A MESSAGE FROM LEO VAN MUNCHING, JR.
totally automated—though brewmasters
monitor the control panels and computer
readouts. But the Heineken process re
mains leisurely by modern, standards. U.S.
or European beer in the medium-quality
range is usually brewed in three days and
aged at most for a week. By contrast, the
Heineken brewing process takes eight
days and the lagering, or aging, period is
six weeks.
Is this necessary? Despite a research
staff of more than 80, not even Freddy
knows for certain. He is convinced, how
ever, that too little is known about taste
and quality in beer to justify new depar
tures. "I listen to scientists who tell me
they can make beer twice as fast and just as
good," he states. "But I always say no
thanks."
The ultimate test for each batch of Hein
eken is not the laboratory but the palate. At
each brewery, a panel of tasters sample ev
ery brewing. The samplers, who also hpld
other jobs in the brewery, have proved
their ability to identify even extremely
slight variations in batches of Heineken.
Only after the panel agrees that the quality
of the brew falls within the narrow toler
ances allowed for Heineken is the batch
approved for bottling or barreling.
Quest for taste
For the breweries abroad, the company
maintains a corporate tasting center in its
Zoeterwoude brewery, south of Amster
dam. Each month samples of all the beers
are air-shipped to Holland, where they are
subjected to thorough testing and are
ranked on a quality scale of 0 to 10 for aro
ma and taste. If a beer scores poorly, the
brewmaster is sent a report including
chemical analyses so that he can make the
required corrections.
Freddy Heineken remains the final arbi
ter of how Heineken should taste. His
guiding principle: "The best things in life
do not have an overpronounced taste; the
experience of taste is much more enjoyable
when you have to search for it. The taste of
beer should neither be bitter, sticky, nor so
strong that it hits you. Rather, it should be
light, crisp, and effervescent."
Heineken's private pursuits reflect a
quest for good taste. The tea and coffee he
favors, for example, are brewed exclusive
ly with Evian: he believes that the pristine
alpine bottled water more effectively re
leases the true flavor of bean and leaf. He
owns an impressive array of fine autos,
from a 1934 Jaguar sports car through a
pride of Rollses and Bentleys to a newly
acquired Ferrari. He delights in tinkering
with the antiques in his collection and ap
preciates an old crankshaft as a thing of
beauty.
Freddy's other main hobby is modern
art. At the moment he owns 60 paintings,
including several famous works from Pi
casso's late period. Heineken likes to test
his own entrepreneurial acumen by trad
ing in paintings. He buys the works of un
known young artists and keeps them until
their value has appreciated considerably.
He reflects: "If you occupy an inherited po
sition as I do, it is good for one's own self-
esteem to do a few ventures on the side,
where family connections and wealth play
no role. I can ask myself: 'Could you make
a decent living trading in art?' Honestly I
can answer, 'Yes, I could.'
A new structure
But it is highly unlikely that Freddy
Heineken will ever have time to become
an art dealer. For the past two years, he has
been reorganizing his headquarters struc
ture. Until now Heineken has been a Dutch
company with international operations.
Now it is being transformed into an inter
national company with an important but
separate Dutch operation. The Heineken
World staff of only 150 people or so will
remain in the cramped head office in Am
sterdam, which is an addition to Freddy's
old home. Heineken Holland, the newly
created unit, will deal primarily with the
Dutch market, while its breweries contract
with Heineken World to supply the global
beer shipments. The Heineken Holland
headquarters is in the Zoeterwoude brew
ery; about 220 people have already moved
there, and more will follow. Many execu
tives transferred are feeling a loss of im
portance and miss the excitement of the
worldwide operations.
The decision to establish a global head
quarters reflects a growing concern of
Heineken and his managing staff that the
Netherlands had become too small a home
market for the big Dutch breweries. There
fore, the current thrust is to treat all of Eu
rope as Heineken's domestic market.
Heineken has established breweries in
France, Italy, and Greece, and plans fur
ther expansion in Europe.
Mob vs. snob
The growth in Europe poses a strate
gicor psychologicaldilemma for
Freddy Heineken. How, he worries, can a
beer become a mass item in the European
market while retaining snob appeal in the
American market?
This fall Freddy was talking over the
problem with his old friend, Leo van
Munching Jr. "Stop worrying," Van
Munching told Heineken. "Americans are
looking for consistent quality and as long
as you provide it, bigness is not necessar
ily bad." Indeed, the whole globe seems
hearteningly high on Heineken.
The above article from Fortune Magazine de
scribes why Heineken Holland Beer remains,
by far, the largest-selling imported beer in
the United States, as well as the largest-sell
ing beer in Europe. The outstanding quality
of Heineken beer, and the continuing com
mitment of the Heineken Brewery to main
taining that excellence, is certainly a key to
its success.
We at Van Munching Co., Inc. are proud of
our success with the Heineken brand in the
United States and we, of course, recognize
and appreciate the fine marketing contribu
tions of our Heineken distributors across the
country.
We hope that you will share with us the pride
that we feel in being recognized by such a
respected national publication as Fortune
Magazine for the highly successful market
ing effort of Heineken.
The partnership of Heineken Brewery,
VMCO, and our wholesalers is a dynamic
marketing force since each party believes in
the product and has made a commitment to
support it to its fullest and its best abilities.
Shortly, VMCO will announce its most ambi
tious Advertising and Promotional Program
ever, designed to sell more Heineken in 1982
and generate more profits for everyone. The
program will be an extension of our current
"Come to think of it, I'll have a Heineken"
theme. By the way, our first TV commercial
utilizing this theme was recently awarded the
Silver Medal (shown at left) in an annual ad
vertising competition sponsored by the Inter
national Film and Television Festival of New
York.
1981 has been a great year for Heineken and
a great beginning for Amstel Light. I look for
ward to greater success for both brands in
1982 and the years beyond and know that
with the marketing team we have
behind us, this success
will be achieved.
LEO VAN MUNCHING, JR.
PRESIDENT
