Vollenhoven Stout

Van Vollenhoven's Stout is one of the great lost beers of Dutch brewing — the flagship product of De Gekroonde Valk brewery on the Hoogte Kadijk in Amsterdam, one of Holland's largest breweries at the end of the 19th century. The brewery was founded in 1733 and taken over by the Van Vollenhoven family in 1791. Under the charismatic leadership of Willem Hovy in the late 19th century, De Gekroonde Valk was the biggest brewery in Amsterdam — bigger than Amstel and Heineken. Van Vollenhoven's Stout won gold at the Melbourne World Exhibition in 1881. It was exported worldwide including to the Dutch East Indies, Suriname and South Africa during the Boer War. The Second World War and decolonisation spelled doom for the export-oriented brewery. In 1941 Amstel and Heineken acquired a majority stake. The brewery closed in 1949 when Heineken took full ownership. From 1949 Heineken continued to brew the stout at Den Bosch at 6–6.5% ABV until 2002, when it was discontinued due to minimal sales and problems with natural dark colourants staining the Den Bosch brewery pipelines. Heineken held the trademark and in 2006 licensed it for a symbolic fee to Stichting De Gekroonde Valk enthusiasts who revived it at De Schans brewery in Uithoorn. Since 2017 it is brewed by Poesiat & Kater in Amsterdam at 7.1% ABV top-fermented. The archive records document the Heineken-era beer (1949–2002) brewed at Den Bosch.