Heineken N.V. is a Dutch multinational brewing company, founded in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. As of 2019, Heineken owns over 165 breweries in more than 70 countries. It produces 348 international, regional, local and speciality beers and ciders and employs approximately 85,000 people.
Heineken brewery in Zoeterwoude, Netherlands
Interior of the former Heineken brewery in Amsterdam, which is now the museum Heineken Experience
Exterior of the former Heineken brewery in Amsterdam, which is now the museum Heineken Experience
Exterior of the former Heineken brewery in Amsterdam on Stadhouderskade and Ferdinand Bolstraat
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of beer has taken place since at least 2500 BC; in ancient Mesopotamia, brewers derived social sanction and divine protection from the goddess Ninkasi. Brewing was initially a cottage industry, with production taking place at home; by the ninth century, monasteries and farms would produce beer on a larger scale, selling the excess; and by the eleventh and twelfth centuries larger, dedicated breweries with eight to ten workers were being built.
Kettles in a modern Trappist brewery
The Alulu beer receipt records a purchase of "best" beer from an ancient Sumerian brewery, c. 2050 BC
19th century brewery installations
The machine room of the former brewery Wielemans-Ceuppens in Brussels