Biermuseum De Boom
Houttil 1, 1811 JL Alkmaar. Tel: 072 - 511 3801 info@biermuseum.nl http://www.biermuseum.nl/
Opening hours: Tue - Fri 13:00 - 17.00, Sat 13:00 - 16.00, Sunday and Monday closed
Number of draught beers: n/a
Number of bottled beers: n/a
Regular draught beers: n/a
Food: none.
I was quite with Alkmaar's Biermuseum. It's not enormous, but the staff are knowledgeable, enthusiastic and extremely friendly. The collection includes some amusing old adverts (see below) and interesting books. Between 1650 and 1750 De Boom was Alkmaar's largest brewery. It was disused for many years before being converted into a museum with the support of the Centraal Brouwerij Kantoor, the Dutch brewers' organisation. I'm a magpie when it comes to beer information. My day is made when I unearth a few new statistics. My joy was undbounded at the bucketload I acquired here. They even let me copy a chapter from one of their books. They deserve your support.
Rating: *****	Public transport:

Proeflokaal De Boom
Houttil 1, 1811 JL Alkmaar. Tel.: 072 - 511 5547 E-mail: info@proeflokaaldeboom.nl http://www.proeflokaaldeboom.nl/
Opening hours: Sun - Thur 12:00 - 24:00, Fri - Sat 12:00 - 02:00
Number of draught beers: 8
Number of bottled beers: +-20
Regular draught beers: Heineken Pils (5%) Alkmaars Boom Bier (5.7%) Tongerlo Dubbel Bruin De Koninck (5%) Blanche de Bruxelles Brand Imperator
Food: Snacks €3-9. Pils €1.70, Duvel €2.90.
Even before I had seen the sign saying National Biermuseum I had already spotted the distinctive architecture that breweries have. Though finding the entrance to De Boom is a little trickier: it's tucked away on the building's canal side. You have to walk down some steps to almost water level to gain access. Unless of course you make use of the stairs that connect it internally with the museum. The single room runs the whole width of the builing. As it's in the basement, thias means that the rear windows give you a great view of shoppers' ankles. It would have driven Victorian men into a frenzy. No surprise that it's stuffed full of Dutch beer memorabilia, including an impressive bottle collection rather daringly (or is that recklessly?) displayed at elbow height along the top of the bench seating. Once you get used to the mustard-yellow colour scheme, it's actually quite sweet. . The bottled selection is small, but almost perfectly formed. There's the full set of Ij brewery beers and most Trappists. The draught beers are very reasonably priced, with the most expensive only €2.90. ABT member.
Rating: ****	Public transport:

Kooltuintje
Kooltuin 11, Alkmaar. Tel.: 072 - 515 9555 http://www.kooltuintje.nl/
Opening hours: Mon - Thur 12:00 - 02:00, Fri 11:00 - 02:00, Sat 12:00 - 03:00, Sun 14:00 - 02:00
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers: +-20
Regular draught beers: Grolsch Pils Gulpener Korenwolf
Food: Snacks. Duvel €2.50, pils €1.60-3.50.
Approaching Kooltuintje, I was convinced it was shut. It was so dark, it couldn't possibly be open, could it? I had my answer soon after I pushed open its battered front door. The barman was fiddling with some - I have to be frank here - jerry-rigged wiring, which had just blown the fuses. In about the time it took to order my Westmalle, the lights were back on. But before I was even half way through it another light above the bar went pop and the gloom returned. Just as well I was sitting by the window. If I'm vague as to the precise topography of Kooltuintje, perhaps you'll understand why. From what I could make out in the murk, it's long, thin and has a pool table at the back. It has the casual and slightly down-at-heel look of a squatters cafe. Like the Korsakoff on a good day. All the fuss with the lighting didn't dampen the spirits of the staff and customers. Quite the opposite, They seemed to find it all very amusing. Thinking of fire safety, I was pleased that I had chosen a seat next to the entrance.
Rating: ***	Public transport:

A. M. Maguire
Kanaalkade 77, 1811 LT Alkmaar. Tel: 072 - 5150292
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 12:00 -02:00
Number of draught beers: 6
Number of bottled beers: 6
Regular draught beers: Jupiler Pils Dommelsch Pils Hertog Jan Pils Guinness Stout Murphy's Red Strongbow Cider
Food: Snacks.
I know what I've said elsewhere about Irish pubs, so no abusive emails, thank you. look, the station is a bit odf a trek from the town centre and Maguire's is a handy place to recover. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I also like the "Murphy's from the wood, that's good" sign by the door. Just a shame you can't get it inside. There's not much I can say about the inside. There's nothing that makes it particularly Irish, except for the draught beers. My son hated it because: a) there was a dog running loose; b) it was very smoky. So if you too have issues with either of those, you have been warned.
Rating: *	Public transport:

