A
Big SurpriseI recently visited the Heineken Experience (whatīs left of their Amsterdam brewery) for the first time. Entering the brewhouse, the familiar sweet scent of mashing washed over me.
I was just mentally complimeting them on the excellent quality of the multi-sensory experience, when I realised it wasnīt just a piped in fake. In the middle of the enormous copper mash tuns, a man was stirring something in what looked liked an old-fashioned washtub. They really were mashing!
Intrigued,
I went and had a chat with the guy, who had a name badge with "brouwer"
on it. "Are you really mashing?"
"Yes."
"What do you do with the wort? Do you make it into beer?"
"Of course - what do you think this is?" he said pointing at a couple of glass demijohns that couldnīt have held more than 2 gallons each. Sure enough, they were bubbling away nicely.
"Is the beer available here?"
"Yes, but only about once every six weeks."
"Do you bottom ferment?"
"No. We use a top-fermenting yeast. Itīs too warm in here for a bottom-fermenting yeast and we have no way of cooling."
"What style of beer is it?"
"A tripel. Itīs safer to brew a high-alcohol beer, given the conditions."
Heineken
Amsterdam Tripel So Heineken DO still brew in Amsterdam, but in tiny quantities.
Amsterdam-brewed Heineken Tripel has gone straight in at number one in my beers-I-most-want-to-try hit parade. I wonder how many people have ever tried it?
Seeing someone essentially homebrewing, surrounded by massive industrial vessels, designed to make several hundred hectolitres at a time, was surreal.