My Rotterdam Week In Beers 22.05.23
This week we moved from Amsterdam to Rotterdam and my body decided it was time for me to get some of that illness everyone raves about when they’re travelling.
On Monday I enjoyed a tasting paddle at Brouwerij ‘t IJ, a brewery in East Amsterdam under an old windmill. For 16.50 euros you get five beers (you don’t get to pick) which include their dreamy and effortless Blondie (5.8%), their velvety and best selling IJWIT (6.5%), headwrappingly mellow Zatte Tripel (an all-time stealth drink at 8%), their big and meaty IPA (6.5%) and their meal in a glass Columbus 9 (9%) which is like an ESB cranked up to 11. The IJWIT is a standout but Columbus 9 is just an expectation setter and is the closest you can get to drinking Amsterdam without swigging canal water.
Watch the video that I screenshotted because I forgot to take a single photo.
Later that day I was very lucky to catch up with Jochem van den Berg, creator of Dutch satire De Speld. During our meet and greet we each had two alcohol free Heineken 0.0 which he claimed he got really into during lockdown. In all honesty, they tasted the most like a full alcohol beer than any 0 alc beers I’ve tried so far. I had drunk a tasting paddle a few hours earlier though so who knows.
My sickness hit on Tuesday and I spent the entirety of our last day in Amsterdam popping in and out of sleep. The next day we got the train to Rotterdam, got to our hotel and explored the area a bit but I didn’t feel well enough to drink yet.
On Thursday I enjoyed a saison by Oedipus Brewing called Mannenliefde at a great beer bar called Bokaal. There’s lemongrass and Sichuan pepper in it but that was lost on my still slightly sick palette, I just thought it was nice. I’d called another early night but saw this great pub on the way home called Locus Publicus where we stopped in for a drink and I enjoyed Brugse Zot, a famous pale ale made in Bruges. It’s more complex than an easy drinking Aussie pale ale, this well-renowned beer has a lot of character with a distinct orange peel kick and iconic profile that means you can get away with having that creepy thing as your logo.
On Friday, I had a beer free day because I still wasn’t feeling too great. By this point I was really enjoying Rotterdam, especially the place we were staying, The Social Hub, because there were loads of uni students and creative people there who were working odd hours like Katie and I.
Saturday was our last full day in Rotterdam and it was a stunner with the brilliant warm weather Dutchies wait all year for. We went to Vessel 11, a pub on a boat with live music and a loose English theme. I had two Grolsch Weizens, the first of which you can see me review here if you don’t mind me competiting with the sound of the band warming up. The staff offered us to move to the upstairs beer garden which was lovely but put us pretty much to sleep as we roasted in the sun.
We went for a walk to get our energy up and decided to finally use our drink vouchers at the Social Hub bar. I got a Texels Speciaal Beer which is a Netherlands favourite I definitely misprounounced. It was robust and tangy, a great beer to end the Netherlands portion of our trip with.
Overall, I really enjoyed Rotterdam. Compared to Amsterdam it was such a welcome change of pace. It’s a lot more modern, there’s not weed smoke everywhere and tourism is so much rarer that 9/10 people just start speaking to you in Dutch. It’s not the sort of place where I’d say ‘you have to go there’ but if you want to get off the tourist track in The Netherlands while still enjoying some great food and drinks, Rotterdam is a pretty good way to go.