De Notaris
Houttil 18, 1811 JM Alkmaar. Tel.: 072 - 520 7608 Fax: 072 - 520 7609 Email: info@denotarisbv.nl http://www.denotarisbv.nl/>
Opening hours: Mon - Sun 10:00 - 02:00
Number of draught beers: 4
Number of bottled beers: 10
Regular draught beers: Heineken Pils Wieckse Witte Speciale Palm
Food: Snacks €3-8, meals €10-20. Duvel €2.30, pils €1.90.
Pictures tell a story. The ones in Notaris certainly do. All those Herman Brood prints say "we're trendy but without taste". To hammer home the point, the chairs are painted in lurid primary colours that wouldn't look out of place in a prmary school.. If you want to retain your stomach contents, make thist the first call on your pub crawl of Alkmaar. Then there are the customers. Yuppies you would love to shake something more threatening than a stick at. And they were playing really crappy music.
Rating: *	Public transport:

Odeon
Hekelstraat 19, 1811 BL Alkmaar. maud.en.roel@cafe-odeon.nl http://www.cafe-odeon.nl/
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 15:00 - 02:00
Number of draught beers:
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers: Leeuw Pils Guinness Stout
Food:
I arrived at Odeon a little early and so had plenty of time to pace the surrounding streets rattling the change in my pocket until it openend. For a small town, there are a surprising number of tattoo parlours and hippy shops. Am I missing something about Alkmaar? After my impatient and slightly puzzling wait, Odeon offered no great shock. It's the long, thin shape that is so common in Dutch poubs that I no longer have an interesting way to describe it. I leave it at that: long and thin. Here, in contrast to Kooltuintje, the gloom appeared intentional. At least no-one was tinkering with the electrics. Instead, the barmaid was on the pinball machine. I had to move my change around a little more while she finished her game before I could get a beer. Is that cool or crap? I'm undecided.
Rating: **	Public transport:

Introduction
	Amstelveen is a bland, middle-class (sorry Keith) suburb stitched onto the bottom of Amsterdam. It's main claim to fame is as the largest town in Holland (pop. approx. 70,000) without a railway station. Need I say more? The pre-war areas aren't too bad - I wish I could afford to live in one of the elegant 1930's houses around the Keizer Karelweg - but I won't pester you with a diatribe about the incoherent planning that has taken place since. Let's just say that there are fantastic examples of all the classic planning mistakes of the 1960's, 70's, 80's and 90's.
Remnants of the original village survive, but you're unlikely to stumble across them, unless you take the museum tram, which has a stop there. (It's a shame that the tram only runs on Sundays as it's easily the most convenient form of transport for the majority of the pubs.) It's remarkably difficult to access Amstelveen by public transport. Apart from the corridor served by the sneltram, most areas are serviced by buses. Whoever determined the routes must be very proud of Amstelveen, because they've guaranteed you'll see every street in the town, no matter what your destination. But the fun doesn't end there - Amstelveen is also pratically totally devoid of pubs. I would struggle to name more than a dozen and - having commuted through it by bus for years - there's no corner of the town I haven't penetrated (see the paragraph above on public transport).

Eetcafé Silversant
Noorddammerlaan 119, 1187 AC Amstelveen. Tel. 020 - 641 4851 http://www.silversant.nl/
Opening hours: Sun-Fri: 12:00-02:00 closed Saturday
Number of draught beers: 6
Number of bottled beers: +-15
Regular draught beers: Heineken Pils (5%) La Chouffe (8%) De Koninck (5%) Wieckse Witte (5%)
Food: Snacks €2-6, meals €6-17, beer €4 for 0.5l pils.
Silversant was the location preferred for office booze ups by my first Dutch employer. Since then it has become a Sunday excursion destination for the family, where a ride in the museum tram buys us suffering parents a few moments of peace in the pub. Physically, it's a looks like some sort of ex-farm building, built of green-painted wood in what I would call a Dutch bungalow (I don't know if they use such a term in Holland) form. Oh, I almost forgot one of the most important points - it's just over the road from the towering spire of Bovenkerk church, a landmark that can be easily spotted from Schiphol airport. Inside you'll find plenty of dark wood, spread across the cramped original building and a more roomy extension. Not the biggest choice of beers, but good enough for an hour or two. The food: I'll be honest with you, the way prices have skyrocketed in Amsterdam restaurants, coming down here to eat - where the prices are still connected to the real world - could well be worth your while. Cheap, good quality and large portions. Nothing too fancy, but filling and well-cooked. If you're coming on the museum tram, go all the way to the last stop. You've then got a walk of about 500 metres. You have two choices: straight down Noorddammerlaan or along the southern edge of De Poel, a lake surrounded by a small park. I would heartily recommend the latter for its scenic qualities, though be warned that there's lots of water and bridges so be careful with very small children.
Rating: ***	Public transport:

