The Beer Industry in The Netherlands
The Beer Industry in The Netherlands
The Beer Industry in The Netherlands
The Netherlands is traditionally a strong beer country. From the Middle Ages until now,
Amsterdam people have always loved the golden grain juice. In fact, in Holland they drank beer
like water. So Netherlands is well known for the pale lager.
The most famous breweries are Heineken and Grolsch, which are exported globally. Grolsch is
the leading import lager in the United Kingdom. Heineken is the world’s third-largest brewer of
beer. Its aggressive marketing strategy affects all of Amsterdam’s local beer brewers. Other
famous Dutch beer brands are Amstel, Dommelsch, Grolsch, Brand, Bavaria and Hertog Jan. In
more recent years brands lke Jupiler are becoming more popular. Like this, while pale lager makes
up the majority of beer production and consumption in the Netherlands, most Dutch brewers also
brew specials. The most common is 'witbier' (white beer).
The Netherlands exports the largest proportion of beer of any country in the world –
approximately 50% of production, according to The Brewers of Europe. In 2004, almost 1,300
million litres were exported out of a total production of 2,300 million litres.
As you can see in the table, Heineken is the most popular and the biggest beer company in the
Netherlands. The next biggest one is Grolsch, the next one is Amstel. But Amstel is merged to
Heineken in 1968.
Heineken
Heineken is one of the most popular brewing company in the Netherlands, founded in 1964 by
Gerad Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. Heineken develop rapidly compare to other brewing
companies. In 2017, Heineken owns over 165 breweries in more than 70 countries. It produces
250 international, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders and employs approximately 73,000
people. Also the scale of annual beer production is really enormous comparing to competitive
companies of Heineken. Heineken produce the beer annually 188.3 million hectoliters in 2015. As
we can see above, Heineken N.V. is the best brewing company in Europe and the largest brewing
company in the world. Dutch breweries of Heineken are located in Zoeterwoude, s-Hertogenbosch
and Wijlre. The original brewery in Amsterdam, closed in 1988, is preserved as a museum
called Heineken Experience. This museum became one of the popular tourist attractions.