The Heineken Brewery

 The Heineken Experience!

             Amsterdam

One of the greatest highlights from the Amsterdam weekend excursion.  Through the self -guided tour, the place was full of interactive games you could play, including a DJ game similar to dance dance revolution setup, and one that tested how perfectly you could pour a digital pint!  You could also pay to "bottle your own Heineken"! It let you create a personalized label for the freshly bottled beer and pick it up in the gift shop! That's not even the best part, though!  We were supposed to have a 4-D interactive experience where we get to see what it would be like to be a bottle of beer being bottled (I was expecting Honey-I-Shrunk-the-Kids only with alcohol), but because it wasn't working we got FREE BEERS!
     Our ticket included a bracelet with three buttons on it, two for two glasses of the freshest Heineken you'll ever get, straight from the brewery, and one for a free gift (which was just a bottle opener ;/), but because the 4-D video wasnt working, our group ended up getting about 6 free beers each!!!  Don't worry, the glasses were only half pint size, so I didn't get TOO crazy.

 

^^a panorama of the bar :D

Here in the first tasting bar, we learned how to PROPERLY drink a Heineken. You can't "sip it like a girly girl, you have to sip it like a MAN" (words of the bartendress).  This is because of the head of foam, if you take small sips you slowly sip away the foam head and the beer is then exposed to the air, which kills the beer.  DO YOU WANT TO DRINK DEAD BEER?! I didn't think so. When you sip it in large gulps, you just take in the beer and the foam head remains. You're welcome.



  Also, cheers in Dutch is "Proost!" ...and "thank you" is "dank you", never going to get over that one. ;)

   During the tour we came into a room with four giant glass tubes with 4 ingredients that are used to make Heineken.  The first is water, and Heineken puts its through a purifying process to keep it consistent at all of their factories around the world.   The second is wheat, and the third is hops.  Hops, for those of you who have heard of them but don't quite know what they are exactly, are the cone shaped flower of the hop plant, and it is the little petals of the flower are used in beer to give it the bitter, tangy flavor.
Overall, we spent double the amount of time we expected in the Heineken experience because it was absolutely an amazing place.  Every room was so interesting and they kept the beer flowing! We also got to see the Heineken horses that used to be the method of transportation for Heineken beers back in the day!

All-in-all, wonderful experience and definitely make your way to the Heineken Brewery if you ever find yourself in Amsterdam!

xoxo-
Abby