Amstel Brewery is a Dutch brewery founded in 1870 on the Mauritskade in Amsterdam. It was taken over by Heineken International in 1968, and the brewing plant closed down in 1982, with production moving to the main Heineken plant at Zoeterwoude.
History
The brewery was founded by Charles Antoine de Pesters (1842–1915), Johannes Hendrikus van Marwijk Kooy (1847–1916) and Willem Eduard Uhlenbroek (1839–1880). De Pesters and Van Marwijk Kooy were brothers-in-law, both coming from very affluent Amsterdam families. Uhlenbroek's father owned a small sugar refinery in Amsterdam. The brewery was named after the Amstel River. The brewery's symbolic first stone was laid on 11 June 1870. The first brew was completed on 25 October 1871 and 2 1/2 months later, on 9 January 1872, the first beer was delivered to clients. The brewery was officially opened on 15 January 1872.[1] At this time its annual brewing capacity was 10,000 hectoliters (220,000 imp gallons). For the purpose of storing the beer, winter ice from canals was kept in special double-walled cellars. Originally, Amstel beers were mostly drunk in Amsterdam. The expansion outside Amsterdam ran more or less parallel to the development of the Dutch railway network. Agents were appointed in towns along new railway lines. As from 1883, Amstel beers were also exported to Great Britain and the Dutch East Indies