The Heineken Experience Tour takes place at the Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam, Holland where the family company and brand was founded. Heineken Beer is one of the most, if not the most, popular brands of beer in the world. The tour is designed to give fans of the beer a peak into the history, production and marketing of the beer. Whilst on my Study Abroad trip in Belgium, I had the opportunity to visit Amsterdam for a day and take the tour.
I will admit, I was not looking forward to the Heineken Tour at first. Over the space of a month we had toured 4 breweries in Belgium and I was over learning ‘more’ about hops/barley/yeast and the fermenting process. Little did I know this was going to be the BEST brewery tour ever!
The tour is self guided, which was great because you can go at your own pace without feeling like you’re holding up the rest of the group. The first part of the tour explained the rich history of the family owned company and the transitions of the packages of the beer.
The next part of the tour showed the process of brewing… Again, I loved that the tour was self paced so we were free to stop and watch a demonstration here and there and move on – I really enjoyed the freestyle of the tour, definitely made it a lot more enjoyable than the other brewery tours I went on.
Hops and Barley…. important ingredients!
Next up was the “Brew You Ride” – I don’t want to give away details and spoil the surprise for anyone that has yet to go but lets just say, it’s nothing like you’ve ever experienced before – you are go throw the motions of being brewed – literally…..
Following the ride was the opportunity to taste the beer – what’s a brewery tour without a tasting? Of course, I had tried Heineken before but nothing tastes better than free beer. Lucky for me, I actually won TWO free glasses of beer. The beer tender asked “what is Heineken Beer often referred to” – I thought it was a trick question because the answer was so ‘easy’. When no-one answered, I said “Liquid Gold” and along came the second glass of beer. I thank my awesome guy friends who often call it just that.
Free Beer!!
You’d think the tour would’ve ended there. No Sir, it did not. The real fun began next. They were smart in calling it the ‘Heineken Experience Tour’ because it was indeed an experience. The rest of the tour went a lot into the marketing of Heineken. There was a special section for viewing retro commercials; a lounge with loud music and party scenes on huge screens; 007 James Bond features; a DJ game-room and other interactive systems.
Pretending to be a DJ
Last but not least, the Heineken store – not your typical souvenir shop. Everything from retro memorabilia to shirts to beer glasses that you could get your loved one’s name in it carved into it.
If I get the chance to go back to Amsterdam I would definitely do this tour again. My classmates and I were short on time so we didn’t get to do absolutely everything. It is a must do if you take a trip to Amsterdam, whether or not you’re a beer drinker. I recommend budgeting at least 2 hours to do the tour, the store alone will take up 30 minutes because there are so many intriguing items to buy.
Have you taken the Heineken Experience Tour? Have you ever toured their other breweries in another country?
Stephanie's Travel Insights 