Friekens Brewery: More than just a regular brewery

If you are a beer drinker and have been to OT301, Cinetol, Plantage, the Minds, Sexyland, Vrankrijk, Joe’s Garage, and several other interesting venues around Amsterdam, then you probably must have tried the Friekens beer. Have you ever wondered where this beer comes from?

Well, the past week, in a rather foggy and cloudy morning, even for Amsterdam standards, I biked one hour to the outskirts of Noord, where I visited the Friekens Brewery. Do not get me wrong, the Friekens Brewery is not just a regular brewery. Located in a beautiful landscape of a rural farm project, Friekens crafts vegan beer through traditional recipes and simple ingredients that bring out the natural and fresh taste of beer. There, I met Sid Benson, the person behind this initiative that started some years ago at the former squatted complex of Villa Friekens. I got the chance, not only to discover how Sid brews the beer, but also to discuss with him the story behind this unique project.

Sid: So Friekens was a squat from 2002 till 2016, when we were evicted. So, the factory that was there before was called Kiekens and then, as soon as it got squatted, it turned into Friekens. We actually started brewing in 2005, making batches of 80 litres in bottles and barrels, you know, small, just a few bottles. But we had lots of people there who were really up for trying out the beer, you know, for testing it.

For the last years, the Friekens Brewery has moved to this new location in Amsterdam Noord and continues to provide several alternative places in Amsterdam with tasty beer, while keeping quality high. Sid told me about their best-selling beer: The American Pale Ale. They have also made one label of this beer specifically for Amsterdam Alternative, called Vrij Beton beer, available at several venues connected with Amsterdam Alternative, like OT301, Cinetol, Skate Cafe, and De Nieuwe Anita. With every bottle sold, 25 cents go as a small donation to Amsterdam Alternative.

S: So, the American Pale Ale, it’s our best-selling beer, and this one we do a lot for other people. At least eight different labels, and we just have our own description that we put on the side.

I got amazed when I first learned about their Bass Activated Beer. We could easily suggest that Friekens implements the values of community and fun into all the processes of production.

S: One of our best-selling, unique beers is the bass activated beer. They call it the champagne of beers, a Belgium-style saison, known for its high carbonation and dry taste. This one is a very old recipe. Each batch has a different soundtrack which we reload, then loop for 72 hours (3 days). During this process, the yeast stays active during the fermentation and eats up more sugars, and you end up with the dryer beer. So, that gives our saison that unique dry flavour. So, the whole building is shaking. We can only do it like twice a year, because we make so much noise. 

It is important to highlight that, apart from being vegan, Friekens keeps their production waste-free.

S: All the spent grain is the stuff that we give to the farmer for the pigs. So, the pigs eat all the waste from the brewery, which is really good.

And, if you still have not heard about it, the Paint and Beer Festival!

S: One of the projects that we’ve been busy with since the Villa Friekens, is the Paint and Beer Festival, that we started in 2008. Basically, we cleaned up the Villa Friekens, a massive warehouse, and blanked all the walls, made a blank canvas. All the artists would come in the day before, start sketching everything out. And then, on the day of Paint and Beer, on Saturday, the public comes in, doors open, and people can watch it all going on. So, we’ve been doing that non-stop every year now since 2008. We even did a version in the COVID time, trying to do it with time slots. So yeah, Paint and Beer is our biggest project and got more serious, we just did it in September 2024 again.

If this does not sound like enough, you can experience Friekens through the Brew Bus Amsterdam on Saturday afternoons, for a beer tasting and brewery tour of Friekens and two other breweries. 

So now, next time you’re at a venue that offers Friekens Beer, you will be aware of the cool story that surrounds it – on top of the amazing flavour! Sid, I hope you continue making American Pale Ale great again.

Friekens brouwerij website