Information The Café The cafe 't Arendsnest is unique. In contrast to the other specialist beer cafes in Amsterdam or Holland, which sell mainly Belgian beers, 't Arendsnest serves nothing but beer from Dutch breweries. There is plenty of choice. At the moment there are around 350 different beers, not counting approximately 250 seasonal beers such as Bokbier, brewed by more than 50 breweries in different parts of the Netherlands. The intention is to have at least one beer from each of these breweries available in the cafe. The cafe has got more than 120 bottled beers and 23 taps. Kroon Pilsener, La Trappe Blond & Dubbel, Herengracht 90 Blond (housebeer), Christoffel Bier, Witte Trappist, Texels Skuumkoppe & Tripel, Jopen Extra Stout & Hoppen, SNAB Pale Ale, Hertog Jan Grand Prestige and Brand Pilsenser & Urtyp are on draft. There are 9 taps for guest beers. In the cafe, customers can not only drink a glass of good beer but also learn about it. The barman is an expert in beer and is always happy to answer your questions. All sorts of activities related to beer are organised in the cafe, including tutored tastings. The Publican "You certainly haven't got to cross the border for an interesting glass of beer. There are so many delicious beers in the Netherlands, so many small breweries that no-one knows about." So says Peter van der Arend, a qualified beer specialist (beerologist). Peter is dedicated to putting Dutch beer on the map, starting with his own cafe 't Arendsnest (The Eagle's Nest, a pun on his name), where he sells exclusively beer from his own country. Peter worked in his parents' hotel in Delft from the age of seventeen and went to hotel college in Belgium. He is a hotel and cafe man through and through. His career has gone through a few diversions, though: bank cashier, assistant at IKEA, buyer at Nike and photocopier salesman before becoming a representative of the Jopen brewery in Haarlem. While he was selling furniture, he was developing an interest in beer. He explains: "Every Friday our team went to the IJ Brewery. That was how I became interested in specialist beers. In 1993, I was given all sorts of interesting beers for my birthday, as well as a beer yearbook." Peter took the book with him and went on holiday in Holland & Belgium with his best friend Hans. "We had a very good time", he remembers. "We would go to a brewery and say 'Hello, we're interested in beer and would like to look round your brewery.'. Our first serious beer holiday was in 1994. We visited three breweries per day. It was great to come home with beers that no-one else had got. Of course we wanted to drink them, we were not collecting labels. At one point my house was filled with beerbottles and I was living in a sort of beer museum." In among all his other activities, Peter set up the North Holland Branch of PINT, the Dutch equivalent of CAMRA. He organised all sorts of activities for PINT, including brewery trips and tutored tastings, and for several years running the very successful Meibockfestival, the festival of Dutch spring ales and beers, in the Maximiliaan brew-pub in Amsterdam. "It was a question of beer, beer, and yet more beer.", says Peter, but this wasn't enough: he was determined to make beer his career. "I sent off about 25 job applications to different breweries but never got an offer. I was too much of a specialist. Big breweries just want business types who can sell lager in bulk, sign big contracts and that sort of thing. I was the opposite: I wanted pubs to try putting something different on tap." Eventually he did manage to get a job with the new small brewery Jopen in Haarlem. Peter did the rounds tirelessly, enthusialstically persuading cafe after cafe to take the specialist beers from Jopen. "But I was still dreaming of my own beer specialist cafe", he says, and to get experience as a barman he got an extra, part-time job as a barman at the De Still whisky bar in Amsterdam. In order to improve his knowledge yet further, Peter enrolled for the Belgiam course to become a certified beer specialist (beerologist). He says: "The course is based on the French courses for wine specialists. They cover everything, from how a beer tap and its fittings work to which beer goes best with different dishes at dinner." He has been a certified beer specialist since 21-01-2001. With the opening of 't Arendsnest, Peter has found the perfect place to present the Dutch beers of which he is so fond. He says: "I don't like lager. I'd just as happily drink a glass of water to quench my thirst." But it isn't a problem if other people have got different ideas, and a customer who orders an ordinary pils in 't Arendsnest won't get any funny looks. But anyone who wants to try something different has come to the right place, and as Peter points out: "If someone just says 'A beer, please', I ask which one they would like, and I can soon see from the reaction how adventurous they are.". Openings hours Sunday - Thursday: 16.00-24.00 Friday and Saturday:16.00-02.00 30 April 12:00-22:00 25 & 26 December closed 31 December from 16.00-20.00	´t Arendsnest Herengracht 90 1015BS Amsterdam (020) 421 20 57 info@arendsnest.nl Plattegrond Openingstijden Openingstijden: Maandag: 16:00 tot 00:00 Dinsdag: 16:00 tot 00:00 Woensdag: 16:00 tot 00:00 Donderdag: 16:00 tot 00:00 Vrijdag: 16:00 tot 02:00 Zaterdag: 16:00 tot 02:00 Zondag: 16:00 tot 00:00 BeerCam: American Craft Beer in Europe!...........Interview met Peter van der Arend! http://www.gobohd.com/shows/BeerNation/?p=732... Lees meer...