stapzwan brouwerij utrecht

Jeroen van der Zwan and Vincent Stap started Stapzwwan Brouwerij unofficially in 1997 and the official registration at the Chamber of Commerce was in October 2014. Already at the age of 16 these two friends were inspired to brew their own beers. This happened at the attic of the house of Jeroen´s mother. The beers were sold under the name of ¨Biertje¨ to friends, family and teachers (at the school square), before a famous Dutch beer brand ran away with this name. The revenues of the beers were used to finance subsequent batches. The first successes were the Valentijnsbiertje (Valentine beer), the Kerstbiertje (Christmas beer) and the Abrahambiertje (Abraham beer). There were also special t-shirts as merchandise. Back in 1997 the Internet and homebrewing were not so omnipresent as today. The Golden Guide was the key to finding companies that could help the brewers. Eventually they found help with the ¨old lady¨ in De Bilt, a small tobacco shop that also sold brewing supplies. After highschool the paths diverted, Jeroen went to study in Utrecht and Vincent in Rotterdam. This meant a (temporary) stop to the brewing activities.

Until in 2013 they rediscovered their joint enthusiasm for beer. For all these years both have stayed avid beergeeks and the brewing virus soon showed up. It was quickly decided to rejuvenate their love for beer brewing and start again. But this time the purpose is to quench the thirst of Utrecht. After many testbatches they were still uncertain what their first commercial beer would be. At that time time they were approached by their good friends Bart de Jong and Jasper ten Kleij, the Utrecht chiptune band Men of Mega. They were going to release a new album entitled Porter and they thought it was a good idea to combine this with a beer. This lead to the birth of the Porter which made such a good impression that this beer would mean the start of the brewery. In January 2015 they had the honor to have the premiere at Café Arendsnest in Amsterdam, an icon in the Dutch beer world. And soon after the Utrecht premiere at Café ´ Pandje at the Nobelstraat, one of the most famous bars of Utrecht. The beer was a hit and many cafes, bars, restaurants and liqour stores followed suit and now sell one or more of the beers of Stapzwan Brouwerij. The distribution is now largely outsourced and the shed in the backyard of Vincent´s parents was not large anough to serve as storage. And the team has expanded in April 2017 with the addition of beer geek Sanne Kuipers. Also, brewing now takes place at two different breweries: the Noord-Hollandse Bierbrouwerij in Uitgeest and InBier in Sittard.

Vincent Stap

Vincent is born in Amsterdam and raised in the pittoresque Bilthoven. In his daily life Vincent works as a consultant in the area of financial risk in Amsterdam. His passion for beer already started at the age of 16 and has only grown stronger ever since.

Besides brewing beer Vincent spends his time with squash and yoga.

Jeroen van der Zwan

Jeroen is born in Zeist, raised in the pittoresque Bilthoven and now lives in Utrecht. In his daily life Jeroen works as a specialist in the area of geographical informationsystems at Prorail in Utrecht.

Besides brewing beer Jeroen spends his time with Guitar Hero and mapping Utrecht one bar at a time.

Sanne Kuipers

April 2017 marks the entry of Sanne in the lovely world of beer of Stapzwan. Sanne is born in Oldenzaal, but luckily she found her way to Utrecht. Sanne is responsible for the marketing activities of Stapzwan and the contacts with the clients.

Besides brewing beer Sanne spends her time with black kittens and listening to chiptunes.

Our Logo and Branding

The logo is designed by graphical designer Lennart Wolfert. After several interview sessions is was inspired to the design which contains the following elements:

• 1997
  The is the year of the unofficial start of the brewery. In 1997 Jeroen and Vincent united to start with beer brewing.
• Utrecht Shield
  This element marks the strong link with the city Utrecht.
• Palmtree
  The palmtree has two meanings. First it represents the twist that Stapzwan Brouwerij gives to the recipes of her beers and second it represents the Hawaii-shirts that Jeroen and Vincent wore in 1997 when they were busy for their brewery.

Lennart Wolfert is also responsible for the designs of the labels of the regular line, the Porter, the UPA and the Gose. He found his inspiration for these labels in the flavors of the beers.

For the designs of the limited editions every time a different graphical designer is asked. They get a carte blanche so the labels are completely according to the imagination of the designer. This leads to surprising styles and choices.