J.D. William’s Whisky Bar

Great whiskey selection and they make a solid Manhattan. I just knocked off a star because they couldn’t make me a whiskey sour with an egg white supposedly for health regulation reasons (though I’ve had cocktails with egg whites before at, say, Bar Mystique). But if you aren’t egg white-​obsessed like I am, there’s no reason not to love this place.

I had bookmarked this place for a «date night» with my husband because he loves whiskey, and this place did not disappoint!
If you are a whiskey lover (or want to learn more), this is a great place. Their menu is a bit overwhelming because it is so extensive, but their staff is very well trained and I highly recommend that you ask them for a recommendation.
If you do not drink alcohol (like me), there is a great selection of appetizers. All of them were very delicious! Of note, this is a bar so though they have a dinner service, the portion sizes are on the small side.
Food: 3.5÷5
We had the following:
Bourbon Glazed Pork Ribs — these were tasty and finger licking good. Unfortunately Mystique is still the king of BBQ ribs.
Ahi Poke — this was my first time having a poke, and no I have no idea how to pronounce it. This is a raw tuna salad served with a rice ball, and it was very delicious. The tuna tasted fresh, and the rice ball had been grilled so there was a nice crunch element.
Sweet Potato Fries — tasty, the star was the wasabi mayonaise and I wish I could have taken a jar of it home.
Service: ⁴⁄₅
The staff know whiskey, so I would not hesitate to ask them all about it. I overheard one table who had never had whiskey before ask what the difference between bourbon and whiskey was, and the waiter launched into great detail about the history and characteristics of bourbon.
Atmosphere: ⁵⁄₅
This place is very hip, it feels like 1920s speakeasy to me. Combined with the backlit bar, it is a cool place to hang out.
Value: ³⁄₅
The drinks were reasonabily priced and there is something for every price range. The food was very refined and appropriately priced. I only wished there was an option to order a larger size (because I am always hungry).

I’m a big fan of this place. We made reservations for my husband’s birthday and everything from the start was great. I got a quick and friendly response regarding the reservations, we were greeted warmly and we LOVED our drinks. We ate dinner there as well and the food was dangerously delicious. We will definitely return! Have I mentioned how good the drinks are? Yummmmmmm.

World class bar. Daniel knows his stuff. Ask him to create a flight for you. It’ll be worth your while!

One word to describe the people here — uninterested.
They probably thought ‘oh no, another guy who wants to drink some whisky’ the moment I stepped in. I didn’t feel welcomed at all, not even a casual hello. Only after I sat down in a corner sofa did I have to stare someone in the eye to have them ask me if I was ready to order.
The interior is also bland and to the point to the extent that you’re probably better off buying a bottle of whatever drink you fancy and enjoying it at home. At least, better music.
The menu has something for everyone — beers, whiskeys, wines, and sodas. I went for a newer Indian whiskey by the name of Paul John. Really loved it!
I didn’t get a carafe of water, rather a pony glass of it that seemed to say to me — have this and leave as soon as you can.
And leave I did, but after enjoying my fine Indian whiskey.

Awesome bar & excellent drinks! If you’re a whiskey fan and like to hang out in stylish, fancy places with cool peeps, this is the place! Tell everyone & come on by!

Wow, what a find! Owner /​Operator Dan has put together something very special. Not only does he have a great whiskey selection (Scottish, American and more), the food is fantastic. I had the brussel sprouts as a starter and the salmon poke as my main. Both were excellent, but the poke was on a whole different level… best I’ve ever had. The crispy rice ball on the side with the wasabi purée truly made the dish next level. I’ll be back again and again, great find in my new home.

We were curious how the place turned out after the renovation.
As my best friend used to work at this place when it was still a restaurant, we knew the mess it used to be.
Boy, were we pleasantly surprised! The venue went from seedy and dirty to classy and upscale!
You can really notice that you are sitting in someone’s dream, the amount of effort that went into the renovation alone is epic. (it may not look all that interesting to you, but as I mentioned, we know what it looked like before…)
The owner (Dan) greeted us with a big smile (which is rare in Amsterdam, sadly) and asked if we’d like to eat or drink, Drink my good sir, at the bar please.
No problem. Now, I consider my self a «non-​hater of whiskey» but by far a connoisseur or enthusiast. I know my way around a cocktail and a single malt. I have tried almost every Old Fashioned on every menu that I have stumbled upon in my city and along my travels.
Dan knows how to make one! And you can tell he takes pride in making his drinks. He takes his time and measures it all just right. From the homemade syrups to the shake and strain, he knows what you need! The cocktails vary in price from € 12.50 to € 15.00. Some may say that is a bit steep for a drink, but if you want quality you’ll be prepared to cough up the dough. If not, guess you don’t want quality…
They obviously have a wicked collection of whiskeys, more than one for every day of the year, that’s for sure.
I can’t wait to go back on a slow and rainy Sunday t chill in one of the Chesterfield (style) sofa’s near the window and sip on an Old Fashioned, all classy like…
I can’t give you any information about the food they serve, as we didn’t have any.
But I will definitely return to this place again, and have some food. (I didn’t even check the menu, hence the 4* sorry guys)

