We also search the digital world for interesting stories in the wonderful world of beer. On social media we came across the following description “The smallest beer shop in the Netherlands”, our interest was raised! One phone call with Fred Buddingh, owner of ‘Driemeterbier’, was enough. ”An article about my store? Nice, there is enough to tell, come by.” So here we are at ‘Little Beershop’ – an interview with Fred.
First of all, Fred, the name ‘Driemeterbier’, tell us the story!
We are now in the store called Little Beershop, which is the result of the ‘Driemeterbier’ store (translation: ‘Threemeterbeer’). In the time that I was still working as an editor for television, it always interested me to start my own beer shop. My brother-in-law has a delicacy shop in town and we came up with the concept 3 years ago to create a kind of shop in shop by placing a rack of ‘Driemeterbier’ with very nice beers in his shop. And so the smallest beer shop in the Netherlands was born with literally three meters of beer.
Every week I adjust the product range with 15 new beers. A good working concept, now there are also two locations of Driemeterbier in Hilversum and Amersfoort. Because the concept ran so smoothly, I started thinking about my own store and so I began looking for a suitable place. This area used to be a prostitution area and redevelopment turned this into retail property. After a successful crowdfunding campaign in which I even sold beer in one of the (vacant) red-light district rooms, this store started. The new name of the store was Little Beershop, to fit the theme of Driemeterbier.
How did you gather the knowledge to put together the right assortment?
Well, I kind of grew into it. I have been interested in specialty beer for a long time and have visited many beer festivals. I also had a lot of practice in the time when I only had Driemeterbier at the ‘Amsterdamsestraatweg’ (street name). We were just a small beer shop at the time. I learned a lot during that time by trial and error.
We see a special device and beer taps in the store, you don’t see that often, please explain!
At the time when we only had Driemeterbier, we also filled bottles with beer ourselves, so that people could take home fresh beer. Then I started searching for a way to also can beer and I came across this mini-cannery – a machine that could seal cans filled with beer. I wanted to create the atmosphere of a bar, but a bar where people can’t drink. You can drink it everywhere except inside the store, that is the underlying idea. It is quite new, nobody is familiar with this concept. ‘Frontaal’ Brewery also has one, but that’s the only other store to my knowledge.
Is there another thought behind the beers that you can can yourself?
9 out of 10 times I’ll try to find beer that you can hardly get in bottles or cans. For example, I currently have 3 beers from a German brewer with very good IPAs that can only be purchased on kegs. We immediately build a theme around it named ‘Deutsches Wochenende’, including German schlager music.
How do you determine what to include in your assortment?
I am in contact with both the ‘middlemen’ and directly with the brewer himself. You get so much offered as well and I’ll just make a selection from that. The Netherlands has so many brewers that I have chosen to support the local community. For example, I have a rack here with all the beers from the area, think of ‘Kromme Haring’ and ‘Van de Streek’. I prefer to sell more local beer and support local friends than, for example, to offer beer from Enkhuizen (a town further away). The funny thing is that people really appreciate the local beer, but also want to try beer from all over the world.
What trends do you see in 2020?
You always see that people specify a certain beer style here, for example “this is the year of alcohol-free and of sour or NEIPA”. I also think this will be the year of NEIPA, but I think this will also be the year in which a very large group of people will finally discover specialty beer. I notice more and more that people who used to drink standard ‘LaChouffe’ at home now come to the store and say: “I recently had something with tropical fruit” after which I point them to a beer and they say “I’ll take 6 of them!”. This large group of people is starting to discover the possibilities of specialty beer.
Who are your customers?
Pretty diverse, but generally young people. Few elderly people … some, but few? This is probably due to my assortment. For example, I have little Belgian beer, those beers aren’t runners either in my store. 98% comes from modern breweries.
What do customers indicate as the main reason why they keep coming back?
I really try to create an atmosphere in the store. For me it is fun to make it a ‘Deutsches wochenende’ now. For my store in Hoogland I had also canned beers with the label of the village, and the Brexit was also a theme in the store.
In addition, the constantly innovative range is of course also something that is appreciated. That is perhaps what I focus on the most, I just want to be the store for the new beer. I just want to have the coolest beers available.
How would you describe the atmosphere?
It must be a kind of bar where you like to stay and have a chat, and yes it is a shame that you can’t have a beer with it, but that’s the way the law works. It would be my ideal store if you can just order a beer while shopping here. Until then we are a store where you can buy fantastic beer in a bar environment that you can drink anywhere except here, haha!
And your future plans?
Future plans? I still have so many things that I want to do in this store, I still have to put finishing touches on a lot of things. My to-do list is still huge haha. For now I am busy with that, and with a feeling that I just want to be here and practice my passion.