Amsterdam · Seven Bars · One Perfect Ritual

A Dutch Take on a Florentine Classic.

In a city that gave the world jenever, the Negroni finds its most interesting second home. Bitter, boozy, botanical — rebuilt with three centuries of Dutch spirit.

Explore the Bars The Dutch Story

The Dutch Distinction

Where gin was born, the Negroni grows up.

Long before London got its dry gin, the village of Schiedam was distilling jenever — a malty, pot-stilled spirit flavoured with juniper. The Nolet family has been at it since 1691. Lucas Bols, in Amsterdam, has been at it since 1575.

Amsterdam bartenders know what a Tuscan count took generations to discover: that the Negroni is really an argument between a bitter and a botanical. Swap London dry for small-batch jenever and the drink deepens — maltier, more grain-forward, with a centuries-old soul. Swap Campari for a Dutch aperitivo and the balance shifts again. This is the city where that conversation happens nightly.

1691 Nolet Distillery founded in Schiedam
1575 Lucas Bols begins in Amsterdam
1919 Count Negroni walks into Caffè Casoni
Negroni with orange peel
"Jenever is gin's older, wiser brother. Put it in a Negroni and you're drinking three centuries at once."
— Amsterdam bar folklore

The Directory

Seven bars. Seven expressions.

Each one verified, each one extraordinary. From 17th-century townhouses to Japanese-Dutch hotel fusion — where to drink the best Negroni in Amsterdam tonight.

01
Bar Brasserie OCCO atmosphere Canal Belt · The Dylan

The jenever negroni, perfected

Bar Brasserie OCCO

Inside The Dylan Amsterdam — a converted 17th-century theatre hidden on the Keizersgracht — OCCO built what might be Amsterdam's defining Dutch Negroni: the Matured Negroni. Boompjes Jonge Jenever stands in for gin. Carpano Antica Formula takes the vermouth role. The whole trinity is aged in an oak barrel until the edges soften and the spirit rounds out like a lost Campari cousin.

Signature

Matured Negroni

Boompjes Jonge Jenever · Carpano Antica Formula · Campari · barrel-aged

Address
Keizersgracht 384, 1016 GB
District
Grachtengordel (Nine Streets)
Dutch Touch
Jenever-based negroni, oak-aged
Website Directions The Story
02
Bar Mokum speakeasy atmosphere De Pijp · Speakeasy

The Amsterdam gin negroni

Bar Mokum

Down a staircase below a Moak Pancakes outpost on Ferdinand Bolstraat, Bar Mokum hides its seriousness behind a curtain. Inside: low velvet, warm light, and the Tortelduiffie — a negroni-style built around Damrak Amsterdam Gin, red vermouth, cherry, and Galliano L'Aperitivo. Bitter, fruit-forward, unmistakably Dutch. One of the city's most-awarded hospitality rooms.

Signature

Tortelduiffie €15

Damrak Amsterdam Gin · red vermouth · cherry · Galliano L'Aperitivo

Address
Ferdinand Bolstraat 11, 1072 LA
Hours
Sun–Thu 17:00–00:30 · Fri–Sat 17:00–02:00
Dutch Touch
Damrak gin, distilled in Schiedam
Website Instagram Directions
03
Flying Dutchmen Cocktails bar Singel · National Monument

The most-stocked back bar in the Netherlands

Flying Dutchmen Cocktails

Built inside the Odeon — a Dutch national monument on the Singel — and run by industry legends Tess Posthumus and Timo Janse. The back bar holds roughly 800 spirits, reportedly the deepest inventory in the country. This is where you ask for a Negroni three ways and get three masterclasses in ratio, temperature, and garnish. Open every night until 4am.

Signature

Classic Negroni, any way you want it

Built to your preference across 800 spirits · ask for the Dutch flight

Address
Singel 460, 1017 AW (Odeon)
Hours
Daily 17:00–04:00
Dutch Touch
Deepest jenever & Dutch gin library in NL
Website Instagram Directions
04
Dutch Courage jenever bar Zeedijk · Jenever Temple

One hundred and fifty jenevers

Dutch Courage

The sister bar to Flying Dutchmen — and the city's most unapologetically patriotic cocktail room. One hundred and fifty jenevers from the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany line the shelves. The bar also houses the world's first kopstootje vending machine: three jenevers served with a cold beer chaser, the traditional Dutch "headbutt." The Negronis here are built on jenever by default.

