My Amsterdam Week In Beers 15.05.23

This week was the first of our 21 weeks abroad and yes, I managed to drink some beers.

Going to Amsterdam first meant it was a 26 hours in the air from Sydney across three different flights. On the first flight (Qantas) I drank two James Boags Premium, asked for another and they told me they had run out. Spirit of Australia my ass. On the next two flights (Emirates) I had a can of Tiger on each to help me sleep. They did not help me sleep. I was awake most of the flights and sweated right through my hoodie.

Proeflokaal Arendsnest in Amsterdam. Only the one lady was working and she was doing it ALL.

Finally arriving in Amsterdam, Katie and I checked into our hotel room, showered and went out right away so we wouldn’t be tempted to sleep and end up jetlagged.

My first beer of the whole trip was a Helles Lager by Two Chefs, brewed in Amsterdam (watch the review). I enjoyed it at Proeflokaal Arendsnest, a beer bar with 52 taps pouring Dutch beer and Dutch beer only. I followed up with a Mango IPA by similarly local brewery Walhalla. It was thinner and more approachable than the IPAs I’m used to with a tangy, icey pole flavour.

In De Wildeman, Amsterdam - really happy place.

Afterwards we went to In De Wildeman, a cosy beer bar right in the thick of Amsterdam where a guy working there had a great anti-tourist rant last time we were there. This time however the service was incredibly friendly and informative. Katie and I both enjoyed a draft beer from one of their 18 taps before a friendly Canadian guy named Carlson (who was there ticking a beer of his bucket list) suggested Katie and I look at the bottle blended beers menu.

Just a popular beer getting it’s photo taken.

We enjoyed a Kriek (sour cherry beer) made by 26 year old A’dam local Tommie Sjef. The guy even showed me down to the cellar so I could pick it out myself which was really cool! It was sour and tart, red wine like in complexity, served in a little basket at about 12 degrees Celsius. Had a lovely chat with an American couple called Barb and Julie who gave us some beer recommendations for the rest of Europe.

Afterwards, Katie and I trekked it over to Foodhallen where I had a Brand Weizzen that perfectly accompanied our plate of Iberian ham and cheese.

So yeah, that was the first day. We beat jetlag.

The following day I had a witbier by Brouwerij 't IJ at a canal-side cafe where we ate plates of sausages after a long day of walking across the city. It was sweet with apricot and peach off in the distance and a head that was like velcro to my moustache. After that and some more sausages I had an Amstel because we weren’t filming or making content so I didn’t want to spend too much. Hadn’t had Amstel in a while, it tastes like having a lot of hops on toast while still being resippable.

Raw sausage might have had the last laugh though because Katie woke up feeling sick so I stayed with her in the hotel the next day and didn’t drink any beer. It was meant to be our first day shooting our new series, we had to cancel all the things Katie spent time planning. Really quite a bit of a bummer but it gave me time to catch up on work and this is a working holiday after all!

This photo just pissed me off! I was so happy to eat some raw sausage, even if it wasn’t at the place that I enjoyed it last time because all the tables were taken. Urgh, eating raw meat was a bad idea…

The following day I just stayed with Katie in the hotel room and made sure she didn’t chunder herself to death (or worse) and took the opportunity to have a tactical beer free day. Fark me, I even used the hotel gym, a line I thought I’d never cross.

The next day was Saturday, Katie was feeling marginally better which means we got to finally start shooting the show we came to Europe to shoot! I had an Oedipus Saison, which I reviewed, in North Amsterdam (Noord) near the NDSM Wharf. It was nice and smoother than other saisons.

I had to get more of In De Wildeman on camera so we went there and I had a dark IPA (not black, Simon was sure of it) and a Keller beer (pictured) which was gloriously frothy and fresh.

Last day of the week was Sunday (as bloody usual) which was Katie’s day to film what we wanted. Not to spoil too much because I want you to watch it but there were pancakes, traditional Dutch foods and a canal cruise where I drank the only two Heineken beers I had in Amsterdam and you know what, they were alright. Compared to the stuff I had back home in my early 20s these tasted cask aged and complex. Drank them out of the can while the tour guide told the same factoid based joke for the 15th out of 20 times that day.

At this point we had only two full days left in Amsterdam but to be honest this time around the city was grinding my gears more than it was rocking my boat. Our last stay in Amsterdam was our first overseas trip apart from friends or family which is part of why it felt so magical. While the weather was A+, there were a lot more tourists this time (yes, including the two of us) and everything just felt a bit more ‘out to get you’. Additionally, as the two of us were both on/off sick and travel weary we didn’t ever get the stamina up for a big night out.

That being said, the city is still one of a kind and I’d like to return to Amsterdam during a quieter season, meet up for a drink with some of the friends I’ve made and check out all the recommendations I just did not have time for on this trip.

Stay tuned to my next week in beers where I have two more (anticlimactic) days in Amsterdam before heading south to Rotterdam!