The Beer Tourist

't Arendsnest- or the Eagle's Nest- is a place for craft beer hawks. Situated at no 90 of picturesque Herengracht - the Gentlemen's Canal- in Amsterdam, it tries to stock at least one beer from every Dutch brewer. Not a small task given the increase in the number of Dutch microbreweries over the last decade-at present there are more than fifty breweries in Nederland.

The owner, Peter van der Arend, has also published a book with a description and quite a few nice pictures of every brewery in Nederland. Nederlandse Bierbrouwerijen is only available in Dutch for now- it is still highly recommended- but knowing the merchant spirit of Amsterdam it would surprise me if an English version would not soon be available.

The beer café is open every day from 4 pm and is considerably less crowded than In De Wildeman, another Amsterdam must-see for the serious beer tourist. Unlike the latter 't Arendsnest stocks only Dutch beers, but the choice is no less impressive for that reason.

For 6 euro you can have a "mini proeverij" of 4 draft beers- there are 15 to choose from. Nicely served in a tasting tray with water and dry biscuit to cleanse the palate between the beers. At the Gentlemen's Canal beer tasting is indeed taken seriously! If you prefer your beer from the bottle, there are some 180 different to choose from, some of them even aged.

It is hard to leave this nest...