Amsterdam breweries, shot 1: beer lovers go to Brouwerij ‘t IJ

March 15, 2011 at 12:05 pm · Written by Christien · Filed under Brewery, Drinking, dutch culture, Going out, Socializing

The Netherlands might be famous for a lot of local brewed products, but something tells me that the first thing tourists try probably isn’t beer. For a reason, Heineken tastes like bitter water and other beers haven’t made it abroad.

However, Brouwerij ‘t IJ they did a courageous attempt to get rid of this stigma. And with some elements of success, as the beverage card features 10  local brewed beers.

A quick tasting of the first four tells that this attempt was rather fortunate.

A Friday afternoon is probably the best time to visit this old brewery that is located right next to an old windmill. In the pub, that slightly reminds the visitor of a tasting room, it is crowded with a vivid mixture of die hard locals just having finished their work and Loney Planet tourists.

Having drunk a few of their local brewed specialities like Natte and Zatte, people start to interact with each other and in only one hour an open minded and well willing traveller could get to know half of its local pub population. Besides, there are no other options than talking to the stranger next to you at the bar, as tables don’t seem to exist in the first area of the tasting room.

A sweet blonde one, an amber coloured bitter brew or a trappist beer, each beer has its own quality. With a local snack called Osseworst, a sausage of raw meat, and a portion of Dutch cheese with mustard a pub crawl should probably start here. Not end, because the brewery is officially not a pub and therefore closes at 8.00 PM.

The brewery is located on a stone’s throw from Artis Zoo.
The tasting room is open every day from 15.00 to 20.00

Regular guided tours of the brewery. A tour lasts about half an hour and are suitable for groups of up to a maximum of 30 people.

Brouwerij ‘t IJ
Funenkade 7
1018 AL, Amsterdam

This blog is run by LivingAmsterdam.com, an initiative of Robin Travels to promote the Socially Responsible Tourism.

Comments

Cracked Kettle

April 27, 2009 at 5:32 pm · Written by Michele · Filed under Drinking, Shopping, Wine

Go for a beer?

Sometimes it’s nice to have a good beer in a typical Amsterdammer cafè, but when the summer comes it is wonderful to spend all the day long in the parks or just sitting by the canals with a good beer. Anyway if you are tired of the beer cans  you can generally find in the super-markets and you want to try something new, then you should pass by the Cracked Kettle.

It is a very small shop in the Center of Amsterdam, on a little street that crosses Spui Straat (Raamsteeg 3). They have more than 500 different types of beer from all over Europe: a vast choice of biological and indipendent producers. If you are a curiouse person you can also try strange varieties as the choco-beer or the one with banana taste. Ask them to suggest you something!

I would suggest the one without any tag: it is a Belgian beer produced in a small farm in the middle of nowhere. It is very difficult to find it in other places and the taste is great.

Proost!

This blog is run by LivingAmsterdam.com, an initiative of Robin Travels to promote the Socially Responsible Tourism.

Comments (1)