Signature

Jenever Negroni, your choice of base

Pick from 150+ Dutch, Flemish & Franco-German jenevers

Address
Zeedijk 12, Amsterdam
Hours
Daily until 01:00 · Weekends until 03:00
Dutch Touch
Literally built around Dutch spirits
Website Instagram Directions
05
Tales & Spirits vintage glassware Centrum · Storytellers

Cocktails in vintage glass, with a narrative

Tales & Spirits

Tucked into the tiny Lijnbaanssteeg alley between Singel and Spui, Tales & Spirits has been doing one thing brilliantly since 2012: serving cocktails in antique, hand-sourced glassware, each with a story. The Negroni menu rotates, but expect unusual vermouths, amaro substitutions, and the occasional use of oude jenever in place of gin for something darker and richer.

Signature

The storyteller's Negroni

Rotating build · unusual vermouths · served in antique crystal

Address
Lijnbaanssteeg 5–7, 1012 TE
Phone
+31 655 356 467
Dutch Touch
Oude jenever negroni variations on request
Website Instagram Directions
06
Super Lyan modern cocktail bar Nieuwezijds · 17th-century Townhouse

Mr Lyan's Dutch outpost

Super Lyan

Set inside a 17th-century Dutch canal house on Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal — the first international venue from Ryan Chetiyawardana's Mr Lyan group, the minds behind Seed Library. Their house Lyan Negroni is a savoury, bitter, boozy reinterpretation: Bombay Sapphire, Martini Bitter, vermouth, finished with an olive and celery-leaf garnish. One of the most precise Negronis in Europe, in one of Amsterdam's oldest rooms.

Signature

Lyan Negroni €17

Bombay Sapphire · Martini Bitter · vermouth · olive & celery leaf

Address
Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 3, 1012 RC
Hours
Wed & Sun 17:00–00:00 · Thu–Sat 17:00–01:00
Dutch Touch
Served inside a Golden-Age canal house
Website Instagram Directions
07
Taiko Bar at Conservatorium Hotel Museum Quarter · Conservatorium Hotel

Negroni, reimagined in Japanese-Dutch

Taiko Bar

Inside the Mandarin Oriental Conservatorium — a cathedral-scale atrium, glass on all sides — Taiko runs a cocktail programme that swaps the Italian palette for an East Asian one. The signature Taiko Negroni uses coconut-washed gin, lemongrass-infused Campari and plum sake. It's not a classic. It's better than most classics.

Signature

Taiko Negroni

Coconut-washed gin · lemongrass Campari · plum sake

Address
Van Baerlestraat 27, 1071 AN
Phone
+31 (0)20 570 0000
Dutch Touch
Served in the Conservatorium's glass-roofed Brasserie
Website Directions The Hotel
Negroni close up

Make it at home

The Negroni, à la Hollandaise.

The classic recipe, built to honour the spirits made 30 minutes down the road.

The Classic

  1. 30mlLondon Dry gin
  2. 30mlCampari
  3. 30mlSweet red vermouth

Stir over ice for twenty seconds. Strain over a single large cube in a rocks glass. Express an orange peel over the surface, then drop it in.

The Dutch Version

The Jenever Negroni

  1. 30mlJonge jenever (Boompjes, Bols, or Nolet)
  2. 30mlCampari
  3. 30mlCarpano Antica Formula

Same method. The malt-wine base of jenever adds a grainy, almost bread-like depth that softens Campari's bitterness. For the OCCO treatment, age the finished mixture in oak for two weeks before serving.

Dutch Gins Worth Knowing

Bols GeneverAmsterdam, since 1575. The malt-wine benchmark.
Nolet's Silver DrySchiedam family distillery since 1691.
Damrak AmsterdamModern, citrus-forward city gin.
Boompjes Jonge JeneverThe OCCO Matured Negroni base.