Shipping to 30+ countries

Shipping

Hoptimaal offers a wide variety of beers both in-store and online. If you can place an order, we usually have the product in stock (though mistakes can happen, unfortunately). Products that are in stock will be shipped the same day if ordered before 3:00 PM.

If we make an error with stock levels, you will be notified within 24 hours. In that email, we will offer you an alternative product, the right to a full refund, and a new delivery time. It's up to you how you'd like us to resolve the issue.

We ship all orders with DPD from the Netherlands. You can choose between:

  • Home delivery or delivery to your work
  • Delivery to a DPD pickup point near you

Shipping costs and the free-shipping threshold for your country are in the table below.

Deposit

On cans and bottles we charge the Dutch deposit (statiegeld): €0.15 per can and €0.10 per bottle (a little more for some bottles). It shows as a separate line in your cart. The deposit belongs to the Dutch deposit system: you can return the packaging in the Netherlands, not in deposit machines in other countries.

Shipping Costs by Country

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CountryShipping costReduced rateFree shipping from
Netherlands€8.50–€75
Belgium€8.95–€100
Germany€13.50–€100
Denmark€15.95–€150
Austria€15.95–€150
Bulgaria€47.50€25 from €150not available
Estonia€17.50–€150
Finlandpickup point €24.95
home €29.95		home: €10 from €200pickup point €200
home €250
France€16.95–€150
Greece€29.50€15 from €150not available
Hungary€21.95€10 from €150€200
Ireland€15.95–€150
Italy€16.95–€150
Croatia€47.50€25 from €150not available
Latvia€17.50–€150
Lithuania€21.95€10 from €150€200
Luxembourg€12.95–€150
Poland€15.95–€150
Portugal€19.95€10 from €150€200
Romania€27.50€10 from €150not available
Spain€18.75–€150
Czech Republic€15.95–€150
Swedenpickup point €24.95
home €29.95		home: €10 from €200pickup point €200
home €250
Norway*Coming soon
United Kingdom*Coming soon
Switzerland*Coming soon

Delivery

DPD generally delivers within 24 hours after receiving the parcel. So if we have received your order before 15:00 on working days, in 99% of cases you will have your order at home the next day. It may sometimes happen that they need one day longer. You can follow this via the Track & Trace details you receive from us, so you can see exactly where your order is. DPD also gives you a time window of 2 to 4 hours in which your order will be delivered. Not at home? No problem! You can indicate yourself whether you want them to come by again tomorrow or whether they should deliver it to the nearest post office.

Do you have a question about the delivery of your beer? Feel free to contact us: customer service.

Returns

You have a cooling-off period of 14 days after you have received the product. Within this period you can register the product for return. The email you received stating that your order is on its way contains a link that you can use to easily and free of charge download and print a return label. Returning is free: we provide the return label and the shipping costs of your return are at our expense. After registering your return, you have another 14 days to send the product back. If you bought multiple items at once, the period starts after receipt of your last item.

How do I return or exchange a product?

  • Fill in the return form within 14 days after receipt. If you are unable to print the return form, please write at least the order number and your name on a piece of paper and include it with your return.
  • Register your return with our customer service. You can do this by sending an email to: info@hoptimaal.nl or by calling 085 -130 1591. Or print your return label yourself via the link in the email titled "Your order is on its way".
  • After registering your return, you have another 14 days to send the product back.
  • Then send your return back in its original condition and with the packaging. Products that are damaged or incomplete are not eligible for exchange or refund.

Please note: after the 14-day cooling-off period it is no longer possible to return your product.

What can you expect after returning your product?

After receiving your return, you will receive a confirmation from us. This can take 3 working days, but in general we process your return on the day we receive it. We will check your return to see whether your product meets our return conditions and will then get to work on the solution you want.

Do you want your money back?

