About the brewery
Since 2015, we have been continuing the tradition of brewing beer in Český Krumlov, which is practically connected with the town’s foundation in the 13th century. As the only local brewery in Český Krumlov, we continue the very successful historical tradition of the Schwarzenberg Brewery. We brew with our hearts and without compromise. We are bringing back to the historic brewery in Český Krumlov honest South Bohemian beer, quality brewing ingredients and processes.
The brewery is part of the newly renovated Port 1560 Centre. In addition to brewing and malting tours, it will offer art exhibitions and workshops, exhibitions on architecture, history and life in the Český Krumlov sub-castle, concerts in the Brewery Garden and other rich programmes.
FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE PRESENT
The brewing of beer for the needs of the nobility can be assumed in Český Krumlov from the foundation of the castle in the 13th century. The brewery and malt house stood until 1560 in the fourth courtyard of the castle, in front of the Plášt’ Bridge on the side facing the town. It brewed beer from barley and wheat malts, dilution and patois for the minorities, servants, labouring serfs and others.
In 1347, Petr of Rožmberk granted the Krumlov family the right to own taverns and a brewery and in 1388 the town was also granted an order for the sale of beer by the authorities.
MANOR BREWERY AND THE YEAR 1560
The brewing of beer for the needs of the nobility can be assumed in Český Krumlov from the foundation of the castle in the 13th century. The brewery and malt house stood until 1560 in the fourth courtyard of the castle, in front of the Plášt’ Bridge on the side facing the town. It brewed beer from barley and wheat malts, dilution and patois for the minorities, servants, labouring serfs and others. In 1347, Petr of Rožmberk granted the Krumlov family the right to own taverns and a brewery and in 1388 the town was also granted an order for the sale of beer by the authorities.SCHWARZENBERG BREWERY
The brewing of beer for the needs of the nobility can be assumed in Český Krumlov from the foundation of the castle in the 13th century. The brewery and malt house stood until 1560 in the fourth courtyard of the castle, in front of the Plášt’ Bridge on the side facing the town. It brewed beer from barley and wheat malts, dilution and patois for the minorities, servants, labouring serfs and others. In 1347, Petr of Rožmberk granted the Krumlov family the right to own taverns and a brewery and in 1388 the town was also granted an order for the sale of beer by the authorities.
TURN OF THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY
In the new Czechoslovakia and after Munich, when the border town of Český Krumlov became a part of the German territory, the Schwarzenberg brewery operated in a reconstructed operation with a boiler room with 2 steam boilers with a heating area of 120 m2 and a machine room with one steam engine at 75 hP and a dynamo with an output of 57 kW and with sufficient reserve. It also had a brewhouse from 1915 with a boiling capacity of 100 hl, a machine for drying the grinding mill, an ice crusher and an elevator for its transport.
In the 1927/28 marketing year, its malt house was equipped with modern machinery. It owned 7 of its own taverns and 4 warehouses, from which it supplied its outlets in the adjacent districts. Transport was provided by 1 car, 3 lorries and 1 beer wagon. The brewery’s output rarely approached its pre-World War I state and was rather much lower. The value of the company in 1929 was over CZK 6 million and the net income was CZK 855,577.
According to the decree of the President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic of 19 May 1945, the Provincial National Committee in Prague introduced national administration for all property of the Schwarzenberg primogeniture. This means that also the Schwarzenberg brewery in Český Krumlov. It was then transferred to the Czech Republic according to the law of 10 July 1947 (the so-called Lex Schwarzenberg). Later, it was also briefly incorporated into the emerging organisational network of state farms and in 1949 became a state brewery as part of the nationalisation process. On 7 September 1991, the Český Krumlov brewery changed hands and was sold in a small privatisation for CZK 75 million to the company Dionex s.r.o. Český Krumlov, whose owners became František Mrázek and Jiří Shrbený. This company was transformed on 1 March 1993 into Pivovar Eggenberg, a. s., Český Krumlov, which ceased operations in 2013.
The network of South Bohemian Breweries and their successor, České Budějovice Breweries, s.p., changed slowly, but nevertheless quite significantly, both the existing technical and production base during socialism. The bottling plant, for example, was changed more than three times. The wooden vats in the bottling plant were gradually converted to reinforced concrete between 1960 and 1971. In 1972-1982, all the wooden cask sections of the lager cellar were refilled, increasing the fermentation capacity to 13 500 hl.
The filtration and cooling systems were also modernised. The boiler house was gasified in 1979 – 1981. As a result of the general development, the packaging and transport vessel were changed several times. The brewhouse and kegging facilities were gradually improved and a new water treatment plant was built, which had a significant effect on improving the quality of the beer. In 1983, own malt production ceased and the basic raw material was purchased ready-made from commercial malt houses. In addition, a number of other minor technical modifications were carried out. The structural condition of the buildings was also significantly improved and the reconstruction of the historic Renaissance facades began, which was of particular value to this important heritage building.
As a result of these changes and the relatively high intensity, beer production more than quadrupled from 1950 (31 062 hl) to 1990 (133 699 hl).
CONTEMPORARY
Since 2015, we have been continuing the tradition of brewing beer in Český Krumlov, which is practically connected with the town’s foundation in the 13th century. As the only local brewery in Český Krumlov, we continue the very successful historical tradition of the Schwarzenberg Brewery. We brew with our hearts and without compromise. We are bringing honest South Bohemian beer, quality brewing ingredients and processes back to the historic brewery in Český Krumlov. The brewery is part of the newly renovated Port 1560 centre. In addition to brewing and malting tours, it will offer art exhibitions and workshops, as well as exhibitions about architecture, history and life in the Český Krumlov sub-castle, concerts in the Brewery Garden and other rich programmes.
