Proeflokaal Wynand Fockink

The wonderfully named Wynand Fockink established his liqueur distillery in the Pijlsteeg around 1679. Back then it was usual for Dutch distilleries to have an adjoining 'tasting house' where the products from the distillery could be sampled and purchased. Sadly the distillery proper closed in 1955 but the Wynand Fockink tasting house remains almost unchanged from its seventeenth century heyday with a small distillery still operating a few doors away (now Lucas Bols) which makes all the spirits and liqueurs for sale by the glass in the bar and by the bottle next door.

The interior looks more like an ancient apothecary's shop than a pub with earthenware pots, lines of bottles and a sand covered wooden floor. A small serving hatch houses the beer fonts and in summer drinkers gather in the street outside.

Wynard Fockink's range of sixty odd liqueurs and brandy weins are all still served here in the traditional way. The glass is placed on the low wooden counter and filled to the brim. You bend over to take the first sip before lifting the glass to consume the rest of the liqueur. Try the sweet and sour 'Half & half' or the Pruimpje Prikin (prick in a prune), made from macerated plums.