Hotel cocktail bar
Twenty Third Bar at Hotel Okura sits next to Ciel Bleu on the top floor, the Amsterdam cocktail bar with the city's most generous view across the city.
Signature drink: Japanese-inflected cocktails with city view
Food: Bar snacks, oysters
Tasting house
Wynand Fockink on Pijlsteeg has poured Amsterdam jenever since 1679, the proeflokaal where you bend over the tulip glass without lifting it from the bar.
Signature drink: Jenever flights, traditional Dutch liqueurs
Food: No food
Brown cafe
Café Chris on Bloemstraat in the Jordaan has poured Amsterdam beer since 1624, claimant to the city's oldest brown cafe title, the room small enough to know.
Signature drink: Pilsner, jenever, no music
Food: Bar snacks
Cocktail bar
Rosalia's Menagerie at Conservatorium Hotel is the Amsterdam high-end cocktail bar pulled from old Havana, aged-rum lineup and a tropical-leaning seasonal menu.
Signature drink: Aged-rum cocktails, riffs on the daiquiri
Food: Bar snacks
Cocktail bar
Tales and Spirits on Lijnbaanssteeg is the Amsterdam cocktail boudoir of the old guard, antique cabinets, chandeliers, drinks served in vintage glassware.
Signature drink: Vintage-glass cocktails with house infusions
Food: Snacks and bar plates
Speakeasy cocktail bar
Door 74 on Reguliersdwarsstraat is the Amsterdam speakeasy that opened the city's cocktail wave, by reservation only, behind an unmarked door, art-deco-trimmed.
Signature drink: Pre-prohibition classics, seasonal menu
Food: No food