Kapsreiter Brewery
The Kapsreiter brewery is a former Austrian company based in Schärding am Inn , which existed under this name from 1863 to 2012.
history
There were always several breweries in Schärding. In 1590 Leonard Lachmüller founded a brewhouse , which was finally taken over in 1863 by the Bavarian brewer Michael Kapsreiter (1834–1899). The brewery then remained in the possession of his descendants for almost 120 years, who developed the company into a recognized brewing and, above all, construction group. Especially in the period after the Second World War, the Kapsreiter Group, with its three divisions, Kapsreiter Construction , Kapsreiter Beer and Kapsreiter Granite, was one of the most important employers in the region on the lower Inn. In the mid-1980s, the Kapsreiter group experienced an economic decline. With the entry of the real estate agent Johann Haas, the group was initially saved from closure, but he was unable to raise the urgently needed investments. After the bankruptcy, the construction companies and quarries of the Kapsreiter group were closed. Only the Kapsreiter brewery remained largely in its earlier form. The Upper Austrian Brau AG and the Ottakringer Brewery were interested in taking over the brewery, which at the time had a turnover of approx. Achieved 100 million schillings (7.2 million euros). Haas decided to sell the brewery to Ottakringer in the summer of 1986 and was able to earn 70 million schillings (5 million euros) for the Kapsreiter Group, which was urgently needed to cover the liabilities of the construction division.
The Ottakringer Brewery opened Kapsreiter access to the markets in Vienna and Eastern Austria, and from 1987 the new Kapsreiter Landbier brand was introduced in resealable swing top bottles with porcelain caps. For a long time the brewery was known for its “cheap construction site beer”, which was initially mainly supplied to the employees of the construction and granite divisions of the Kapsreiter group, but the company's products were marketed in the high-priced market segment by the Ottakringer brewery. The country beer became the flagship of the brewery. Located in the highest price sector, this beer emphasized the quality and competence of the brewery. This found its expression in the high-quality design and the elaborate bottle. With this beer, the Kapsreiter brewery achieved national fame and, above all, demonstrated to a young, quality-conscious generation that beer can also convey a highly developed image and a modern attitude towards life. This beer clearly went against the trend of the "falling original wort" and embodied full beer taste. The Kapsreiter Landbier brand in the swing top bottle was last offered worldwide. In this context, the Kapsreiter brewery's public appearance also changed fundamentally. In 1990 a new brewhouse was built.
As a result of a reorganization of the Ottakringer brewery and its holdings, the Kapsreiter brewery passed into the ownership of the Harmer-Holding in 1995. Its general director Gustav Harmer comes from the family of the owners of the Ottakringer brewery and was the sole director of this company between 1962 and 1995. Until its closure, the Kapsreiter brewery was 100% owned by the Harmer family, who also held the majority of the Grieskirchen brewery , through the Harmer Holding .
In 2004, on the occasion of the Upper Austrian provincial exhibition, master brewer Jens Luckart created the Schärdinger Stadtbräu with ingredients from organic farming . The malt for this came from Bavaria's last floor malt house; only the first wort was used for lautering. With this product, the brewery was once again able to address a wide range of customers. Kapsreiter obtained the brewing malt for the country beer from Grieskirchen; for the other types of beer, with the exception of the Stadtbräu , it came from the Stadlauer Malzfabrik. In cooperation with the Schärding Tourist Association, brewery tours with beer tasting were also offered, during which visitors could view different light and dark types of malt, the open fermentation vats and the company's stone cellars 10 meters deep.
The annual output of the Kapsreiter brewery in 2011 was around 13,000 hectoliters of beer. Harmer tried several times to sell the breweries in Schärding and Grieskirchen, with the Ottakringer brewery repeatedly being named as an interested party. Corresponding deals ultimately did not materialize. At the beginning of September 2012, managing director Michael Harmer announced the closure of the Kapsreiter brewery at the end of the year. According to the plans announced at the time, production and sales in Schärding were to be closed, and the beers in the Kapsreiter range were only to be produced in Grieskirchen from January 2013. At that time, the Grieskirchen brewery employed 60 people. In accordance with these plans, the Schärding brewery location was given up on December 31, 2012 by the Harmer family and the production and sale of Kapsreiter beer in Schärding was discontinued.