I was fortunate to have gone here with a friend who knows his whiskeys quite well. The suggestions he made were top notch. The selection of whiskeys is outstanding. It’s a great variety not too overwhelming though the menu listing all the whiskey is overwhelming if you don’t know your whiskeys. With that in mind the staff is well trained and knowledgeable about the whiskeys and is always learning. That’s a great sign. So you can ask them to suggest something. Bear in mind that drinking whiskey is very different than drinking wine or beer. Although you can have beer along with whiskey drinking the beer as you would water after the whiskey.
I ordered several appetizers to get an idea of how well their food goes with drinking whiskey. I have to say the asian influenced flavors of the food went quite well with the whiskey complementing it nicely. I was impressed with how well. The entrees I saw looked great and from what I could see of those eating they were enjoying their food. I really didn’t care for the spring rolls but maybe that was just me. They weren’t the deep fried crispy kind. They were the soft wrapped ones.
The service was good. The décor was hard surfaces and modernish looking but also warm. It also meant that the busier it got the louder it got. There were a couple of spaces that had couches along with low tables for a more relaxed feel. So you had a choice of sitting at a regular table with stools on one side and a long padded bench on the other side or you could sit at the bar on traditional bar stools or at either of the couches. The back bar is nicely lit in a red glow giving it an interesting look.
Things went so well that I managed to drink four whiskeys over the course of the evening enjoying each one. I wasn’t anywhere near drunk but that is a good sign that we were drinking high quality whiskeys. I should mention that a carafe of water is immediately served to drink along with the whiskey. It helps you to enjoy the whiskey more by clearing your palette and replenishing your system with water as the alcohol causes you to dehydrate.
They’re also dog friendly. They furnished my dog with a nice bowl of water.

Nice, cozy bar with a great selection of whisk (e)y, and knowledgeable and friendly bartenders who were not at all judgmental of my newbie status, and happy to suggest something for me to try (as well as going along with my own, probably inadvisable, choices). Good atmosphere, one of those bars that isn’t awkward to sit in even if there aren’t many other people there (enough ambient noise) and comfortable seating. Nice music.
Dinging one star because I was really excited for the sweet potato fries, which sadly turned out to be somewhat mediocre.
So, great place to go for a quiet drink and a long conversation!

Nice décor, loads of whiskeys (whiskies?) and a few non-​whiskey drinks for the rest of us. Bartenders were attentive. I wish they had given us a few nuts or something else to snack on but that’s probably more because I was a little tipsy than that they are actually needed.

Pretty nice little bar and addition to Amsterdam!
Happened to see this place as my GF and I were walking by the street on Friday night. Heard some good music spinning so decided to pop in.
Service was great. Food was good.
Hoping this place does good business and succeeds. We will definitely be back and try their taco tuesdays. Can’t go wrong with tacos and whiskey!

this place is great. excellent service, every whisk (e)y you could imagine and the tacos! Maria, the tacos!
such a fan we went two weeks in a row (this will be the second taco tuesday).
and another great thing; the owner’s a dj, so you can expect bangin funk and soul music while you sip + snack.
go go go!

Very nice, relaxing and friendly place. Great whiskey selection but also great cocktails. Craft beer selection is good, a nice selection of local and American beers (bottles only). We had food and it was very nice. It’s a small menu but I prefer it that way. I had the beef tacos and they were good. Beef was a little over seasoned but it tasted nice.
I’d really recommend people to go and check this place out. The owner Dan is a great guy, super friendly and knowledgable about his whiskey. I’ll be going back for sure.

