Today (September 14) it is National Open Monument Day. Buildings all over the country open their doors so people can have a look inside. Often these buildings are open only on this day. A once a year opportunity to stand in some Dutch history. This made me think of a number of places where I had good beer that are also in monuments and are worth a visit.
A top 5 of Monumental Beer Places
De Waag, Doesburg
One of the oldest, if not the oldest, café in the country that has been pouring beer and making food for people since 1478. It is truly a beautiful building in a wonderful city where everything has been restored in such a manner that it feels very medieval. There is wood everywhere and signs of medieval times with shields and flags. The very high ceilings give it an imposing stature and their list of beer is worth a trip too.
In de Blaauwe Hand, Nijmegen
I had the pleasure of being here once for an Oproer tap takeover. While half of the old building in Nijmegen were destroyed in an erroneous bombing by the allies in World War 2, this bar stayed and has been there now for 700 years.
The name ‘In the Blue Hand’ refers to the blue painted hands of the workers who died the wool in the building next door. Indigo was the color most used. This has likely been a place for drinking since the 16th century. And the beer? Great selection and rotation. Food also nice.
Fort Everdingen
A fort from the old Hollandse Water Linie, a line of forts all around Holland and Utrecht, once built to keep the French and other invaders out. With better weapons and airplanes these forts became obsolete and were turned into other things. This one for a while was the depot of the army’s explosives department before it was turned into a campground and brewery/taproom for Duits and Lauret. The fort alone is beautiful to walk over, but the location is awesome as well. It is located next to one of the great rivers of the Netherlands and to cycle there is by far the nicest thing you can do.
Olivier, Utrecht
To be honest not my most favorite place to go to for a beer in Utrecht. High ceilings and incredibly noisy. Makes it hard to talk to the person next to you which is a shame. It is a beautiful place because it was once a church, and a secret church at that.
There have been people living here since the year 1000 and in 1640 the house was sold to a catholic family. Catholics were not allowed to have mass in public so the used parts of houses and other buildings as secret churches. The family used their house as secret church as well until every religion was free again to hold their meetings.
And now it is a Belgian Beer Café. So get a table and drink a nice Belgian beer while soaking in a millenium of history.
Brouwerij ‘t IJ, Amsterdam
Forget about the windmill where ‘t IJ is famous for. Even though it has become iconic it is not even part of the brewery. Only the structure next to it is. Because the brewery started in what were the former bathing houses for this part of the city. This stems from a time when not every house had a shower or bath so people needed to go the public baths for some cleaning. Not that you can see a whole lot of that still but it is a historic building and another part of Amsterdam history.
Hop Culture Reference 