NeoBosski: bringing you sooty otters and swearing blondes

Hello Beer loving Friends, how nice to see you again. Vacation is over, the Olympics have finishes so back to writing about beer.

The summer was a time of reflection. The last year and a half have mostly been about festivals, some philosophical ideas and new stories about breweries I had written about before.

It was great writing for about where Duits & Lauret, Rooie Dop and ‘t Uiltje are years after the first blog post about them. Their rise was a great look into how craft brewing in this country started to grow. But I didn’t pay too much attention to the wave after. Was I too excited by the breweries I already knew? Was the quality of the new ones not as good as the first wave?

One reason was that I was getting tired of yet another brewery releasing yet another blonde, tripel or IPA. But over the summer I came across some new breweries that released some beers that didn’t fit that mold and it got me interested again in the part of writing about beer in the first place. I found that my favorite pieces were always about new brewers that just started but made great beer. Passionate people with a story to tell. And it is a truth that the better the brewer, the better the answers that you get back by e-mail. Which in turn leads to great articles. So, the coming weeks, I will once again bring you stories about the people who are relatively new to the scene but bring something special. Back to basics for the blog, and today I start with a new brewery from Utrecht called Neobosski.

First Contact

At the beer festival in Utrecht in May  I ran into Marco Lauret of Duits &Lauret who had just visited the Neobosski stand for a beer and a T-shirt. He liked it, which is as much as a thumbs up as you can get.  I have to admit their beer was one of the better ‘new’ beers at the festival. This and their overall look, more hipster than corporate, more organic than designed, also was more to my liking. A few weeks later their beer was on tap at Oproer!, which was another sign of approval from serious beer aficionados. Time for a closer look.

Who are Neobosski?

Neobosski is a two man team of Eric De Bos (The Boss part) and Neo (The Neo Part, Jeroen van Beek). Their paths to brewing start at different places.

As they explain it:

“Eric studied biology and has a degree in ecology, but eventually became a webdeveloper. He works as a senior developer and scrummaster at BNN/VARA (a national TV broadcaster on the public station, MB) where besides building awesome websites, drinks a lot of beer with his colleagues. Outside work he’s an enthusiastic nature guy, and being a biologist certainly gives him a bit of an edge in the brewing process.

Neo started his own event planning bureau a few years ago, working with a group of friends to help upcoming artist get gigs. With the decline of government support for the culture industry in the Netherlands it got harder and harder to make a living out of it, and with our brews getting better and better, he decided to quit and focus more and more on Neobosski. Next to that – being a enthousiastic cyclist – for now he works at a cycling shop (De Vakantiefietser)  in Amsterdam but plans to make Neobosski his full-time job in the near future.”

The Debut

For a few years they experimented with brewing, as you can read on their own website.

The two were influenced by separate brewing philosophies. And it is not only the beer itself that influences them, image and marketing are also a part of it. Neo is more influenced by the more American influenced breweries like ‘t Uiltje and Oedipus and Scandinavians like Mikkeller and Brewski. Erik has more of a thing for Belgians like Dupont, Rochefort and Bosteels, but is also very enthusiastic about Dutch breweries Emelisse and Duits & Lauret.

This eventually led to their first commercial brew: the Sooty Otter, a Black IPA. Ratebeer scores it a 96/90, the average on Untappd is a nice 3.79. Not too shabby right? Of course I had to ask about the name:

“We used Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt, maybe the best Pale Ale there is, but also because Neo’s wife’s last name is den Otter. And sooty means blackened, smirched or covered in soot, like a chimney sweeper, which is a bit how the beer looks like in your glass. Basically an otter covered in soot from dark roasted malts. “

The Utrecht Beerbrewersfestival was the first time they served the Sooty Otter to a larger public. The reactions from the public were great, yet the feedback from other brewers was even better. A public vote of confidence is one thing, having your peers like what you do is even better.

I then asked how they felt about being available at Oproer!, not the worst place to have your beer on tap. Turns out that the connection between the Neobosski guys and then still Rooie Dop stretches back to their days in downtown Utrecht. Neo practiced with his band in the same building where Rooie Dop brewed. They would drop in with them and try some of their test brews. In fact, this interaction might have been the planting of the seed that would eventually grow into Neobosski.

And now years later Neobosski is on tap at the next phase of Rooie Dop: Oproer! It is a confirmation that what they do is right. But besides Oproer two other premier beer bars have started selling it: DeRat and the Drie Dorstige Heren. This means three of the premier beer locations in the city liked it.

The Sooty Otter and the Next

So what is next for Neobosski?

“Our next beer will be something totally different. At the end of August we will be releasing a Belgian blonde-chilibeer. We’ve named i

Foto by ByManja

t Swearing Blonde. She is hot and slightly silty. The spice is going to make you blow your top, but besides that, it’s quite tasty with a bit of sweetness. Not everyone will be able to tame her, but if you are ready to give your taste buds a good rush you might fall in love with her!”

The Swearing Blonde will be released on Saturday September 3^rd at Mad About Malt in Utrecht. I for one will be looking out for it. It is great to see a new and different brewery again.

Visit their website and Facebook page for more news