Styled as a barbecue restaurant, it's on a side street of Kinkerstraat, Ten Katestraat, home to a market. We used to live not far away and shopped at the market. I'd forgotten how good it is. Especially the cheese place with French stuff made from lait cru. I picked up a couple of small pieces. And we got the Schweinshaxe I cooked on Sunday just around the corner.
Andrew was after some dark rum so we also popped into Topido. Another place I used to shop. Got a nice rum made by Zuidam and noted the good range of the classier type of Dutch Jenevers
Knowing it was likely to be busy, we turned up early-ish. About 14:30. By we, I mean me and Dolores. I'm starting to really spoil her, Letting her own more than one pair of shoes and not chaining her up at night. She even gets to eat out occasionally.
Like on Saturday. Being there sort at luch time, we ate from the lunch menu. Brisket sandwich for me, pulled pork sandwich for Dolores. Both were fairly decent.
As you can see, the tables are pretty rustic. "I imagined it bigger from the photos on the web." Dolores remarked. I hadn't formed so much in the way of preconceptions myelf. But its not huge. Then again, almost nowhere in Amsterdam is. Especially if, like this place, they're in a former pub.
At least that's my guess. Could have been a shop, too.
I should probably return to my beer theme at some point. There are 30-odd bottled and four draught beers. The draughts being Budvar, a couple of Anchor things and something I don't recall. Sorry about that. No notebook with me. The bottled stuff was a mix of American (Anderson Valley, Flying Dog, Anchor), wannabe American beer (the Scottish brewery) and Dutch (De Molen). Weirdly, the last was the most expensive. The others weren't that bad, by Amsterdam standards. Especially stuff styled as "croft". The Budvar was a very reasonable 2.50 for a quarter litre. About the same as Heineken Pils.
I was surprised when Dolores got Liberty Ale.
"You do realise that's an IPA, don't you." Dolores isn't a huge fan of grapefruit beer, like me. Though Liberty Ale isn't bad, if you like that sort of thing. You can see above what I had. Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stout. Pleasant enough, and not so strong that I wouldn't be able to find my way to the tram stop.
32 euros something, it cost us, for a sandwich and two beers each. Not that bad. Though if I convert that into guilders (a little over 70), it does make me want to cry.
On the way home, the light was particularly lovely, and there was a invigourating snap in the chilly air. Now where's that bottle of whisky?
Brouw
Ten Katestraat 16
1056 CE Amsterdam.
Tel: 020-2238569
Email: Info@barbrouw.nl
http://barbrouw.nl/
Opening times:
Sunday - Thursday: 12.00 tot 00.00.
Friday - Saturday: 12.00 tot 01.00.
Slijterij Topido
Bellamystraat 14
1053 BL Amsterdam
020 683 0816
http://www.topido.com/
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3 comments:
"the Scottish brewery" - LOL! (Yes, I really did...)
What is interesting about those beers, Liberty Ale and Anderson Valley's Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout, is that they give a snapshot of the typical American craft brewing portfolio of 1985. Everyone here knows knows Anchor's and Liberty Ale's history, and Anderson Valley was a very early post-Sierra Nevada brewery.
Those two beers more or less, plus an amber of some kind or maybe a brown, were the typical range. Occasionally a brewery specialized in German styles e.g. Stoudt (the name similarity to stout gave Michael Jackson some good turns with irony in his early work).
I never really liked Anderson Valley's stout although learning so much about beer history since then has made me realize its relatively thin, sharp flavour represents a certain type of porter common in the 1800's. I don't know what model the founders were trying to follow, perhaps Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout, itself similarly dry and even austere.
Gary
€32 - just under £27. A little cheaper, probably, than you'd pay in London, where for two "artisinal" sarnies and four bottles of craft beer you'd pretty much definitely be heading north of £30.
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