Brewers worldwide face rising challenges: declining beer consumption, climate change and supply chain disruption. Heineken’s answer is to double-down on innovation: with the new multi-million euro center in the Netherlands designed to develop the brews of the future.
And it’s the perfect playground for the company’s R&D chief, Hubert te Braake.
The innovation pathway
Having been with Heineken for more than 25 years, Te Braake is a veteran of the company. He’s worked in roles across the company, giving him a 360 view of the brewer.
And for him, the new R&D center is more than just a lab.
“This building, in itself, already shows the commitment we have as a company for innovation,” he said. “It shows the commitment we have to make products that truly serve consumer needs.”
The state-of-the-art building is fully equipped for everything needed to create the next big brews: with a particular focus on brewing innovation, flavor research, fermentation science, AI and more.
Te Braake breaks down innovation (and his role in leading it) into two key simple components. The first is the consumer. The second is anticipating what the future of brewing is going to look like.
“If you ask where a product starts, the reality is that it starts from the consumer,” he said. “What the investment in the R&D center is about is to better understand consumer needs and then give us the means to meet these consumer needs. That’s the key thing.
“And the other part is we’re working on new technologies that we think we’ll need in future product development.”
What does that mean in practice? Here, Heineken 0.0 provides the perfect case study. Prior to the brew’s launch in 2017, Heineken identified a growing consumer need: alcohol-free products that deliver on quality and flavor and the sensory experience of drinking a beer.
But at that point there was also the need to develop the technology that would deliver that. Alcohol-free beer had been the subject of jokes for decades: Heineken wanted to up the game with new tech.
And beyond that, there was the question of addressing the social stigma behind alcohol-free products: with them primarily considered the domain of drivers and pregnant women. How could Heineken go about addressing that and launch as a truly credible mass market product?
“That’s the complexity of new products,” says Te Braake. “People think it’s just a product: but it’s the whole proposition that determines whether it’s a success or not.”
The result? Heineken 0.0 is now the world’s top selling alcohol-free brew.
Evolving Heineken for the next generation: aperitifs and zero calorie
But what’s brewing at Heineken now?
The Dutch giant is the second largest brewer in the world (after AB InBev) which covers more than 190 countries: from the Americas to Asia-Pacific and from the Middle East to Europe.
And it has to find an interesting balance between tradition and innovation.
Brand Heineken is known and loved around the world for the classic pale lager it is (the first Heineken branded beer was brewed in 1873) but there’s also the need to tap into new consumer trends such as premiumization and health and wellness.
Like Heineken 0.0, the latest launches under brand Heineken show just how it’s navigating that balance.
Heineken’s R&D lab has just released one of its latest innovations, Heineken 0.0 Ultimate, in the test states of Massachusetts and New Jersey.
This ‘triple zero beer’ has the same refreshing essence as Heineken Original: but it’s zero alcohol, zero calories and zero sugar with ‘fruity notes, balanced with a slight hoppy aroma and very subtle malty body, all perfected for a light and refreshing taste’.
Meanwhile, Heineken Fusion is being piloted in Italy. This innovation is designed to be served in the fashion of a spritz: offering something for beer drinkers who are looking for a more premium option.
This 6% ABV brew is currently in an exclusive pilot phase in just 70 bars across Italy – with venues dotted between Milan, Bologna and the Riviera Romagnola.
Heineken is testing the new innovation in these venues and feedback will be sent back to HQ before considering a wider launch.
How to build a career in R&D
Te Braake is, himself, a scientist by trade. His teams are brainy bunches: having studied for years on PhDs or other advanced qualifications.
He joined Heineken in 1997: starting out as a scientist in the R&D department.
His career with the company has then taken him across various fields, from supply chain development to e-procurement.
Since 2019, he’s been global research and development director at the company’s brewery in Zoeterwoude, back in the R&D department but now with a much greater appreciation of how that work feeds into the wider business.
“I am a scientist by education, I love science,” he said.
