Index
Practical Stuff
Where do I find Pubs?
Dutch breweries (large)
Dutch breweries (small)
Belgian breweries
Amsterdam breweries
Bockbier Tasting 2004
Bokbierfestival
Amsterdam Beer Tours
Amsterdam Pubs
Nieuwezijd (Dam)
Oudezijd (Nieuwmarkt)
De Jordaan
De Pijp
Amsterdam East
Amsterdam South
Amsterdam West
Utrechtsestraat
Practical Stuff
Where do I find Pubs?
Dutch breweries (large)
Dutch breweries (small)
Belgian breweries
Amsterdam breweries
Bockbier Tasting 2004
Bokbierfestival
Amsterdam Beer Tours
Amsterdam Pubs
Nieuwezijd (Dam)
Oudezijd (Nieuwmarkt)
De Jordaan
De Pijp
Amsterdam East
Amsterdam South
Amsterdam West
Utrechtsestraat
This part of Amsterdam is where it all began back in the 13th century (or thereabouts). The route of the medieval ramparts define its boundaries to the East (Geldersekade / Klovernierburgwal) and the Amstel to the West.
Most of the old defences are long gone, dismantled when the city expanded beyond their bounds in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. One of the few visible reminders today is De Waag, once one of the city's main gates. You can see a photo of it above. After a long period of indecision about what to use it for, it's now a posh-ish bar / restaurant.
Today, the Red Light District occupies much of the area. In Dutch it's usually referred to as "De Wallen", derived from the names of its principal canals (Oudezijds Voorburgwal, Oudezijds Achterburgwal). Most of the action happens along the canals and in the alleys connecting them, roughly between Damstraat and Zeedijk
The council has been trying hard, but with only partial success, to revive Zeedijk. The short section that runs East - West at the station end is now perfectly respectable. It's easy for unwary tourists to be lured further along the street, where the efforts at renewal have met with stiff resistance from heroin dealers and their customers. On the nice bit of Zeedijk stands one of very few wooden houses to survive the devastating fire of 1452.
One
of the advantages of living in Amsterdam (OK, there are others, but this
is a family publication) is that I can regularly update this guide. Reading
back my description of Loosje, I understood where my duty lay. To the centre,
tramdriver, and don't spare the electrodes.
One of the advantages of being occupationtally
challenged (OK, there are others, but potential employers have been known
to use search engines) is that I can do my research during working hours.
If you've been looking carefully, perhaps you've spotted all the newspaper
reading going on in my photos. Yup, my days are free.
Here we have a style seldom seen in Holland.
Magnificent tilework covers the walls, bar, floor and just about every other
surface, except for the ceiling. One wall has a 3-metre wide depiction of
the old ZHB (Zuid Hollandsche Bierbrouwerij) brewery in Den Haag. Other
bits portray the pub in the 17th century and peasants hanging around some
polder. There are even old hard-coded adverts, for products which surely
no longer exist. That's what I call a successful advertising campaign: one
that goes on forty or fifty years after manufacture has ceased. 
De
Beiaard had already been getting a couple of house beers contract brewed
for their pubs, most notably the witbier Witte Ros and the seasonal Bock
Ros. One can assume that the intention is to take the production of
these beers in-house. Whether this has occurred yet with the Witte Ros is
not clear. Blonde Ros definitely is brewed on the premises, as they say
will be the Bock Ros in autumn.
Fockink
was founded in 1689, originally functioning as the tasting room of the distillery
behind it. It's quite easy to imagine that not much has been done in the way of home
improvements since. (I know the feeling: you keep promising that you'll put that shelf
up next week and, before you know it, three centuries have gone by.) Behind the bar
hugely bending green shelves bear old bottles whose faded painted labels can still
just about be deciphered. You could be forgiven for thinking that you had wandered
into an old chemists. If you look more closely, you'll see that the labels say "Oranje
Bitter" or "Oude Jenever" not "Arsenic" or "Laudanum".
It may not have escaped your notice that "bier" is the Dutch word
for beer. And, yes, that is what it means in the name "Scharrebier".
It's the Dutch equivalent (or was in the 17th century) of English "Small
Beer" or "Table Beer", that is a low-alcohol beer made from
a second or third mashing.
Want
a little help? Alright then. Careful observation of the above photo will
reveal: a chessboard (they have games), a magazine rack (they follow the
civilised Dutch custom of providing reading matter for their customers),
beer posters (they take beer semi-seriously). 
Engelbewaarder
used to be a beer café, so I remember reading. Well, it isn't any
more. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it isn't worth visiting. Just don't
expect a beer pub, OK?
Sometimes
I feel this guide is becoming an extended mea culpa for my lack of
adventure. Even after being dragged along to Scharrebier, I still hadn't
noticed Druif. Sit outside Scharrebier and you'll realise the full extent
of my idiocy.