To say that Amsterdam offers a smorgasbord of experiences would be selling it short. Where else in the world would you be able to legitimately sit in a café and smoke a joint before paying a visit to the Van Gogh museum and then round it all off by hitting a strip joint on your way home. Could any other country marry such diverse experiences so seamlessly without the threat of a night in the cells? If it exists let me know, I’ll be on the next plane.

Guide books will have visitors primed to visit the Anne Frank Museum, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, and for a real education, the Sex Museum. But off the radar slightly is the House of Bols. Billed as a genever museum, it’s so much more than that – It’s an experience.

House of Bols is dedicated to all things genever. Not gin, genever. So, what is the difference? In short, genever was there first, and the gin that we know today evolved from it. The Bols family was the first to mass-produce genever from its distillery in Amsterdam. Having set up shop in 1575, it’s now the world’s oldest distilled spirit brand.

The brand’s history is just one of the things you will learn about during the House of Bols tour. The most exciting part is when the museum takes control of your senses and toys with them with the sole aim to confuse. Tasting strips are administered while you stare intently at an opposing image on the screen, all to test how sensitive your taste buds are. The same can be said for tasting one thing whilst smelling another all in the name of establishing how in-tune you are with your own senses.

The museum takes control of your senses and toys with them with the sole aim to confuse

Bols has 36 different liqueurs and genevers, which you’ll become pretty acquainted with by the time you have smelled them and guessed – rightly or wrongly – what flavours they are. Based on your favourites, you can then pick a cocktail, shaken by the House of Bols’ expert bartenders. If you’re more of a fan of hard liquor, pay close attention to your favourite smells in the senses chamber; you get to choose two different shots to enjoy. There’s chocolate, violet, lychee and everything in between. There’s even plain old genever.

There’s no shortage of ways to spend your time in Amsterdam; no shortage of bars to drink in and certainly no shortage of culture. What we loved the most about our trip wasn’t the discovery of bitterballen or stroopwaffles, but the acquaintance we made with the House of Bols. It’s a shame we don’t live closer, as we would surely have become best of friends.

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