In Amsterdam, we found a beer shop, De Bierkoning, that sells plenty of beers from Oregon, mostly Rogue and a rare bottle of the Abyss, and a bar that exclusively sells American beers, The Beer Temple. It was nice to get back to the familiar. It was nearly impossible to pick from the thirty taps and hundreds of bottles. I couldn’t justify the cost of Westvleteren, but I picked up some stuff I’ve never tried.

I started with Brewdog’s Galaxy IPA. I think it was part of a single hop experiment. It was delicious smelling, super floral and citrusy, so satisfying. It tasted delicious, but came with an odd aftertaste, sort of like bitter coffee. Maybe the glass wasn’t entirely clean. Bobby got the Kujo Imperial Coffee Stout from Flying Dog. It was pretty good, chocolaty, but again a similar off flavor in the back of the throat. I followed up my IPA with a crisp lager from Mikkeller, nice bitterness. I drank that down fast, and I needed more, so I went with the Backburner barley wine from Southern Tier Brewing. It was delicious, too. Sweet smelling with a hint of soy sauce or teriyaki, the flavor was a mix of molasses and cereals. The whole experience was a little weird, American beer in Europe?