De Blauwe Parade is Amsterdam's best kept secret. A traditional Amsterdam bar with a fascinating history dating back to September 5, 1870, when the Hulscher brothers opened their Die Port van Cleve pub, now a hotel, in the building and bottled and sold Heineken beer as well as wine, port, sherry and cognac. Today, the bar still serves local beers - including Heineken - jenever and local spirits in combination with tasty traditional Dutch snacks. The bar also offers jenever tastings.
De Blauwe Parade History
On September 5th, 1870 the brewery 'Die Port van Cleve' was officially opened and from the first moment it was a great success among the population. In this brewery only beer produced in the brewery 'De Hooiberg' was served, which had an excellent quality. A location as large as Die Port van Cleve was a completely new concept in Amsterdam.
The same year a restaurant was added to Die Port van Cleve. The two famous steaks made their appearance and partly surpassed the fame of the 'Hooiberg' beer. Eventually the 'Hooiberg' brewery was moved to Amsterdam's 'Buitensingel', now known as 'Stadhouderskade', where the current 'Heineken' brewery was built. With the filling of the canals making transportation impossible, the relocation of the brewery became necessary. The bottling of 'Hooiberg' beer still took place in Die Port van Cleve, in the hands of the Hulscher Borthers. From here it was shipped throughout the country and even abroad.
In January 1879 great celebrations were planned for the arrival of King William and his bride, Queen Emma. The Hulscher brothers designed a large project for this occasion. Although the celebration was cancelled, they proceeded with the project. In the first week of February "Die Port van Cleve" was electrically illuminated every night. People in those days had already heard a lot about electric lighting, but had never seen it. Therefore this project attracted a large amount of people from everywhere and from then on 'Die Port van Cleve' was literally assaulted by people wanting to drink a beer and bite under the bright electric flashes.
In the meantime not much has changed in De Blauwe Parade and almost everything is still in its original condition. Since the beginning we have served Heineken beer on tap and the traditional jenever has always had a prominent place in De Blauwe Parade. This seems logical, since the first malt wine made from corn was made in Amsterdam. De Blauwe Parade serves 'Van Wees' jenever. still produced today according to old family recipes. Also, the famous numbered steak has never disappeared from the menu and has still been served at De Blauwe Parade since 1870.