NL Den Bosch — Heineken Netherlands Supply HB

• Major Production Site
• Export Hub

• Opened 4 September 1958 as Heineken's third Dutch brewery, the first purpose-built modern production facility outside Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Now formally operated as Heineken Netherlands Supply BV (Den Bosch). Originally conceived as a bottling plant to receive beer transported from Amsterdam by the specially built beer tanker Gerritje — the plans were expanded to a full brewery during construction. Operates alongside Zoeterwoude as one of two core Heineken production sites in the Netherlands.

The Den Bosch brewery was Freddy Heineken's masterstroke — the moment he proved that the old Amsterdam-Rotterdam model was finished and that the future belonged to modern industrial brewing on a new scale entirely. When Amsterdam and Rotterdam were bursting at the seams in the late 1950s and no suitable expansion land could be found in either city, Heineken turned south to North Brabant. A site was chosen on the Rietveldenweg in 's-Hertogenbosch — Den Bosch to the locals — in the heart of a city steeped in medieval history and Brabantse gezelligheid. The brewery opened on 4 September 1958, inaugurated by Prince Bernhard with the now-famous push-button beer barrel. The occasion was presided over by Henry Pierre Heineken and his son Alfred — the passing of the torch from the second to the third generation. So strong was demand that the production capacity had to be increased several times during construction itself. At its opening, Den Bosch already represented a step-change in scale that Amsterdam and Rotterdam combined could barely match. Today Den Bosch produces approximately 6 million hectolitres per year — roughly 1,000 litres of beer every single minute. It brews Heineken Pilsener, Heineken 0.0, Amstel, and a range of specialty beers from the wider Heineken Netherlands portfolio. The brewery has been a sustainability pioneer: its wastewater treatment plant, commissioned in 1987, has produced biogas for the brewery's own processes for decades. By 2023, 16,569 solar panels on the brewery roofs, three wind turbines, and biogas covered 93% of total electricity needs. Den Bosch aims to run on 100% renewable energy by 2027. This is what Freddy built — and it still runs at a thousand litres a minute.