The House of Bols is similar to a brewery or winery tour,
but for all of those girly cocktails that you secretly love. Lucas Bols was a
famous Dutch liqueur / flavored alcohol manufacturer, who’s initially most
popular drink was Genever, a piney tasting liquor that was so coveted by the
English that they had to come up with their own type called dry Gin to help
prevent the trade imbalance.
Jenevers are apparently strong malt wine (originally ca. 50 % alcohol), that tasted really horrible due to bad distillery techniques. The Dutch masked the flavor by adding Juniper to the malt wine, causing Brits to go nuts!
The House of Bols is an ok trip, but definitely not a must-see in Amsterdam. We just saw it because we could use one of our Hollandpass silver cards with it.
They give you a little showing, advertising KLM who partner with Bols:
They're very cute.
Still, I wouldn't pay the money for first class just to collect these things.
They also show off all of the herbs and spices Bols use to create their flavours:
Sorry for the Potato-esque camera. It's dark in the museum.
They try to paint their flavored drinks as an art, as opposed to peach flavored schnapps.
Rembrandt, whose studio was nearby Bols, drank so much Bols liquor (along with his students), that he paid Bols with a painting to cover his Bols tab. A replica of the painting is on display in the museum:
They also want to recapture the Gin market from the Brits:
They really want to stress their craftsmanship making Genever:
Their Gin does come in nice bottles!
Here's Lucas Bol's lab book:
You can smell all of the infusions:
And feel the Juniper berries:
It does smell nice:
Here's photos of places where Bols has been sold:
At the end is the best part of the tour, the free drink:
You get to pick a cocktail from a computer who spits out a recipe which you take to the bartender.
The bartenders are quite theatrical:
They're pretty good drinks, but the extras cost ~8 Euro, so better go to a bar.
You get to keep the drink recipes!
I had a toddy, so my Grandpa would be proud.
My wife had a Dutchman in Barbados:
Some nice distillery equipment:
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Sauce
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