Old school beer in an old school pub
After tipping back the first glass of beer of the night, a Heineken by default, I was curious to try what the local beer-drinkers drink. “That would be the Palm,” the bartender at In’t Aepjen said. He’s a burly guy with a mustache-lambchops combo you don’t often come across.
He pours it, not paying much attention. I’m not either, tilting my head up the wooden walls. Everything seems like it’s been here for years, decades, a century maybe. How long? I have no idea. But the unlabeled bottles are coated in dust and the golden light that floats down feels like cinema. Like an old western, like when a candle is brought down a spiral staircase to read, or drink by.
We’re in the oldest wooden building in Amsterdam drinking Palm Royale. Of course this beer tastes amazing. 7.5% ABV and a bitter and fruity fullness. Palm Royale is a great beer to savor over conversation or just letting your eyes explore a bit. Here, there are monkeys on bikes, dolls missing eyes, clowns. All sorts of creepy things that seem to fit right in.
...In Retrospect 