Heineken Lager Beer (Dutch: Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken (pronounced [ˈɦɛinəkə(n)]), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume, produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. It is typically sold in a green bottle with a red star.

On 15 February 1864, Gerard Adriaan Heineken (1841–1893) bought De Hooiberg (The Haystack) brewery on the Nieuwezijds Achterburgwal canal in Amsterdam, a popular working class brand founded in 1592. In 1873 after hiring Dr. Elion, a student of French chemist Louis Pasteur to develop a suitable yeast for Bavarian bottom fermentation, the HBM (Heineken's Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij) was established, and the first Heineken brand beer was brewed. In 1875 Heineken won the Medaille D'Or at the International Maritime Exposition in Paris and it began to be shipped there regularly, after which Heineken sales topped 64,000 hectolitres (1.7 million U.S. gallons), making them the largest beer exporter to France at the time.

In Heineken's early years, the beer won four awards:

The two awards that are still mentioned on the label are the Medaille d'Or and Diplome d'Honneurs.

In 2013, Heineken joined other alcohol producers as part of a producers' commitments to reducing harmful drinking.

In February 2013, Heineken stopped producing the brown bottles used for the Dutch market in favor of the green color of bottles it already used for exports.

In 2014, Heineken celebrated its 150th anniversary. In 2015, Heineken won the Creative Marketer of the Year Award, becoming the second company to win the award twice.

The original brewery where Gerard Adriaan Heineken first started making Heineken is now the Heineken Experience museum.