Heineken Experience

Oh, it was an experience, alright.

In any big city, there are must-see attractions, like, say, the Rijks Museum here in Amsterdam, and then there are others that you just check off because they're there.  Like, say, the Heineken Museum/Brewery here in Amsterdam.  This website even suggested that you not wait for the free beers they serve at the end of the tour, but go ahead and get drunk before torturing yourself with the "experience."

Doug and I whizzed through the old brewery on a whim one afternoon a couple of weeks ago.  Sober. 

The brewery is on Stadhouderskade overlooking a canal (Singelgracht).  It's a great area of town, adjacent to an eclectic neighborhood called the Pijp (pronounced pipe) and the historic canal district. One of the weird things about living in Amsterdam is that our daily life is totally mixed up with all the tourists visiting the city.  So, for instance, Abby and Reese's school is a few minutes bike ride away, and we often play at the park right across the street.

Heineken is one of the three largest producers of beer in the world.  The brewery has been a family operation  since 1864, and its discovery of a mysterious yeast in the 19th-century secured Heineken's place as a world-class, quality beer.  

The inside of the copper kettle where the hops are boiled and settled.

The building is original 19th-century, and back in the day, boats would pull up on the canal out front and the grain would be lifted through the upper windows.  The building and its intact interiors are beautiful and worth the look-see.  This is the museum part of the tour.

The so-called "experience" part of the tour, however, is rather ridiculous.  At one point, we stood in line for twenty minutes to go on a "ride" that supposedly simulated the brewing process.  This ride consisted of standing in a small room on a set of steps that moved around as if we were the hops in the whirlpool, then out of nowhere the ceiling spit bubbles and water at us to replicate another part of the process.

This was all topped off by the American dude yelling "BEER. BEER. BEER," while pounding his fist on the bar during the tasting.  Way to REPRESENT . . . dude.

And if that doesn't make you smile (or laugh/throw-up), perhaps the "smiling e's" in the Heineken logo will.  In one of the most brilliant marketing strategies, still studied today, Heineken changed its logo in 1964 to re-brand its beer, and added the smiling e's so recognized today.

With and without . . .