  | Otto and the littl’un set off over the May Day Bank Holiday 2008 and went in search of the beers of Amsterdam. Ah, Amsterdam, the very word conjures up images of canals, soft drugs, women posing in windows. Marijuana is everywhere in Amsterdam, from the ever present whiff when you walk past one of the many "smoking" cafes. It's a city where if you want a coffee, you don't go to a coffee shop! You don't leave Amsterdam without either loving it or hating it? Despite Amsterdam's deserved reputation, amongst young people, of being a city of drugs and sex, it has a more interesting side to those of us who like our addictive substances taken from a glass – its beer cafes. One confusing matter in Holland is the name. The correct name for the country is the Netherlands; factually Holland is the name for the regions around Amsterdam. Holland is in fact a county like Lancashire. Amsterdam is named after the river Amstel which flows into the Ij estuary through the amazing network of canals that permeate the city centre. The network of waterways and the tall gabled townhouses that string themselves along them are one of the delights of this city that offers far more than soft drugs and hard porn. Some of the canal side gables are quite beautiful and lean at alarming angles! The best way to see Amsterdam is to walk, or hire a bike. Also you need to do the obligatory canal cruise. You are never more than 20 minutes from the city centre. The Netherlands has over 50 breweries with over 350 different beers and nearly 250 seasonal brews and with all these to go at you might think it is easy to find a Dutch beer, especially with Amsterdam having over 1200 pubs. Think again, most of the bar’s are in the Belgium style or just sell Heineken or Amstel. But with a little forward planning and searching the internet we managed quite a few good bars. |
 |  |
The best for Dutch beers is the t'Arendsnest at Herengracht 90. This bar tries to get at least 1 beer from every Dutch brewery. You can also get a “proeferj” which is a sample tray of 5 beers with water and cracker’s. There are also about 10 beers on draught and a large bottled range.
Our favourite bar was In de Wildeman, at Kolksteeg 3. Over 200 beer’s available, 18 of which are on draught. This pub has a Non-smoking room! (As of 2009 the smoking ban has been introduced in the Netherlands). A superb bustling bar! Several times a year they hold special beer weeks. For example, in May when the usual range is replaced by meibock beers, or a British-themed week when several cask-conditioned beers are served.
Whilst we were there they had 2 from the USA’s Great Divide brewing Co. The bottled beer selection is much less Belgian dominated than the majority of Dutch beer bars. Available are about 40 Dutch beers, 20 German and 10 British. Amongst the Belgian beers are representatives from all the Trappist breweries, including Achel and Westvleteren, though obviously supplies of the latter cannot always be guaranteed. This is an essential visit.
 |  |
A good introduction to the Amsterdam Brown café (so called as the walls – and everything else - are stained brown through years of collective nicotine abuse) is the Gollem. This place has been a specialist beer café for the last 20 or so years. It’s a bit gloomy inside, but that can't be helped, given its situation, far from direct sunlight. At the front is a counter surrounded by barstools and up a few steps at the back is a small seating area with a pair of tables. The decoration is appropriately beery, with various bits of memorabilia strewn around the walls. Gollem was the first specialist beer bar in Amsterdam, way back in the 70’s when flares were hip! It offers a pretty extensive range of bottled beers, mostly Belgian and Dutch, but with a smattering of German, Czech and British. In addition to the 9 guest draught beers, there are always several 'guest' bottled beers. |   |
Directly opposite, just across the alleyway is a specialist beer shop called De Gekraakte Ketel which sells around 300 different bottled beers and is run by a very enthusiastic Scot. The emphasis is on beers from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
The plan is to build a small brewery at the rear of the premises to brew, amongst other things, a house beer for Gollem.
 |  |
Gollem Café en Bierkeuken , Daniel Stalpertstraat 74, The second Gollem café. Here they offer beer cuisine in addition to all those bottles, it's a stone's throw from the former Heineken brewery. Compared to the Gollem in the city centre, this one's positively spacious. The pale-coloured walls contribute to the effect of roominess. The beer list is exclusively Belgian, the La Trappe, Ij beers and Pilsner Urquell excluded.
  | Upwards and onwards as they say, next stop was the Het Ij Proeflokaal at Funenkade 7. The wonderfully simple brewery tap of the Ij brewery, in a picturesque windmill on a canal side, is most definitely worth the trip out of the city centre. The slightly inconvenient location helps prevent it being overrun with tourists and, no doubt, keep the prices down. It's very basic inside, with an incredible collection of beer bottles plus a couple of old signs from the buildings previous life (as a public baths) forming about the only decoration. Through a set of double doors you can see through into the brewery itself, but as this is a small brewery with a tasting room attached rather than a pub brewery, the equipment is purely functional rather than having a dual decorative purpose. There's a small garden area outside. Be warned, however, that the number of seats is quite small, so if you want to soak up some sun with your alcohol, get there very early. At the weekend it can get very full very soon after opening time, with a fairly diverse crowd. Oh, yes, it's also amazingly cheap, with the strongest beers only costing €2.30 for 30cl. Note the opening hours are Wed - Sun 15:00-20:00 Mon - Tue closed. |
Now for another must do pub before you die is the Café Belgique at Gravenstraat 2, with 8 draught beers and over 40+ bottles, this is one of the smallest beer bars I have been in. They have 4 wooden benches outside at the front and this literally doubles the seating! The carved wooden counter, glass shelves and gleaming brass taps lend a turn-of-the-century air which draws in many an idle passer-by. The decoration is appropriately beery, consisting mostly of the old enamel advertising signs which used to adorn the exterior of Belgian pubs. There's usually a new draught every two weeks or so and these have included such rarities as N'ice Chouffe, the outstanding winter beer from La Chouffe and La Trappe Quadrupel usually graces one of the beer taps.
We did stumble across a brewpub on the outskirts of the red light district the De Bekeerde Suster at Kloveniersburgwal 6-8, Formerly the brewpub Maximiliaan, De Bekeerde Suster is now owned and run by De Beiaard Groep, who have another cafe in Amsterdam on the Spui. (If you want to catch them in the act, they usually brew on Wednesday or Thursday.) They do reasonable food here and on our visit they had 3 of their own beers on. We visited in the afternoon and it was quite peaceful. We also visited the sister pub which is the De Beiaard at Marie Heinekenplein 5-8. Here they had 4 of their own beers on and a good range of Belgium beers, and a large sun terrace at the front, which proved to hot for Otto!
A good pub for talking about “particle physics” playing chess and drinking “Chouffe” at a democratic price of €2.70, is the Laurierboom at Laurierstraat 76, Hidden away from the eyes of most tourists and probably most inhabitants, too, the bulldozers have been transforming the streets of little houses into streets of crappy modern flats. Tucked away amongst some of the ugliest buildings in the city this is a traditional-looking corner pub in one of the few remaining old buildings. An apparently randomly chosen selection of arty prints brightens up the place a little and a more common touch is given by the billiard table and dartboard. There is also a small selection of board games. The beer range is OK. We visited lots more bars and I will update these when time allows? Otto says drink now and beat the Christmas rush. Zum Wohl.
Translate This Page
