Sandenburg Experiences, a specialist in developing, designing and realising memorable customer experiences, has completed the Balashi Beer Experience in Aruba. The 1,300-square-metre attraction opened on 4 October at the Gloria multi-entertainment complex in Oranjestad.
Commissioned by MetaCorp, the project involved an investment of more than $16 million. Visitors can follow an approximately 90-minute journey through 12 immersive scenes celebrating Balashi and Aruba.
The Balashi Beer Experience takes visitors on a journey through 12 immersive scenes
The opening takes place exactly 25 years after the original Heineken Experience launched in Amsterdam. At the time, Sandenburg Experiences CEO Markus Konings led the project’s realisation through experience agency DST, which later merged with Sandenburg.
The Balashi Beer Experience marks a new milestone in that 25-year journey: rather than a traditional brewery tour, it is a ticketed brand experience within a broader leisure destination.
An immersive experience
Unlike a typical brewery tour, the Balashi Beer Experience is located away from the brewery, which is elsewhere in Aruba. Without the draw of an active production site, the experience needed to stand on its own as a destination
Aruba attracts around two million visitors each year, primarily from the United States. The experience was also created for local Arubans, for whom Balashi is already an integral part of island life and culture.
So, rather than focusing solely on how Balashi beer is made, the visitor journey links the brand’s story to Aruba’s culture, identity and character.
The experience takes in the ingredients and locations that help make Balashi what it is
The experience unfolds across 12 immersive scenes. Visitors begin in a traditional Aruban Cunucu House, then meet Buchi, Balashi’s master brewer, and his family in the Mindset Show.
Guided by Buchi, they explore the ingredients used to make Balashi, from desalinated Aruban seawater and Scottish barley to German hops, yeast and fermentation. Scenes inspired by Aruba’s natural landscapes, including Arikok National Park, deepen the connection to the island.
The Brewing Show at the Balashi Beer Experience puts guests at the heart of the action
In the iconic golden beer tank, the immersive Brewing Show places visitors at the centre of the process, as though they are being brewed themselves.
The journey continues through bottling, packaging and distribution, ending in a setting inspired by a traditional Aruban rum shop. Here, visitors can taste the beer, personalise a bottle and create a final memento before heading to the Flagship Store and Balashi Bar.
Across the journey, immersive performances, themed settings, projections, interactive displays, special effects, sound and original music bring the intertwined stories of Balashi and Aruba to life.
A wider brand destination
Live hosts deepen the experience.
They do more than guide visitors; they help shape the storytelling and atmosphere. Before opening, the Balashi team received training in hospitality, safety and storytelling, including hands-on role-play based on different guest types and situations.
The standalone brand destination combines immersive storytelling, trained live hosts, retail and hospitality
Immersion comes not from a single technology or performance, but from the combined impact of physical spaces, media, characters, and people.
The same approach extends beyond the final scene. Sandenburg Experiences also developed the Balashi Flagship Store and Balashi Bar within the broader concept, carrying the same visual language and design principles across the visitor experience, retail, and hospitality spaces.
Joram Meruwella of Sandenburg Experiences says: “The experience, the bar and retail all have the same handwriting and the same design principles. That ultimately creates one holistic experience.”
The Flagship Store lets visitors take home a tangible reminder of their visit. Its range includes Balashi apparel, beer-related merchandise, and items inspired by Aruba and island life. A flexible shopfit system also allows the retail selection to change over time.
The Flagship Store offers Balashi apparel, beer-related merchandise, and more
The experience then continues at the Balashi Bar, where Beer Experience visitors can enjoy another Balashi beer and pick up a personalised bottle made during their visit.
Both spaces were also designed to welcome visitors beyond the ticketed experience. The Flagship Store and Balashi Bar are open to everyone without a Beer Experience ticket, including cinema and restaurant guests, other Gloria visitors, and local Balashi fans who want to connect with the brand independently.
Together, Gloria’s ticketed experience, flagship retail, and hospitality offerings create a broader brand destination that visitors can explore, enjoy, and return to in different ways..
The experience culminates at the Balashi Bar
“Twenty-five years after the development of the first Heineken Experience, it is special to once again be at the foundation of a beer experience of this scale,” says Konings.
“Balashi has become much more than a conventional beer experience: it brings brand, culture, entertainment and hospitality together in one destination.”
Last year, Sandenburg Experiences announced that it is creating a new family attraction in Scheveningen, the Netherlands' most popular seaside resort. Located on the popular beach and boulevard, this new attraction will build on an existing base of 17 million visitors each year.