Most recently, 17 employees were employed in the Kapsreiter brewery in Schärding, who lost their jobs when it closed. A social plan was drawn up for them. A large part of the former Kapsreiter hosts switched to the Baumgartner Brewery . Some of the leading employees at the Kapsreiter brewery were taken over by the Ried brewery . It was unclear whether the production of Kapsreiter beers in the Grieskirchen brewery could even be continued. Already when the Kapsreiter brewery was announced to close, it was pointed out that in Grieskirchen - in contrast to the brewery in Schärding - fermentation cannot take place openly, and the Schärdinger brewing water would no longer be used for production. As it turned out at the beginning of 2013, the production of Kapsreiter beer in the Grieskirchen brewery was not continued. The last stocks of Kapsreiter beer were quickly sold out after production in Schärding was discontinued. While it can be assumed that the "Kapsreiter" brand will disappear completely, the Ried brewery is trying to brew the Kapsreiter products Landbier and Stadtbräu according to the original recipes. In some restaurants in the Innviertel these "replicas" are offered under the name Innviertler Landbier and Stadtbräu.
On May 9, 2019, the Baumgartner Brewery officially announced that the Kapsreiter brand, which had been discontinued in 2012, had been revived. Baumgartner acquired the real estate, the brand, the original fountain and the original recipe from Kapsreiter back in 2013. In 2018, the Kapsreiter building was partially refurbished, creating more storage and logistics space and revitalizing the original Kapsreiter fountain. Because the original recipe stipulates that only your own well water may be used for brewing Kapsreiter Landbier. Since the former Kapsreiter brewing facilities were in extremely poor condition, beer production is no longer carried out in the original Kapsreiter brewing facilities, but in the Baumgartner brewery's brewery opposite, based on the original recipe. For the time being, only the Kapsreiter Landbier is produced. For those responsible at Baumgartner, it is important to recognize the Kapsreiter brand. Therefore the yellow "sun" with the ridden bull remains as a trademark. This was only subjected to a slight relaunch. The brand will be introduced in both the catering and retail sectors.
Infrastructure
The Kapsreiter brewery originally had two larger building complexes in Schärding, one in the city center on Untere Stadtplatz, the other in the suburbs at Linzer Tor, the latter being only separated from the brewhouse of the competing Baumgartner brewery by a narrow street . The water from the in-house well had to be prepared for the brewing process. The real estate on Untere Stadtplatz today belongs to the real estate company Haas. With the "Kapsreiter Bräustüberl " there was an inn of its own since 1868 , which was reopened at the beginning of 2013 under the name "Stadtwirt". Also at the beginning of 2013, the managing director of the Baumgartner brewery confirmed rumors that his company wanted to acquire all Kapsreiter properties in Schärding - including the former Bräustüberl - and that negotiations would be conducted with Harmer Holding. In 2013 Baumgartner acquired the entire brewery property and uses it today as a warehouse and event location.
range
In addition to seven types of beer, the brewery's range recently also included pleasure products such as beer chocolate, beer mustard and beer shampoo. The seven types of beer were:
- Kapsreiter Landbier light (12.8 ° / 5.3%)
- Kapsreiter Landbier golden brown (12.8 ° / 4.4%)
- Kapsreiter Märzen (12.2 ° / 5.1%)
- Kapsreiter Pils (11.5 ° / 4.7%)
- Kapsreiter Landbier Bock (16.3 ° / 6.9%)
- Kapsreiter hop crown (12.6% / 5.9%)
- Kapsreiter Stadtbräu (12.3 ° / 4.9%)
Web links
- Official website (as of October 20, 2012) ( Memento from October 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- official website
Individual evidence
- ^ Kolarik-Leeb , accessed April 12, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Beer Guide , accessed on May 27, 2010.
- ↑ a b c www.innviertelbier.at , accessed on April 12, 2013
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from March 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Tourismusverband Schärding - Guided tours in the Kapsreiter brewery ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 12, 2013
- ↑ a b c d Kapsreiter Brewery in Schärding will be closed , at www.wirtschaftsblatt.at ( Memento from September 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 18, 2016
- ↑ Grieskirchner and Kapsreiter before sale (www.derstandard.at, January 26, 2011), accessed on April 11, 2013
- ↑ a b c d Brauerei Kapsreiter retten (www.mein Bezirk.at), accessed on April 11, 2013
- ↑ On the official website of the brewery you can read: " The Kapsreiter brewery has stopped production in Schärding for economic reasons. We would like to thank all employees and business partners for decades of good cooperation. The management ", see www.kapsreiter.at , accessed April 11, 2013
- ↑ a b c Kapsreiter boss goes to Rieder Bier (www.nachrichten.at, February 15, 2013), accessed on April 11, 2013
- ↑ Österreichischer Brauwarenschutzverein ( Memento from March 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 12, 2013
- ↑ The bull rides again (www.meinbazirk.at), accessed on May 9, 2019
- ↑ Baumgartner - Stadtwirt Schärding , accessed on April 11, 2013
- ↑ Baumgartner buys all Kapsreiter properties (www.mein Bezirk.at), accessed on September 3, 2013
