Historic Heineken Building Celebrates 150 Years

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In 1864, a young entrepreneur named Gerard Adriaan Heineken acquired money from his wealthy mother so he could purchase and renovate ‘De Hooiberg’ (The Haystack), an old brewery that stood in the centre of Amsterdam. Within a few years, the building on Stadhouderskade and Ferdinand Bolstraat was revitalized and opened its doors on May 17, 1867, brewing a mix of barley malt, choice hops and pure water, which was stamped with its creator’s family name—the first batch of Heineken lager.

During its early years, Heineken made serious strides forward in the capital of the Netherlands. A second plant was quickly opened in Rotterdam to keep up with demand, and by 1887 the company had proven its craftsmanship in beer brewing by perfecting the switch from traditional top fermentation to implementing the use of the newly discovered Bavarian method of bottom-fermenting ‘A-yeast’ (an ingredient used to this day). Needless to say, the taste was perfected.

At the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris, the quality of Gerard’s beer was recognized outside of the Netherlands, when Heineken was awarded the prestigious Diplome de Grand Prix (something still mentioned on Heineken’s trademark labels today).

By the end of the 19th century, Heineken had expanded beyond the borders of the Netherlands and was being exported to France and the Dutch East Indies. And just three days after Prohibition in the United States ended in 1933, Heineken became the first foreign beer to land on American soil.

After Gerard’s sudden death in the spring of 1893, the company was run by a board headed by his wife until his son, Henry Pierre Heineken, took over management in 1914. Henry Pierre eventually took the helm as CEO in 1917 and ran the company until 1940, but he had a weakness for alcohol and sold the family’s stake in 1942.

It took the next generation to restore the family’s control over the brand.

In the space of a few decades, Henry Pierre’s son, Alfred Henry Heineken (popularly known as Freddy), reclaimed what his father had sold and transformed his grandfather’s modest Dutch brewing company into a global brand.

It all started when an 18-year-old Freddy, who was studying in America, wrote his father a prophetic letter:

“I have my mind set on restoring the majority of shares in Heineken into the hands of the family. It’s not my plan to become very rich, but it is a matter of pride that any children I might have can inherit a stake in Heineken, like I did from my father and you inherited from your father.”

Freddy began his career at Heineken carrying sacks of barley, before working in the sales office in New York and succeeding his father as a member of the supervisory board in 1951. After borrowing money, he secretly bought back a controlling stake in Heineken in 1954, was officially appointed to the Heineken executive board 10 years later, and became chairman of the Heineken holding company in 1979.

In addition to his business vision, Freddy had a knack for marketing. In fact, it was his clever green packaging and imaginative use of advertising—which featured such slogans as “Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach”—that helped Heineken expand its market presence and become a hugely popular brand.

Of course, there was drama along Freddy’s journey to turn Heineken into one of the world’s best-known brands. In 1983, he was kidnapped, along with his driver. The men were chained for weeks before the family paid a ransom. The botched abduction even hit the big screen in 2015 with the release of Kidnapping Freddy Heineken, starring Anthony Hopkins as Freddy.

History would show that Freddy proved true to his plan, and even though he said wealth was not his primary motivation, it came with the territory. When he passed away in 2002 at the age of 78, Freddy was one of the richest people in the Netherlands, with an estimated net worth totalling about 9.5 billion Dutch guilders (about $6 billion Canadian).

Heineken’s original brewery in central Amsterdam remained active for over 100 years and continued to produce the trademark pale lager until 1988, when the company moved its main brewing facilities to a larger site on the outskirts of the city.

In 1991, the original brewery was converted into a museum dedicated to the history of the company and its brewing techniques. Eventually, the impressive industrial heritage site became one of the most-visited tourist attractions in the Netherlands and was given a new name: the Heineken Experience.

The world-famous self-guided interactive journey has been welcoming visitors into the world of Heineken since 2001. It reveals the rich company history and includes an up-close look around the former brewery. Highlights include old photographs, reproductions of each iteration of the Heineken bottle, authentic interiors, massive brass tanks, the stables (where visitors can see Heineken’s Shire horses, which were traditionally used for delivering beer across the city), screenings of old Heineken commercials, and even a fun beer-brewing simulator ride.

Of course, at the end of your experience, you can enjoy a perfectly poured Heineken and learn a little bit more about the techniques behind the brand’s renowned perfect pour, also known as Heineken’s Five Star Pour. (BTW: Canadians who can't make it to Amsterdam can easily find the perfectly poured Heineken here) The cleanliness of the glass, the angle the beer is poured, the motion and angle of skimming, ensuring the height of the foam is just right, and the way it’s being served to the customer – all these steps play an important role in ensuring the perfect draught.

The perfect draught... Isn’t that what everyone wants when they find themselves in Amsterdam?