National Juergens Brewery

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Beer mat with the logo of the National-Jürgens-Brewery, around 1936.

The National-Jürgens-Brauerei (NJB) is a former large- scale brewery and today's craft beer brewery in Braunschweig , which was founded in the 19th century through the merger of two breweries and ceased operations in 1977. Together with Feldschlößchen and the Hofbrauhaus Wolters , it was one of the city's three largest breweries in the 20th century. In 2017 the brewery was reopened under the old name.

Company history

National Actien Beer Brewery on Wendenstrasse, before 1885.
Advertisement from 1906
Advertisement from 1925

Company founded by the end of the Second World War

Carl Friedrich Jürgens founded the brewery “F. Jürgens ” in Wendenstrasse ; however, it must have existed as early as the 16th century, as it was already supplied by a brewery commune. After the premises in Wendenstrasse had become too small due to the company's expansion, the company moved into modern, newly constructed buildings on Rebenring in 1872, converted the company into a public limited company and from then on was called “National-Actien-Bier-Brauerei” " . In 1883 beer production was 50,000 hectoliters. Soon after, however, Jürgens left the company and founded the "Friedrich Jürgens Brewery" on Hamburger Straße , which in turn merged with the "National Brewery" in 1920 and finally renamed the "National-Jürgens-Brewery" .

Shortly before the turn of the 20th century, the NJB was the largest in Braunschweig for some time. Some of the various beers were sold far beyond the Free State of Braunschweig . Operations manager around 1910 was Fritz Schuberth, who came from Kulmbach and in the 1920s he began to buy up shares in the Feldschlößchen brewery, which was also located in Braunschweig, which turned out to be a useful circumstance in 1977, the year the company merged with Feldschlößchen.

During the Second World War , the production facilities and buildings on the Rebenring were largely destroyed in the heaviest bomb attack on Braunschweig on October 15, 1944 .

post war period

In the post-war period, however, production was soon resumed to the usual extent, but the division of Germany and the zonal border , which ran only approx. 40 km east of Braunschweig, meant that sales to the sales area that was important for Braunschweig breweries fell behind the " Iron Curtain " - approx. 30% of the total sales of the NJB - collapsed completely. Nevertheless, National-Jürgens was able to compensate for these sales losses, as beer consumption rose in early post-war Germany.

After long years of experimentation, it was possible in 1967 to produce an Altbier in the style of top-fermented beers from the Rhineland , which was successfully sold under the brand name "Brunswiek Alt" . In 1977 the merger with the Braunschweiger Feldschlößchen brewery finally took place by means of a contribution agreement . "Brunswiek Alt" continued to be produced for a few years after the Feldschlößchen merger.

New opening in 2017

In 2017 the brewery was re-established under its old name and in its original premises by a team of young entrepreneurs. Instead of producing for a larger market, craft beer is now brewed there, which is sold regionally. Since the new founders own the naming rights to the old products, beers are again being produced under the old brand names Gala and Brunswiek Alt .

Beers produced

At the time of the old brewery (until 1977) the following draft and bottled beers were sold under the names Gala and Brunswiek Alt :

  • Gala Doppelbock
  • Gala export
  • Gala crown
  • Gala Pils
  • Gala Royal
  • Gala table beer
  • Gala Vita malt
  • Brunswiek Alt (Altbier, from 1967)

Since the reopening, the range currently consists of the following beers:

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Andreas Döring: Wirth! Another two quarters of the room. Braunschweig restaurants & Braunschweig beer back then. P. 40
  2. ↑ National Jürgens: Rebirth of a beer brand
  3. ↑ a b c Council of the City of Braunschweig (ed.): Braunschweig. (= Germany's urban development .) P. 264.
  4. ↑ a b Friedrich August Knost (Ed.): Braunschweig - creating land. A book from the Lower Saxony administrative district of Braunschweig. Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg o. J., p. 128
  5. ^ Jörg Leuschner, Claudia Märtl, Karl Heinrich Kaufhold: The economic and social history of the Braunschweigischen country. Volume III: Modern Times. Hildesheim 2008, p. 212
  6. ↑ a b Andreas Döring: Wirth! Another two quarters of the room. Braunschweig restaurants & Braunschweig beer back then. P. 41
  7. ^ Jürgen Hodemacher: Braunschweig's streets. Their names and their stories. Volume 2: Okergraben and city ring. P. 245
  8. ↑ Friedrich A. Knost (Ed.): Braunschweig - creating land. A book from the Lower Saxony administrative district of Braunschweig. Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg o. J., p. 125
  9. ↑ Current types of beer from the National-Jürgens-Brewery