There are few places in the city where you can get this far away without having to cross the ring road. Distillery ’t Nieuwe Diep sits in a former steam pumping station from 1880, tucked away in East Flevopark. The building, once part of the Oetewater Polder, was restored by Stadsherstel Amsterdam in 2009 and opened a year later as a working distillery. Since then, malt wine and esprits have been distilled here in an artisanal manner, the basis for an assortment of around one hundred of the company's own beverages.
That range is wide. Young gin, old gin, strawberry gin and apple gin are at the base. But the distillery also makes esprits, eau de vie, bitters, vodka and what they themselves call ‘Fruit20%. The names of the liqueurs deserve special mention: ’Bruidstranen‘, ’Kraamanijs‘ and ’Volmaakt Geluk‘ are not marketing inventions but rooted in Dutch drinking tradition. All of these products are made right where you taste them. That's not as common as it sounds.
The tasting room is called the Pumping Station, which makes sense because it is simply the pumping station. The space has the atmosphere of a place that is not set up to stand out, but stands out nonetheless. High walls, industrial character, the boiler plant in the background. And when the season permits, there is a terrace outside overlooking the wooded pond of Flevopark. During the restoration, Stadsherstel ensured that the building's authentic character remained intact, and it shows.
A hundred proprietary drinks, an 1880s pumping station, and hardly anyone knows about it.
Flevopark is easily accessible by bike from the Indische Buurt or Zeeburg neighborhoods. The tasting room is open Tuesday through Friday from 3 to 8 p.m. and on weekends from 1 to 8 p.m., at least in spring and summer. A quiet weekday afternoon there is surprisingly quiet for a place with such an assortment. That may be East's best-kept secret: a hundred of its own drinks, an 1880s pumping station and hardly anyone knowing about it.