GRUTTERSWINKEL MUSEUM

This is a museum, or rather two museums, as we like them, which plunges us directly into the deep history of the city and the province. The first part is located in a renovated mansion dating back to 1760, a grocery store that has remained intact and is therefore out of time. It is pleasant to walk through the different charming rooms and to discover the Frisian culinary specialties such as some cakes, sweets and cookies. But the discovery does not stop there, because the grocery store communicates with another building housing the second museum, that of the Boomsma distillery! This very famous company was founded in 1883. The range of products is divided into two categories. First of all the typical Dutch products with different genevas, and then cognacs and whiskies. The speciality of the place is the beerenburger, a bitter with aromatic herbs. The museum takes you inside a distillery from the 1930s, where you can admire and smell the different herbs used to make the products. A film presents the history of the company, and old glasses and bottles transport you and make you thirsty. The rest (often) continues with a tasting in the charming, very brown café space behind the museum. The establishment is recognized as a public utility and that's good news. The advice is sound: beware, if you visit the Oldehove Tower afterwards, it will seem even more lean and you won't be dreaming!