Amsterdam Part 1

Amsterdam is like the popular girl in high school. Remember her? The one you thought was perfect? She would come to school everyday looking flawless, say just the right things to get what she wanted, and on top of a 4.0 GPA she was involved in umpteen extracurricular activities. But on the weekends her alter ego surfaced and you’d find her at parties making out with boys, drinking and smoking pot…yet she still looked fabulous doing it. You loved to hate her but hated that you loved her. And you most definitely wanted to be her.

That’s what Amsterdam is. A gorgeous city with gorgeous people, delicious food, and a variety of things to do to keep you entertained any day of the week- and night. After dusk a warm, red glow falls over the center of the city and things get interesting. People step out of “coffeeshops” in a zombie-like stupor. There are women in windows beckoning you with their gaze (and other assets). In front of the Casa Rosso there is a line that stretches two city blocks. Despite all these transgressions, the city is beautiful at night. I love Amsterdam. I want to be Amsterdam. Maybe that’s why the city’s motto is “I amsterdam”.

The Heineken museum and former brewery

One of the things I really wanted to do while in Amsterdam was have the Heineken Experience. Heinekens original brewery closed in 1988 but continued to run as a museum and factory tour. The tour is very interactive and can be corny and touristy at times, but you do learn a lot about beer and how it is made. I’ve always been interested in beer-making, so this was my own little hops heaven. I learned about wort, a concoction of water and barley heated and filtered to create a sweet base for the beer. In one of the rooms a man stands behind a bar and explains how after the wort is made, hops are added and yeast is incorporated before fermentation to give the beer its kick.

I was even able to stir the wort!

The best part of the tour? Tasting the beer! In one room we were given a small beer and were told that it was okay to sip on the beer when there was still head because the foam on top keeps the bubbles in. If you wait until the head is gone, the bubbles escape and you will be left with a flat beer (think PBR). I guess I shouldn’t feel so bad now for having a foam mustache when I gulp down a beer.

In the tasting room

Drink the head! It's okay!

After doing the tasting you walk through a few more rooms with a lot of company history as well as some really cool bottle art. You can even buy a bottle with your name laser-printed on it. Again very touristy, but still fun. The final room is the bar, and included in the price of the tour is two 0.25 L glasses of Heineken. The bartenders are often serving a long line of people, so if you get a chance take some time to see how they work - their system of pouring and washing glasses is cool to watch.

The price of the tour? 15 euro (20 USD). A little steep, but everything is in English so its easy to understand, you get beer during and after the tour, and you get to taste the wort (should that be a selling point?). My friends and I had a good time on the tour, and continued to enjoy the rest of our time in Amsterdam...

Coming up next: Sara's Pancake House, Anne Frank House and the foods of the Netherlands.