Grote Markt — Where the Guild Got Its Rights

Around 1550: roughly 100 breweries inside the city walls — one per 50 inhabitants. Beer excise funded a huge share of Haarlem's city budget throughout the 16th…

Warmoesstraat — The Quiet Hop Revolution

Before hops, beer used 'gruit' — a regulated mix of bog myrtle, yarrow and other herbs. Hop beer arrived from Hamburg and Bremen in the 14th century. It kept f…

Jopenkerk — Beer in the Jacobskerk

The building is the former Jacobskerk (15th century), deconsecrated and converted in 2010. Jopen Koyt is brewed to the Brouwerskeur of 1407 — a gruit beer usin…

Brouwersvaart — The Water That Built the Brand

Waterschuiten: dedicated flat-bottomed barges that ran along the Brouwersvaart to every brewery yard. Soft dune water made for cleaner, clearer beer — a huge e…

Uiltje Bar — Haarlem's Craft-Beer Counterattack

Uiltje = 'little owl' — the brewery was crowdfunded in 2015; the bar opened the same year on Zijlstraat 18. 30 craft beers on tap (rotating) plus 120+ bottles…

Janskerk — Brothers of the Order of St. John

Janskerk belonged to the Jansheren — Haarlem commandery of the Order of St. John (a crusader order). In a medieval hospital, boiled wort was much safer than un…