  • We will refund the purchase amount within 3 working days after confirmation of receipt to the account with which you paid. If you want to receive the purchase amount in another way, please contact us about the possibilities.
  • In case of visible signs of use, missing accessories or missing packaging, you are no longer entitled to a refund. If the packaging is not returned entirely in its original condition, we won't make a fuss and you will in any case get 75% of the purchase amount back. This is very rarely the case; usually the full purchase amount is simply refunded.

Do you want to receive a new product?

After receiving your return, we will send the new product right away. If the product is no longer in stock, we will refund the purchase amount to the account with which you paid.

  • Is the new product cheaper? The remaining amount will be refunded to your account within 3 working days.
  • Is the new product more expensive? You will receive a payment request for the remaining amount. After receipt of payment, we will send the product immediately.
  • Do you want to receive the new product at a different address or on a different day? Please contact us.

Exceptions

Beer that has been opened will not be taken back. We also do not take back beer that you ordered at a discount because the shelf life is almost expired. Of course we state this clearly on the product page, so that you are not surprised by a limited best-before date.

The item may be returned to the address below:

Hoptimaal
Leeghwater 5
3825MR Amersfoort
Netherlands

Order before 3:00 PM on weekdays, shipped today.
Break-proof packaging

Your beers are always carefully packaged. If there is any damage during transit, we offer a guarantee. Not satisfied, money back.
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Beer School › Sour beer · Fresh & Fruity

Smoothie sour

A smoothie sour is a sour beer full of fruit purée, often with dessert-like additions such as vanilla, and sometimes lactose. It tastes fresh and tart, fruity and sweet, with plenty of body.

  • Entry levelEasy to start with

How it usually tastes

Bitter
Sweet
Sour
Roasted
Fruity
Full

Average for this style; every beer has its own accent.

What is it?

Smoothie sour is not an official beer style: the big style guides, the BJCP and the Brewers Association, do not recognise the name. In 2021 Untappd did make a category of its own for it: 'Sour - Smoothie / Pastry'.

The idea: a sour base beer gets a considerable amount of fruit purée after fermentation that no longer ferments. Normally fruit sugars ferment out completely and fruit makes a beer drier. Here the sugar stays in the beer, and that makes it sweet. At a brewery that wrote about it in the trade magazine Brew Your Own, the fruit is some 45–50% of the final volume. - Smoothie: mainly fruit, such as raspberries, blueberries, passion fruit or guava. - Pastry: with dessert ingredients added, such as vanilla, marshmallow, cinnamon or even cake mix.

Sometimes lactose (milk sugar) goes in, but that is not a rule. If it contains lactose or egg, that has to be on the label as an allergen. Because unfermented fruit is in it, such a beer can re-ferment in the can if it is kept warm. Some brewers therefore pasteurise their beer, others put 'keep cold' on the can.

Myth or fact?

Myth

‘Smoothie sour is an official beer style.’

The big style guides, the BJCP and the Brewers Association, do not recognise the name. In 2021 Untappd did make a category for it.

Myth

‘Smoothie sour is an official beer style.’

The 2021 BJCP guidelines mention smoothies only once: a New England IPA that resembles a fruit smoothie falls outside that style. A sour beer to which sugars and unfermented fruit have been added after fermentation belongs, in the BJCP classification, in 29C Specialty Fruit Beer, a broad category for fruit beers with extra ingredients.

In its 2026 guidelines the Brewers Association has the category 'American-Style Fruited Sour Ale'. There alcohol, bitterness and colour may 'vary widely'. The word smoothie does not appear in it.

In autumn 2021 Untappd added the category 'Sour - Smoothie / Pastry' to the app, but gave no description with it in that announcement.

Smoothie sour is therefore a recognisable name for a kind of beer, but not an established style with rules for alcohol, sourness or ingredients.

Sources

Myth

‘A smoothie sour is just fruit and beer, so dairy-free and vegan.’

Not necessarily. It may contain lactose (milk sugar) or another dessert ingredient, and marshmallow crème, for example, contains egg protein. Check the label.

