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Netherlands
Right opposite the excellent Café Gollem (a lovely, cosy little bar where you can sample up to 200 Belgian beers) is one of the best beer shops in Holland. Selling about 500 beers from all over the world and specialising in beers from small independent brewers, it's an absolute treasure trove for the beer lover. You can buy Westvleteren there (which is reputedly the best beer in the world and extremely hard to come by), as well as some truly stunning Scandinavian and American beers. Try the Norwegian Porters and Imperial Stouts. Highly recommended.
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.
crackedkettle.nl/store/
www.cafegollem.nl/default_EN.asp
www.cafegollem.nl/bierkeuken/default_EN.asp
Both The Cracked Kettle and Café Gollem are on Raamsteeg, a small alley between Spuistraat and the Singel canal. The other Gollem is on Daniel Stalpertstraat, round the corner from the Albert Cuyp Market and the Heineken brewery
If dreadlocks, piercing and tribal tattoos are your style, there’s Soundgarden. It boasts a surprisingly civilized terrace overlooking the daily ebb and flow of boats and barges, but the inside is almost painstakingly run-down and graffitied, with a buckled pool table and a dartboard pocked with scars. Not as intimidating as it sounds, but hardly appropriate for the blue-rinse brigade. Grungy DJs and live music three times a week.
Marnixstraat 164-166, out west near Rozentheater
+31 (0)20 620 28 53
home.planet.nl/~nijbo143/soundgarden/english.htm
This is a former Heineken brewery and despite it sounding like a tourist rip off, it’s actually a great way to spend an afternoon. Not particularly well advertised, but well worth the 10 Euros.
To get an inexpensive but quality souvenir for your friends or family, try a bottle of Oud Amsterdam Genever from De Vreng at Nieuwendijk 75, Amsterdam, just a few minutes walk from the Central Station.
It offers an impressive selection of various Dutch Liqueurs.
Have a Friday evening drink with after work crowd in Hoppe bar in the Spui, followed by a fine meal with laid back bustling service in the neighbouring Luiden bistro.
Plan your visits in an order your stomach can cope with. It's a big mistake to visit the Heineken Museum first and sample its delights and then decide to go for a canal boat trip. Believe me the two don't mix .
Beer lovers – don’t bother with visiting the very commercialised Heineken Experience.
Try the excellent brewery tap at Brouwerij 't IJ at Funenkade 7 open Wednesday – Sunday, 1500-2000, or In De Wildeman, a traditional beer bar with great atmosphere.
Stay away from the hoards of drunk hen and stag parties and take a lesiurely cruise down the canals stopping off for lunch in Browerstracht - an old part of Amsterdam town with hidden trendy restaurants and longtime locals.
However still be aware of the possibility that a red light in a window is not necessarily an interior designers and the lady in the window hasnt mistakenly locked herself inside her living room glass cabinet whilst looking for something to wear.
Visit the Bierkoning Beer Shop. It is an absolutely amazing place with over 900 beers on sale from many Dutch microbreweries plus Belgium, Britain, and many other countries. Opening hours: 1300-1900 Mon, 1100-1900 Tue-Fri, 1100-1800 Sat, 1300-1800 Sun, closed on bank hols.
Take a tour of the Henieken Brewery. It is a fantastic journey through the heart of the old brewery, and finishes with free samples on tap!
The archetype of a brown cafe, with a good selection of beers and cosily 'gezellig', despite its proximity to Leidseplein, it's a retreat from the lager louts.
Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 86
0031 206248901
OK, this is my secret tip. Only for food and jazz lovers. Forget touristic places like Kantjil and the Tiger. This place is the real deal.
Very, very good Indonesian food.
The owner is an eccentric and the jazz is cool. It's super-small: there's only like five tables. But only for you I recommend it. Don't tell anyone else, otherwise I can't get in any more, because it's too full, you know? Just between you and me.
In the Utrechtsestraat. Tram 4 right through it, or tram 7 or 10 till Frederiksplein. Or metro till Waterlooplein and then walk some seven minutes.
Don't drink the cloudy bit in the bottom of the Duval beer.
Arendsnest is a unique bar located at Herengracht 90. The owner, Peter van der Arend, is a qualified beerologist dedicated to Dutch microbrewery beers.
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.
Something like the Dutch answer to Wetherspoons, this Eetcafe on the Spui enjoys a fair variety of Belgian beers and bar snacks. In the summer, sit out on the covered terrace and observe the daily battle between the trams and the cyclists - like watching a pack of sharks taking on a school of darting fish.
Spui 30
(0031) 20 6225110
www.beiaardgroep.nl/
People tend to covet two images of Amsterdam: one is of the sleepy city of culture and canals; the other is of one of Europe's hottest party venues. Rarely do you find a place that encompasses both together, but De Zotte is it.
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.
29 Raamstraat
+31(0)20 6268694
Vyne is a fantastic Wine Bar recently opened on the Prinsengracht. We were there in their first week and they had great "wine flights" and food to match.
Very cool (but not "too cool") and the staff were friendly.
Prinsendgracht 411
1016 hm Amsterdam
020 344 64 08
info@vyne.nl
Irish Pub on Rokin popular with Expats and boorish tourists on lager and Guinness fuelled tours through the town and the Red Light District. Food is average and overpriced. The room with a fire is quite nice in the winter. There are much better places in Amsterdam, if you want to go to an Irish bar go to Tig Barra on Overtoom.
A jenever (gin) tasting house (aka bar).
As well as the usual Bols jenevers, this delightful small bar has a large range of flavoured gins (including liquorice and a salty one), aged 5 & 10 year old gins and bitters (their own brand Olofspoortje Bitter is on my desk at the moment - a very nice bitter orange 30%).
The bar is on the corner of the main Red Light area, not far from Centraal Station. I went on a busy evening & approached from the wrong direction, past hoards of drunken English tourists trying to find somewhere to get ... well, what do people go here for?
But this historic bar was nice & quiet - about 10 Dutch people (including two who were tourists), and a small party of Japanese who were shown into a back room for a 'tutored tasting'. I stayed & tried to understand as much Dutch as I could, whilst selecting the more unusual jenevers.
Beer, cheese and other snacks are also available.
Nieuwe Brugsteeg 13, 1012 AG Amsterdam; tel 020 624 3918
If not paying in advance, keep track of what you owe, or you may end up with Jason's breakfast on your tab. Apparently, it's a running joke amongst the staff. Good Guinness. Especially camp barman, can be humoured at length. The expat regulars are horrific and look like they never leave (or bathe), although I am told it does shut at one in the morning.
Overtoom, Tram number 1
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