February 22, 2012
Small place with cosy ambiance. Owner Erik is very dedicated. On request he organizes beer and whisk(e)y tasting sessions upstairs. Much variation in unusual draught beers from small breweries. Special evenings with live music, poetry or ‘disc-jockeys ‘ playing all kind of music, inter alia French chansons and Rock and Roll from the 50’s and 60’s. If you’re lucky you can hear on a Tuesday evening a choir singing tear-jerkers. Note the large ringing bell from the Whitechapel Bell Foundry (1871) hanging from the wooden ceiling above the wooden floor. A unique bar – also for Dutch standards.

October 12, 2011
In my view, this is easily the best bar in Utrecht. It’s on a corner on one of the streets running off the main canal. It has large picture windows, a wooden floor and ceiling and traditional wooden furniture. It’s a very cosy and comfortable place and we immediately felt at home there along with the regulars. The bar staff are excellent - friendly and knowledgeable - and the owner, Erik, is delightful. You can also meet Josefine and Stip, the two resident cats who feature in a lovely little book about the café cats of Utrecht. In fact one of them is on the cover. Derat has 6 taps with four fairly standard beers, one of which is usually La Chouffe, and two guests. When we were there the guest beers were Tasty Lady (despite its rather cheesy name, a nice gentle IPA brewed by five women at Schelde), Maximus Pandora and, later in the weekend, Flying Dog Raging Bitch. Erik told us that following his visit to the Borefts Beer Festival at De Molen he was keen to try out more unusual draft beers, so watch this space. There are 21 bottles listed on the blackboard and, the pièce de résistance, a separate lambic and gueze list which ranks with the best. We had Boon Geuze Mariage Parfait 2007 at a bargain price of E5 and Boon Kriek Mariage Parfait 2008 for E8. They also have the ever reliable Orval and an impressive range of single malt whiskies. Apart from some delicious local cheese which was handed round, we didn’t try the snacks - sausage, cheese and toasties - but I’m reliably informed that they come from mainly locally sourced ingredients. (Last visited 26 September).

October 3, 2011 [ Updated March 6, 2012 ]
We visited here on 25.09.11. When we popped in we were the only people in the Café apart from the Café owner who was just such a nice chap. He immediately came and sat near us and just chatted away. We’d barely known him 20 mins before he offered to add some Gueuze for us if we wanted onto an order he was doing and was going to pick up, we declined owing to space but suffice to say what a really nice chap. The range of beers wasn’t exhaustive though the lambic list was great, but the remaining list wasn’t shoddy either and was a nice list, the bar was situated on a corner and had a lovely ambience. I really liked this place. Visited here again 1st March 2012, Eric the landlord is such a friendly and welcoming chap, we hadn’t been there long and he was off upstairs getting a 3 Fonteinen Doesjel and then other great beers, we stayed here for quite a while. In my opinion this is easily the best of the bunch in Utrecht, it has a lovely atmosphere, is extremely welcoming and is just a warm happy place, loved it here on both occasions. I’m indifferent to cats but they are very entertaining in this pub.

September 25, 2011
Small place with character. Owner Erik is very friendly, as are the clientele, all locals when I visited. Great tap selections include Dutch micros plus one American IPA. Bottle list features the most extensive selection of lambic and geuze I have seen anywhere in the world outside Blegium, and rivals many places in Belgium itseld. Nice selection of single malt whiskies, homemade walnut liquer and kriek liquer, which suddenly appear out of nowhere. Definitely worth going out of your way for.

May 8, 2011
Small bar where mainly locals come. Great ambiance, very friendly. Good cheeses available. Not a very big selection of beers, but they usually have a saison or an IPA, which is not really familiar for a small Dutch bar.

February 26, 2011
Small bar with a decent selection of beers. Also some beers from microbreweries on tap. There is a list of special guezes behind the counter. Good prices, nice sausages and various other pubfood. Very cosy and friendly staff.

October 27, 2010
A small and cosy bar just outside the center of Utrecht. It’s more or less a distrcit-kind-of-bar. It is a small special beer bar. You find only 2 or so pilsners. There are about 3 taps whcih constantly change with great brews from the Dutch and Belgium microbreweries. The website isn’t really up to date, because there’s a list in the bar itself with more beers than on the website. I don’t know how much, that’s why it says 30+ bottles. Prices are good and the owner is a friendly man easily coming by with a plate of cheese and bitterballen.