Stadspub Du Monde
Stadsplein 14, 1181 ZM Amstelveen. Tel. 020 - 441 4430 Fax: 020 - 441 4427 e-mail info@cafedumonde.nl http://www.cafedumonde.nl/
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 09.00 - 01.00 Sun 11.00 - 24.00
Number of draught beers: 6
Number of bottled beers: +-10
Regular draught beers: Heineken Pils (5%) De Koninck (5%) Wieckse Witte (5%) Murphy's Red Guinness Stout Strongbow Cider
Food: Snacks, meals.
Back in the 1980's, when I first became acquainted with Amstelveen, a thing called Plein 1960 (1960 Square in English) was the heart of the new town (and its bus routes). The name - bland, uninspired - fitted the square very well. But Amstelveen has an ambitious, thrusting, dynamic council and after 30 years a boring old 1960's design was no longer good enough. The bit that was left over after a bus station, car park, theatre and a few more shops had been built they named Stadsplein (Town Square). It's difficult to believe, but they managed to think up an even blander name. But don't think that I'm knocking the new development. At least they did remember that some shoppers like an occasional beer. No fewer than three pubs were built next to each other along the north face of the square. Which one of these is Café du Monde? Well all of them. Sort of. Though there are still three distinct spaces each with their own identity. Coming from the bus station they are: Theatercafé Carmen, Red & Roses Irish Pub and finally Stadspub Du Monde. You can probably guess why I decided to include the last. The downside to all the pubs being on the north of the square is that this is the side with half-decent architecture. Sat in (or outside) Du Monde, your view is the crappy theater/ music school complex opposite. Let's see if you can guess which materials have been used in the facade: g.... and s.... How mould-breaking. Before you start thinking that I've transformed this page into an architectural review, I'll try to get back on track and regain my focus (I really should stop associating with managers). Du Monde's corner location and glazed frontage make it a pretty bright place. So just as well they plumped for a light brown café-bar style. This isn't Amsterdam, so instead of long and thin you get wide and shallow. To make full use of the space, they've got a balcony, too (as does Red & Roses). If you wish to live the fake Irish experience, a connecting door will lead you there. They sell a fairly standard packet of bottled beers, so nothing too exciting. But don't complain. I can remember when you couldn't get a beer around here at all.
Rating: **	Public transport:

Café Cartouche
Stationsstraat 22, 1211 EN Hilversum. Tel.: 035 - 621 6984 Email info@cafecartouche.nl http://www.cafecartouche.nl/
Opening hours: Sun - Thur 14:30 - 01:00, Fri - Sat 14:30 - 03:00
Number of draught beers: 9
Number of bottled beers: 15
Regular draught beers: Amstel Pils Speciale Palm La Chouffe Hoegaarden Witbier (5%) De Koninck (5%) Leffe Dubbel Leffe Blond
Food: Snacks €2-8, meals €8-12.
A typical Dutch brown café the town side of Hilversum station.
Rating:	Public transport: Hilversum NS station.

Café Dudok
Larenseweg 1a, 1221 CH Hilversum. Tel : 035 - 642 0851 Email: cafedudok@nl.proximedia.com http://www.cafedudok.nl/
Opening hours: Sun - Thur 10:00 - 01:00, Fri - Sat 11:00 - 02:00
Number of draught beers: 5
Number of bottled beers: +-15
Regular draught beers: Bavaria Pils Speciale Palm La Chouffe Blanche de Namur Guinness Stout
Food: Snacks €2-7, meals (Wed-Sat Thai food). Pils €1.90, La Chouffe €3.40.
You can't get much handier than Dudok. You can see it from the platform of Hilversum station. Very useful if, like me, you tend to cut things a little fine when catching trains. The pub itself has a single, trinagular room in an art-deco-ey sort of style. Outside it's an attractive 1930's building. To the left you can admire the standout decorative feature: a superb leaded window depicting a barrel and foaming glasses of beer. Very appropriate. There's a small outdoor seating area (unfortunately right next to a main road - shaded by a spreading grape vine. Again, very appropriate. The beer list isn't huge, but offers all the usual favourites - Westmalle, Duvel, etc.
Rating: ***	Public transport: Hilversum NS station.

Speciaalzaak De Schans
De Schans 17, 1421 BA Uithoorn. Tel.: 0297-522106 Fax: 0297-522107 Email: info@schansbier.nl http://www.schansbier.nl/
Opening hours: Wed-Thur 11:00 - 18:00, Fri 11:00 - 21:00, Sat 09:00 - 17:00
Number of draught beers:
Number of bottled beers: 350
Regular draught beers:
Food: n/a
An excellent specialist beer shop which is in the same building as Bierbrouwerij De Schans. It has all the usual Belgians, some good stuff from the better Dutch micros (including their own brews, of course), quality British beers and top-notch lagers from Franconia. As if that wasn't enough, they also stock a selection of single malt whiskies and quality Dutch and Belgian genevers. A great shop, run by enthusiastic, friendly people. It's enoughto tempt even an agrophobic like me outside Amsterdam.
Rating: *****	Public transport: bus 170 to Amstelplein

© Ron Pattinson 1995 - 2010

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