“I think curiosity is the key thing. If you are a curious person, then our R&D department is the place to be.
“But I use the word multidisciplinary a lot: because you always work together. In every project, we always have to work with other functions. That gives so much energy. I think the major part is working with a great team from all around the world, all age brackets.”
Heineken's R&D Center
• Created with a €45m investment from Heineken
• The 8,800 m² site is situated in Zoeterwoude, Netherlands (next to the largest brewery in Europe)
• The site hosts around 100 employees, from 12 nationalities
• Key focuses for the center are brewing innovation, flavor research, fermentation science, AI, packaging, and consumer science
• The global hub is dedicated to R&D in brewing innovation, next-generation product development and sustainability. It’s the center pin for Heineken’s global network of hubs in Mexico, South Africa, and Vietnam.
• The site incorporates offices, labs, sensory research, packaging development: supporting global brands such as Heineken, Desperados, and Amstel.
• The site has been built to BENG standards with A++++ energy label.
So while a love of science is clearly a great founding for R&D professionals, you need to be more than a brainy boffin to succeed at Heineken.
“We’re looking for people at the crosshairs of consumer, science and bio-chemistry,” he said.
“And, again, most important is curiosity. You need to be able to manage projects, collaborate with other teams and other departments, but what will set you aside is an upstanding curiosity and technical aspects in what you are doing.
“The willingness to develop, apply, that’s crucial.”
Global innovation
The key message from Te Braake is that Heineken is betting big on innovation.
But it’s not just in the Netherlands. Heineken has three hubs around the world (Mexico, South Africa, Vietnam) were R&D is brought closer to the consumer.
And, even in a company as big as Heineken, you’re allowed to fail. “If we don't have failures and setbacks, then that means we haven’t pushed ourselves enough," says Te Braake.
What’s next for Heineken?
What’s next for the R&D lab? Questions like this are always quite sensitive for an R&D professional in a global brewing giant: because the answers are shrouded in IP and commercial sensitivity and confidentiality.
But Heineken is doing what every other brewer is doing. The global beer category is having a rather large wobble. Volumes are unsteady.
Heineken managed to come out of FY24 successfully, with volumes up 1.6%: but most importantly revenue rose 5%. A focus on quality and premium products is key for the future (premium beer volumes grew mid-single digits over the year). Both Heineken and Heineken 0.0 fit into this premiumization structure. Moderation is a trend that will keep playing out.
Beer, as a category, however, does still have some cards up its sleeves. In an age where artificial flavors, colors, sugar and ultra-processed foods are increasingly under fire, beer is a product brewed from simple, natural ingredients: barley, hops, yeast and water. And it can play the natural card more.
“We have to realize that we are in an industry that has some wonderful assets. We have very nice natural ingredients, and a natural process, and we can use that to make other products as well,” says Te Braake.
Brewing sustainably into the future is another key consideration. That means thinking about where these core ingredients are sourced from: or even new ingredients that could feature more heavily in brewing in the future (brewers are busy exploring how grains such as quinoa and kernza could hold potential).
Another key development for the lab will be the use of AI. This doesn’t necessarily mean robots brewing beer: but it does mean coming back to the question of how Heineken looks at that consumer need.
Individual consumers might give highly personalized answers; AI can help identify what trends are being played out in mass. And AI can help researchers and developers shift through ideas and models and find the most promising ones.
“We do a lot with AI,” he says. “You can speed up the process, product development, get insights you would not have otherwise. We’ve been using AI for quite some time.
“Yes, we start from consumer needs, but to really extract that data is a big challenge. AI helps us take sources from everywhere and actually use those insights.”
But brewing has always been both an art and a science; a balance that will remain. And as a true brewer, an innovator pushing boundaries but also someone that respects the traditions that beer is built on, that’s a philosophy that Te Braake follows.
“Yes, I think AI will change the way we think about processes, the way we think about approaching NPD, but it fundamentally remains a natural process,” he said. “That will not change.”
