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Amsterdam: Old Amsterdam Cheese Tasting & Wine Pairing

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/11

Duration55m

GroupUp to 26

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Taste Five Dutch Cheeses & Learn What Makes Them Work

You taste five award-winning Dutch cheeses paired with wine, learn how each one is made and aged, and get to handle the knife yourself. The 45-minute session is in a dedicated tasting room at the Old Amsterdam cheese shop in the city center, and you walk out knowing how to spot the difference between cheeses instead of just guessing.

55m

Step-by-step itinerary

Arrive at Old Amsterdam cheese shop
Learn about cheese making process
Taste five award-winning cheeses
Pair cheeses with selected wines
Discover cheese characteristics
Complete 45-minute tasting experience

The Experience

The tasting room is smaller than you'd expect — maybe twelve seats around a wooden counter — and the first thing that happens is the cheese shop owner hands you a small knife and says something in Dutch that you're pretty sure means "don't be shy." You're not entirely sure what you're supposed to do with it, so you watch the person next to you cut a thin slice and follow along. Turns out that's exactly how a cheese tasting in Amsterdam is supposed to start: a little uncertain, a little hands-on, and then suddenly you're holding a piece of Old Amsterdam cheese that tastes nothing like the orange block you buy at home.

The 45-minute tasting walks you through five different award-winning cheeses from 2024, and the owner — who clearly loves this job — explains what you're actually tasting: the age, the texture, how the milk matters, why one cheese crumbles and another one doesn't. Each cheese gets paired with a wine that's been chosen to either complement it or contrast with it, and you learn pretty quickly that pairing isn't magic, it's just knowing what flavors talk to each other. You'll taste the difference between a young cheese and an aged one, and by the third or fourth pairing, you start to notice things you didn't before — the nuttiness, the salt, the way the wine either softens or sharpens what's on your tongue.

It's not a long experience, but it's dense. The shop is in central Amsterdam, easy to reach by public transport, and the whole thing — tasting, learning, the small knife work — fits into less than an hour. You leave with cutlery included (they give you a small set to take home), a real understanding of what separates one Dutch cheese from another, and the kind of knowledge that actually sticks because you tasted it yourself instead of just hearing about it.

What’s included

The experience includes a 45-minute tasting of five award-winning Dutch cheeses, wine pairings selected to complement each cheese, cutlery to take home, and instruction on how cheese is made and how to distinguish between different varieties.

Good to know

Easy physical levelPets welcomePublic transport nearby

Operated by Old Amsterdam Cheese Store

Is this one for you?Right for travelers who want to understand Dutch cheese beyond a quick taste, or anyone with 45 minutes in central Amsterdam and a real interest in how food and wine work together. The session is hands-on and involves tasting, so come with an open palate and without a heavy meal beforehand.