Drinks
All drink brands listed, with the percentage, flavor, types, tastiest cocktails and the glass that goes with each brand. If you first want to know what a drink actually is, start with the type pages.
Which drink, which glass?
We sell glasses, not drinks. But the question we get most often is which glass goes with which bottle: should an Old Fashioned be served in a tumbler or a highball glass, and why do you fill jenever all the way to the brim? That is why we have created a separate page for each of the best-known brands.
On every brand page you will find the alcohol percentage, an honest flavor profile, the difference between the types, three ways to serve the drink, the cocktails in which it comes into its own best and the glass we recommend with it. If you prefer to search by drink type rather than brand, the type pages below start at the beginning: what it is, how it is made and which brands belong to it.
In brief
Search by type instead of brand
Still not sure which brand you are looking for? These pages explain for each type of drink what it is, how it is made, how to drink it and which brands belong to it.
Whisky
From a smooth Irish whiskey to an Islay malt that tastes of peat smoke and seaweed: whisky is the broadest category on the shelf.
Gin
From London Dry to cucumber and pink: in twenty years, gin has gone from dusty to the busiest shelf.
Jenever
The oldest Dutch distilled spirit, and the drink gin evolved from.
Rum
From the clear bottle behind the Mojito to a dark rum you drink neat: rum comes from everywhere sugar cane grows.
Liqueur
From cream liqueur to coffee liqueur and from orange to herbal: liqueur is the broadest category on the entire shelf.
Vodka
The drink that emphatically must have no taste, and thereby ended up in half of all cocktails.
Tequila
Tequila was long the drink of the shot glass in the Netherlands, and that does the drink a disservice.
Cognac
Cognac is neither whisky nor liqueur: it is wine that has been distilled twice in a copper still and then aged for years in French oak.
Champagne
The sparkling wine that may only be called that if it comes from the Champagne region.
Wine
Wine is fermented grape juice, and its color comes not from the juice but from the skin.
White wine
Dry white wine has almost no sugar left, while sweet white wine does; the difference lies in how much sugar is converted into alcohol during fermentation.
Red wine
Red wine is made from dark-skinned grapes whose skins ferment with the juice: the juice itself is colorless; the skin provides the color and astringency.
Rosé wine
Rosé is simply wine made from dark-skinned grapes, with the skins fermenting briefly with the colorless juice.
Prosecco
Prosecco is the Italian sparkling wine made from the Glera grape, which gets its bubbles not in the bottle but in a sealed tank.
Cava
Like champagne, Cava undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle, but it comes from Spain and is considerably more affordable.
Crémant
Crémant is French sparkling wine from outside the Champagne region, made with exactly the same second fermentation in the bottle.
Cider
Fermented apple juice, made like wine but served like beer.
Vieux
The Dutch spirit that resembles cognac but is not cognac, and whose bottles are almost always exactly 35% ABV.
Aperitif
From an orange spritz on the terrace to vermouth neat over ice: an aperitif is light in alcohol and bitter or herbal in flavor, and it is meant to stimulate the appetite.
Shots
From licorice and salmiak to peppermint, cinnamon, and sour fruit: shots are the bottles and little bottles passed around at a party.
Herbal Bitter
The little glass served after a meal: dark, herbal, and bittersweet.
Bourbon
Vanilla, caramel, and toasted oak: bourbon owes its flavor to two rules that are stricter here than anywhere else.
Moscato
Moscato is white wine made from Muscat grapes, and it is indeed sweet, with peach, apricot, and honey.
Verdejo
Verdejo is the white grape of Rueda, the Spanish region along the Duero River, and produces dry wine with citrus, green apple and fennel.
Lambrusco
Lambrusco is lightly sparkling red wine from Italy's Emilia-Romagna, and yes, a sparkling wine can be red too.
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is dry because very little residual sugar remains in the wine after fermentation.
Sauvignon blanc
A Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand has the same juicy fruit as a French one, but is much more intense in flavor.
