The Heineken Collection houses many old devices that were once indispensable in the beer brewing process. Among them is a remarkable number of coopers' tools, which were necessary for crafting the wooden beer barrels, such as this coopers' work bench. 

On this handy workbench, you could affix and smooth the wooden staves of barrels. In the 1910 photo of the cooperage on the Heineken brewery premises in Amsterdam, the second man from the right is sitting on such a bench. 

Traditional crafts 

Half a century later, everything had changed. In 1962, the internal Heineken periodical Vers van 't vat reported that, for the sake of beer quality and the customers’ interests, the barrel facility had completely transitioned to stainless steel barrels. Not only are they considerably lighter than their oak predecessors, but they are also more hygienic, cheaper to manufacture, and easier to stack. This significantly increases transport efficiency. The wooden barrels from the lagering cellars met the same fate. The cooperages at the Heineken sites in Amsterdam and Rotterdam are now considered part of traditional crafts.