Off to Amsterdam and London

[Cass]

I'm off next week to my sister's wedding in Yorkshire. Once that's done, however, I'm taking a couple of side trips to Amsterdam and London. I've been to London before but never Amsterdam. Besides the places listed in BA, RB, etc., are there any other personal recos anyone has?

Thanks,
Cass

[StevenThrasher]

I can really only tell you where not to go.
DO NOT go to the Heineken Brewery tour called the "Heineken Experience"
It was a completely awful total marketing to teenage consumers disaster.
Video displays and loud music everywhere. I went with my 70+ year old dad and his older brother, which made it worse.

Being a moderator here I wouldn't imagine you would plan on going anyway.

At least there was a restaurant across the street that had Westmalle Dubbel.

In general you will find a lot of Dutch lagers everywhere and some better Belgian beers. There were a few seasonal Grolsch beers that were better than average that you can find in grocery stores for stuff you will never see here. Most Dutch beer drinkers will drink Belgian beers. Since a lot of the Belgian beers you can get in the U.S. you may want to try finding odd Dutch beers. I didn't find any craft Dutch breweries and/or beers but I was more interested in the Belgians.

[Belgian]

Just avoid stores like Cracked Kettle who sell some beer called "Westvleteren" - it is truly vile, the worst beer in the world.

Also stay away from that Red District area. The ladies in that area seem very friendly but - trust me on this - they are all money diggers.

[Andicus]

Just avoid stores like Cracked Kettle who sell some beer called "Westvleteren" - it is truly vile, the worst beer in the world.

Also stay away from that Red District area. The ladies in that area seem very friendly but - trust me on this - they are all money diggers.

Haha!

Cass, I can't make any recommendations, but enjoy your trip!

[old faithful]

Cass, don't miss De Wildeman (city centre) but especially Cafe 't Arendsnest, at Herengracht 90. It is on the canal, on the far side, i.e., the side where the Jordaan area starts. In a handsome town house of the type on the canals. It specialises in Dutch beers, and offers beers from almost every brewery in Holland, so many of the craft beers are covered that you won't find in many of the city centre bars. I would visit too (if only for the atmosphere) one of the surviving genever gin bars in the city.

A quick google search brings up numerous examples of both types of bars (check under Amsterdam beer bars and Amsterdam genever bars).

Gary

[crawler]

How long are you in Amsterdam for? If you have the time, I would take the ~3 hour train ride to Bruges in Belgium and spend a night - lots of amazing beer there (along with the great beer bar T'Brugs Beertje), and just for touristic purposes, Bruges is something else - it's like stepping into a time machine back into the middle ages.

[Philip1]

I enjoyed a Blanche de Namur and a La Chouffe at Cafe Belgique a couple of months ago.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~phj/

It's a five minute walk south from the previously mentioned De Wildeman. I was in De Wildeman too but the rudeness of the server put me off staying for more than one. I didn't have that problem there a couple of years ago. I was startled back then to see Trois Pistoles and Anchor Liberty Ale on tap.

I thought the Heineken Experience was OK for an hour. I don't recall it being loud except in the simulated bottle room or whatever it's called. But I would only go there if I had more than a couple of days. Needless to say Amsterdam has far better museums.

[MattB]

I realize that most of the posts here are about Amsterdam.

However, when you're in London, check out the Market Porter in the Borough Market by the London Bridge tube station (Southwark). My favourite pub in London ... twelve cask engines: two with Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter (good beer), one a cask scrumpy (cider), and nine rotating guest casks. I was there a couple of weeks ago, and among others, had Mordue Pale Ale and Skinner’s Perle Ale -- both exceptional.

The pub itself is a real market pub, and gets crowded around 2 pm, when the market guys get off work. It's also a big haunt for CAMRA types, and has been named the Best Pub In Britain. Highly recommended.

[Belgian]

How long are you in Amsterdam for? If you have the time, I would take the ~3 hour train ride to Bruges in Belgium and spend a night - lots of amazing beer there (along with the great beer bar T'Brugs Beertje), and just for touristic purposes, Bruges is something else - it's like stepping into a time machine back into the middle ages.

This sounds like what I should be doing in July or August.

Thanks for the Rec!!

