Things have gone crazy in Amsterdam the last couple of
years. New breweries and beer pubs are popping up like mushrooms after rain.
I'm struggling to keep up.
Some of the boom is down to existing operations expanding.
Like Gollem, who now have four pubs dotted around the city. Saturday I finally
got my arse into gear and visited the newest location, on the Amstelstraat
between Rembrandtsplein and Waterlooplein. I'm not a huge fan of
Rembrandtsplein too much crap music and too many drunks. Amstelstraat used to
be a bit rundown, with tourist bars and coffeeshops. It looks like it's on the
way up. It amazes me just how quickly
Amsterdam is changing at the moment.
From the outside, it looks a decent size with its double
frontage. But inside it seems smaller. And very clean and modern, with some
fairly bright colours. Nothing wrong with that. I’m sure that’s what youngsters
expect nowadays.
The beer selection is an interesting one and tells us much
about the state of beer in the Netherlands. Sure there’s American beer, IPA and
beers from new local breweries like Oedipus and Butcher’s Tears. But it isn’t full-on
craft, as London Pride and St. Bernardus Abt on draught betray.
On the bottled side, there are some eye-wateringly expensive
large format bottles. But most are American so there’s no way I’d buy them over
here. One of my rules: I don’t buy American beer in Europe. You’ve no idea what
state it’s going to be in. And I get to the US often enough to get my
grapefruit fix.
Being honest, I quite like that it hasn’t got both feet in
the craft boat. Makes it easier to persuade Dolores to go there. She’s not a
huge fan of fruit-bowl Ales, preferring Belgian or British beers.
All in all, a decent addition to Amsterdam’s beer scene.
Café Gollem Amstelstraat
Amstelstraat 34,
1017 DA Amsterdam.
Opening times:
Mon-Thur: 14.00 - 01.00
Fri-Sat: 12.00 - 03.00
Sun 12.00 - 01.00
30 draught, 100 bottled
Posts
8 comments:
I went to Cafe Gollem Raamsteeg last year. I enjoyed it, and its selection. Mainly because I am from the Antipodes. I hope to be back across in May, so might have to get around to other bars. I might also be heading through the US, so I might get some grapefruit fix as well.
Think you've accidentally (?) participated in the 97th beer blogging session.
Bailey,
why's that?
I rather liked Gollem 4 when I was there in January. Have you been to Craft & Draft or Hoppy Days yet?
John,
I was at Craft and Draft on opening night. I plan checking out Frits this afternoon.
Hi Ron - I hadn't heard of Frits. Looks very interesting.
Ron there are some American beers imported with care in refrigerated containers. Lagunitas IPA for example comes over in a tank and is kegged by Adnams in Southwold.
But yes those large format bottles who will have been handled by specialist distributors / importers will have been all over the place, sat in warehouses (because they're slow sellers to pubs who scoff at the mad prices) and then in a store room in the pub (because they're slow sellers to customers who scoff at the mad prices).
750ml, £25 bottles of craft beer was a Whitbread folly when we used to go to Craft Beer Co together. He always insisted on getting one to share and it was always disappointing and money down the drain.
Jeff,
I'd be more inclined to trust kegged beer.
Thankfully I've no need to drink US beer on this side of the Atlantic.
Post a Comment