NL Amsterdam — De Hooiberg

The brewery De Hooiberg was located in Amsterdam and became the starting point of the Heineken company when Gerard Adriaan Heineken acquired it in 1864. At the time the brewery was a relatively small traditional operation producing top-fermented beers.

Gerard Heineken quickly began modernizing the company and expanding its ambitions. As part of this transformation a new, much larger steam-powered brewery was constructed in Amsterdam and opened in 1867. The new brewery represented the transition toward industrial brewing and the adoption of lager production techniques that would later define the Heineken brand.

After the opening of the new brewery, the original De Hooiberg facility gradually lost its role as the primary production site. In 1868 the old brewery building was renamed Die Port van Cleve. The acquisition of De Hooiberg nevertheless marks the true beginning of the Heineken brewing enterprise.