Café Gollem

Café Gollem sits at Raamsteeg 4, a narrow alley between Spuistraat and the Singel canal, in a building that once housed a liqueur distillery. It opened in 1974 as the first café to bring Belgian and foreign beer to Amsterdam, decades before the craft wave arrived.

The room is a pure brown café, tiny, dark and built almost entirely of wood, with chalkboards listing what is pouring. The Infatuation's review singles out the side street location as the reason it stays calm while the Spui crowds pass a block away.

The list runs 14 taps, including a house IPA, and more than 200 bottles weighted heavily toward Belgium. Rochefort, Westmalle and Orval anchor the Trappist shelf, with rotating lambics and seasonal abbey ales filling the board around them.

Tripadvisor rates the Raamsteeg original at 4.7 and regulars consistently call it the best of the Gollem family, which now runs several rooms across the city. BeerAdvocate reviewers flag the staff's habit of steering drinkers by strength and sweetness rather than brand.

Come on a weekday afternoon for a quiet corner and a heavy Belgian quadrupel. For more of the scene, see our Amsterdam craft beer guide, the best beer bars in Amsterdam, and the near me beer finder.

Weekday afternoons from the 1pm open are the golden window, when the wood room is half empty and the staff have time to walk the bottle list.

Evenings fill shoulder to shoulder from 8pm, especially weekends when the 2am close keeps the alley busy. Go early or go late.