[Uncle Bobby]

The pub itself is a real market pub, and gets crowded around 2 pm, when the market guys get off work. It's also a big haunt for CAMRA types, and has been named the Best Pub In Britain. Highly recommended.

Used to be a big fan of the Market Porter when I lived in London. We used to include it in a number of crawls.

Don't know if this is still true -- or if it was ever true -- but the rumour was that the Market Porter had a special "market" license. That is, because of it close proximity to one of London'a wholesale fruit and veg markets, where work often started at 1 or 2 in the morning, the "market" pubs had a license to open and serve at 6am.

Apparently this was only true of about a dozen pubs in the whole of metropolitan London. And they had to be in close proximity to an early starting wholesale market. And technically you were supposed to be a market worker in order to take advantage of it. But...word was...if you could sustain yourself on a piss-up between chucking-out time at 11pm and 6am, you could have an early morning pint at the Market Porter before taking the bus home.

It always seemed to me to be something that a twenty-odd year old might try. But would be much better in the telling than in actually doing.

[Cass]

How long are you in Amsterdam for? If you have the time, I would take the ~3 hour train ride to Bruges in Belgium and spend a night - lots of amazing beer there (along with the great beer bar T'Brugs Beertje), and just for touristic purposes, Bruges is something else - it's like stepping into a time machine back into the middle ages.

I'm in Amsterdam for 2 nights. I've actually already been to Bruges during my trip to Belgium in 2003. I agree, great place to visit and T'Brugs was a very cool place.

Thanks for everyone's recommendations, I'm very much looking forward to the trip. Will report back when I return.

[Brews Phillips]

However, when you're in London, check out the Market Porter in the Borough Market by the London Bridge tube station (Southwark). My favourite pub in London ...

Also check out the little beer stall inside the Borough Market. Great selection. You can buy a few bottles there and bring them to one of the food stalls to drink with your meal. The market is only open from Thursday through Saturday (I think) and it closes around 5PM, so go for lunch, fill up you suitcase with good beer, then head to the Market Porter across the street.

[JB]

Just noticed this thread...I was in Amsterdam two days ago stumbling around the city's finest pubs...well worth a stop.
Most of the best destinations have been mentioned - my faves would certainly be the Eagle's Nest (great small little place with excellent dutch selection plus about 10 beers on tap including a sampler tray), also cafe belgique was worth a stop near the Niewendijk (spelled like the hockey player) and also Gollem (next door to the Cracked Kettle). The latter has a great beer list (maybe 200 or so) with friendly service.
I agree about de Wildeman - very unpleasant service, disappointing b/c it was my last beer bar of the trip...definitely not worth the hype. They had fuller's esb on tap and flying dog imperial porter (!) along with some other interesting choices, so i would still consider it a worthwhile stop.
There are two great beer stores - the Cracked Kettle has a wonderful selection, and the owner (a Scottish expat i think) was very helpful. There's also another place i think called biertemple about 2 minutes from the Dam square, which has over 900 beers. Both these places stock the elusive Westvleteren, but it'll set you back at least 10 euros a bottle.
Those would be my best recommendations for good beer...you can also find a little brewpub near the Nieuwmarkt and there's a brewery at the windmill in the southeast of the city...that should be more than enough to guide you on your way! Oh yeah and don't forget the seediness of the red light district! it's worth a look...just don't take any pics!

[PierreBiere]

Hi Cass,
Not sure if you'll get this in time, but I just thought I'd make a couple of recommendations as well. I've been to de Wildeman and would recommend it highly, despite some people's bad experience with the service. The beer selection is great and they even have a non-smoking room - very rare in Amsterdam. Also worth checking out is the Wynand Fockink, a very traditional and tiny jenever (gin) bar that makes its own gin and has been around for over 400 years. Have a great time.

[Cass]

Hey everyone,

Got some wireless internet access so I thought I'd check in. Spent two great days in Amsterdam - visited de Wildeman, Cafe Belgique, Cafe Gollem, Arensnest, the Suster brewpub, Bierkoning and Cracked Kettle. And had dinner at a South African restaurant and feasted on crocodile, antelope and zebra. Great times

In London now for the remainder of the week and weekend.

Cass