Museum For Chemical Engineers: Heineken Museum

One thing I liked about Amsterdam was the interactive museums where the creators of the museums tried different methods to engage with the visitors. One of them was the Heineken Museum. In the pubs in Turkey, Heineken was always among the brands that were slightly more expensive compared to the local ones.

The first production of Heineken started in 1873, 9 years after Gerard Adriaan Heineken purchased a brewery in Amsterdam. In only two years, the brand gained the Medaille D'Or at the International Maritime Exposition in Paris, which facilitated its shipment abroad to Paris. In the following years, the brand won several other awards mainly in Paris. In the meantime, the original brewery where the production began was converted into today's Heineken Experience Museum. Source

The entry fee is 18 euros, but I purchased a museum card in Amsterdam that allowed me to enter up to 5 museums. I will write about the price details of this card in another post. Back to beer...

The inside of the museum was designed in a way to imitate the older days of brewing processes. I could see how the raw materials were added, mixed together and reacted with each other. For instance, the woman in the photo below was talking about a pollen-like substance that was added into the initial mixture. Then, we walked among the reactors that took place in the processing of these materials. As a sophomore who started double major in Chemical and Biological Engineering, I was quite impressed to see the application of what I learned in class into real life.

One of the best moments of the trip was the simulation room. We were all taken to a screening with something like a multi-dimensional movie experience. We watched a beer drop going into the pipes and being packaged into bottles. As the beer drop was travelling, our seats were also tilting to sides and shaking as if we were on a roller coaster.

After this entertaining experience, we were taken to the final room where they treated us with beer samples. Here, the guide was explaining how to pour the beer in a way to preserve the foam and why it is essential for a beer to be foamy (in order to keep the bubbles inside). At the same time, there was a screen with an interactive game that enabled us to create our own Heineken commercials and send them to three friends via e-mail.

Just when we thought that was the end of the trip, we found out that a half-an-hour-long canal tour was included in the experience. This was slightly shorter than the actual canal boat tours, but quite as informative. The guide gave information about important buildings, avenues, bridges and the architecture style of the structures. I will mention this in detail when I give a more detailed Amsterdam travel guide.

Overall, Heineken Experince was one of the most unique museum experience I ever had, probably because it greatly appealed to my field of interest.

Have you been to Heineken Museum before, what were your thoughts about it? Drop me a comment below.

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