We are feeling a little "Lakewood" today

Lakewood Brewing Co. is a local brewery in Garland, Texas. We were feeling a little "Lakewood today," so we're tapping in their Lager, Zomer Pilz, and Rock Ryder! Here are the key statistics.

Beer Name: Lakewood Lager
Beer Style: Vienna-Style Lager
ABV: 4.6%
IBU: 23
SRM: 12
This amber lager starts with a subtle caramel aroma. The coppery hue draws you into its balanced flavor of light malty sweetness and round noble hop bitterness. It finishes dry and clean. Leaving your palate refreshed for another glass.

Beer Name: Zomer Pils (Summer Seasonal)
Beer Style: Czech-Style Pilsner
ABV: 4.8%
IBU: 34
SRM: 3
In summer, Belgians head to the nearest beach, while Texans typically race towards the nearest source of shade. That's because the European sun is far friendlier than the fiery ball glowing over the Lone Star State. Combat the heat with our Zomer Pils. Brewed with Belgian pilsner malt and noble hops, this traditional pilsner is light, crisp, and refreshing. So let that sun keep on burning.

Beer Name: Rock Ryder
Beer Style: Rye/Wheat Beer
ABV: 4.8 %
IBU: 20
SRM: 4
This is a wheat beer for the masses. It pours with a white head and has a cloudy straw color. The addition of rye malt gives it a complexity and subtle pepperiness that's only accentuated by the hops. It's light and refreshing with just enough bite and flavor to quench a Texas summer sized thirst.

All three beers weigh in at under 5% ABV, making them good session beers for the hot Texas summer! The Amsterdam Bar is proud to offer local craft beers like Lakewood Brewing Co.'s line of beers.

Boddingtons Pub Ale

Boddingtons Pub Ale (United Kingdom) – 4.7 % ABV: This beer pours a nice golden color with a nice, thick, creamy, white head that lasts. Features a clean taste and aroma, and malt, hops, and caramel can be picked up in the nose. This beer is sweet with a decent bitter finish. Boddington's is well balanced, very satisfying, and easy to drink, even as it warms up.

New beer at the bar: Hop Rod Rye!

We've been enjoying a new beer at the bar for a couple of weeks now: Bear Republic Brewery's Hop Rod Rye. This beer is a bold American IPA made with 20% rye malt. Hop Rod Rye is darker in color than your typical IPA. It boasts a huge hop aroma and flavor accompanied by a slightly sweet, malty finish. This beer weighs in with a satisfying ABV of 8.0%.

Hop Rod Rye has won several awards at beer festivals: 2004 California State Fair, Silver Medal Winner; 2002 National Real Ale Festival, Chicago, Gold Medal Winner; 2001 San Diego Real Ale Festival, Silver Medal Winner & Best of Show (Runner Up). So if you're a beer nut like the rest of us, swing by the Amsterdam and ask for a Hop Rod Rye.

Lighter beers for the summer!

Well, for better or worse, the heat is back in Dallas, Texas. Here are some lighter, thirst-quenching beers we recommend for the summer time.

Amstel Light (Holland) – 3.5% ABV: Amstel Light pours a very light golden color with a short head and no lacing. The smell is very light, with just a little bit of grain and hops. The taste of this light lager is sweet and drinkability is superb. As its name suggests, Amstel Light is a very light and refreshing beer and is suitable as a session beer.

Blue Moon (Toronto, Canada) – 5.4% ABV: Blue Moon is a Belgian-style white beer brewed by the Blue Moon Brewing Company. The beer is orange-amber in color with a cloudy appearance because it is unfiltered. It is also spiced with coriander and orange peel in addition to the hops found in most beers.

Longboard Island Lager (Kona, Hawaii) – 5.0% ABV: Longboard is a light, slightly sweet lager that comes to us all the way from Kona in the Hawaiian Islands. This beer goes down nice and smooth on hot summer nights.

Pabst Blue Ribbon (San Antonio, Texas) – 5.0% ABV: Established in Milwaukee in 1844, this is the original Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Nature's choicest products provide its prized flavor. Only the finest of hops and grains are used. Selected as America's Best in 1893.

Woodchuck Draft Cider (Vermont) – 4.0% ABV: A refreshing pear cider all the way from Vermont. This is a sweet and slightly tart refreshment when you are in the mood for something other than a beer or when you want an option with lower alcohol content.

