This tour happened during my trip to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam two years ago. I’m not sure if the exhibit is still there, and Google results haven’t been too helpful.

After staying in a few museums, we headed to the Bitexco tower next. Apart from ferris wheels, I also enjoy going to sky towers/tall buildings that give you a 360 degree view of the city so I was really looking forward to this visit.

We came in to pay for the Saigon Skydeck and the person at the counter told us about the The Heineken Experience exhibit happening. It was only VND 250K (around PHP 500 or $10). We were right on time for the next opening of the exhibit and we had plenty of time so we decided to go for it.

The tour is basically the history of Heineken, how they brew their their beers — specifically to their plant in Vietnam, and the proper way to drink Heineken!

I think the exhibit was just starting when we went there or maybe because it was in the middle of the weekday, but we were pretty much the only people there. We had our dedicated tour guide, but everyone was so friendly!

We stayed there for a bit. We get a free glass of beer (the one we learned to pour), and peanuts. I don’t drink, but drinking is part of the experience so I tasted some of it. Beer that you pour own your own is the best!

The most memorable part of the exhibit for me is how well done it is. I think the whole exhibit covered two or three floors? It’s really organized and arranged in such a way that you can combine it with your Saigon Skydeck visit. The Bitexco tower is kind of like an office building, but the space occupied by the Heineken Experience didn’t seem like it at all. The Heineken Experience is also one of the most interactive museums that I have been to. When they were showing the history of the beer, it wasn’t just a bunch of videos or pictures, but there was an interactive activity. There is even a VR experience wherein basically we were like riding a rollercoaster because we were the barley being processed to beer. There was also games that we played, a branded racing game. For someone who doesn’t drink, I was not bored the whole tour. I was actually looking forward to what we will do next and I was really into learning about the history and their brewing process.

The souvenir is a customized Heineken bottle with your name on it! And it’s not empty! You get it for free at the end of the tour.

I still can’t believe how cheap that tour is. We paid more for the Skydeck and honestly, we didn’t get to do anything there. The value of what we paid seemed more worth it given the Heineken Experience that we did.