Cocktail bar

Cocktail bars are where Amsterdam’s drinking scene has changed most in the past 15 years. The city kept its brown-café tradition intact but built a second layer on top: speakeasies behind unmarked doors, hotel bars with serious cocktail programmes, and neighbourhood spots running house-made shrubs, infusions and genever-based menus that nod to the city’s distilling history. This archive collects them all — Door 74 on Reguliersdwarsstraat (the original reservation-only spot, opened 2008), Tales & Spirits on Lijnbaanssteeg, Rosalia’s Menagerie at the Pulitzer hotel, the W Hotel’s The Duchess and Mr Porter, Dutch Courage on Rozengracht, Bar Basquiat in De Pijp, and Freddy’s Bar at the Hotel de l’Europe. Each listing covers reservation policy, signature drinks, and dress-code expectations.