A Beer Tourist’s Guide To…Amsterdam
The weird thing about Amsterdam and craft beer is that four of the best craft beer bars are owned by the same guy, and if you go to all of them in one night you get a free T-shirt.
Usually that screams a tourist trap alarm, but these bars are legit, serving different beers, with three of them focused on Dutch craft specifically (numbers 1, 3 and 4 in the below list). And hey, if I didn’t tell you, you’d never realise. The owner, Peter, must be making a fucking killing (well, depending on his T-shirt overheads).
That barely scratches the surface, however, with five additional venues providing an extraordinary craft beer odyssey in a city where hops are the least renowned green plant of all.
Everything in the list is an independent establishment and I implore you, do not visit the Heineken factory. Listed in order of craft beer selection and at the bottom you can find your cheeky little itinerary for a great evening on the town. based on location, if you’re going for a whole crawl. Proost!
- Proeflokaal Arendsnest
A rustic haunt, a little bit full of old people, it has literally 50 Dutch craft beers on tap so it wins the game for local Dutch beers but loses for eating, people watching or meeting charismatic beer aficionados. - Foeders
It is covered in sawdust and peanut shells and has the most niche Belgian and Dutch beers around, plus a bartender who means business. It isn’t so much a young person party as a total beer nerd scene so you should definitely go, just don’t wear nice shoes. - Craft and Draft
Where the young people go to drink Dutch craft and meet each other and talk about it and you know what, it’s a good time. Quite small, a little outdoors bit that is useless because it rains every day here, but you’d go again for the choice and the socialising. - Beer Loves Food
It sure does. This is the one as part of the four-bar conglomerate that also serves food, is the most central of the gang and is a chill place with some wasted bartenders who happen to know a lot more about beer than you, or me. - Cafe Lennep
Perched on the canal in a calm part of the city, you can sip local beers brewed nearby and connect to their superfast WiFi if you have some work to do. The food choices are also plentiful and there is both indoor and outdoor seating. - Caffee Oslo
Unassuming gastro pub just south of the main canals that is modern, functional, airy and has Dutch craft. It is a lower key, more laid back vibe than some of the tiny hilarious chaos places above and sells something called ‘Dutch balls’ for snacks.
Recommended order for a one-night craft beer crawl:
Either Cafe Lennep for some afternoon boozing while you work, or Oslo for a lowkey feel and some snack balls >> Craft and Draft as it is easily walking distance from both, see if you can make some friends for the rest of the crawl >> Food Loves Beer to get some dinner to soak things up >> Proeflokaal Arendsnest to sample some big hitters and pretend you’re sophisticated as you slip further into the abyss and hopefully not into a canal >> Foeders for a chaotic drunken end where nobody will notice you are wasted and covered in sawdust.
What you do after Foeders is no business of mine.