What is the history of the Heineken brewery?
The history of Heineken starts on December 16, 1863 when Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought the De Hooiberg Brewery (The Haystack) in Amsterdam. The purchase of De Hooiberg was the birth of the firm of Heineken & Co. Within a few years Gerard Adriaan increased sales so much that construction of a new brewery was necessary. On the outskirts of Amsterdam, a new brewery was built. It remained in operation until 1988 when it was eventually closed because of logistics obstacles (the steady spread of the city meant that the brewery was located in the center of Amsterdam). A large part of the brewery made way for houses. But the brewhouse and part of the storage cellars were converted into the Heineken Reception Center where more than a hundred thousand visitors a year from all parts of the world are given a guided tour. On January 4, 1873 the board of directors of Heineken’s Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij NV decided to build a brewery in Rotterdam as well. The Rotterdam brewery, too, eventually clos
