The Heineken Story: The Remarkably Refreshing Tale of the Beer That Conquered the World

The Heineken Story follows four generations of the Heineken family and the company that transformed a nineteenth-century Amsterdam brewery into one of the world's most recognizable beer businesses. Barbara Smit's source-based narrative covers Gerard Adriaan Heineken's early industrial and scientific modernization; the rise of lager and pure yeast culture; Leo van Munching's creation of Heineken's American premium-import position; Freddy Heineken's fight to restore family control and construct the modern green-bottle brand; the acquisition of Amstel; British advertising and the Lager Revolution; Fortress Europe; Freddy's 1983 kidnapping; the Beer Wars and international consolidation; and the post-Freddy succession under Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and professional management. The book closes with Heineken's determination to remain an independent family-controlled global company.