Myth

‘A smoothie sour is just fruit and beer, so dairy-free and vegan.’

The trade press has examples of smoothie sours with lactose, cream cheese, ice-cream mix or marshmallow. A brewer points out in the trade magazine Brew Your Own that marshmallow crème is not vegan, because it contains egg protein. The BJCP also names lactose as an example of a sweetener in a fruit beer with extra ingredients.

In the EU lactose falls under the allergen 'milk', and egg is an allergen too. Beer with more than 1.2% alcohol does not need an ingredients list, but allergens do have to be on the label. If there is no ingredients list, that is done with the word 'contains', for example 'contains: milk'.

There is no style rule that makes lactose mandatory, so not every smoothie sour contains it. If you are lactose intolerant or drink vegan, do read the label.

Sources

Partly true

‘You can just store a can of smoothie sour warm in the cupboard.’

That depends on the beer. Beer with a lot of unfermented fruit can re-ferment in the can. If it says 'keep cold', stick to that.

Partly true

‘You can just store a can of smoothie sour warm in the cupboard.’

A smoothie sour contains fruit that is no longer fermented, so still has sugar. If there is live yeast in the beer and the can is kept warm, that sugar can still start to ferment. The pressure in the can then builds up.

Good Beer Hunting described in 2018 how beers with a great deal of fruit, added late in the process, began re-fermenting after packaging. Some cans burst open. Such cans said 'keep cold at all times'.

Breweries solve this in different ways. A brewer told The Drinks Business (2021) that his brewery pasteurises all its smoothie sours, to prevent exploding cans. Another brewery, according to Good Beer Hunting, used agents that are also used in wine to stop fermentation.

Whether your can may be kept warm therefore depends on how the beer was made. Follow the storage advice on the label.

Sources

Where does it come from?

The smoothie sour is a trend from the United States. According to The Drinks Business (2021) and a brewer in the trade magazine Brew Your Own, it grew out of the revival of gose and Berliner Weisse in the 2010s. Those beers were often soured quickly in the brew kettle (kettle sours). Brewers added more and more fruit, until the beer almost became a smoothie.

In 2018 Good Beer Hunting was already writing about beers with enormous amounts of fruit that re-fermented in the can, including a beer in smoothie style. In 2021 The Drinks Business called the smoothie sour a new trend, and Untappd added the category. None of the sources names one brewery as the inventor.

How to pour it

A good starting point: follow the storage and serving advice on the can. If it says 'keep cold', then really do leave it in the fridge until you pour it.

Taste it yourself

Pühaste Lovers Between Garden WallsPühaste Lovers Between Garden Wallssour, sweet, juicy fruit, creamy€5,95 Funky Fluid Gelato XTREME: Baltic PancakeFunky Fluid Gelato XTREME: Baltic Pancakesweet, fruity, crisp sour, full-bodied€8,95 Funky Fluid Gelato XTREME: Out of OrderFunky Fluid Gelato XTREME: Out of Ordersweet, full fruit, thick, lightly sour€8,95
All Smoothie sour in the shopTop 10 Smoothie sour →
Did you like this? Then try Kriek and fruit lambic →

Similar to: Sour beer, Gose

Terms

Lactose
Milk sugar that brewers add for a lasting sweetness, known from milk stout, and which falls under 'milk' in the EU allergen list.
Kettle souring
A quick way to make beer sour: lactic acid bacteria sour the wort in the brew kettle, usually in one to three days; after that the souring is stopped, for example by boiling, and the beer ferments as normal. According to the BJCP, many modern sour beers are made this way, as a quick alternative to ageing in barrels.
Lactobacillus ('Lacto')
A lactic acid bacterium that converts sugar into lactic acid: in ordinary beer it counts as a spoiler, but brewers also use it deliberately for sour beer, such as Berliner Weisse.
Mouthfeel / body
How a beer feels in your mouth: how full or thin it is (the body), how much carbonation it has and whether it is, for example, creamy or rather astringent.
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