The claim
Squeezed behind the Nieuwe Kerk, this tiny jenever tasting room has no seats worth mentioning: drinkers stand at the counter and bow to sip brimming tulip glasses. Barrels line the walls, some with regulars' private casks. Archival research traced a drinking house on the spot to 1618, making it the strongest candidate for Amsterdam's oldest bar.
What the records show
The city historian Maarten Hell, whose book on the Amsterdam herberg covers 1450 to 1800, went through the archives for Amsterdam750 and found a drinking house on this spot already in 1618, under the name Het Sufflet — older than the 1650 the proeflokaal claims, and the reason this row is graded A. Hell also notes why earlier evidence is thin everywhere in the city: tap licences were only kept systematically from 1742. The 1618 is his finding and nobody else's. Amsterdam op de kaart, the second publisher here, has the tavern De Drie Fleschjes opening in this street in 1650 and says it was probably where the tasting room still is, at number 18, calling that proeflokaal the oldest in Amsterdam; it dates the rebuilding of the distillery to 1887-88, by the architects Van Rossem & Vuyk for J. H. G. Bootz, and quotes the Algemeen Handelsblad on the new iron-galleried interior. An eighteenth-century gable stone of three bottles survives on the front. The name De Drie Fleschjes appears only after 1782, and the front is lettered ANNO 1619.
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1650 | Claimed founding | The pub |
| c.1888 | Present building | https://amsterdamopdekaart.nl/1850-1940/Gravenstraat/De_Drie_Fleschjes |
| 1618 | First record of a drinking house here | amsterdam750.nl |
What to look for inside
- Drinking house on the site recorded in 1618
- Named De Drie Fleschjes after 1782
- Private casks kept for regulars
- Traditional standing-room proeflokaal
Visiting
De Drie Fleschjes is in Amsterdam, Netherlands, at Gravenstraat 18, Amsterdam. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- amsterdam750.nl/verhaal/wat-is-de-oudste-kroeg-van-amsterdam/
- www.dedriefleschjes.nl
- amsterdamopdekaart.nl/1850-1940/Gravenstraat/De_Drie_Fleschjes
- api.data.amsterdam.nl/v1/horeca/exploitatievergunning/?adres%5Blike%5D=Gravenstraat%2018*&_format=json
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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