest and juice, honey, flowers and spices all come from nearby and are often freshly picked by brewery staff (admittedly, this is quite instagram-friendly, too). The cheese served with the beer during the tasting also comes from local, small, sustainable farms.
A tour at the brewery, either booked as a group or open enrollment, starts out with a story about the history of the brewery and the building. A first beer is served, to get everybody in the mood. Typically, that first beer will be the organic wit with lemon zest, lemon juice and a sniff of lavender. Snacks will be plentiful for the full two hours, obviously. Time for the highlight of the event! A roughly 45 minute explanation of the brewing process, ingredients and how it all results in the flavor and aroma of your favorite imbibement. The goal, according to the owner: to make everybody leave, still being confused about the intricacies of beer, but at a higher level.
At the mash tun, the story begins with the water. Us Dutchies are so lucky: high quality, clean water of a hardness that is so utterly medium, that all beers can be made without modification. About 600 liters go in, with roughly 150 kilograms of malts, depending a bit on the beer that’s supposed to be made. Many of the main ingredients in beer are either plants or tiny organisms. The story goes into a bit of details of the malting process and why that’s necessary. Let’s make a fluid (wort) that is as sweet as possible, in which the mix of sugars is just right. Some need to be fermented by the yeast later on, some need to stay in the final product. In the mash tun the spent grains act as a filter bed to clear the wort. Then onto cooking. The tour guide goes into the why and into all the additives that go into the kettle at various times.
After cooking we move to the cold site (physically, the group moves to the fermentation tanks) for an explanation of fermentation, lagering and how the final product gets to you, the consumer. The fermenters come in two sizes: one for a single and one for a double batch. The double btaches mean long days for the brewer! Now, if such a story doesn’t make one thirsty, I don’t know what does. Onto the tasting of another couple pours! Three more beers to go, with a cheese platter as well as some fried snacks; all vegetarian, some produced by the brewer’s side gig. The beers are likely some variant of an IPA, a floral beer with flowers from the botanical garden or one full of herbs from the backyard of a local restaurant. All beers come with a brief introduction about the style, the beer at hand and the story that makes it special for Pronck. The final beer is often the Tripel, coming along with the story of traditional Belgian abbey styles and the warning that the steeps stairs from the way in, need to be taken back down as well. Careful with that 9%, which is hidden behind the elderflower honey and therefore insidiously quaffable!
Many of Pronck’s beers are collaborations with local bars or restaurants, and many of the core range beers serve as “house” beer for Leiden-area establishments. They are therefore easily drinkable and accessible. Not too outspoken, yet unique and flavorful. That is not to say that there are no wilder types. There’s a gin barrel aged wheat beer, there are sours and an imperial porter aged on red wine barrels. For every level of beer affionado there’s something. One-off beers and one-off series are also common, like the recent series of IPAs with New Zealand hops, all named after flightless birds from NZ. It need not be said, but all these beers, as well as some really cool t-shirts can be bought at the spot.
That I will be back is a given, as I’m there about every other week. It’s a commonly heard phrase, though, and in my strongly colored opinion that’s understandable. The building is lovely, all my colleague tour guides are hilarious, the snacks are good and the beers are great! If you get a chance: drop by!
Tasting Craft Beer 
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