Merlot
Yes, merlot is red wine: it is a blue grape, and blue grapes make red wine.
Burgundy
Burgundy is a wine region in eastern France where the flavor is linked to the soil in which the grapes grow, down to the exact piece of land.
Valpolicella
Valpolicella is red wine from Veneto, and the name covers a whole spectrum: from light classico through fuller ripasso to amarone.
Rioja
Rioja is Spain's largest wine region, along the Ebro River, and what appears on the label is mainly about aging: crianza, reserva or gran reserva.
Brunello
Brunello di Montalcino is a red wine from Tuscany made from one hundred percent Sangiovese, the grape they call Brunello in Montalcino.
Limoncello
The yellow liqueur from southern Italy made solely from lemon peel, best served ice-cold straight from the freezer.
Japanese whisky
A Japanese man learned the craft in Scotland and took it home.
Beerenburg
The Frisian herbal bitter that was actually invented in Amsterdam.
Amaretto
The Italian liqueur that tastes of almond without necessarily containing any almond.
Ouzo
The Greek anise drink that turns milky white as soon as water is added.
Sambuca
The Italian anise liqueur served with three coffee beans that turns milky white when water is added.
Blue Curaçao
The bright blue liqueur that tastes of orange, from an island where the peels come from.
Whisky & bourbon
Scotch blends, Kentucky bourbon, Irish whiskey and Japanese malt.
Johnnie Walker
The world's best-selling Scotch whisky, with a color for every occasion.
Chivas Regal
The Scottish blend with the Strathisla heart, from 12 Years to 25.
Ballantine's
The Scottish blend with the coat of arms, from Finest to 10 Years.
The Famous Grouse
The Scottish blend with the black grouse, for decades Scotland's own best-selling whisky.
Glen Talloch
The Scottish blend that has been on shelves in the Netherlands for decades, with an unusually high proportion of malt.
Dimple
The Scottish blend in the three-sided bottle with the dimples, made by the Haig family.
Monkey Shoulder
The Speyside whisky with the three monkeys on the bottle, made for mixing.
Jack Daniel's
The world's best-known American whiskey, from a village where you are not allowed to buy it.
Jim Beam
The world's best-selling bourbon, made by the same Kentucky family for seven generations.
Jameson
The triple-distilled Irish whiskey from the green bottle, the world's best-selling.
Nikka
The whisky made by the Japanese man who learned the craft in Scotland and took it home with him.
Hibiki
The Japanese blend in the 24-faceted bottle, made from dozens of malt and grain whiskies.
Single malt
Speyside, the Highlands and the smoky malts of Islay and Skye.
The Macallan
The Speyside malt that made its name in sherry casks.
The Glenlivet
The whisky that defined the Speyside style: fruity, smooth and approachable.
Glenfiddich
The world's best-selling single malt, in the triangular bottle with the stag.
Aberlour
The Speyside malt that gets its character from sherry casks, with an over-60% cask-strength bottle as an outlier.
Aberfeldy
The Highland malt that revolves around honey and forms the heart of the Dewar's blend.
The Dalmore
The sherry-aged single malt with the twelve-pointed stag on the bottle.
Dalwhinnie
The smooth honeyed whisky from Scotland's highest distillery.
Laphroaig
The whisky of peat smoke, iodine, and sea air that you either love or hate.
Lagavulin
The heavily peated single malt from the south of Islay, with the smoke and iodine the region is known for.
Bowmore
The oldest distillery on Islay, with smoke that is softer than that of the south coast.
Talisker
The whisky from Skye, with a peppery finish unlike any other malt.
Rum
White, spiced, and dark, from Cuba and the Caribbean to Suriname and the Philippines.
Bacardi
The white rum from Cuba that has been the foundation of the Mojito and Daiquiri since 1862.
Havana Club
The rum from Cuba that makes the Mojito and Daiquiri come together perfectly.
Captain Morgan
The spiced rum with the captain on the bottle.
