#39 | Door 74, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Last Visit: Winter 2023
Amsterdam impressed me on my last trip with its consistently above-average quality of bars, as can be seen from our previous articles on Pulitzer's and The Tailor Bar. Not once was I simply disappointed by what was on offer, thinking “I'm in the wrong place” or something similar, which has happened on a bar tour with 8–10 stops in virtually every other city so far. The city can pat itself on the back for that.
But what about the other direction? Has one really stood out for me? Not massively, which is of course difficult to measure if you only test 2–4 drinks on a single visit. But if I really had to commit myself or if I had to rely purely on my gut feeling when thinking "Which bar in Amsterdam would you most like to go back to right now", then the answer is Door 74.
Copyright: Door 74
The name already gives away a bit of what you're dealing with, just a door with a house number? You should probably memorize it ... Because otherwise, or in my case even with the information in the back of your mind, you'll walk right past. There was even a small queue of nice people who, when I asked, immediately told me I was in the right place and that it wasn't some strange Amsterdam underground club behind the inconspicuous black door.
But those same queue attendants already told me that I would probably have to wait a while with them, the bar is (still) one of the trendiest addresses in the city, especially later in the evening. But they didn't know about my secret weapon: in the previously visited Vesper Bar, it came out in entertaining conversations with the bartender that a friend of his - who works at Door 74 - had his last shift that day. When he heard that I was about to go over there, he gave me a special sample, a farewell drink mixed on the spot, and a little note explaining it, containing probably some nice farewell message.
So I simply rang the doorbell anyway, to the confusion of the others in the queue, probably thinking I didn't understand their English. When the door was opened and the “apology” regarding the waiting time began, I pulled out the bottle and the note, with a “But I've got a present” including a broad grin. A brief look of confusion followed, after one more sentence and a laugh from the waiter later, we went inside. What a satisfying moment at the last bar of the evening, especially as otherwise I would probably have skipped this highlight completely (with at least 45–60 minutes of waiting) after an exhausting day. Which would have been sacrilege, as it turned out.
Copyright: Door 74
Once inside, I was initially surprised. I don't know why, perhaps because of Amsterdam's often young and hip flair or the slightly worn façade outside, but I was expecting more of a slightly alternative, perhaps minimalist or even brutalist bar, think Le Syndicat in Paris or the Truffle Pig in Berlin. Instead, I was quite taken with the classic, wooden American bar atmosphere. Slightly smoky, slightly rustic, but classy-rustic, heritage-rustic. Impressive wood, beautifully dark ceilings, a reddish-brown bar, heavy leather and oh-my-god, those wooden ceiling fans (see below), what's going on here!?
It's always nice when you immediately feel at home in a bar, even on your first visit. I think it was the whole combination of things here: The relief of being allowed to come in at all with that queue, the very warm welcome despite the full bar and the thanks for delivering the small package, but especially the atmosphere on site. People were having fun, some were alone, a pleasant mix, the warm, dark wood and one of my favorite songs (Fort Minor - Remember The Name) wafted out of the (audibly really good) speakers, what could possibly go wrong? As a thank you, I even received a welcome drink, the exact composition is unknown to me. But I guessed something along the lines of Last Word, the answer was “Something like that, but with jenever in it”. I won't mention the drink further down, but it showed straight away that spontaneous cocktails would certainly work well here. It was herbal, malty, but with the ideal Last Word note in it, perfectly balanced.
Copyright: Door 74
The menu brings us back to what I mentioned in the Pulitzer's Bar article: Amsterdam itself plays the leading role, as it does in half of the 8 bars I visited on my trip. As I said in that article too: it's nice to be so proud and united with your city and home. Here too, the individual chapters were divided into meta topics, things that make up Amsterdam, the craft of engineering, important names in history, etc.
