Amstel

Amstel takes its name from the river that runs through Amsterdam, and it began in 1870 as a crosstown Amsterdam rival to Heineken. Today it is Heineken's second international lager — a touch maltier and a shade more everyday in spirit than the green-bottled flagship — and it pours on four continents.

The original brewery solved refrigeration with weather: every winter, workers cut ice from Amsterdam's frozen canals and packed it into specially built double-walled cellars, keeping the lager properly cool right through the warm months. It was cold storage by climate, decades before machines could do the job — and it worked.

Heineken bought its old rival in the 1960s and sent the brand out into the world. The result is a quiet irony: a beer named after a small Dutch river is now far bigger abroad than at home, a fixture across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.

A shade deeper gold than most international lagers, with a bready, lightly caramelized malt center — think the crust of a white loaf — balanced by a mild, hay-like hop bitterness. Medium-light body, moderate fizz, and a rounded finish that makes it an easy session companion rather than a statement.