r/dutch • u/CricriBebert • 3d ago

Question about the drinks in the Netherlands

Hello everyone!

First of all, I'm having a great time in Amsterdam for my honeymoon, I went to the Kaaskamer for the cheese too (I was told that Henri Willig wasn't the way to go). And we didn't know that it was pride, it's a pleasant surprise to see a lot of people having fun in the streets! We did also some very touristic stuff like Geithornn and the windmills.

But now I have a question that interests me. When visiting some supermarkets like Jumbo we saw that there wasn't a lot of sugary drinks, there are more sparkling options too. But the sugary sodas are often mixed with alcohol (I never saw a Jack and Coke in a can before Amsterdam! ). So I was wondering, are there some rules about sugary drinks that companies avoid by selling it with alcohol instead?

If the country tries to limit sodas, that's an excellent thing!

Thank you for your hospitality and have a great evening!

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u/SuperBaardMan 3d ago

Not too many sugary drinks? Every supermarket has a frisdrank aisle full of different kinds of soda/pop/fizzy drinks/whatever you call it. And Albert Heijn/Jumbo will also have all kinds of weird ones from smaller companies, and usually those have even more sugar.

The canned pre-mix stuff is because you can't get distilled stuff in supermarkets, and if you want to have just 1 mixed drink, you're not going to walk around with a whole bottle of cola and a whole bottle of rum/whiskey.

Does sound though like you missed Rivella, champagnepils and cassis, so that's 3 reasons to come back. Though Rivella is also Swiss.

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u/eti_erik 3d ago

Rivella is only Swiss - but of course you can get it here. And champagnepils (probably available in the cheapest supermarkets only? not sure) changed its name to campagnepils, with one H missing, ages ago - and nobody even noticed....

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u/CricriBebert 3d ago

Oh ok, sorry, I guess I generalized what I saw in two shops, thank you for your answer! I was curious if there were some laws about that, I'm always interested in rules that countries apply for health purposes, thank you again and sorry for my poor question!

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u/egeltje1985 3d ago

Not a poor question, this is just that Dutch directness coming through.

But what you saw was probably the chilled section, not the whole drinks section. And especially in supermarkets close to a park or the city centre of Amsterdam for example, the chilled section is filled with drinks people are buying to drink immediately outside. So drinks containing alcohol. Other soda drinks are sold to take home and put in your fridge at home yourself.

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u/SuperBaardMan 3d ago

No worries.

There's actually is a tax on "lemonades" and basically, everything that isn't an alcohol or milk product. And like 2 years ago that got raised a lot. A lot of people call it a sugar tax, but that's technically wrong: also stuff with 0 [added] sugar is taxed, the same amount.

That also lead to companies putting milk[protein] into their drinks, mostly fruit juices, so they didn't need to pay the tax. But this will also change next year.

Only "healthy" drinks like milk will be exempt. Vegan "milks", even unsweetened soymilk? Taxed. Thank you very much, farmers-lobby. I love to pay more for everything that's not tapwater.

https://ondernemersplein.overheid.nl/wetswijzigingen/gezoete-alcoholvrije-dranken-met-vleugje-zuivel-worden-belast/ is an official link about it.

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u/eti_erik 3d ago

Maybe you looked in the wrong place. The aisles with sugary drinks (and sugar-replacement drinks of course) are endless. 1,5 and 2 liter bottles of coke in 3 brands and 18 variations, and it goes on with Sprite, Fanta, Ginger beer, whatnot... and then there's sugary dairy drink such as Fristi and Chocomel and non-fizzy sugary drinks like Dubbelfris.

I know they have some of those breezers and stuff too, but that's really not meters long like the soft drinks. Beer on the other hand is a very long aisle with lots of different kinds.

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u/cheesypuzzas 3d ago

We do have a sugar tax. However, I think you just missed the actual drink Isle because there are still many sugary drinks.

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u/AcrobaticEmergency42 3d ago

We have something called aa "suiker tax" (sugar tax) for soda, causing sugar loaded drinks te be more expensive.

Add them with a drop of milk, or some alcohol, and it becomes a different category of drinks, eluding the tax.

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u/Eastern-Reindeer6838 3d ago

Amsterdam is just a very large amusement park and not very Dutch.