{"id":96115,"date":"2019-03-14T11:06:06","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T10:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=96115"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:23:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:23:13","slug":"this-law-graduate-now-runs-a-brewery-with-his-best-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2019\/03\/14\/this-law-graduate-now-runs-a-brewery-with-his-best-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"This law graduate now runs a brewery with his best friend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why do students establish their own companies? And how do they turn their business ideas into reality? In this series, student entrepreneurs tell us about the incubation stage of their start-ups. In today\u2019s episode, law graduate Frank Smitshoek tells about the brewery he started with his best friend.<\/p>\n

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Frank Smitshoek and Eric Krommenhoek taste their self-brewed beer.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSanne van der Most<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Being a regular customer at student bar In De Smitse pays off. At least, if your name is Frank Smitshoek it does. The former law student frequented the brown caf\u00e9 often after long days on campus, so much so that he became good friends with the bar staff. Now, years since his graduation, De Smitse is selling beers from the brewery Frank started alongside long-time friend Eric Krommenhoek.<\/p>\n

In January, De Smitse proudly announced it would start exclusively offering its very own beer<\/a>: a Tripel crafted from rosemary, juniper berries and orange. Both tangy and spicy, it\u2019s the unusual addition of rosemary that makes it a special beer, one with a special backstory that begins long before De Smitse ever thought about serving their own brew.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Our whole building always smelled like beer. I think the others would have minded if they weren\u2019t getting free beer all the time.\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

\u201cHow long have we known each other?\u201d Eric asks Frank as they walk down a spiral staircase within Blue City, the abandoned water park turned sustainable business centre that overlooks the Maas river.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince middle school,\u201d answers Frank. \u201cSo at least 13 years now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The staircase leads the brewers beneath Blue City\u2019s empty pool and into a cold, spacious basement. Weaving past a number of makeshift offices, the duo arrive at a huge sliding door made of steel and push it open. Inside, racks upon racks of bottled beer line the walls and massive metallic pots filled with golden ale spew steam into the air. It\u2019s not the kind of brewery you see in a Bavaria commercial, but it\u2019s a hell of a lot better than where they used to brew beer: in the shared kitchen of a student flat, using a homemade contraption.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe told our other room-mates we were going to make beer, but they never expected us to roll in this 60-litre pan on wheels,\u201d laughs Frank, who currently works at a law firm. \u201cOur whole building always smelled like beer. I think the others would have minded if they weren\u2019t getting free beer all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t