The Eastern Docks & the Windmill

Best time: Any day from about 1:30pm. Reach Brouwerij ’t IJ by about 4pm, because it closes at 10pm every night and is busiest late on weekend afternoons. Bar Joost opens at 3pm on weekdays (2pm at weekends), and Poesiat & Kater is the place for dinner: its kitchen closes at 10pm (9pm on Sunday). Gollem aan het Water only publishes summer hours (from 2pm on weekdays), so check before an off-season visit. Opening hours change, so check each venue before you set off.

The stops

1. 

   Pension Homeland

   Kattenburgerstraat 5, 1018 JA Amsterdam · Tram 26, Kattenburgerstraat, or a 15-minute walk east from Centraal

   Bar, restaurant and small hotel in the old naval officers' quarters on the Marineterrein, pouring beers from Brouwerij Homeland, whose brewery is about 100 metres away on the same site. Waterside terrace by the inner harbour; live music or DJs at weekends. Open daily, with lunch noon to 4pm, dinner 5:30pm to 10pm and the bar open until 1am.

   Open in Google Maps

2. 

   Gollem aan het Water

   Entrepotdok 64a, 1018 AD Amsterdam

   Neighbourhood beer café on the Entrepotdok quayside, next to Artis zoo, with a waterside terrace, board games and sport on TV. Taps lean towards local and Dutch beers, with a strong Belgian bottle list. The posted hours (summer) are 2pm to 1am Monday to Friday, noon to 2am Saturday and noon to midnight Sunday, with the terrace closing at 11pm.

   Open in Google Maps

3. 

   Brouwerij ’t IJ

   Funenkade 7, 1018 AL Amsterdam · Tram 7 (Beer Guide Amsterdam lists ’t IJ on the tram 7 line)

   Amsterdam's best-known craft brewery, founded in 1985 in a former bathhouse under the De Gooyer windmill. Most of its beers are on tap in the tiled tasting room, with a big terrace and snacks such as Dappermarkt peanuts, ossenworst and sheep's cheese. Open 2pm to 10pm Monday to Friday and noon to 10pm Saturday and Sunday.

   Open in Google Maps

4. 

   Bar Joost

   Molukkenstraat 33, 1095 AT Amsterdam

   Corner bar in the Indische Buurt, open since 2014, that pours only beer brewed in Amsterdam, with a rotating line-up of local breweries on draught and dozens more in bottles and cans. It's known for kopstootjes (a beer with a jenever) and monthly brewery takeovers. Open 3pm to 1am Monday to Thursday, 3pm to 3am Friday, 2pm to 3am Saturday and 2pm to 1am Sunday.

   Open in Google Maps

5. 

   Poesiat & Kater

   Polderweg 648, 1093 KP Amsterdam · Amsterdam Muiderpoort station (trains, and tram 14 to Centraal)

   Large brewery-restaurant in an 1887 industrial building in Oostpoort, pouring the full Poesiat & Kater range fresh from the tap, with a big terrace and full kitchen. The beers are now mostly brewed at the company's brewery in Weesp. Open 11am to midnight Monday to Wednesday, 11am to 1am Thursday, 11am to 2am Friday, 10am to 2am Saturday and 10am to midnight Sunday; the kitchen closes at 10pm (9pm Sunday).

   Open in Google Maps

Getting there: start at the Marineterrein, a former naval yard about a 15-minute walk east of Centraal station along the Prins Hendrikkade. Tram 26 stops at Kattenburgerstraat. The route ends a few minutes from Amsterdam Muiderpoort station, which has trains back to Centraal and is also the end of tram 14.

Brouwerij ’t IJ to Bar Joost (about 1.2 km) is the longest leg. Head east along the Zeeburgerdijk, then turn into the Indische Buurt. Bar Joost to Poesiat & Kater (about 1.1 km) crosses the railway at Muiderpoort station.

Gollem aan het Water sits beside Artis zoo, so you can easily add a morning at Artis before the crawl.

Optional extra: Café Struis (Zeeburgerstraat 1) is Brouwerij ’t IJ's second tasting room, a couple of minutes from the windmill. Its hours weren't checked for this guide.

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