Dogfish Head's Burton Baton available at The Amsterdam Bar

From left to right: Dogfish Head's 60 Minute IPA, Burton Baton, Red & White, and Indian Brown Ale.

The Amsterdam Bar has secured a small supply of a very rare beer: Dogfish Head's Burton Baton. This extreme beer is brewed in very small batches at irregular intervals, so there's no telling when we may see another shipment.

Burton Baton is a strong brew at 10% ABV. It's a complex blend of oaky english brown ale and Dogfish Head's signature 90 Minute Imperial Pale Ale. The result is a strong sweet beer with enough hop bite at the end to keep it in balance. Get to the Amsterdam Bar and enjoy a bottle of Burton Baton before the last of this extreme beer is all gone.

Dogfish Head's Midas Touch: Beer Profile

Dogfish Head Midas Touch (Delaware) – 9% ABV: Here at The Amsterdam Bar we see a lot of specialty beers brewed with exotic ingredients. Not all of these special brews deliver on the promises they make, but Dogfish Head's Midas Touch is a notable exception. Brewed with barley, honey, white Muscat grapes and a touch of saffron, Midas Touch boasts a potent 9% ABV. A slightly bitter beginning is followed by a deeply flavored fruit finish of ripe grapes. If you are open to new and different beer experiences, we highly recommend this brew.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale: Beer Profile

Sierra Nevada (California) – 5.6% ABV: Sierra Nevada is not a true IPA; it falls into the category of American Pale Ales. This beer is a beautiful golden-orange, almost amber. A gentle pour yields a generous, fluffy, long lasting head and the beer itself is clear with constant bubbling. The beer is very aromatic, with floral and citrus balanced with hops. A nice bitter edge at the front end fades to nice malty sweetness and the finish is strong citrus.

The Amsterdam Bar is proud to offer Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in bottles and from time to time on tap. We also offer a variety of Sierra Nevada seasonals as they become available, like their Early Spring Beer ("ESB").

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout: Beer Profile

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout (England) – 5.2% ABV: Chocolate stout is a name brewers sometimes give to certain stouts. The name "Chocolate stout" is usually given because the beers have a noticeable dark chocolate flavor through the use of darker, more aromatic malt; particularly chocolate malt — a malt that has been roasted or kilned until it acquires a chocolate color. Young's takes it a step further by adding a small amount of actual dark chocolate to their brew.

Paulaner Salvator: Beer Profile

Paulaner Salvator (Germany) – 7.9% ABV: The original Paulaner Salvator is still brewed on location. It is now lagered 72 feet underground, in the world's deepest lager cellar, before it is sent to beer connoisseurs all over the world. As an escape from the rigors of the Lenten season, thousands of Munich residents still gather annually in the Paulaner beer hall at the Nockherberg, around St. Joseph's Day (March 19), to kick off two weeks of official Bockbier drinking. The season's first cask of Paulaner Salvator Doppelbock is always tapped by a celebrity, usually the mayor of Munich.

Tilburg’s Dutch Brown Ale: Beer Profile

Tilburg’s Dutch Brown Ale (Holland) – 5.2% ABV: Trappist breweries are best known for their complex yeast strains and the resulting big beers. But the only Trappist brewery in the Netherlands is starting to turn heads with a beer that is more mainstream than you might think. Tilburg’s Dutch Brown Ale is closest to an English brown ale, but really has a style all its own. The nutty aroma is traditional, but the slight sour notes convince you this beer is an oud bruin. Those sour notes are absent in the flavor though, and are replaced with a sweet sucrose taste and some minor chocolate flavors. A moderate body helps to balance the sharpness, and this ale finishes with a creamy smoothness that blows away most brown ales.

Belhaven Scottish Ale: Beer Profile

Belhaven Scottish Ale (Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland) – 5.2% ABV: This classic Scottish Ale is a nice copper color with just a hint of haze. Like most Scottish Ales, Belhaven is light on the hops and heavy on the malt. This gives Belhaven plenty of sweetness and its fans claim to smell oak, peat, heather, smoke, and thistle in this ale. This beer goes down nice and smooth.

The Amsterdam Bar offers Belhaven Scottish Ale in bottles.

Erdinger Hefe: Beer Profile

Erdinger Hefe (Germany) – 5.30% ABV: Erdinger Weissbier pours with a frothy, generous head on top of tangerine colored body. Erdinger smells grainy with pineapple, citrus and banana notes. To some, Erdinger tastes spicier than other weizens. Carbonation is abundant, almost creamy.

