Budweiser Budvar ( ) is a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

in the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

city of

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; german: Budweis ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 93,000 inhabitants. It is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is t ...

(german: Budweis), best known for its original Budweiser or Budweiser Budvar

pale lager Pale lager is a very pale-to- golden-colored lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. The brewing process for this beer developed in the mid-19th century, when Gabriel Sedlmayr took pale ale brew ...

brewed using

artesian water An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water contained within t ...

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The m ...

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

and

Saaz hops Saaz is a "noble" variety of hops. It was named after the Czech city of Žatec (german: Saaz). This hop is used extensively in Bohemia to flavor beer as the Czech pilsener. Saaz hops accounted for more than of total 2009 hop production in the Cze ...

. Budweiser Budvar is the fourth largest beer producer in the Czech Republic and the second largest exporter of beer abroad. The state-owned brewery and its Budweiser pale lager have been engaged in a trademark dispute with

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ( AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

, a brewery in the United States, over the right to market and sell the beer under the name ''Budweiser'' since the start of the 20th century. The brewery is incorporated as Budějovický Budvar, národní podnik ("Budweiser Budvar, national enterprise").

History

1265–1895

The history of brewing in

(german: Budweis) dates back to 1265, when Ottokar II,

King of Bohemia The Duchy of Bohemia was established in 870 and raised to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198. Several Bohemian monarchs ruled as non-hereditary kings beforehand, first gaining the title in 1085. From 1004 to 1806, Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman E ...

, granted the city brewing rights. At one point, the city was the imperial brewery of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

. To promote the quality of the drink, nearby towns were forbidden from brewing. To distinguish Budweis beer from that coming from other regions, it was called Budweiser Bier ("beer from Budweis" in German). By early 16th century, the Czech brewing industry was providing up to 87% of the total revenue for municipalities. The

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

between 1618 and 1648, however, devastated much of Central Europe and with it, the Czech beer industry. Concurrently, the

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czec ...

became a part of the Habsburg monarchy after the war. A separate brewery,

Budweiser Bürgerbräu Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. ''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unrela ...

() was founded in 1795 by the city's German-speaking citizens and started brewing Budweiser Bier in 1802. The company began shipping its beer to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1875. A year after,

Adolphus Busch Adolphus Busch (10 July 1839 – 10 October 1913) was the German-born co-founder of Anheuser-Busch with his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser. He introduced numerous innovations, building the success of the company in the late 19th and early ...

, a German immigrant to the

and a businessman, encountered the brewery's Budweiser often during his visit to Europe. Thus, he decided to name his own beer Budweiser and brew it according to the Bohemian process. Budweiser Bürgerbräu was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2014 to aid its claim on the Budweiser trademark.

1895–present

Budweiser Budvar Brewery was incorporated in 1895 as the Czech Joint Stock Brewery when local Czech breweries in České Budějovice, then part of Austria-Hungary, merged and started brewing Budweiser with new technology. The name ''Budvar'' is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsGerman occupation of Czechoslovakia during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and its communist-rule during the Cold War, the brewery was unable to compete with the American Anheuser-Busch as production faltered. By 1948, all Czech breweries had been nationalized by the communist government. The brewery reported in 2015 that it had grown by 226% since 1991 and that its total sales volume had increased by 39% in the last ten years.

Budweiser Budvar

Production

Budweiser Budvar beer is produced in the brewery at

, drawing

from wells beneath it, with

and

, known as a

noble hop Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

variety, from the

Žatec Žatec (; german: Saaz) is a town in Louny District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 19,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Ohře river. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monumen ...

region. It is matured for a minimum of 90 days, contrasted with 72 hours of lagering (maturation) for mass-market beers. In 2004, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

awarded Budweiser Budvar Protected Geographical Indication status. Budweiser is the brewery's "signature product" and a "symbol of national pride".

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

said the following of the company's lager in 2002:

Budweiser Budvar is a great beer because it has great raw materials and great brewers. They produce it in a slow and painstaking way. Its integrity is best served by its being produced in its town of origin, in a region with pride in its beer.

