974. Curaçao’s Netto Bar and its “World Famous” Green Rum

Founder of Netto Bar, Ernesto “Netto” Koster’s awesome  life motto:

“Traha duru, pa bo logra tur lo ke bo ke ku sodó di bo frenta. Yuda semper kaminda bo por.”

“Work hard – your forehead constantly drenched in sweat – to achieve everything you want in life. And always help wherever you can.”

Netto Bar is the most awesome neighborhood watering hole since Cheers (where everybody knows your name comes) Nestled in Breedestraat, Otrobanda, across our Landsloterij, the bar is the labor of love of Ernesto “Netto” Koster (1915-2002) who went by his nomber chikí. Netto most famously invented  Ròm Bèrdè (green rum) — 100% homegrown and only found in Curacao. He retired only after his health started deteriorating at 87. He continued to visit his beloved bar after retirement, warmly greeting patrons, making sure his soccer memorabilia was hanging in the right spots, checking if the bar was sufficiently stocked with Ròm Bèrdè until he passed away in 2002 — 6 months before his bar’s 50th birthday.

Jesus “Chu” Zimmerman (Netto’s prodigy) keeps pouring Ròm Bèrdè (on the rocks, mixed in fresh coconut water!) to this day. He welcomes people of all walks of life and is deliberately obsessive about greeting website visitors in all 4 languages (Papiamentu, Dutch, English, Spanish). The Bar is still decked out in soccer fanfare (collected by various patrons over the years), Curaçao fare, photographs of Dutch royalty…  and overflowing with quirky, spunky personalities who look to encounter great conversation, delicious cold drinks, lively music and light laughs.

When you pay a visit, try to spot “Huki di Doe” (Doe Willems’ corner) — another pillar of Otrobanda society (of the insurance kind) — and one of Netto’s closest friends, he’d drop by and have a drink or two every afternoon after work until he passed away in 2002.