Pint Of Ale

Rather than just wandering into Hoppe on a whim, we actually hunted down this wonderful, traditional ‘brown bar’ on reading its review in the Lonely Planet guide to Amsterdam. Lonely Planet claims that Hoppe has the highest turnover of beer in Amsterdam, so it was a place that we just had to visit! Located in Spui, it was easy to find.

There are two ‘Hoppes’, we went for the bar proper (few tables, usually standing room only) which is to the right of the café part. There are large glass windows above the door. We had to push our way through a dirty leather curtain to get into the bar. The bar is narrow and dark. There is a wooden floor with fresh sand to soak up the spills (a regular feature of Amsterdam brown bars).

The counter lines the left part of the room and there are barrels behind. A wood and glass half-screen divides the room almost in two. I was served a glass of local Amstel by an efficient, direct, but friendly barman. Sadly there was not much beer choice on offer, but on holiday you don’t mind so much - a decent cold Amstel served in a 250ml glass makes you feel part of Europe! It was served cold and tasted fine.

There was a pleasing buzz about the place as we sat in a dark corner at at a barrel-top table. The ceiling is low and there are curtains at the windows. The pub was fairly quiet while we were there but it was only early afternoon on a cold February Sunday. The atmosphere of the pub was wonderful - so laid back, not a care in the world. Hoppe felt as close to being a decent English pub than any other we’d yet come across in Amsterdam.

In all, Hoppe is a wonderful place in which to sit after a long zig-zagging meander around the streets and canals of this fabulous city.

I somehow managed to come away without a picture of Hoppe! Many thanks to John Starr from LA who has kindly let me use some of his excellent pictures for this entry. They look excellent at their full resolution, you can see these and more at John’s favourite pubs.