Alfred Henry Heineken, who built an Amsterdam brewer into one of the world's biggest beer companies, died on Thursday at his home in the Dutch coastal town of Noordwijk. He was 78 and died of pneumonia.

Mr. Heineken, who was known as Freddy, created the green bottle that helped Heineken become synonymous with imported beer in the United States. Aided by the company's marketing, Heineken was the best-selling import in the United States for many years before it was dethroned by Corona of Mexico in 1998.

Born in Amsterdam in 1923, Mr. Heineken began working for his family's brewing company at the age of 18, during World War II. The company was started in 1863 by his grandfather Gerard Heineken, who persuaded his mother to back him financially by arguing that there would be fewer displays of drunken behavior on the streets if the Dutch were able to drink a good beer instead of gin.

His grandson Freddy would prove himself equally gifted in the art of persuasion, directing Heineken's advertising and marketing efforts. ''Had I not been a beer brewer I would have become an advertising man,'' he once said.