This article originally appeared on VICE NetherlandsIf you've ever set foot in Amsterdam, you'll have seen a beer bike. If you've ever set foot in Amsterdam in the company of a hen or stag do, chances are you've paddled one around. The bar on wheels has been a point of contention in Amsterdam for years. Mainly because as big, slow and driven by loud drunks as they are, beer bikes are relatively annoying to other, more sober traffic in the already cramped city centre. The website wegmetdebierfiets.nl ['down with the beer bike'] has collected more than 6500 complaints about them and Amsterdam's mayor plans to ban the bikes from the city in the new year. In a response to that threat, beer bike tour operators have taken to court arguing that having fun is a basic human right.
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The plan to ban the vehicle altogether has been suspended by a judge, so for now we're all still free to ride it while, drinking, smoking and blaring at Amsterdammers on bicycles overtaking us. And when I say "we", I mean "British hen and stag dos". But because you never know when the beer bike will become part of Amsterdam party history, I spent a day on one, and tagged along with three different groups of festive drunks.More on VICE:What Amsterdam's Red Light District Looked Like in the 1990sAmsterdam's War on WeedThe Last Peep Show in Amsterdam
