Brewery Visit: Hertog Jan

Brewery: Hertog Jan
Village: Arcen
Country: Netherlands

Sometime ago i visited, together with some friends, the Hertog Jan brewery near Arcen. Hertog Jan being one of my favourite pilseners and beer brands, i was really looking forward to this brewery visit. Located near the German border in the south eastern end of the Netherlands, and being located in the Dutch equivalent of the middle of nowhere, traveling to Arcen took quite a while.

However, it was well worth the journey.

Having booked tickets in advance for a brewery tour, and with a set start time, it was very important to arrive on time. Most of us did arrive on time, with the exception of one member of our group. He just missed the train as it was leaving the station, which was quite entertaining, he eventually arrived halfway through the tour.

The Brewery (middle of nowhere)

The first thing that was noticeable when nearing the brewery was the pipeline connecting the brewery with the brewery pub. The pipeline provides beer to the taps within the brewery, awesome!

The beer pipeline 

The brewery tour covered the entire brewing process, from raw materials to finished bottles. This was very informative and just a lot of fun to experience. Also there were multiple opportunities to taste, smell and feel the raw ingredients used to make Hertog Jan beers. This particular brewery mainly creates the specialty beers of Hertog Jan, with the pilsener being brewed in another Brewery, Dommelsch, which is also part of the same group which owns Hertog Jan (InBev).

The Brewery

As previously mentioned the tour covered the entire brewing process, and also the history of Hertog Jan which can be read about (Dutch only) here. During the tour we also had the opportunity to taste several beers such as HJ bock, also we had the chance to taste the Grand Prestige in two different stages of the brewing process.

No, its not espresso...

We also got a look at the brewery bottling line, it was quite hypnotizing seeing a never ending line of bottles being filled with beer and capped.

Toward the end of the tour, just before we headed over to the pub for some beers, we visited the brewery cellars. These cellars are exclusively used to store and age Hertog Jan's flagship specialty beer, the Grand Prestige. This is definitely my favorite specialty beer from this brewery, and if you get the chance i suggest you try it (fresh or aged). There is a special version of the tour that you can book, this will result in you receiving a bottle from the cellar on its conclusion. Unfortunately, we did not book the special version so we could only watch.

row upon row….

Tasting the finished product

After the tour's end we followed the beer pipeline to the Hertog Jan pub, finally it was time for some beer! Here we tried several of Hertog Jan's specialty beers, together with one…. or maybe two more glasses of Hertog Jan pils. The pub is definitely one of the nicest looking ones I've been to, in terms of interior and great location.

Yes!

All in all, we had a great day visiting the Hertog Jan brewery. The weather was great, the tour was great, and the beer tasted great! The only thing that wasn't so great was the fact that we now had to travel all the way back home.

A great day at the brewery

Cheers!