http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18748
And once you've bought some for later, why not pop into Café Gollem to try a couple on tap and maybe a Kaasplank (literally a plank with cheese & bread on it). Very satisfying. There's also a second branch of Café Gollem right by the Albert Cuyp Market in the Pijp district.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18748 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16439 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16439 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14204 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14204 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14147
Check out the small hut opposite the Tourist Info stall at the Leidseplein - it sells beer! An 'Ice cold in Alex' moment, albeit with Heineken and not Carlsberg.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14147 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14080
There, after a perfunctory guided tour, you can drink all the beer you can manage. The tables of exquisite Spanish teenagers get so drunk, so quickly, they even find your sorry bones fanciable - and the world, for a delicious hour, becomes very good indeed.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14080 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14037 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14037 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13948
His enthusiastic staff are always eager to converse about beer and arrange all sorts of related activities, including tutored tastings. There are 9 taps for guest micro beers and an enormous selection of bottled beers from small Dutch breweries that hardly anyone in England has heard of.

I love English micro beers and if, like me, you care about quality and variety, this is the very best place in Amsterdam to try their Dutch equivalent.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13948 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/11137
Tucked away in a side street, there are hundreds of Belgian beers on offer to satisfy the connoisseur, yet the hip young crowd and funky sounds keep away the crusties and coach tours.

If you have to drink mass-produced Heineken, don't worry, there's hundreds of other cafes to choose from.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/11137 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/4428
The bar area is tiny and with wooden tables, stone floor and tan walls covered in old-fashioned advertisements for many of the beers they sell. It has eight Belgian beers on tap and 30 in bottles. The beer menu is very well written, informative but also very amusing, giving you background on where the beer was brewed and also the percentage alcohol content, very important if you intend to stay for more that one or two.

The girl behind the bar was extremely friendly and also knowledgeable about the beers on sale. You can also order bar snacks such as toasties, cheese and mustard (perfect with beer) and extremely spicy sausages.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/4428 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/4427 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/4427 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1860
The name – Pope’s Island – reflects the time when a tunnel ran between the café and a secret Catholic Church across the canal.

The eclectic decoration includes blue Delft tiles, a mixture of wooden furniture, ceramic beer barrels and a stuffed bird!

Take a seat near the bar downstairs – if there’s room – or venture upstairs and sit, as we did, in the window overlooking the canal and passing cyclists. Give yourself over to the atmosphere and let the beers flow!]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1860 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1110 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1110 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1108 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1108