In general, the menu was nicely laid out, a bit old-school, with nice drawings on each page, including the drink glasses as is usual these days. I also always like the detailed list of the contents of individual drinks - including brands - as someone who likes to use my experience to make a precise assessment of what I am actually ordering. The range was solid, with around 15 signatures, plus of course various classic options and every 6 months a complete change of drinks. What struck me, although of course I can only estimate this based on my 3 drinks and my experience, was that almost all the drinks on the menu seemed to have at least one strong aromatic element, and the sours and long drinks also had intense elements in them, with only 1 or 2 exceptions. Whereas in other bars I am often a little disinterested with half of the drinks because of the easy, fruity or light floral flavors, without any real spark or counter aroma in the recipe, which are obviously all in one corner of the spectrum. Also, even with “only” 12-15 drinks, having 5 strong, stirred drinks in the program alone is unfortunately not something you see that often these days. So obviously I focused on those:
Peat & Pepper
| Bruichladdich Single Malt
| Empirical Ayuuk
| The Peat Monster Blended Malt
| Celery Bitters
| Cocchi Sweet Vermouth
| Shiso
So in my opinion, you can't get much closer to perfection when it comes to stirred, Manhattan-style signature drinks. My love for the cocktail was even more intense, because as a whisky lover, I am often a little more critical when it comes to using specific single malts in drinks. Absolutely not at all because I would consider it “not worthy”, quite the opposite. With my experience, I just expect all the more that the advantages of the complexity of malts are actually used and not just "some malty notes" or that they are obviously really the perfect building block for exactly that one drink and that is the case in less than half of them, if I had to estimate from memory. Here this was definitely the case. Then there's Empirical Spirits with their Ayuuk, which I've never seen in bars (ES sure, but not this bottling), which is an especially exciting product. The rare Pasilla Mixe Chili is macerated in a distillate made from Pilsner malt, purple wheat, Belgian seasonal yeast and then aged again in Oloroso barrels, quite the unique idea.
But finally to the result in the drink: a wonderfully intense nose with a dry, peppery focus that I have rarely experienced so actively spicy, plus malt and fine smoky notes. In the mouth, wonderfully malty and complex from the Bruichladdich, toasted oak, black pepper, rather fruity chili peppers and a hint of dried cherry from the Cocchi, then again vegetal complexity from the excellently selected celery bitters and the shiso maceration in the vermouth. A flavor monster that sounds harsher than it is, not even really boozy thanks to the vermouth, but simply extremely complex and intense.
O.D.L.A.
| Bulleit Bourbon
| Belsazar Rosé Vermouth
| Amer Picon
| Goji Berries
That got a bit out of hand with the first drink, so we'll keep it short here... So easy and yet so good, another Manhattan-style drink, after the first one it only made sense to continue on the path of success. The goji berries were included as a syrup and the drink was once again perfectly balanced, this time of course smoother and more elegant than the P&P above. Nevertheless - and this is exactly the art here at Door 74 - it was full of intense aromas, they got everything out of the Amer, as well as the vermouth, both came with herbs and dry-herbal complexity, as well as orange peel and a hint of dry florality. Rarely have I had such a flavorful drink with standard Bulleit Bourbon, which I'm sure was ultimately due to the wonderful goji syrup that made up 40-50% of the flavor and for good reason. Smooth and delicious, a typical candidate where you are surprised by how fast your glass is suddenly empty. It was served with a small piece of smooth, tasty hard cheese. A nice, simple pairing that went well with the sweeter berry notes.
Door 74 fell into the category of bars where you feel really sad for a short time because you have decided to go on an extensive bar tour and have to make the intelligent decision to leave and settle for the 2 (plus the thank-you-drink) cocktails for the sake of your mental and physical health. Although you would like to try a large part of the menu and see your assessment confirmed that a wonderful way has been found here to bring the drinks to an extremely high level of flavor concentration. Bear in mind that this was the 4th bar of the evening, so the taste buds were already a little duller, and yet it was here that I had the most intense aromatic experiences on my Amsterdam tour.
But it wasn't just the wonderful cocktails that made it a difficult decision for me, the extremely cool atmosphere, top music selection and the general flair of the bar and staff made it an all-round great experience with a permanent smile on my lips.
Door 74 was in the World's 50 a total of 4 times quite some years ago - the last time in 2015 (!) - and after many visits to other bars on the internationally recognized list, I ask myself: Why not again?
/rds
Teile des damaligen Menüs (anklicken für Originalgröße):
