Amsterdam, Diamond Museum and House of Bols

For first-timers to Amsterdam, the Van Gogh museum, Anne Franks House and a canal cruise are all must-sees. But once you've tipped- toed through the tulips and enjoyed the coffee houses, its good to know that Amsterdam also has other intriguing highlights.

My last trip was a one day stop-over while cruising on the Carnival Splendor cruise ship. As time was short, I visited just two attractions, conveniently located next door to each other, and close to the Van Gogh and Rijks museum, before enjoying some cafe culture in the nearby vibrant Leidesplein square: the Diamond Museum and the Bols Museum.

Amsterdam has a compelling story around its diamond industry and the Coster Diamond Museum tells it well during a highly polished tour. A film sets the historical scene from explaining the cosmic and volcanic nature of diamonds right through to the birth of the bouyant diamond industry in Amsterdam and the everlasting slogan coined by de Beers - A Diamond is Forever.

On show are replicas of the most famous diamonds as worn by royalty around the world. The Koh-i-nor and the Taylor-Burton diamond are enough to make anyone salivate. At the working factory watching the veteran diamond cuttiers at work can be hypnotising, and the final stop is, of course at the shop. I tried on a solitaire, a snip at just 29,999 euros. The sales person, quick to spot that the band was a little loose, quipped 'we can get that resized for you inside 10 minutes', just long enough for me to make my exit.

So for chilled out, more affordable fun, I nipped next door to the neatly put together Bols museum. Bols is an alcoholic liqueur made from genever, from which gin is a derivative. Anyone who has flown business class on KLM will have received a little Delft Blue house (there are 88 in the collection, based on famous buildings and monument in the Netherlands, with a new design released each year). These are filled with Bols young genever and are collector pieces. The entire 88-strong collection can be viewed here.

This museum gives life to the 200 year old history of this flexible friend of the cocktail world and as you tour the museum you effectively go through an intensive taste and smell refining course

On its own Bols is more flavoursome than vodka and is a superb base for cocktails. An entire room is dedicated to 'Taste'. It's interactive and you can experiment with how sight affects what you think you are tasting.

You also get to smell 36 different flavours and enjoy a highly enjoyable guessing game. After sniffing 36 aromatically infused puffs of air, I have to admit to a certain light-headedness, and enjoyed the mini disco in the next room. Later, I got a sober lesson into the source of genever drink and learned that the shape of the bottles have been specially designed for bartender antics.

The highlight was watching Anthony Pullen - a talented bartender - rolling glasses over his arms and shoulders, twirling juggled bottles and cocktail shakers high into the air, spinning and catching them effortlessly. Anthony confessed to practising up to 8 hours a day to get the moves spot-on and has travelled the world with his routine. Bartender wannabees can join his academy and learn the tricks of this fun trade.

You get a lot of bang for your buck here, as not only do you get a full size cocktail - mine was a fruity strawberry number called Vanilla-Berry Crush, created as I watched - you also get to taste as many of the other flavoured genevers as you like. And of course I did. The mango and lime flavours at least, were highly concentrated and gorgeous drizzled over vanilla icecream.

By now I was more than a little heady and so happy to take a trip into a mini studio for a 30 second course in bartendending. I learned some basic juggling, created a video and was able to email this back to myself.

That's the spirit!


Coster Diamonds B.V.
Paulus Potterstraat 2-8
1071 CZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Telephone:0031 (0)20 305 55 55
www.costerdiamonds.com

House of Bols
Paulus Potterstraat 14
1071 CZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Tel: 00 31 (0)20 570 85 75
www.houseofbols.com

Open Monday to Sunday 12pm-6pm (closed Tuesdays)

One ticket gives entry to both: To enter the Bols Museum (minum age 18) or Diamond Museum you pay 10 euros per person.

However visitors to the Diamond museum could buy an dual entry ticket for 11.50 euros which gives entry to both museums and you still get the full size cocktail and a taste of several others at Bols

Public transport for both museums
Trams 2 and 5, Hobbemastraat stop

Vanilla-Berry Crush Recipe

3/4 shot Bols Jonge Jenever
1/2 shot Bols Strawberry
1 small dash Bols Vanilla
3 lemon wedges
3 strawberries (green tops removed)
1 tablespoonful raw sugar

Muddle (crush) the strawberries, lemon and sugar in a toughened shortdrink glass, fill the glass with crushed ice, our in the Bols Jonge Jenever, Bols Strawberry and Bols Vanilla, stir and churn the drink to mix it, then top up with more crushed ice.

fMore cocktails www.bolscocktails.com

17 July 2008