Don Papa
The sweet rum from the Philippines in the colorful bottle.
Diplomático
The Venezuelan rum often described as the best sipping rum in the world.
Bumbu
The rum in the heavy bottle with the string around the neck, full of vanilla and caramel.
Borgoe
The Surinamese rum that in the Netherlands is mainly served with Surinamese cuisine.
The Kraken
The pitch-black spiced rum in the bottle with two handles and a squid on the label.
Stroh
The Austrian après-ski rum, featuring the infamous Stroh 80.
Gin & vodka
The foundation of gin and tonic, the Martini, and virtually every clear cocktail.
Gordon's
The gin with the wild boar on the label, the standard for a London Dry for over 250 years.
Tanqueray
The green fire-hydrant-shaped bottle, and the gin most bartenders use to make their gin and tonic.
Hendrick's
The gin in the dark apothecary bottle that made cucumber in the gin and tonic glass popular.
Absolut Vodka
The Swedish vodka in the apothecary bottle, with a flavor for every cocktail.
Smirnoff
The world's best-selling vodka and the foundation of the Moscow Mule, Cosmopolitan, and Espresso Martini.
Grey Goose
The French vodka made from wheat from Picardy and spring water from the Cognac region.
Cîroc
The vodka made not from grain or potatoes, but from French grapes.
Zubrowka
The Polish vodka with the blade of grass in the bottle, made with hand-picked bison grass from the primeval forest of Białowieża.
Puschkin
The Berlin vodka with the colorful bottles that is served as an ice-cold shot at every party.
Esbjærg
The vodka with the Scandinavian name that is simply made in Leeuwarden.
Tequila & cognac
Agave from Jalisco and the great cognac houses of France.
Don Julio
The tequila in the short, wide bottle from the highlands of Jalisco.
Patrón
The handmade tequila from the hills of Jalisco, in the bottle with the cork and beeswax seal.
Clase Azul
The tequila recognizable by its blue-and-white ceramic bottle.
Casamigos
The tequila that George Clooney and Rande Gerber initially had made for themselves.
Hennessy
The world's best-known cognac house.
Rémy Martin
The cognac with the centaur on the bottle, from VSOP to Louis XIII.
Champagne
The great houses from Reims and Épernay, from the oldest house to the best-selling bottle.
Moët & Chandon
The world's largest champagne house, based in Épernay since 1743, and the bottle that appears at almost every party.
Veuve Clicquot
The house of the yellow label from Reims, which rose to prominence under a widow who took charge at the age of twenty-seven.
Dom Pérignon
The house that produces only vintage champagne, and only in years that are good enough.
Ruinart
The oldest champagne house in the world, founded on September 1, 1729, in Reims, with chardonnay as the golden thread running through the entire range.
Taittinger
The champagne house from Reims with 288 hectares of its own vineyards and cellars in ancient Gallo-Roman limestone quarries.
Liqueurs
Sweet, fruity, or spicy: the bottles that give a cocktail its flavor.
Cointreau
The French orange liqueur found in the Margarita, Cosmopolitan, and Sidecar.
Grand Marnier
The French liqueur made with cognac and bitter orange, in the bottle with the red ribbon.
Licor 43
The golden vanilla liqueur from Cartagena with 43 ingredients.
Disaronno
The world's most famous amaretto, from Saronno, Italy.
Villa Massa
The limoncello made with lemons from Sorrento, served ice-cold from the freezer or in a spritz.
Pallini
The limoncello from a Roman family, made with lemons from the Amalfi Coast.
Malibu
The white bottle with the palm tree that tastes like summer.
Passoã
The black bottle with the pink passion fruit liqueur, famous from the Pornstar Martini.
Safari
The bright orange passion fruit, mango, and papaya liqueur that you drink with orange juice or 7-Up.
Peachtree
The peach liqueur that made Sex on the Beach famous worldwide in the eighties.
