Frits

Amsterdam is really buzzing beer-wise. I'm struggling to keep pace with the openings of new breweries and bars. I can thank Dolores for discovering Frits.

It popped up when she was searching for a place a colleague of hers had mentioned. It looked interesting and we decided to drop by one Saturday afternoon.

It's located on the corner the Jan Evertstraat and Mercatorplein in de Baarsjes. An area of Amsterdam we lived in until the kids came along and our flat started looking rather small. Like much of Amsterdam, it's changed a lot in the last five years.

Going down De Clerqstraat in a tram, I was shocked to see how many trendy eateries had popped up on the street. Fancy coffee places are a sure sign of gentrification. I should know, loads have appeared around our way. Girl cafes, I call them. As opposed to the old bloke pubs I hang around in.

The yuppification doesn't seem to have stretched quite as far as Mercatorplein, with the exception of Frits. Exposed brickwork and industrial ducting make perfectly clear who the establishment is aimed at: the young and the hip. That's me out on both counts. (I do still have both my own hips, so maybe that counts as a half.)

On offer are posh-ish burgers and a small but well-polished selection of beers. First thing I notice is that there are no mass-market beers. Brooklyn Lager Budweiser Budvar serve as Pils. That gives away one of the other feature of the beer list: very international. There are a couple of US beers, Thornbridge Jaipur, Weihenstephaner Hefeweissen and Vedet IPA. So about half the 10 draughts are foreign. The others are not only Dutch, but from Amsterdam: Oedipus and Het Ij.

The bottled list  is similarly a mix from traditional European beer countries and the USA. It runs to around 40 beers.

That's a heartening turnaround from a few years back. When Ij beers excepted, few Amsterdam pubs offered anything from small Dutch brewers. It's good to see local beers getting some appreciation.

"What used to be here, Dolores? I can't remember."

"A pub. The type with carpets on the tables."

"I understand why I'd never went in."

We invest in a shared burger. At  8-10 euros, they're quite reasonable for Amsterdam. Though that is without chips. It's not bad. Fairly similar to the ones you get in US beer places.

Beer prices. I should mention those. Around the 4 euro mark for a draught. Which again isn't that bad for Amsterdam. I'll probably be back. Especially as they stock St. Bernardus Abt.




Frits
Jan Evertsenstraat 135
Amsterdam.
Tel.: 020 233 9796
http://www.frits-amsterdam.nl