The Amsterdam Bar offers Erdinger Hefe in bottles.

Heineken Pilsener: Beer Profile

Heineken (Holland) – 5% ABV: Heineken Pilsener is a 5% ABV pale lager made by Heineken International since 1868. It is the flagship product of the company, and is made of purified water, malted barley, hops, and yeast. Heineken pours a transparent yellow color with about half an inch of head that disappears quickly, leaving a small amount of lacing around the glass. The beer has a satisfying grain or bread aroma with a light hop finish.

The Amsterdam Bar offers Heineken in its classic green bottle.

Duvel Belgian Ale: Beer Profile

Duvel Belgian Ale (Belgium) – 8.5% ABV: Four generations of the Moortgat family have brought together Pilsner malts, Bohemian hops, and a unique yeast strain to create this intense, aromatic and beguiling ale. The beer pours a brilliant golden yellow color with a very large frothy white head. Duvel is highly carbonated--think champagne--and refreshing. Look for the scents of citrus fruit, with hints of apricot and banana.

The Amsterdam Bar offers Duvel in bottles.

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA: Beer Profile

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA (Rehoboth Beach, Delaware) – 6.0% ABV: This is Dogfish Head Brewery's "flagship" beer. Dogfish Head 60 Minute India Pale Ale is great session beer brewed with Warrior hops, Amarillo hops, and "Mystery Hop X." With hints of citrus, cedar, pine, candied-orange flavors, and floral notes, this beer has amazing character and finish.

The Amsterdam Bar is proud to offer Dogfish Head 60 on tap. We also offer several other fine Dogfish Head beers in bottles.

La Fin Du Monde: Beer Profile

La Fin Du Monde (Quebec) – 9% ABV: La Fin du Monde from Unibroue is a 9 percent alcohol, triple fermentation beer. This type of beer was originally developed by the monks of the Middle Ages to be served on special occasions.

La Fin du Monde is a deluxe beer made with triple fermentation and a unique way of straining the yeast. This method produces an unexpectedly subtle flavor. With its champagne-like effervescence, it has a vigorous presence in the mouth, which accentuates its strong personality.

Slightly tart, with the balanced flavors of wild spices, malt and hops, it belongs to the class of great Trappist beers and, in this regard, is a North American first. This beer is brewed to honor of the great explorers, who believed they had reached the end of the world when they discovered America.

La Fin Du Monde is available in bottles at The Amsterdam Bar.

Éphémère: Beer Profile

Éphémère (Quebec, Canada) – 5.5% ABV: Éphémère comes to us from Unibroue in Quebec, Canada.

This beer smells amazing, very fruity tones come in, such as black currants, peaches, raspberries . . . lots of fruitiness in the taste too.

Éphémère is tangy and biting, with strong carbonation and only very light hops in the end. This is a highly drinkable and refreshing beer, especially with the weather warming up.

Éphémère is available in bottles at The Amsterdam Bar.

Murphy’s Irish Stout: Beer Profile

Murphy’s Irish Stout (Cork, Ireland) – 4.0% ABV: Murphy's is a truly great Irish stout. Like all stouts, Murphy's features a deep black color with a sturdy full tan head. Murphy's aroma holds many secrets: drinkers report grapefruit, cherries, smoke, coffee, malt, chocolate and other subtle flavors.

Murphy’s Irish Stout is on tap at The Amsterdam Bar.

Gouden Carolus Blond: Beer Profile

In honor of Governor Eliot Spitzer, we review a beer that is fit for an emperor!

Gouden Carolus Blond (Belgium) – 8% ABV: This blond beer was brewed in honor of the court of the Emperor Charles The Fifth. Its refined character, with a pure and rich taste, will captivate you. It is matured at length in cellar and bottle, and is brewed only from pale malts. It is traditionally top-fermented and is 100% pure. The beer features a great big frothy head that lasts for a while. There is a soft aroma of peaches, a bit of spice (coriander), and yeast. The color is a nice golden orange. The finish is clean, slightly bitter, and has a nice alcohol warming. Gouden Carolus Blond is a very good triple.

Come on down to our club for a Gouden Carolus Blond: you'll feel like a true VIP.

Under construction: online beer menu

Pardon the mess for the next few days: we are putting our beer menu online in the form of links to our various beer profiles. Hopefully this will give our customers access to some of our accumulated beer lore.

In the meantime, the pro-forma links will lead readers back to this post. Keep checking back to see what we are doing!