Ok… to make this short, this place is all about TACO TUESDAY!
Maybe this can be called J.D. William’s Terrific Tantilizing Taco Titties! (The titties is just because it’s fun to say). I LOVE whiskey but the tacos are so god damn good that I could have done without the whiskey and just had a nice beer. I barely even remember the interior because I really spent all my gluttonous energy on the fresh corn tortilla wrapped taco heaven.
The tacos are like food truck quality. Creative, flavorful, filling, cheap… I still have wet dreams about the karaage taco.
So I guess I’ll be here again on Tuesday fo’ some mo’!!!

I went to this bar yesterday for taco tuesdays. I was there to meet with a couple of other Unilocalers, and I had a great time. The food was amazing, I loved the falafel taco, and unfortunately that was the only one that I could have because of my diet but everyone else tasted all the tacos and they also said good things about them. The falafel taco was pretty special because the falafel was actually made of edamame. It was green goodness. The chef and owner is from Taiwan so he knows the value of a good edamame. Speaking of the owner, he was incredibly friendly and nice and he even told us about the bar and what name is about, he named it after the name of his father and his two kids and I just thought it was the sweetest thing ever.
I only had 2 & half tacos and i was pretty stuffed, I have to say that I did want to eat more but I just couldn’t (I had a snack at home before going there). Others had more which just proves how delicious they are and you just can’t stop eating them.
The service was super friendly and nice, the waiter gave suggestions and they were pretty good. We sat on the table right next to the kitchen which I thought was going to be too hot or whatever but it wasn’t. It was pretty comfortable and cozy. And sitting next to the chef gave us an opportunity to talk to him and get to know more about the bar and the food.
I had the Silly Sally drink (it’s with gin and cherries) and it was so good that I ended up ordering another one and I only had those two drinks. I did however sip from peoples drinks (don’t worry, they offered me) and they were all great (except for one that had Rosemary, It did not grow on me) and the whiskeys were so smooth. The JD Williams drink is actually pretty good and it’s named after the bar.
Overall it had a nice atmosphere, and after the sun went down they also dimmed the lights inside so it was very cozy, just great for having conversation and having drinks with your friends or meeting new people.
The only reason I’m not giving this place five stars, is because if you’re not a very skilled person in the balance category, it can be quite difficult to go upstairs to use the bathroom. And also the hand drying thing is quite loud and it’s not protected by any kind of door or inside of a room, so you can hear it extremely loud from downstairs when you’re trying to talk to people and that annoyed me a little bit.
Other than that, I will be coming back and I would totally tell my friends about this place.

We arrived there fairly early on a Saturday evening and thankfully, this brand spanking new whiskey hot spot had a quiet moment, which meant we managed to find two spots at the bar.
Here we were able to meet the owner Dan who was able to make a couple of recommendations.
With his recommendations, I managed to try three cocktails (I know, what a lush!), the JD William’s old fashioned, an old fashioned and the Silly Sally (a gin cocktail!!!) and I have to say, I was very impressed!
Dan let us know the bar was named after his two adorable kids (both boys) and his father and gave us a bit of background on why here and why now for a whiskey bar!
Armed with all this knowledge, I managed to squeeze in an appetizer as well and I have to say, this impressed me even more! Bite sized deep fried tender and moist morsels of chicken, with a side of creamy mayonnaise!
Whilst there, we heard of taco Tuesday, so I think it’s safe to say that we’ll be back!

I visited here last night with my coworkers. We had one mission: try new whisky and eat tacos. In my mind, that’s basically the best kind of Tuesday night ever.
The place is small with pretty comfortable seating. Not a lot of décor, not a thick ambiance, which can be charming in a way.
It’s real easy here. You’ve got two guys: a man who is behind the bar and one behind the kitchen. Kitchen guy, the owner (not sure if they both are owners), is friendly and chatted with us a bit.
The bar guy knows his stuff. I asked for two recommendations and both were right on. There’s a really nice selection of whisky here, and the menu gives you nice info on each region the whisky comes from, the tastes, etc.
The tacos are bomb! The vegetarian taco is a falafel taco. I know, I know, that’s not a taco… I know. But, what it is is tasty. And, that works for me.
I like this place. It’s easy. It’s new. It’s friendly. And, again, taco Tuesdays. Come on.
We’ll be back for sure!

JD William’s is a new whisky bar in the heart of the city. We went on opening night so of course it is not 100% complete yet. (thus the 4 instead of 5 stars) But with lots of nice whiskys and whisky cocktails plus beer on the menu, there is a lot to like.
The food menu also holds lots of promise. Korean tacos, sweet potato fries and ahi tuna poke are exotic treats in Amsterdam.
Friendly owners add that special touch!
We look forward to making this bar one of our favorite neighborhood spots. See you there! :)
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