Nata Mindadze, an international student from Georgia, is studying at Windesheim until the summer. For WIN, she is reporting on her experiences. This week, she tried Dutch beers… but was deeply disappointed.
Before I came to the Netherlands, I asked myself: what do the Dutch have that’s uniquely Dutch? Besides clogs, cheese, windmills, tulips, and cycling, the most common Dutch denominator was the beer – Heineken, Amstel, Grolsch… As a citizen of a country that is always the proudest of its alcohol (Georgian wine is unmatched), I was excited to try Dutch beer.
High alcohol tolerance
Now, I feel it’s worth pointing out, that when Georgians drink, we both enjoy it and get completely hammered. We love the taste of alcohol as much as we love feeling totally and utterly wasted. Because of this, we develop a very high alcohol tolerance very early on.
So, keeping that in mind, I should mention that my high expectations were inhumanly high: Georgians never fail to impress when it comes to our wine, and ‘chacha’ (our version of vodka, which is much stronger than any normal alcoholic drink you can think of). And, silly me, I figured that if the Dutch are as proud of their beer as Georgians are of their wine, it must taste phenomenal and get one drunk very efficiently.
Fear of deportation
I hate to say it, I do, but I was sourly mistaken. I don’t think the Dutch know what good alcohol or getting drunk truly means. I’ll be honest, saying this out loud makes me fear deportation a little bit, but it must be said regardless. As a Georgian, it is my patriotic duty to point this out, or it feels like betraying my historical roots.
When I hear the word alcohol, I expect to get drunk after a certain amount of consumption. Meanwhile, I spent 33 euros in 2 hours on multiple glasses of alcohol, plus I had a free shot and I didn’t even feel a little dizzy. Alternatively, whenever I touch one too many glasses of Georgian alcohol, I end up regretting being born and every single decision I’ve ever made in my life the next morning.
Slightly alcoholic juice
Now, let’s not be too harsh. I have had some wonderfully sweet and fruity cocktails during my stay here. However, it is worth pointing out that it felt more like drinking slightly alcoholic juice, and less like trying to get drunk.
So if anyone knows where in Zwolle I could find some real alcohol, please let me know, I’d love to get drunk on anything at this point.
