National Beer Museum the Boom

The National Beer Museum of the Netherlands is located in Alkmaar in a former three-storey brewery, parts of which date from the seventeenth century. It was established in the 1980s and displays the tools, equipment, machines and raw materials used for brewing, as well as historic vehicles used for delivering beer, including hand carts and an ice sleigh. There are also collections of posters, bottles and glasses, and a particular feature is a series of photographs showing life in the Heineken brewery in 1951 taken by the renowned Dutch photographer Paul Huf (1924-2002). As in most brewery museums, visitors are able to taste samples of beer. The bar beneath the museum extends to a floating section over a canal, and is very popular.