A Trip Down Booze Lane, A Classy One At That!

house of bols

Cocktail lounges for long have been hip, haute and happening places where the swish set usually hang around. Taking the Coctail lounge concept to stratospheric heights is the super-bling, House of Bols Cocktail and Genever Experience, at Amsterdam. This, fast becoming tourist attraction, is actually a cocktail bar/ museum unlike any other in the whole wide world and coming from the world’s oldest spirit maker, Lucas Bols, expect it to be one contemporary yet a character filled place. To give you a perspective of how old the Lucas Bols company really is, how about an ancient 1575 when it all began. Coming to the BCGE itself, everything about this place is bling, sensory and awe inspiring. Right from it’s design which has won the prestigious Dutch design award for the best exhibition and experience award, this place reeks of pizzas. To get a full blown experience of this place, you can take a self-guided tour into its rich innards. The biggest head turner there is the Diamond Cocktail Shaker. This unique Boston Shaker is made up of silver and 18 carat gold, inlaid with no less than 480 brilliant-cut diamonds, with a total weight of 19.05 carats.

First, you head to the Delfts blue miniature house collecton of Lucas Bols which are filled with the liquors from Lucas Bol’s flagship brands. This place is filled with hand painted tiles which give it an extra exclusive ambience. After this you move on to a complete visual and auditory assault of the senses with a video room where electro-trance ups the tempo with an exhilarting sound and video show to leave you breathless. Touching and feeling, pun definitely not intended, is very in, where you can actually touch and feel the exotic ingredients that go into the finest Bols’ liquor.

After this, your olfactory glands go to a compete overdrive as they are aroused with aroma after aroma of strawberry to coffee to even peach. But what is a cocktail bar all about without clinking the glasses. Walk into the spectacular Mirror bar and have your very own, favorite cocktail after sampling a whole range of Lucas Bols. And if you get completely besooted by the place and don’t feel like leaving too soon, why don’t you take a course at the Bols bartending academy. Now, where is my cocktail?