Plzeňský Prazdroj

Plzeňský Prazdroj as
legal form	Corporation
founding	1839
Seat	Czech Republic , Pilsen
management	Douglas Brodman
Branch	brewery
Website	www.prazdroj.cz

Gate of the brewery

Pilsner Urquell in original glasses

Prazdroj as is a brewery - stock company in Pilsen , Czech Republic . It is world-famous as the “birthplace” of Pilsner beer . The company's main brand, which is particularly important for the export business, is Pilsner Urquell (also the German equivalent of the Czech name of the brewery), while Gambrinus is the best-selling beer on the domestic market .

history

The brewery was founded in 1839 under the name Bürgerliches Brauhaus . The Bavarian Josef Groll was appointed the first master brewer in 1842 . The civil brewery was constantly expanded in the following years and in 1913/1914 the annual production exceeded 1 million hectoliters for the first time. In 1898 the trademark Prazdroj - Urquell was registered and in 1859 the product name “Pilsner Bier”. In addition to the bourgeois brewery , the First Pilsen Stock Brewery was established in 1869 , which initially only used the Plzeňský Gambrinus brand, which still exists today, for its beer, later also as the brewery name. In 1946 both companies were nationalized and merged under the name Plzeňské pivovary . 1992–1994 the company was privatized and was renamed Plzeňský Prazdroj as (JSC). From 1999 the company belonged to the South African Breweries plc group (since 2002: SABMiller ). In 2002 Plzeňský Prazdroj merged with the Radegast and Velké Popovice breweries . In the course of the merger between AB-InBev and SABMiller, Plzeňský Prazdroj was sold to the Japanese brewery group Asahi in 2017 .

The brewery's German business has been operated from Cologne since November 2007 . Pilsner Urquell Deutschland GmbH , previously based in Kerpen , operates in the classicist presidential villa of the former Federal Railway Directorate on the banks of the Rhine.

Brewery Museum

In 1959 a brewery museum was established as part of the West Bohemian Museum of the City of Pilsen . In 1987 it was handed over to the state-owned Pilsen brewery and is still owned by the brewery today. The museum has a permanent exhibition on the history of beer, its production and related crafts.