In 1990, the company brewed 450,000 hectolitres of beer a year and exported to 18 countries; in 2013, 1.42 million hectolitres and 66 countries; and in 2015, 1.6 million hectolitres and 76 countries, respectively. It is the most bought foreign beer in Germany, selling approximately 290,000 hectolitres in 2016, and the best selling Czech beer in the United Kingdom.

Trademark dispute

Budweiser Budvar Brewery and the American brewery

have been engaged in an ongoing trademark dispute over the name ''Budweiser'' since the start of the 20th century. In 1939, only one week before the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Budweiser Budvar agreed to concede exclusive rights to the American brewery in the United States area. During

and the Cold War, Budweiser Budvar was unable to compete with then independent Anheuser-Busch. In 1994, then CEO of Budweiser Budvar Jiří Boček decided not to sign a trademark agreement with the American brewery to divide their territory across the world. On 29 July 2010, Anheuser-Busch lost its last-instance appeal in the European Court of Justice, meaning it may not register the name ''Budweiser'' as a European Union trademark for beer. Consequently Budweiser Budvar beer is imported as ''"Czechvar"'' in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Philippines and the United States and Anheuser-Busch sells its beer as ''"Bud"'' in most of the European Union.

Beers

The company brews different types of lager: * ''Classic'', a pale draught beer with 4.0%

ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

(in

: 10° or ''Výčepní''). * ''Original'', 90-day matured

and flagship of the brand, marketed as a premium lager, contains 5.0% ABV (in Czech: 12° or ''Ležák''). * ''Dark'', a

dark lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storag ...

with Munich, caramel and roasted malt and 4.7% ABV (in Czech: ''Tmavé''). * ''Special'', the original pale lager with added cultures of yeast and 5.0% ABV (in Czech: ''Kroužkovaný ležák''). * ''Cvikl'', an unfiltered

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...

pale lager with 4.0% ABV (in Czech: ''Nefiltrované''). * ''Strong'', a strong pale lager matured for 200 days, contains 7.5% ABV (in Czech: 16° or ''Speciál''). * ''Free'', a

low-alcohol beer Low-alcohol beer is beer with little or no alcohol content and aims to reproduce the taste of beer while eliminating (or at least reducing) the inebriating effects of standard alcoholic brews. Most low-alcohol beers are lagers, but there are some ...

with 0.5% ABV (in Czech: ''Nealkoholické''). * ''Cryo'', an eisbock with 21% ABV (in Czech: ''Mražený speciál''). Additionally, Budweiser Budvar brewery produces beer under the Pardál brand. * ''Pardál'', a pale draught beer with 3.8% ABV. * ''Pardál Echt'', a

with 4.5% ABV. * ''Pardál Echt kvasnicový'', an unfiltered yeast beer with 4.5% ABV. * Pardálovo Bezové, an

elderberry ''Sambucus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly called elder or elderberry. The genus was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified as Adoxaceae due to ge ...

beer with 2,0% ABV.

List of brewmasters

The following is a list of Budweiser Budvar Brewery's brewmasters: * Antonín Holeček, 1.4.1895–31.3.1899 * František Felix, 1.4.1899-31.12.1908 * Josef Brych, 1.1.1909–26.2.1919 * Vladimír Kořán, 1.3.1919-31.12.1935 * Oldřich Miškovský, 1.1.1936–30.4.1942 * Václav Rambousek, 1.5.1942–10.4.1948 * Rudolf Smolík, 1.1.1949–31.7.1959 * Miloš Heide, 1.8.1959–31.12.1984 * Josef Tolar, 1.1.1985–31.12.2008 * Adam Brož, 1.1.2009–present

References

External links

*
Official website of Czechvar
{{Authority control Products with protected designation of origin Budejovicky Budvar Beer brands of the Czech Republic Food and drink companies established in 1895 1895 establishments in Austria-Hungary 19th-century establishments in Bohemia České Budějovice