Brouwerij Het Ij – craft brewery in Amsterdam

by BestBarsIn · February 19, 2018

The founder, Kasper Peterson, used to brew at home and share his accomplishments with his fellow squatters. Being a musician and touring as part of the Drukwerk band in the southern Dutch border he fell in love with Belgian style beers and decided that he ought to introduce Amsterdam crowd to it.

Before 1980 many houses in Amsterdam did not have hot water and bathhouses were quite popular. But with the infrastructure improvements and raising level of life for the Amsterdamers, the old tradition for public bathhouses vanished leaving behind abandoned buildings. One of them got spotted by Kasper and purchased from the municipality of Amsterdam in 1985 for only one guilder. The building had everything required for brewing, water supply, drainage system, interior covered with tiles which are easy to clean.

The name of the brewery is coming from the river Ij in Amsterdam. "Amstel" was already taken so Kasper decided to call dibs on the other most popular water resource. It was an old Amsterdam tradition to use birds in logos, and master brewer wanted to continue the tradition and picked an ostrich, standing in the middle of the desert, feeling thirsty but keeping its' head high up (what became a slogan for the company - "live with the head up high"). And the Dutch word "Ij" sounds very similar to "ei" what means "egg" in English. This is where the egg is coming from in the logo as well.

Kasper started his line of beers with Zatte beer. It is a triple beer - a stronger blond beer, crafted in Belgian traditions. It is a fantastic full bodied beer which was the most popular until late 2016 when IjWit took over the leadership.

Today Brouwerij Het Ij produces six beers that are always available and several times a year they brew something new and experimental, collaborating with leading restaurants in Amsterdam and trying different intriguing flavours.

The most popular I.P.A. in Amsterdam was brewed by brewery new owners, Bart Obertop and Patrick Hendrikse, who bought the brewery from Kasper around ten years ago. Travelling a lot around the world they became big fans of Indian Pale Ale they tried in the US and were confident that this is a kind of beer they want to start their brewing journey with. Since it was their first beer baby, they wanted it to be distinguished and rock-n-roll style, so a hot tattooed girl was a no brainer and new provocative label works so well attracting more and more beer fans.

Today Brouweruj Het Ij, "the one with the windmill" as it is commonly known in the crowd, is one of the most popular craft beer breweries in Amsterdam. It offers lots of delicious and fresh beers on tap at its' tasting room at the brewery. Its' beers are being served in many bars all around the country and beyond and could be also bought in the majority of the supermarkets in the Netherlands. If you love craft beer it is a must-visit brewery. If you cannot choose the beer, to begin with, there is an option to get a beer tasting flight of five beers of your choice.

And if you really love craft beers do check out our list of craft breweries in Amsterdam.