Eichhof Brewery
The Eichhof brewery is a beer brewery in Switzerland based in Lucerne . It is mainly represented in Central Switzerland . The brewery has been part of Heineken since 2008 .
history
The origins of beer brewing in the city of Lucerne go back to the monks of the Benedictine monastery in the courtyard around 1300. In 1668 Georg Keller founded the first private brewery in town, the Falken . In 1834 Johann Baptist Guggenbühler received permission from the city authorities to set up a brewery in a house on Löwenstrasse and to serve home-brewed beer. The lion monument was already nearby, which is why Guggenbühler named the brewery the Löwengarten . Just 5 years later, he sold the company on.
In 1878 Traugott Spiess took over the Löwengarten brewery together with the son-in-law of the owner at the time. Spiess, born in 1850, came from Ormalingen, Baselland. With the trained specialist in brewing, the Löwengarten became the largest brewery in the city of Lucerne. From 1882 Spiess ran the business as the sole owner. In the following years he implemented important technical innovations: water turbines, artificial cellar cooling, artificial ice production, and bottling. Traugott Spiess was a strong personality with a sure eye for the essentials. Contemporaries described him as a "personality of outstanding loyalty to duty and rich experience". He preferred to spend his free time hunting. In 1899 Spiess converted his private company into a stock corporation, the Spiess A.-G. He himself remained the main owner.
Only a few breweries in Lucerne survived the turn of the century. In addition to the Spiess brewery, Heinrich Endemann's Lucerne Brewery AG played a dominant role on the Eichhof estate. The two breweries have worked closely together since 1917. In 1922 they merged to form the United Lucerne Breweries AG . The Eichhof was chosen as the location. Traugott Spiess was Chairman of the Board of Directors until 1924. Then he moved to California. He returned to Switzerland shortly before his death in 1939.
In 1937 the company was renamed the Lucerne Brewery to Eichhof AG . In 1960 it became the Eichhof AG brewery .
In the 2006/2007 financial year, Eichhof Getränke AG generated sales of CHF 217.6 million, around 44 percent of which was from Eichhof's own beers.
When it became apparent in 2008 that Eichhof, one of the last large local breweries after Feldschlösschen was sold to Carlsberg in 2000, there were various protests and boycotts . 15,500 people signed a note of protest against the sale. However, since the main shareholders and Eichhof Holding, which held a total of 49 percent of the shares, agreed to the takeover offer, the brewery (Eichhof Getränke AG) was sold to Heineken Switzerland AG for CHF 290 million on August 29, 2008 . The Eichhof Immobilien AG division was also sold for CHF 105 million. Since only the Datacolor colorimetry division remained in Eichhof Holding AG , it was renamed Datacolor AG in spring 2009 . In October 2008, Heineken Switzerland moved its headquarters to the Eichhof brewery in Lucerne.
In response to the takeover by foreign owners, new breweries were founded in Central Switzerland, such as Lanzbier in the neighboring canton of Nidwalden , Lozärner beer ( brewed in the cantons of Bern and Schaffhausen) and, in particular, Lucerne beer in April 2009 .
range
The Eichhof brewery brews eleven different beers in Lucerne. In addition to the warehouse , there are also specialty beers like the Klosterbräu (cloudy and natural), Hubertus (dark, malty) or Barbara (full-bodied strong beer with 6.5% alcohol), besides also alcohol free, Panaché and cyclists . Since mid-2013, only keg filling has been in Lucerne; for bottling, the beer is transported in container tanks by truck and train to Chur and bottled there by Calanda Bräu , which also belongs to Heineken . The Eichhof lager canned beer was already bottled in Chur beforehand. Since then, delivery has been made from the wholesale warehouse in Domat / Ems .
The Last Eichhof
The computer game The Last Eichhof was developed in 1993 by Alpha-Helix , a group of students at ETH Zurich , and offered as freeware . In this shoot-'em-up game you have to defend the Eichhof brewery against a hostile takeover .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ "We also gained new customers", article in the Neue Luzerner Zeitung from August 5, 2008
- ^ "Now Eichhof customers are cheating", article in the Neue Luzerner Zeitung from July 26, 2008
- ↑ Invitation to the media and analyst presentation - Heineken's public offer for Eichhof beverages ( Memento from June 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Press release from Eichhof Holding AG of April 10, 2008, accessed on September 27, 2012
- ↑ Eichhof Holding sells Eichhof Immobilien AG to BVK Personalvorsorge of the Canton of Zurich ( Memento of July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Press release of Eichhof Holding AG of December 9, 2008, accessed on September 27, 2012
- ↑ Heineken Switzerland relocates its administrative headquarters to Lucerne (PDF) ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), Heineken Switzerland press release from October 28, 2008
- ↑ Cover story - Regional beers are becoming increasingly popular , article on 13 Minuten from May 1, 2014
- ↑ "Winkelried was the godfather for the new Lanzbier", article in the Neue Luzerner Zeitung from January 9, 2009
- ^ History information page on the Lanzbier GmbH website, accessed on July 5, 2015
- ^ History information page on the Lozärner Bier AG website, accessed on July 5, 2015
- ^ History information page on the website of Brauerei Luzern AG, accessed on July 5, 2015
- ↑ Eichhof beers , accessed on July 5, 2015
- ↑ Eichhof brings beer to Chur: Is that eco? , Neue Luzerner Zeitung, January 25, 2013
- ↑ “I understand the emotions” ( memento from July 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), interview from biergenuss.ch from February 1, 2013
- ↑ Eichhof beer will be bottled in Chur in future , Neue Luzerner Zeitung, 23 January 2013
Coordinates: 47 ° 2 '22.9 " N , 8 ° 17' 54.1" E ; CH1903: 665 338 / 210210