Drambuie
Scotch whisky, heather honey, and herbs in one golden liqueur.
Berentzen
The green bottle with the apple that has been appearing at every party for decades.
Kleiner Feigling
The small square bottles with the fig logo that turn up at every student party.
Berliner Luft
The crystal-clear peppermint liqueur from East Berlin that is served ice-cold.
De Kuyper
The Schiedam family business behind the blue curaçao, orange bitters, and vieux found in virtually every Dutch bar.
Cream & coffee liqueurs
The cream and coffee bottles, for after dinner and in the Espresso Martini.
Baileys
The Irish cream liqueur made with whiskey, cream, and cocoa.
Kahlúa
The Mexican coffee liqueur behind the Espresso Martini and the White Russian.
Tia Maria
The coffee liqueur with vanilla and Jamaican rum that made the Espresso Martini a classic.
Sheridan's
The bottle with two chambers: coffee and chocolate on one side, vanilla cream on the other.
Amarula
The cream liqueur made from the marula fruit, with the elephant on the label.
Boswandeling
The yellow banana and coconut party liqueur that you drink ice-cold as a shot.
Cookie
The Dutch caramel liqueur conceived in a Nijmegen café and only good enough after twenty-five recipes.
Jenever & herbal bitters
Dutch, German, and Italian classics for drinks and after dinner.
Bols
The Amsterdam brand behind jenever, Corenwyn, Bols Blue, and dozens of liqueurs.
Ketel 1
The jenever made by the Nolet family in Schiedam, and the vodka that made it world-famous.
Bokma
The jenever in the square bottle that is round on the inside, and the brand that made grain jenever famous.
Hooghoudt
The Groningen family distillery behind the jenever, beerenburg, and vieux found on every table in the north.
Sonnema Berenburg
The Frisian herbal bitter drunk neat, with cola, or alongside a beer.
Jägermeister
The German herbal bitter made with 56 ingredients, drunk ice-cold.
Underberg
The 2 cl bottle wrapped in brown paper that appears after a heavy dinner.
Fernet-Branca
The bitterest bottle behind the bar, and precisely for that reason a cult drink among bartenders.
Schrobbelèr
The smooth herbal liqueur from Tilburg associated with carnival and the Tilburg fair.
Angostura
The little bottle with the oversized label found behind every bar.
Linie Aquavit
The Norwegian aquavit that crosses the equator twice in sherry casks before it goes into the bottle.
Aperitifs & vermouth
Light and bittersweet, for before a meal or on the terrace.
Aperol
The orange aperitif from Italy that heralds the summer.
Campari
The bright-red Italian bitter that gives the Negroni and the Americano their color and bite.
Martini
The Italian vermouth that gave its name to a cocktail.
Lillet
The French aperitif made from Bordeaux wine and citrus, famous for the Lillet Spritz.
Noilly Prat
The French dry vermouth that matures outdoors for a year in the sea air and gives the Dry Martini its backbone.
Shots & party drinks
Small, cold, and sweet: the little bottles passed around the table.
Flügel
The red little bottle that gets passed around at every party.
Kleiner Klopfer
The box full of small bottles that you tap on the table before drinking them.
Sourz
The brightly coloured sweet-and-sour liqueur that you drink ice-cold as a shot or mix with 7-Up.
Trojka
The brightly coloured vodka liqueur that you drink ice-cold as a shot or with Sprite in a long drink glass.
Fireball
The cinnamon whisky liqueur that tastes like hot cinnamon sweets.
Gold Strike
The cinnamon shot with real gold flakes and 50% alcohol.
Salmari
The pitch-black salmiak liqueur from Finland that you drink ice-cold as a shot.
Dropshot
The Dutch liquorice liqueur that you drink ice-cold as a shot.
Apenshot
The Brabant shot that brings banana and liquorice together.
Nozem Oil
The shot from the Achterhoek that became big at Zwarte Cross, with citrus and chilli pepper in the glass.
About drinks, glasses and storage
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